The Plan

 

The Plan presented here encompasses design principles and big moves using urban planning and design best practices which authentically reflect the site’s unique characteristics and attributes. 

Relics of past industrial activities on the Brewery-Rail Lands indicative of the site’s rich history and industrial legacy also guide the opportunity to transform the property into a vibrant urban destination with a distinct sense of place that connects to adjacent communities, the mobility network and nearby amenities.

The envisioned goal is an innovative, compact, livable, mixed-use, and transit-oriented urban development in the heart of Calgary that re-imagines its industrial roots for the 21st-century.

Leading-edge urban, light industrial uses will be accompanied by commercial, office, residential, and street-fronting retail — all anchored by a close-knit urban grid and woven together by a comprehensive urban design and open space strategy that includes multi-user connectivity, community gathering places and memorable public spaces.

 

Big Moves

The proposed Plan applies several “Big Moves” to the application site which set the stage and inform a new urban structure for the Brewery-Rail Lands Comprehensive Planning Area. These fundamental contextual building blocks guide the overall community connections, provision of open spaces, street network and site services, mix of uses, transition of building scales and celebration of the site’s long industrial history.

 

  • 1 · Connect People and Place

  • 2 · Embrace Historic Front Door to Rail

  • 3 · Celebrate Industrial Heritage

  • 4 · Mix Uses

  • 5 · Extend the Street Grid

  • 6 · Transition Building Heights and Scale

Design Principles

 

Sense of Place

Achieve an authentic place that celebrates history through the relationship with the heavy-freight rail corridor, the retention of light industrial uses and conservation and adaptive reuse of appropriate historic structures.

City Connections

Create a comprehensive open space network that connects the Comprehensive Planning Area to the Green Line LRT and MAX Purple BRT stations and provides expanded transportation options to help people choose what works best for them. 

Great Spaces for People

Provide a diversity of spaces and programming opportunities that create a destination by addressing open space and the public realm comprehensively.

 

Variety of Scales

Transition building scale and form to introduce new building typologies for a variety of housing and employment types that stimulate new community investment.

Lively Mix

Enable a thriving, energetic and vibrant urban neighbourhood with a lively mix of people, jobs and activities.

Future-friendly Design

Investigate low-carbon technology options such as solar power, ground-sourced heat pumps, and mass timber construction. Incorporate low-impact development that includes more porous and soft green surfaces to help manage stormwater.

Plan Overview

 

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Site Plan Open Spaces

 

Rail Trail Park

Rail Trail Park recognizes the historic front door of these industrial lands and embraces the railway edge as an important new urban landscape, connecting residents and visitors alike to the Precinct and broader Brewery-Rail Lands.

Industrial Heritage Precinct

Restored heritage structures, interpretive features, and public open space help weave together the essential layers of the site’s legacy with adjacent new development around a central courtyard/placemaking node that will become the heart of a vibrant, new community.

Brewery Flats Park

Directly adjacent to the Industrial Heritage Precinct, a new central green space is the key link and extension to Rail Trail Park, providing a high quality urban park that reflects the site’s history and a central place for people to relax and move through Brewery-Rail Lands community.

Greater Rail Trail Park / TOD Connection Improvements

The Greater Rail Trail Park Transit-Oriented Development (TOD) Connection Improvements along the western edge of the Brewery-Rail Lands Comprehensive Planning Site builds off of previous approvals and plans in the area, inclusive of the approved Direct Control (DC) District Bylaw for 1390 17 AV SE, which includes the provision of a safe and accessible 8.0-metre-wide multi-modal connection to the future Ramsay/Inglewood Green Line LRT Station and surrounding communities.

14A Street Greenway

Leading from the 9 Avenue SE Main Street to the historic heart of Brewery-Rail Lands, 14A Street SE will act as a key gateway, providing an enjoyable and landscaped pedestrian environment.

 

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Land Use & Outline Plan At-A-Glance
MATCO Application Site

 

Site Area

7.99 ha
19.74 ac

Density

±1,280
Residential Dwelling Units

±160
Dwelling Units per Hectare

Mixed Use

60%
Mixed-Scale Residential

20%
Urban Light Industrial 

10%
Commercial / Retail

10%
Office

 

Intensity

±2,050
Residents

±800
Jobs

±350
People + Jobs per Gross Developable Hectare

Building Heights

6 Storeys
Low Scale (22m) – DC (MU-1f4.0h22)

12 Storeys
Mid Scale (45m) – DC (MU-1f5.0h45)

20 Storeys
High Scale (65m) – DC (MU-1f5.0h65)

Direct Control (DC) Districts have customized, district-specific rules. All proposed DC Districts are based on the Mixed Use – General (MU-1) District (Bylaw 1P2007). Three general DC variations are proposed, which primarily modify the building height and density limits from a range of 22m and 4.0 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to a maximum of 65m and 5.0 FAR. Industrial uses will be included within these DC Districts, in keeping with the area’s current industrial-focused Land Uses.