Wil Andruschak

Bridgeland community association president Lori Losowy says 'there's no plan' for The Bridges land. 'Nobody has any answers,' she says. 'They just say: "It’ll get built."'

Hailed as an urban gem by politicians, The Bridges was supposed to be a walkable model of transit-oriented development and an example for developers to follow.

While this vision has been partially realized in Bridgeland, the swath of prime real estate formerly occupied by the Calgary General Hospital remains largely undeveloped. Far from housing thousands of people as planned, the land sits empty more than 11 years after the hospital was demolished — and the stalled development has left locals aghast. “There’s no action,” says Marco Abdi, a longtime resident who owns an Italian restaurant in the northeast neighbourhood.

The community gave up a swimming pool, skating rink and baseball diamonds to make room for the high-density development, and community association president Lori Losowy says residents and businesses are still waiting for the payoff from the city, which owns and manages The Bridges project. “What is the plan? There’s no plan,” she says. “Nobody has any answers. They just say: ‘It’ll get built.’…The city just seems to have moved on to other projects.”

One phase of the three-phase project — four blocks with condos atop retail and commercial units — has been built along First Ave. N.E., the neighbourhood’s main drag. The phases closer to the Bridgeland C-Train station remain unbuilt, and one developer says it has “no plans right now” to build a proposed eight-storey, 120-unit condo complex on its Phase II site. “It’s on hold indefinitely,” says Linda Johnson, project manager for Sandlewood Developments.

Johnson says the economy and the glut of condos on the market are responsible for the holdup. “It has to be economically viable in order to go ahead with it,” she says.

Joe Ceci, the area’s alderman, says the other Phase II developers are in the same position. “It’s taken longer than perhaps everyone would have hoped,” Ceci says of The Bridges. “But they’re going to get into it. I suspect in 2011 we’ll see activity on that site.”

Nearby business owners were counting on an influx of residents from the new development after the hospital was demolished more than a decade ago. Some businesses, including Mercato (formerly the Italian Centre), got fed up with delay after delay and moved out of the community. Others, like Abdi’s La Brezza, opted to stay.

Abdi says “there’s no communication” from the city on what’s happening — or not happening — with The Bridges. “We have no idea what’s going on,” he says. “It’s a challenge. I’ve been a small businessman in Bridgeland for the last 25 years and it’s really disappointing the city of Calgary is not communicating with us.”

Meanwhile, city hall is hyping a similar redevelopment across the river in East Village, promising a lively mixed-use area that will cater to “urban explorers” — those who prefer “vibrant urban surroundings over suburban living.” The city also recently unveiled plans for another similar high-density community west of downtown.

While these projects align with the city’s recently approved Plan It blueprint for denser mixed-use communities, the Bridgeland situation illustrates the challenge in turning these ambitious plans into reality. “It’s moving along as the market dictates,” says Colleen Roberts, city project manager for The Bridges. The delays have forced the city to give permit extensions to developers involved in the project.

Despite the development’s snail’s pace, Roberts says The Bridges is still a model community. “It is one of Canada’s best examples of transit-oriented development,” she says. “We’ve won lots of awards. I go across Canada and talk to different groups about it.”

The Bridges was one of the city’s first forays into residential development, and before city council approved the plan in 2002, some aldermen said the city should stay out of the real estate business. “It’s kind of a double standard to tax an industry and regulate them, and then participate in the industry,” says Ald. Ric McIver, one of the aldermen who opposed the city’s involvement in The Bridges.

But Bob Hawkesworth, the area’s alderman until ward boundaries changed in 2001, says the city “absolutely” made the right decision to develop The Bridges. “It’s one of the most exciting infill developments probably in any city in Western Canada,” says Hawkesworth. “The fact that it’s kind of in a bit of a hiatus at the moment due to the market is a disappointment, but eventually it’s all going to come together and it’s going to be a great project.”

City council recently gave the green light to a public-private partnership in Phase II, an affordable housing project that will see the city own and manage 40 of the 160-some units on the site, Ceci says. “I and others have kept [The Bridges] on the frontburner,” adds Ceci. “It hasn’t languished.”

Bridgeland, meanwhile, is also fighting to keep St. Angela elementary school, which the Catholic school board has indicated might be shut down. “They say they want these livable, walkable communities, and yet they’re basically telling you that if you’re going to have kids, go live in the suburbs,” says Losowy. “That’s where you get your amenities and schools and everything, it seems.”