Envisioned as Calgary’s Culture & Entetainment District - CMLC’s 20-year vision for east Victoria Park calls for a mixed use community that will be home to 8000 new residents and 4 million square feet of new mixed use development space. The Rivers District Master Plan has been designed to be flexible enough to imagine and integrate modernized amenities like a new event centre, an expansion of the BMO Centre, and the delivery of a Stampede Trail retail destination. As the development progresses, the plan and community will accommodate and support a variety of entertainment and cultural amenities.
The site situated between downtown and the new pier is envisioned as a seamless yet varied experience connecting the city with the bay. The design proposal encompasses three interlinked pedestrian experiences that encourage people to enjoy the area on foot: an urban pedestrian spine that reaches from the downtown to the pierhead, a family-oriented park, and enlivened waterfront edges. With more than 5,300 feet of water frontage, these hard and soft edges provide a variety of settings for gathering and interacting with the water. The existing condition devotes more than 60% of the 20-acre area to streets and parking; the plan for the waterfront site significantly reduces roadways and parking and increases engaging pedestrian use, shade, and vegetation and manages storm water on site.