Calgary: Crown Park A Suburban Meets Urban Experiment
Crown Park is the name for Brookfield Residential’s new community on Silvera’s old Jacques Lodge site on Bow Trail at the Shaganappi Point LRT station.
Backstory
In 1963, 800 low-income seniors applied to live in Bow Valley Lodges Foundation’s (now called Silvera aka Silver Era) new Jacques Lodge community - a 300-cottage and apartment style development in a park-like setting at the top of Bow Trail at what was then the edge of the city.
Fast forward to 2012 - the site is now inner city; the homes are obsolete and the new West leg of the LRT creates an opportunity for a mega redevelopment of the site.
So Silvera engaged Calgary’s NORR architects to develop a master plan for the site, to maximize the utilization of the land for a mix of housing needs – affordable, low-income and market housing. NORR proposed a plan for 15 row and mid-rise apartment blocks ranging in height from 3 to 8 storeys – and a community park next to the existing pedestrian bridge over Bow Trail leading to Shaganappi Park.
The plan approved in 2014, included two seniors care facilities (targeting independent and assisted living styles), convenience retail and office space for ancillary senior’s user groups. At the time, Silvera hoped to develop the senior’s residential themselves and keep a presence on the site they had owned for many years.
However, between 2014 and 2016, the global economy experienced one of the largest oil price declines in modern history. Calgary’s housing market crashed. After demolishing the cottages, Silvera decided to sell the site and reinvest the money in several seniors’ housing projects in other parts of the city.
The site was bought by Brookfield Residential in 2020 who then re-examined the site to determine how best to develop it given current inner-city housing market.
NORR concept plan for Jacque Lodges site.
Brookfield Proposal
After significant market research and community engagement, Brookfield proposed a much lower density community dominated by town homes and two small apartment buildings. Using Brookfield’s expertise and recent experience in SETON, Livingston and University District – as well as and planners at Ground Cubed, a new master plan was created and approved. It will be a unique, low density inner-city development with 180 town homes and duplexes (115 of them will be 3-bedrooms) and two small apartment buildings (120 new homes) with a mix of studios to 3-bedroom homes.
The new plan incorporates several garden plots for residents, - a feature proven to be very popular at Brookfield Residential’s IVY project at University District. However, there is no retail and no senior care or designated seniors’ housing at Crown Park.
FYI: Silvera and Brookfield are currently working on a new seniors’ housing project in Livingston, Brookfield’s new community at the northern edge of the Calgary.
Why not more density?
I asked Ryan Moon, Director, Multi-Family Homes at Brookfield “Why isn’t the site being built at a higher density given its proximity to the LRT station?” His response, “Not all LRT stations are suited to large density development. Our research indicated the nearby Westbrook Station was a much better site for mid and high-rise development. This site’s development is limited as access points - 26th Street SW offers the only two-way access, with 24th Street SW offering entrance only for west bound Bow Trail traffic. Yes, the site has easy access to the LRT, however our research indicated potential purchasers still want to have a car and a garage. Ultimately, the market indicated there is a niche demand for 3-bedroom inner-city, semi-detached and town homes, with a garage starting in the mid $500s and apartment living starting in the high $200s, which is what we will be delivering.”
Why tree removal?
When asked, “Why did Brookfield remove all the mature trees?” Moon replied, “We had City Parks people examine all of the trees and they tagged only three for saving, the others were in poor shape and at the end of their life expectancy.” He added, “We did mulch the trees and deliver it for free to interested residents and local community gardens.”
Why no retail?
Again, Moon consulted with retail experts both internally and externally and it was determined retail would not succeed at this site and it would be better to focus new retail development in and around the Westbrook Station just one stop or a 15-minute walk away. It is also only a five-minute walk to the amenities along the emerging new main street (i.e., along 17th Avenue SW, from 26th to 37th Street.
What’s in a name?
When asked about the name Moon said, “The name Crown Park was inspired by the location - both in terms of its prominence on the hillcrest, perched above the western edge of downtown, and the abundance of green space surrounding and within the development itself (Shaganappi Park, the golf course, and the river valley below)."
Last Word
To me the name “Crown Park” sounds like a generic suburban development, which is exactly what it is - a suburban scale development in an inner-city neighbourhood. Which is not necessarily a bad thing, as one of the issues facing the inner city today is how to compete with the new communities. It will be an interesting experiment.
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