The City of Calgary has repurchased the Westbrook LRT lands back from a local developer, paving the way for potential development on the southwest parcel.

According to an email from the City of Calgary, they said they exercised their repurchase option on the lands previously owned by Matco Development Corporation.

“The City decided to repurchase the land as a contractual building commitment had not been fulfilled within the expected timeframe, the details of which are confidential,” read an email from the City of Calgary.

“While the intent of implementing building commitments is to encourage timely property development and support municipal objectives such as economic investment, job creation, tax revenue, and housing goals, in this instance, the anticipated timeline was not met.”

The city sold the land back in 2016 to Matco for $50.5 million. They said their repurchase closed on January 31, 2024, and they paid $43,067,600.

When LiveWire Calgary last spoke to Matco about the parcel back in 2022, they said they expected a development permit for the site in 2023. At that time, however, they didn’t want to speak in detail about a potential proposal. They did say there were some economic and pandemic-induced challenges with development of that site.

Ward 8 Coun. Courtney Walcott said that it’s a different landscape today concerning the public value on transit-oriented development land, particularly land used for public good, he said.

He said once Covid had ended, there was a very direct conversation around granting a further extension or exercising the option to repurchase.

“I wasn’t there during the first sale. I wasn’t there during the extension, but I was here when we started having the conversations about whether or not we loop them back in, and at how do we use TOD sites for the public good differently,” he said.

“I’m excited to see that back in our fold.”

Review of the lands is underway

The City of Calgary said that they would be reviewing the existing land use and outline plan for the 10-acre parcel. They will also analyze market demand and marketability of the land and then strategize a plan forward.

The area has been under scrutiny for some time by local community associations due to social disorder happening in the area. Further, the lack of development was raised by many citizens during the Westbrook Local Area Plan conversation as a reason for the rise of social disorder in the area.

Matco had addressed the issue in the area by putting up fences and hiring private junk removal companies to deal with the influx of trash. They’d also hired a private security company to manage social disorder challenges with the help of Calgary Transit Peace Officers and the Calgary Police Service.

Now, that responsibility falls to the City of Calgary.

Still, Walcott believes this is the best path forward to realizing a redevelopment vision that started more than 13 years ago. To that end, it’s a vision that hasn’t really changed, he said.

Coun. Walcott said that given the site’s proximity to transit, it’s an area begging for high density.  Most of the TOD sites are a significant distance away from the downtown core.

“How many times do we get a chance to do it when it’s right beside a mall, a library, 17 Avenue west and, of course, Westbrook train station,” he said.