The city’s vision to redevelop the Edmonton Exhibition Lands into a vibrant and welcoming area for citizens is one that will take more than 20 years to complete.
And to get the ball rolling, the city will begin selling off parcels of land in the first half of this year.
“It’s been an underutilized space that’s been sitting vacant,” Ward Métis councillor Ashley Salvador said.
“Even over the past year of campaigning, prior to being elected, I did hear from community members they want to see movement on it.”
The Exhibition Lands Redevelopment Project will include housing, retail, commercial and recreational spaces, as well as two urban plazas beside two LRT stations.
The city said in the short term it will first begin selling parcels of land in the southwest area, then a few other surrounding plots of land.
In the medium term, development will take place in the space south of the Expo Centre where the racetrack is right now, and just north of Borden Park.
Then, the area where the Northlands Coliseum is, will be focused on in the long-term phase of the project.
The Northlands Coliseum building is currently costing the city $1.2 million a year to maintain. It’s currently being used for surplus city storage.
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While it is slated to be demolished, no teardown date has been set.
“Of course there’s a lot of memories people have of the Coliseum, so it might be a little bittersweet for some folks, but being able to know that this is going to be an opportunity to uplift the area, to revitalize the area and to really breathe new life into it, I think there’s excitement there,” Salvador said.
The project is welcome news for neighbouring communities.
“We need additional resources,” said Parkdale-Cromdale Community League civics director Anthony Oliver.
“There’s a lot of families moving in and we expect that Exhibition grounds, along with stadium, that will start to promote those services that are currently lacking.”
He said while he hopes future amenities will benefit the community, he doesn’t want the Parkdale-Cromdale Community League to be left out of what’s to come.
‘We certainly expect the city will consult — meaningfully consult — the community league and the community, as well as developers,” Oliver said.
Salvador said a line of communication will be maintained as the decades-long project rolls out.
Salvador said it is also a priority of the city to see the development of more permanent supportive housing incorporated in the project.