Gateway
Our Connected Calgary
Gateway links East Village to the world from many directions; it’s the first area you see entering the city along Memorial Drive from the airport and it connects EV to Bridgeland and eastern downtown. People working out at the YWCA or sweating through exams at Bow Valley College will be able to change horizons by crossing the street,. A long stretch of Gateway borders RiverWalk and the Bow River, and residents will enjoy great views out over the promenade to the water.
The Crossing
Our High Note
Bounded by 3rd Street SE to the west, 6th Ave to the north, 5th Street SE to the east and 9th Avenue SE in the south.
There’s a whole lot of living, learning, shopping, browsing, working going on in The Crossing, and, if you’re in the new National Music Centre taking a lesson, viewing the collection or watching a band, probably a whole lot of shakin’, too! The Crossing mixes new architecture with our few lovingly-restored old structures. It’s a key area for both residences and future institutions, has easy LRT access and is among the most active parts of EV night and day.
The EVE Block
The EVE (East Village Experience) Block houses the village movie theatre, event space, street-level stores and several stories of residences. It’s really the heart of the village, a landmark with a glass-covered central space that frames The Riff walkway and draws visitors and locals alike, winter and summer.
Walk the Riff
The Riff is a diagonal streetscape that slices through Calgary’s traditional square grid, extending in a north-easterly direction all the way from a plaza southwest of the EVE block to the edge of the RiverWalk near the Fort Calgary lands. From there, this sunny pedestrian thoroughfare, animated by sculpture and street life, leads over a new pedestrian bridge to a rejuvenated St. Patrick’s Island.
8th Avenue
On the short stretch of 8th Avenue west of 4th Street, the architectural vestiges of old Calgary – a refurbished St. Louis Hotel and Hillier Block – along with the buildings of a new East Village – combine to create a street of city entertainments. One street over is the National Music Center, so this stretch is alive with students, musicians and all the fans of the bands.
National Music Centre
The NMC will be a key destination for Calgarians and visitors that incorporates Calgary’s soulful musical past – the King Eddy – with an ambitious future that includes bars and live entertainment, recording studios, formal concert space and instrument collections. The $130 million, 110,000 sq. ft. ‘living museum’ at the corner of 4th Street and 9th Avenue will set a modern architectural standard in the village, thanks to innovative work from Allied Architecture Works of Portland, Oregon. A groundbreaking is anticipated in 2012. For more about the NMC, visit www.nmc.ca
River's Edge
Our Urban Nature
Small wonder EV’s pioneering developers Embassy Bosa and FRAM +Slokker bought into River’s Edge first. The iconic Simmons Building, soon to be activated as an important retail destination, will be joined by other shops, restaurants and services that offer a 4-star view over the award-winning RiverWalk promenade and the Bow River. RiverWalk Phase I and II, from Centre St. to the Simmons, is open; Phase III from Riverplaza to 9th Avenue will be completed in summer 2012.
St. Patrick’s Island is a 31-acre breathing space in the Bow River just off the eastern edge of East Village. In 2010, CMLC embarked on a year-long master plan process that engaged over 6000 Calgarians who expressed a desire for nature trails and boardwalks, performance spaces and water access. A team of landscape architects will be selected in 2012 to lead the detailed design process for the island; construction is anticipated to begin in 2013. Learn more here: http://www.calgarymlc.ca/explore-projects/st-patricks-island/master-plan.
Construction on a new St. Patrick’s Island bridge, from EV to the island and beyond to Bridgeland, begins in 2012. More here: http://www.calgarymlc.ca/explore-projects/st-patricks-bridge.
Parkside
Our Garden Home
Bordered on the west by 5th Street SE, on the north by 6th Avenue SE on the south by 9th Avenue SE. and in the east by Fort Calgary at 6th Street SE. Fort Calgary borders the eastern extremity of East Village at 6th Street SE, ends on the north at the Bow River, in the east at the Elbow River and in the south by 9th Avenue SE.
Parkside is a residential enclave; with its eastern border on the Fort Calgary lands, a 40-acre preserved green space, and a planned public square, it’s naturally more peaceful and gardenlike. It’s here that developer FRAM+Slokker will make its mark in East Village: the company’s lower-rise townhomes and condominiums will be a contrast to the higher-rise feel of other EV areas. Buildings grow in height as you head west toward city centre and south toward 9th Avenue SE, where East Village ends.
