Uncertainty hangs over Calgary's Eau Claire district with Green Line LRT in limbo

An Eau Claire resident forced out when his property was was expropriated for the Green Line LRT is railing against the city over its management of the project.

"I don't think it's on the province, I think it's on the city," Patrick Lindsay told CBC News.

"It's been a disaster for so many years," he said. "As a homeowner who's very impacted by it, we watched very closely, and we've seen the City of Calgary approve a Green Line alignment three times without ever producing a credible cost-benefit analysis or business case."

The Green Line project is being wound down with costs totalling $2.1 billion, including $850 million to gradually halt work on the project. The move came weeks after Transportation Minister Devin Dreeshen withdrew the province's share of funding for the transit expansion on Sept. 3.

The transit project has a tumultuous history dating back more than a decade. The city and province have been engaged recently in a war of words over who is to blame for it going off the rails.

The province contracted infrastructure consulting firm AECOM to design a new alignment for the LRT project by the end of the year. Premier Danielle Smith and Dreeshen have made it clear they want to scrap plans to tunnel through downtown Calgary and instead lay tracks above ground to extend the line south to Seton.

Lindsay used to live in the River Run townhouse complex before the city took over to demolish the properties and clear the way for a new development focused on a Green Line station. He was forced out at the end of May. Months later, the buildings are still standing.

"From my perspective as a homeowner, I had no reasonable expectation that our home would ever be used for the Green Line because they didn't know if they would ever get there," Lindsay said. 

He doesn't think it's an option to go back to live where he once did but would do so given the opportunity.

"We wouldn't trust the city to get involved in those kinds of discussions, [but] I would love to live where I was.… [We] had a waterfront property, four storeys, four bedrooms, right across from Prince's Island Park," he said. 

"On our patio, you don't see a road, you don't see a power line. It's just like sitting on a park. It's fantastic property, which is likely why the city wanted it."

What's to become of Eau Claire?

Eau Claire Market was bought by property company Harvard Developments in 2004. Some of that land was sold to the City of Calgary in 2023 to build an underground Green Line LRT station. The shopping mall was shuttered at the end of May, the same time many nearby residents were forced to leave their homes.

Given the province has said it wants to avoid tunnelling through downtown Calgary for the transit expansion, it's unclear what form an LRT station would take in the downtown neighbourhood or whether the province would use the land in its new alignment.

Harvard Developments had plans to redevelop the Eau Claire Market land into a mixed-use project with the Green Line in mind.

Asked about its current plans to develop the area, a company spokesperson said there was no comment at this time.

Coun. Terry Wong told CBC News in an interview Friday that the demolition of Eau Claire Market and the nearby buildings is on hold.

"Until we get to the wind-down conversations with the Green Line board, we won't know exactly whether we will be demolishing them right away or not," Wong said, adding the city has to wait until December to see what the province's new alignment will be.

The Ward 7 councillor said if the province doesn't end up using the Eau Claire land for its alignment, the city may have to revisit its agreement with Harvard Developments and re-evaluate what to do with the buildings it owns. However, Wong says he won't know for sure until he sees the new alignment from the province.

"We struck the agreement to take the land to be able to build a tunnel and an underground station there. And once that was all said and done, then there was opportunity to build both a mixed residential/commercial opportunity above the ground," Wong said.

He added discussions are ongoing with Harvard Developments to determine next steps once the province's plan becomes clear.

Uncertainty creates shaky ground for real estate

CBC News spoke with real estate experts about the impacts of the Green Line LRT saga on the community of Eau Claire.

Experts generally agree that proximity to public transportation creates economic activity along transit routes and increases accessibility, which in turn makes nearby real estate more valuable.

There are many factors at play now that contribute to uncertainty surrounding the area.

David Wallach, president and broker at Barclay Street Real Estate, told CBC News if the province forgoes making Eau Claire into an underground station, governments may need to expropriate more land in the vicinity to accommodate an above-ground alignment.

"That is kind of the uncertainty that we have right now.… For the next few months, we're kind of in a limbo to see how we develop a great piece of land on the river in one of the nicest spots in Calgary," Wallach said.

Adam Grisack, senior director at Colliers Valuation and Advisory Services, told CBC News the apparent state of limbo could decrease investment activity in the neighbourhood.

"Capital likes certainty, investors like certainty," Grisack said. "Any time you create uncertainty, you're going to limit the amount of capital that's going to flow towards a certain area of development."

He said continuous delays in the construction of the Green Line over the years will erode trust in governments to get these projects done.

"It's going to make investors think twice about investing in future projects that are publicly funded. We tend to think of the government as a trustworthy actor that we can rely on.

"That being said, real estate development is fraught with uncertainty.… There is uncertainty that's created, but my view is that the market will find new opportunities through the uncertainty and will keep moving forward."