It’s a day five years in the making—five years plus a single day to be exact, since all three levels of government announced funding for the construction of Calgary’s first tier-one convention centre.
March 13 also marked the end of four years of construction on the project, and the hand-off of the BMO Centre’s nearly completed expansion to the Calgary Stampede.
The occasion was marked with the metaphorical exchange of keys, and the final push towards the grand opening of the centre on June 8 to the public.
“Not only do we receive the keys today, but we get to trade our hard hats for cowboy hats. So that’s incredibly exciting,” said Joel Cowley, CEO of the Calgary Stampede.
Work still remains to be completed on the finishing decorative features of the interior of the building, along with the plaza space outside.
Among those will be the installation of internationally renowned artist Gerry Judah’s public art piece Spirit of Water, which had portions of the artwork wrapped and ready to be installed outside of the announcement on Wednesday.
A legacy of welcoming the world, from a then-leader of Canada
As to whether the BMO Centre represented the final vision of R.B. Bennett, who donated the lands that Stampede Park now sits on and wished to welcome the world to the Stampede, Cowley wouldn’t say that it was a completion of that vision.
Bennett, who would later serve as Prime Minister of Canada, saved the Stampede 1920s by giving the land to the City of Calgary, on the condition that the land be leased to the Stampede.
“I wouldn’t say completion, because we have more yet to do. But this is certainly a big step in that direction because this facility really does give Calgary and the world a better place to gather,” said Cowley.
“That vision that was that R.B. Bennett had, that Guy Weadick had when he started the first Stampede, I’m not sure that they envisioned all the details around it, but this is certainly what they would have.”
As for the building itself, Cowley said that there would be the history of the Stampede in the centre, but lightly so.
“It’s not overbearing. It is subtle because when conventions come here, we want them to be able to make the building their own and promote it and program it the way that they want to promote programming,” he said.
Among those elements that he said the Stampede was proud of was the installation of Western Canada’s largest fireplace at 21 metres tall, western and Stampede elements in the 3,000 sq. ft. Brand Room, and in the 38 meeting room names throughout the second floor.
Heritage present, but not omnipresent in new convention centre
The heritage of the Stampede, and the former Corral Building that was central to the cultural development of the city, would also be present in a one-to-one replica of the iconic neon cowboy that appeared on the side of the Corral.
“It is absolutely an incredible building, and we couldn’t be more proud to open it in less than 90 days, welcome Calgarians, and then turn around in July and utilize this space for the 2024 Calgary Stampede and truly welcome the world to this space,” Cowley said.
He said that so far the Stampede sales team had been able to secure over 100 events between June 2024 and 2030, with half of those being conventions.
“We love bringing events here to Calgary that benefit Calgarians, but we also love welcoming the world to Calgary and it is those conventions that bring outside visitors,” Cowley said.
“They book hotel rooms, they go to restaurants they spend here in the area, that’s what really drives the economic impact that this building will generate.”
The estimated number of international visitors and national visitors from outside of Calgary has been estimated from those events to number in the hundreds of thousands.
The first event to officially open the space will be the Global Energy Show on June 11, followed by the Stampede’s own Stampede Cellar Uncorked on June 22.
The International Rotary Convention is set to be one of the largest initial conventions at the centre in June of 2025—and the largest up to that point in Calgary’s history—with an expected draw of between 25,000 to 30,000 delegates.
“It will probably take every hotel room between Okotoks and Airdrie and generate an incredible, incredible economic impact for the city,” said Cowley.
On time, and on budget, even through a pandemic
Kate Thompson, CEO of Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, said that when her organization embarked on the project they had a “very notational idea” of what the centre would look like, and how it would work for Calgarians.
“We also had no idea what the word pandemic and how about the word pandemic and what it would mean to the planning and design of this amazing space,” she said.
Initial plans for the centre were more of a glass-panned two-storey structure without the exterior plaza.
“The design team really looked at this and said, ‘well what if we did three-storey stacked and then gave back a plaza and brought the Calgary Stampede into this space,’ which is a really interesting approach and that allowed us to be with a design we’re looking today.”
Thompson thanked the City of Calgary, the Government of Alberta, and the Government of Canada for their support of the project—each order provided a third of the $500 million price tag for the expansion.
A price tag that Thompson said had come in on budget, and on time, despite the pandemic.
She also thanked the designers for the building, Stantec, Populous, and S2 Architecture, as well as construction partners PCL and M3, as well as the numerous other contractors, designers, and support firms on the project.
“They really created a design worthy of Calgary’s bright future… it’s not so easy to manage 2 million construction trade hours, over 5000 trades, and deliver this project the way you have today. It’s an exceptional feat.”
Envy of the world
Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who had been a strong supporter of the project from her time as Ward 3 councillor through her term as Mayor, said that the completion was a milestone in the vision for of the Culture and Entertainment District (C+E), but also for the city.
“This is now fundamentally a different kind of convention centre, second to none in its architecture functionality, as well as its guest experience. The expanded BMO Center is unique to Calgary, it’s unique to Calgary Stampede, and it is unique within the industry,” she said.
“Convention centres of the past have been all about keeping convention guests inside the four walls of the building away from the outside and away from the public. The building you see right here, however, does the opposite. It represents a new generation of convention facilities. One that celebrates and connects with its surroundings and with its community.”
She said that the BMO Centre had come up in her conversation with other mayors across North America, with the response being one of envy.
“I’ve been very proud to show off what’s happening here with this convention centre. I’ve shown them photos as it’s coming out of the ground and we are absolutely the envy of other places,” Mayor Gondek said.
“It’s nice to show off a little bit.”
She said that the completion also marked a milestone in the confidence that the C+E would be a place for not only Calgarians to gather, but the world.
“There’s a lot of market confidence in the fact that this district is coming up in a way that we had promised. The fact that this Convention Center is here, the fact that there’s an event centre coming, it’s got a lot of people interested,” the mayor said.
“While we can’t talk about things that are in play right now, I can tell you that there’s people globally that are paying attention to what’s happening here in our city.”
