Demolition of the Cecil Hotel this week will pave the way for future development of the downtown property.
Calgary Municipal Land Corporation will review the 43,000-square-foo site, at 4th Avenue and 3rd Street S.E., that it will incorporate into its East Village development plans, said CMLC vice-president Susan Veres.
“When we started East Village seven years ago that parcel of land was never imagined as being activated by the plan. Really for us it’s wonderful news,” said Veres. “We can go back and look at what is happening in all of the parcels of East Village.
“Are we slow in office? Are we slow in retail? Are we slow in multi-family? And with that information we can look to design a concept and then take that concept to the market.”
Design work on the site will occur next year, with a sales plan likely by early 2017, said Veres.
“We need to figure out what we need before we take it to the marketplace,” she said.
Veres said 3rd Street S.E., just behind City Hall, will undergo streetscape improvements from 9th Avenue to the Bow River.
“That’s a big program. It’s going to take us two construction seasons,” she said.
The Cecil Hotel was closed in 2008. The city paid $10.9 million for the property in 2008. CMLC, which is overseeing redevelopment of the East Village, acquired it earlier this year.
Veres said CMLC will also soon talk with Toronto-based developer Great Group of Companies which paid almost $49 million for the YWCA of Calgary city block across from the Cecil.
Great Group said it plans to create a pedestrian-oriented development with four towers, primarily residential, on the site with a major retail podium and institutional use, perhaps some boutique office space and public gathering spaces.
In April, Great Gulf announced a proposed development in East Village, at 304 Macleod Trail S.E., that would include 443 units in two towers.
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