Calgary’s Beltline Urban Village Just Keeps Getting Tastier
Ever since the Blueprint for the Beltline was approved in 2005, Calgary’s Beltline neighbourhood (south of downtown) has been getting better and better as a place to live, with new residential developments, parks, murals and most of all, new places to eat, drink and be merry.
FYI: The “Blueprint For The Beltline” was a collaborative initiative of Victoria Park and Connaught citizens who wanted to make their community a more attractive place to live. Together they identify what improvements and City of Calgary policy changes were needed to make the area from 17th Avenue SW (south boundary) to the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks (north boundary) and from Elbow River (east boundary) to 14th St SW (west boundary) a vibrant, inclusive, dense and diverse neighbourhood. It resulted in the amalgamation of Victoria Park, Connaught and South Calgary communities into a new mega community called The Beltline, named after the early 20th century streetcar, that used to weave its way through these communities.
The First Street Market has entrances from First Street SW and from Haultain Park.
Chicken & Egg Development
It is always a bit of “chicken and egg” story when it comes to increasing residential, restaurant and retail development (i.e., amenities) in existing communities. What comes first – the residential development or the amenities? Restauranteurs and retailers want to see a critical mass of people living in a neighbourhood before they open a new location, while home buyers and renters want to see more amenities in the ‘hood before they move into urban communities.
For the past 15+ years, the Beltline has seen dozens of new high-rise residential developments, which in turn has resulted in an explosion in the number of cafes, restaurants, bars, pubs and retailers along 10th 11th12th Avenues SW, 1st and 8th Streets SW, as well as along 17th Avenue SW, collectively making the Beltline a tastier place to live.
The former IBM building at the corner of 2nd St and 11th and 12th Avenues SW, has been renovated and rebranded as The District at Beltline. The new owners Spear Street Capital, engaged Kasian to redesign the exterior and main floor to create a street friendly pedestrian Food Hall experience with commercial spaces that spill out onto the sidewalk.
Food Hall Trifecta
The Beltline is also home to not one, but three new Food Halls (think “Food Court”, but more upscale, more diverse, local chefs and all located at street level). While the Food Hall concept is not new, it is only recently that they have become the “in place” for urbanites to meet and hangout in North America.
Inside the First Street Market.
The First Street Market (1st St and 13th Ave SW) opened this past winter, offering Beltliners a variety of tasty treats - “Actually Pretty Good” is a pizza joint, “Friends with Benedicts” is a breakfast hot spot, “Hi5” is the burger joint, “La Mano” specializes in fresh handmade pasta dishes, “Moose and Poncho” offers traditional Mexican cuisine, “Pure Street Food” focuses on Vietnamese street food, while “Saffron Street” offers arguably the best of India’s street food.
The anchor café is Alforno with its locally roasted coffee and house-made pastries, bread and sandwiches. For those looking for an adult beverage, “First” bar offers an array of beer, wine and cocktails.
Not only does the First Street Market open onto 1st Street, but also on to Haultain Park, creating a unique sense of place and great downtown skyline view. It is located at the base of the Underwood and Union Square (by Western Securities) residential towers that have been the catalyst for the revitalization of Beltline’s 1st Steet SW.
The District
The District at Beltline’s food hall fully (corner of 12th Ave and 2nd Street SW) opened this summer, in the old IBM building kitty corner to the Memorial Park Library.
The District has an actual hallway between the two buildings.
It includes a Deville Café with a lovely patio on 12thAvenue SW, as well as 33 Acres Brewery. The food hall is home to a “who’s who” of Calgary chefs -Takori is an Asian fusion taqueria by Chef Duncan Ly of Foreign Concept; Modern Burger, a new concept from Modern Steak’s Stephen Deere; Oishidesu Ramen Shack, by chef Arce Morales; Shrub Bloom, a vegetarian restaurant by chef Adam Ryan; Greenfish a sushi restaurant by Darren MacLean, a finalist in Netflix’s global cooking competition “The Final Table” and last but not least is Chef Roy Oh’s Roy’s Korean Kitchen.
The Oliver
The newest residential development in the Beltline is The Oliver by Centron, a mega two-tower (35 and 31 floors) complex with 862 new homes on 10th Avenue SW between 4th and 5th Streets SW. At the base of the complex is Luca Restaurant, a traditional Italian Restaurant by Chef Giuseppie Di Gennaro. Also opening in the street side food hall will be Pazzi Pizzeria, a Neapolitan-style pizza, Treno Coffee & Prosecco, a new coffee/bar concept; Fleetwood Lounge a mid-century (Mad Men) lounge and Luca Mercato, an Italian market.
Last Word
Over the past 5 years, 4,000 new homes have been built in the Beltline, resulting in a huge influx of new residents, which in turn has resulted in the opening of these three funky food halls, as well as other new amenities. And I expect the popularity of these food halls will in turn result in another wave of new residential developments as the Beltline evolves into not only one of Canada’s best urban villages, but one of Calgary’s most desirable neighbourhoods.
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Calgary’s Coolest Neighbourhoods: Beltline