East Village expansion

New development to bring restaurants, retail to RiverWalk

East Village's historic Simmons Building will soon have a fashionable new neighbour.

A fitting mix of Calgary's past and future, the new project will bring 17,000 to 20,000 square feet of retail and office space to M2 – a quarter-acre lot alongside the Bow River in downtown Calgary.

"M2 is a highly visible site and, even though it's small, it will have a huge presence in East Village," said Kate MacGregor, president of Calgary's XYC Design + Development. "The prominent location is ideal for what we intend to develop, namely, village-style retail space with restaurants along the ground level and unique office space above."

Located alongside the newly developed RiverWalk – Calgary Mortgage and Land Corporation's (CMLC) four-kilometre pathway running from Centre St. to Ninth Ave. S.E. – the project will be one of the first in the city to allow pedestrians and cyclists unfettered access to the storefront.

"The prominent location is ideal for what we intend to develop – namely, village-style retail space with restaurants along the ground level and unique office space above.

This won't be just an amenity for the neighbourhood, it will be a destination for all Calgarians," said MacGregor. A fifth-generation Calgarian, MacGregor has also done work as an architectural designer in New York City.

"Kate and her design symbolize the energy and vision that are transforming East Village," said Michael Brown, president and CEO of CMLC. "Her fresh ideas and eagerness to contribute to the evolution of Calgary – her hometown – are contagious.

"Beyond that, Kate's project represents an important step toward our realization of the East Village retail strategy, which envisions a complementary mix of village format retail and urban-scaled retail across a total commercial footprint of 411,500 square feet."

The announcement comes as other projects in and around the East Village begin to near completion. The St. Patrick's Bridge, delayed as a result of last year's floods, is set to open in October, while the nearby National Music Centre has begun to take shape. Scheduled to be completed in 2016, the centre recently announced its Out Loud Gala, which will take place on Sept. 20.

XYC Design + Development is currently finalizing files for its development permit application, which it expects to submit early next year.