{"id":566550,"date":"2026-03-28T12:35:30","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:35:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566550\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T12:35:30","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T12:35:30","slug":"what-the-future-of-calgarys-hudsons-bay-building-could-look-like","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/566550\/","title":{"rendered":"What the future of Calgary’s Hudson’s Bay building could look like"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Hudson\u2019s Bay building has stood as a staple in Calgary\u2019s downtown core for over a century, but today, the historic space faces an uncertain future.<\/p>\n

With no concrete redevelopment plan in place, the building\u2019s past, present, and future were the focus of a recent public discussion hosted by Heritage Calgary, where experts outlined both the possibilities for the site and the challenges standing in the way.<\/p>\n

Andrew Doudican, director of urban strategy for the Calgary Downtown Association, spoke about the building\u2019s challenges.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is currently a rapidly decaying, largely vacant space that invites vagrancy, vandalism, and actually detracts from the vibrancy of the avenue,\u201d Doudican said at the event.<\/p>\n

The building is still home to three businesses: The Guild, Hudson, and Sub Rosa, showing that there is still a demand for historic spaces like this.<\/p>\n

However, given its size, its vacancy following the closure of Hudson\u2019s Bay<\/a> presents ongoing challenges for maintenance and upkeep in a building of this age.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cBuildings of the size, age, and complication are going to take time to transact, but this building is the heart of our city, so we\u2019re hoping it\u2019s worth the wait,\u201d he said. \u201cSuccessful redevelopment would act as a catalyst for revitalization on Stephen Avenue.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Kendall Collins\/Daily Hive<\/p>\n

As for what could become of the Hudson\u2019s Bay building, Philip Vandermey and Jessie Andjelic, founding partners of Spectacle Bureau for Architecture and Urbanism, spoke about potential redevelopment ideas for the site.<\/p>\n

They emphasized that while the building\u2019s future is still undefined, its scale, location, and heritage value make it a strong candidate for reuse rather than demolition.<\/p>\n

\u201cSustainability is one of the key issues of our time, and the most sustainable building is one that is already built,\u201d Vandermey said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They added that the building\u2019s future will likely require a mixed-use approach, combining residential, cultural and commercial spaces to keep the site fully active.\u00a0<\/p>\n

They suggested the building could become a layered downtown hub, with possibilities ranging from cultural and creative spaces to housing, post-secondary spaces, and public gathering areas, following the footsteps of other Hudson\u2019s Bay buildings, like the one in Victoria, B.C., which now serves as higher-end housing on top of retail space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For now, the building\u2019s future remains uncertain as it does not currently have heritage protection in place, and it has even found itself on the National Trust for Canada\u2019s Endangered Places<\/a> List.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Hudson\u2019s Bay building has stood as a staple in Calgary\u2019s downtown core for over a century, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":566551,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194293],"tags":[49,2798,48],"class_list":{"0":"post-566550","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-calgary","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-calgary","10":"tag-canada"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=566550"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/566550\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/566551"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=566550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=566550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=566550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}