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In 2009, the province ordered an Historic Resource Impact Assessment for some of the buildings. That’s why Matco needed approval before it could move ahead with demolition.

“It’s striking the balance to make sure that we do have the economic development but that we preserve the historic value of the area and incorporate the two needs,” Kubinec said. “Our task is to find the balance and that’s what we’re attempting to do.”

Though Matco received approval to tear down most of the buildings within the assessment area, the developer must conduct further studies to determine whether the historic Malting Building could be stabilized and conserved.

Alberta Culture

Most of the buildings south of the bottling plant are slated for demolition. Many pre-date the Second World War, while others were constructed before the First World War. Some are outside of the historic resource impact assessment area and don’t fall under the province’s purview.

“What we’re getting now is demolition of turn of the century sandstone buildings to create a parking lot and essentially an open area,” said Scott Jolliffe, the chair of the Calgary Heritage Authority. “It’s quite a shock, really, that we’re doing all this.”

Still Jolliffe said he wasn’t “too surprised” by the ruling.

“We were just hoping for a little more out of it,” he said.

The brewery site, which was placed on Heritage Canada’s top 10 list of endangered places, contains the largest collection of sandstone buildings in the city outside of Stephen Avenue.