Development site sales have begun for five of seven multi-family parcels included in the Midfield Heights development, making way for up to 1,500 new homes.

It’s the latest step in the City of Calgary’s plan to rebuild the area after a mobile home park was torn down in 2018.

At that time, tenants were evicted from roughly 180 units, with the city identifying deteriorating underground utilities among the land issues found on the 24 acres north of 16 Avenue and Moncton Road NE.

Now, the fully serviced sites between 0.78 acres and 4.2 acres in size which are part of an overall master plan project for the area, are being made available to developers for between 1,000 and 1,500 homes.

According to Marcia Andreychuk, speaking on behalf of the City of Calgary’s Real Estate and Development Services, after the site was closed in 2018, they immediately went ahead with development approvals. Those were obtained in March 2021, and then the site’s engineering approvals and site rehabilitation took place.

“This year, we’re doing our final year of construction. It’ll see the construction of roads, sidewalks, street lighting, and two parks,” she said.

Utilities were removed under the homes, environmental remediation was done to the site, and slope stabilization was done to ensure the security of the future development.

“I would say that there’s been a tremendous amount of work that’s been taking place ever since 2018,” Andreychuk said.

“It’s in the hands of the purchasers now, once they purchased the site, they’ll be looking to build as quickly as they can. We’re looking to accommodate that and support whatever needs to be done for them to get in the ground as soon as possible.”

Two other sites will be included later this year. One is a non-market housing location and the other is a commercial location.

Could have moved quicker: Mayor, Councillor

Ward 9 Coun. Gian-Carlo Carra said it’s an important moment to move ahead with the land sales in a project that actually been more than a decade in the making.

“I don’t remember what came first, whether it was a Winston Heights ARP or the 16th Avenue ARP, but the understanding was that at some point, the ultra-low density mobile homes would convert to a higher density, mixed-use neighborhood at the gateway to the inner city off the freeway,” Carra said.

While many of the residences will be sold at market value, Carra said the intention is to provide considerable non-market or affordable housing at the location. He said he fought “tooth and nail” for a plan that would make the transition easier for evicted residents.

“I think as tenants they were very well looked after, in terms of being given a huge chunk of time with no rent increases, even though the utilities were failing, he said.

“They were given a ton of walking away money and they were given expertise on how to best manage their financial situation into their next housing situation.”

Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek said that there was a significant amount of work that needed to be done to the site before it was ready for further development.

“I don’t believe we’ve moved as quickly as we could on that site,” she said.

“I’m very encouraged to see that there’s action taking place now. But I,  along with you, wish we had moved quicker.”

Carra said there’s a lesson in all of this: The City must move quicker to respond to Calgary’s housing needs.

“We need to move way, way faster in an age of climate crisis and an age of in an age of housing crisis,” he said.  

“We have to be able to bring land to market way swifter than we are right now. But you know, success stories will, in some ways, breed the ability to do that.”

Development site sales are open for application to experienced multi-family builders from June 4 to July 9.  Right now, there are 1,443 people signed up to the “I’m a future resident” email subscribers for Midfield Heights.

They will be connected with potential future developers as the plan progresses.