Around 40 years since construction began on what would become one of downtown Calgary’s most iconic gathering spaces, work is getting underway to reimagine the next iteration of Olympic Plaza.
Officials with the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), Werklund Centre, the Werklund family, the Government of Alberta and the City of Calgary broke ground on the Olympic Plaza Transformation project Thursday.
“This is a city-shaping, city-building project, that is going to impact this city for generations,” CMLC president Kate Thompson said.
“This is taking a 40-year-old plaza and seeing it take its next steps into a modern, inclusive and accessible place for Calgarians and visitors alike to come and celebrate.”
The plaza, which was built ahead of the 1988 Winter Olympics for medal ceremonies, was demolished in late 2024 to make way for the revitalization project.
The $70 million project will feature a new pavilion with food and beverage options, public washrooms and a new green space. It will also include space that can hold major events of up to 5,000 people, as well as a splash pad that can be converted into a skating rink during the winter months.
Officials said the city’s Olympic legacy will be included with a 12-metre tall feature that resembles the ‘sunflake,’ the the official emblem of the 1988 Olympic Winter Games.
The project is part of the $660 million expansion of the Werklund Centre, formerly known as Arts Commons, a new 170,000-square-foot theatre facility currently under construction, which houses the Osten-Victor Playhouse, and the 200-seat studio theatre.
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Both projects are expected to be complete in 2028, with Werklund Centre officials set to manage the new plaza.
“We are extending our mandate that we currently have within this facility as a civic partner of the City of Calgary,” said Werklund Centre President & CEO Alex Sarian. “We are extending that mandate and that mission not just to the new building across the street but also to Olympic Plaza.”
At an event celebrating the ground-breaking Thursday, Thompson told the crowd the project is part of “an ecosystem of change” in the city’s downtown core.
That change includes a series of office-to-residential conversion projects, Scotia Place, as well as renovations to the Glenbow Museum, and a modernization of Stephen Avenue.
Thom Mahler, the city’s downtown strategy director, said many of the projects currently underway have been talked about at the city for decades, and fall under the “same collective vision” of downtown revitalization.
However, Mahler acknowledged there have been concerns about disruptions from the construction work throughout the core.
“We are trying to do the best as we can to coordinate, and part of that is communication, and making sure people know well in advance what’s coming,” he said. “It’s a balance but we also try and keep the focus on what’s positive… it’ll be worth some of the headache.”
Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas, who called the Werklund Centre expansion and Olympic Plaza transformation “essential infrastructure,” said there is upwards of $20 billion in both public and private investment in the city’s downtown core over the next decade.
Farkas argued investments in downtown revitalization help “fill office towers,” which in turn improves the city’s bottom line through property taxes.
“You do not need to visit Calgary’s downtown to be the direct beneficiary of investments like this,” Farkas said. “A safer, vibrant downtown ultimately will keep your taxes reasonable.”
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