City Hall key to U of A move downtown
Council to debate $12.5M investment in Bay building

Bill Mah Sound Off
The Edmonton Journal

August 27, 2005

EDMONTON -- City council will debate Tuesday the merits of a $12.5-million deal to usher the University of Alberta into the old Hudson's Bay building and help revitalize the downtown, The Journal has learned.

It is expected that councillors will decide whether to spend the money, the city's share of a proposed $25-million joint venture with the U of A to retrofit the Jasper Avenue building, long considered an icon of downtown decline, sources say.

In the midst of a growth spurt on its main campus, the university has made a conditional offer to purchase the landmark property for an undisclosed amount from a European-based realty company.

In the past, the university has estimated the cost of buying and redeveloping the property at about $60 million.

But before buying the building, university officials want to reach a memorandum of understanding with city council regarding the interior redevelopment of the colossal structure on Jasper Avenue between 102nd and 103rd streets, according to sources.

University vice-presidents met in private Wednesday with council's executive committee, but neither side will comment publicly on the discussions until Tuesday's council meeting.

"The executive committee has recommended the city move ahead in co-operation with the university on the revitalization of the former Bay building and the university take an active role in the downtown," said committee member Coun. Michael Phair, who declined to release further details.

"That prospect looks very exciting. The specifics as to exactly how this will all work will be debated by council on Tuesday and we'll see what the exact results of that are."

Coun. Mike Nickel also refused to discuss specifics, but hinted the proposal will face intense scrutiny at council.

"The proposal is a good news story, but there are some fundamental questions about the Bay redevelopment that need to be addressed in the minds of the taxpayer and that will come out Tuesday."

U of A officials declined comment until Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Alberta Infrastructure spokesman Trent Bancarz said the provincial government has received the university's proposal for purchasing the Bay building.

The province is reviewing a request for financial assistance, but has not committed any funds.

He would not divulge the amount sought by the U of A.

The deal, if successful, would fulfil two longtime city hall ambitions in its ongoing inner-city revitalization by luring the U of A downtown and filling the mostly vacant old Bay building whose size, history and location make it a linchpin for downtown redevelopment.

If the university makes the move, as many as 1,000 continuing education students would attend classes days and evenings in the building, beginning as early as September 2006.

The university's research transition facility and more than 90 academics would also move into the building.

They would be joined by 30 workers from TEC Edmonton, a joint partnership between the city and the university, which is associated with the research facility.

bmah@thejournal.canwest.com
© The Edmonton Journal 2005

That'd be great. How many undergrad and grad students would be in U of A's campuses? Aren't U of A wanting to get a southern campus as well? Getting the Bay building used up would be a great idea to revitalize Edmonton's downtown, and get people downtown. I wonder what it'd look like, and how they'd organize the building. Maybe they'd keep retail on the street level too. What's there now, any street level retail?

^street level is CHUM's HQ for edmonton.


UofA is currently at ~34,000 students if i recall and yes they are working on a south campus...big plans.

How many people are planned for the South Campus, and is the Downtown Campus only Continuing Studies for 1000? I can't wait to see the renderings.

Hey anytime you add 1000 people downtown as well as numerous others that will be working it will have a nice spin off effect for the core. Not to mention hopefully this means another 300 or so that will chose to live downtown as well.

"How many people are planned for the South Campus"

over a long term period...something like 20,000.

Some more good news here:

City pledges $12.5 million for downtown TEC Centre

by Sandra Halme
U of A president Dr. Indira Samarasekera

U of A president Dr. Indira Samarasekera
August 30, 2005 - Edmonton City Council today voted unanimously in support of a partnership with the University of Alberta on a proposal to establish a downtown campus for Technology, Entrepreneur and Company (TEC) Development focused on the commercialization of research.

Through the partnership, the City of Edmonton will invest $12.5 million: $7.5 million to support the TEC Centre downtown campus in the former Hudson's Bay Building, a heritage building that has languished in the city centre for the past 10 years; and $5 million for TEC Edmonton, an organization supporting the creation, development and retention of spin off businesses in Edmonton. The University of Alberta's total investment will exceed $30 million.

"In 10 years, I am confident that we will look back and see this announcement as pivotal to the diversification and sustainable economic development of Edmonton and Northern Alberta," says Edmonton Mayor Stephen Mandel. "Moreover, I believe this effort will be a catalyst to the revitalization of our downtown core."

University of Alberta president Indira Samarasekera says the partnership signals a new era of cooperation. "The city and university have always been key to each other's success," she says. "This gives life to our partnership while enhancing our city's well-being and the university's vibrancy as a leading centre of learning and research."

According to Mandel, this partnership advances both Edmonton's vision as a strong, progressive and culturally rich capital city and the University of Alberta's reputation as a successful research engine.

Since 1994, the year the university opened its technology transfer office, the U of A has created more than 60 new companies and generated more than $28 million in licensing and royalty revenue.

With council approval now in place, the city and university will continue efforts to finalize the Memorandum of Understanding outlining specific governance and reporting details. With city support in place, an additional $30 million in provincial and federal financing will be sought. With financing complete, design would be advanced with construction commencing this fall. TEC Centre would be ready for operation by late 2006.

Address of this ExpressNews article:
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=6912

excellent news...

Good to see it finalized.