An open house to be held tonight will offer the opportunity for Calgarians to provide input about a major redevelopment planned for the Co-op grocery store at 540 16 Avenue NE. Co-op submitted a joint development permit and land use redesignation with Quarry Bay Investments in August to intensify the Winston Heights-Mountview site with a mixed-use assemblage of five buildings, the tallest rising to six storeys.

16 Avenue Co-op Redevelopment, image via City of Calgary

The Riddell Kurczaba Architecture-designed redevelopment would begin with the construction of a new gas bar at the east end of the site, followed by the demolition of the existing First Calgary building at the west end, where a new 41,000-square-foot grocery store would be built. The staged plan ensures that a grocery store remains open on the property throughout the duration of the project. The current 30,000-square-foot Co-op store would then be shuttered ahead of its demolition.

16 Avenue Co-op Redevelopment, image via City of Calgary

Approximately 77,500 square feet of commercial space, including the grocery store, additional retail, and office space, would be provided across the property. Mid-rise buildings containing 115 residential units, easily identified in renderings by their spate of balconies, would be located above the ground-level retail frontage.

16 Avenue Co-op site plan , image via City of Calgary

The land use amendment application seeks to redesignate the property from Commercial Corridor 1 and Commercial Corridor 2 to a Direct Control provision. The building heights and densities of the proposed land use conforms to the Winston Heights Mountview and 16 Avenue North Urban Corridor Area Redevelopment Plans that collectively guide the development of the area.

The existing Co-op store, image retrieved from Google Street View

A website set up by the City invites the public to provide feedback about the development as it makes its way through the planning process. An open house will be held this evening at the Winston Heights/Mountview Community Centre at 520 27 Avenue NE from 4 to 8 PM. The Calgary Planning Commission is expected to review the project in March 2018, with a public hearing anticipated in May.

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