The Buzz
ALBERTA BUDGET BOOSTS INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING Alberta infrastructure projects were updated ina big way by the provincial government, in its 2015 budget tabled in October. The province says the investment — a 15 per cent increase in capital spending that adds up to $34 billion over the next five years — will drive job creation in the engineering and construction industries, which have been hit hard by the energy sector slowdown. Included in the funding is $3.8 billion for schools; $4.7 billion for roads and bridges; $2.2 billion for health facilities and equipment; and $4.4 billion for other new projects and programs. Smaller municipalities will get $119 million to support rehabilitation and construction of roads and bridges through the newly restored Strategic Transportation Infrastructure Program. The remaining $4.6 billion for roads and bridges will go to projects throughout the province, including $2.9 billion for the Edmonton and Calgary ring roads. Calgary’s ring road is set to be complete in 2022, while the final northeast portion of Anthony Henday Drive in Edmonton will be done next year. Also included is funding for work on Highways 63, 28, and 19. Another major project — the Calgary Cancer Centre, featured in the fall Buzz — will get $830 million, although that falls short of the estimated $1.3 billion total cost. The province says the centre, which
toric area into one of the city’s hippest neighbourhoods. But all the while, the fenced-off lot at the southeast corner of 105th Street has remained undeveloped. The former site of a gas station underwent nearly 20 years of remediation because of contamination from leaking tanks. With the site now cleaned up, Calgary developer Wexford Developments has announced plans to transform the brownfield into a 132,000-square-foot mixed-use development. It will be called the Raymond Block, after the Raymond Hotel that occupied the site in the 1900s. The $40-million project will offer 21,000 square feet of retail, restaurant, and office space on its bottom two storeys and 96 luxury apartments on its top four floors. Designed by the APEGA
was expected to open in 2020, will now open in 2023-2024. The 2015 budget featured a record $6.1-billion deficit. The province will run $18 billion in operational deficits to the 2019-20 fiscal year, but plans to balance its books after that. -Corinne Lutter
TRANFORMATION AHEAD FOR WHYTE AVENUE BROWNFIELD
Edmonton’s Whyte Avenue has continu- ally evolved over the last two decades, with the arrival of new restaurants, pubs, and shops. Building facades have undergone facelifts and new structures have appeared, transforming the his-
18 | PEG WINTER 2015
Made with FlippingBook flipbook maker