Iconic mall in downtown Calgary being torn down

There’s a huge transformation taking place this week in Calgary’s Eau Claire neighbourhood as the city’s iconic Eau Claire mall is being torn down — but the future of the land it sits on and surrounding area is uncertain.

The mall, originally opened in 1993, was designed to be a destination similar to Vancouver’s famous Granville Island.

But its popularity eventually waned, and after Eau Claire was chosen as the location of a new underground LRT station as part of Calgary’s Green Line expansion project, the owners of the mall decided to redevelop the land the mall sits on.

To make way for the expansion, the mall closed in May 2024.

From Eau Claire, the Green Line was originally designed to extend north, across the Bow River.

But after the Alberta government recently stepped in, concerned about the increasing cost of the Green Line, the future of the Eau Claire station is uncertain.

While a final decision has yet to be made on the route of the Green Line through downtown Calgary, the demolition of the mall is going ahead.

On Wednesday, demolition crews moved in with a large crane to start the process of tearing the building down.

“This will probably take us about one to two months, weather depending,” said Greg Morgan of Priestly Demolition.  “We’ve got a few challenges with the weather right now, especially this cold front coming through.”

The temperature in the Calgary area on Wednesday was forecast to hit a high of around -20 C.

Morgan says the building is mostly constructed of steel and concrete, which he describes as typical building materials.

Before the demolition began, Morgan added, crews also had to do a thorough sweep of the building to make sure any hazardous material was removed.

The land the mall occupies is owned by Harvard Developments which, until the LRT station was put on hold, had been planning a mix of commercial and residential developments in the area.