Construction has begun on Alpine Park, a $2.5-billion community in Calgary. The project is a brand-new 646-acre, next-generation greenfield development. It is expected to create 1,700 direct and indirect jobs per year, for a total of more than 20,000 new jobs over the 15-year lifespan of the project.
Dream Unlimited, the project’s developer, explained that after more than two decades of planning, the project has moved forward after government officials awarded the final construction contract for completion of the last leg of Calgary’s Ring Road.
Upon completion, the community will be home to more than 10,000 residents, and will create 4,000 ongoing jobs throughout the commercial, retail, industrial and institutional areas integrated within the neighbourhood, according to company projections.
“We started assembling this development in 1997 and today, 23 years later, we are proud to commence development of this exceptional project,” said Michael Cooper, chief responsible officer of Dream Unlimited.
“Alpine Park is among some of our most prestigious mixed-use communities, along with The Distillery District and Canary District in Toronto and Zibi in Ottawa. We strive to build communities that help make peoples’ lives better.”
The neighbourhood will be unlike anything the city has so far seen from its suburbs – which have historically been known for their car-dominant designs rather than being built for pedestrians. Nearly all future residents within the first 476-acre community will live within an eight-minute walk along wide, tree-lined boulevards to the Village Centre. Garages have all been designed to be accessed from the side or back alleys, making way for the return of old-fashioned front porches that allow people to connect with each other and nature.
“With the upcoming opening of the Calgary Ring Road, Alpine Park is well located and easily accessible to the whole city,” said Tara Steell, general manager of Dream’s Calgary Land division.
The vision for Alpine Park was shaped in collaboration with Peter Calthorpe’s HDR/Calthorpe, widely considered one of the founding fathers of the new urbanism movement. His work includes major projects in the United States and abroad, but Alpine Park will be the first master planned community he’s been involved with in Canada to break ground. Civitas is another partner, known to Calgarians for its work on St. Patrick’s Island.
Dream also announced Alpine Park’s founding builder partner group: Calbridge Homes, Cardel Homes, Genesis Builders, and Homes by Dream.
