City of Calgary not giving up trying to sell land next to LRT station

You aren't the first person to think the vacant city-owned land at 11 Haddon Road S.W. would be a great spot for a housing development. So why hasn't it happened?

Since the YMCA announced in 2009 that it would be closing its aging recreation facility the following year, questions have been asked about what's next for the site that's just 150 metres from the front door of Heritage station.

The city had leased the land to the Y for its facility. But with the closure, the land was handed back to the City of Calgary.

There was talk that the building might be a good home for the Kerby Centre which was examining options for leaving downtown.

However, no deal was ever struck. Eventually, the shuttered rec facility was torn down.

Prime housing site

The manager for sales and acquisitions with the city's real estate and development services (REDS), Spencer McClurg, said it's a great site for transit oriented development.

"We think it's a prime candidate for some form of multi-family residential development in close proximity to transit and other amenties," said McClurg.

When the idea of relocating the Kerby Centre to the site fell apart in 2018, city council directed administration to put the land on the market for the highest bidder.

In 2021, it showed up on the city website that lists properties for sale with the opening price posted as $5.9 million for the 1.5 acre parcel of land.

Two months later, the price was dropped to $5.7 million.

In April 2022, the land was listed as being "under negotiation." But no deal was reached and in November 2022, it's status was switched to "future opportunity."

McClurg said market forces in recent years have made a deal hard to reach.

"That was a time period of high and rising construction costs, shortages of labour and materials that was being found by developers all across the city, rising inflation and rising interest rates," said McClurg. 

"That combination of sort of macroeconomic conditions and market conditions impacted our ability to find a successful purchaser for the site."

Frustration and curiosity

He said the city is re-evaluating its marketing strategy for the property and for now, it's not officially for sale.

But the department intends to pursue city council's direction which is to sell the property.

The city councillor for the area said there's some unease in the community about the amount of time that's passing by.

Coun. Kourtney Penner said she too thinks this would be a suitable location for new housing and some ground level retail which would help activate the street.

"I think there's both frustration and curiosity (in the neighbourhood)," said Penner. "It's always been the great hope of the community — myself included — that this site would see some active uses sooner than later."

She said besides the market pressures, part of the challenges facing the site is that it's not as big as a passerby might think.

The City of Calgary owns the land where the YMCA building stood. But the land just to the west including the former tennis courts is actually owned by the YMCA.

So any prospective development would have to fit on the city parcel.

Penner said council could provide further direction on how to proceed but that it might be best to just leave the matter in the hands of administration.

"I too am trying to practice patience on this site so that we get something really great for the community and for Calgarians for a long time to come."

But until there's a deal, the land will sit vacant.