Community Profile: Quarry Park

When you can live around the corner from the office and walk to the grocery store or the restaurant down the street, you’ve got it made.

That’s what life in the south east neighbourhood of Quarry Park is all about.  Life all wrapped up in one beautifully designed package.

So far there’s no Calgary neighbourhood quite like it.  Sandwiched in between Riverbend to the north and Douglas Glen to the south, Quarry Park is on the east side of the Bow River and takes full advantage of it’s unique location.  It’s aptly named, as for many years the land served as a huge industrial gravel pit for the local cement plant on the other side of the river, accessed by a narrow construction bridge.  It was also used as a dumping ground for hard materials such as asphalt and concrete, some of which was able to be recycled during the construction of the community. The land was reclaimed and developed by Remington Development Corp that saw its true potential as a rock solid mixed-use neighbourhood.

The area is a 400-acre parcel of land which is just over 50% developed.  So far, the residential portion has elegant single-family homes, town homes and condo buildings, both owned and rental units. One of the new developments is called “The Gates” and is being constructed by Remington.  It’s a boutique-style 32-unit complex offering one and two-bedroom suites.  A sister development called the “Champagne” is sold-out.  Next to it is Remington’s “The Gatestone” which are luxury townhomes which should be ready for occupancy next year.  

Along the river and throughout the neighbourhood are 90 acres of green space including 50 acres which will be left in its natural state.  Walking trails and cycling paths weave through Quarry Park which connect to the greater Bow River Pathway system.

The first gleaming office building in Quarry Park was the Jacobs Building, followed by more dazzling office buildings and the centrally-located commercial centre. All buildings in Quarry Park are being constructed to LEED standards.

The anchor of the market place is a Calgary Co-op location, with a scattering of quick-serve restaurants, fine dining and retail stores that cater to both office workers and local residents.   There’s even more choice for a quick lunch or weekend shopping nearby on 24 St SE in Douglas Dale or on 18 St SE in Riverbend, with Southcentre Mall on Anderson Road or Chinook Centre west along Glenmore Trail to Macleod Trail.

The Remington branch of the YMCA is another fantastic amenity in Quarry Park – a state-of-the-art fitness facility with 94,000 square feet of recreation space including a Calgary Public Library branch, childcare.  The developer worked closely with all YMCA stakeholders, including the City of Calgary, to bring this great facility to light, carefully choosing the location to ensure that the neighbourhoods of Riverbend and Douglasdale would also be well served by this rec centre.

Another badly needed resource in this part of the south east is a soccer pitch which will open in the next few months.  Plus, a hotel is planned for Quarry Park, a must-have amenity for a business park of this scope, which all told is about 4 million square feet in terms of office space.  When Imperial Oil relocated from Toronto to Calgary, Quarry Park is where it set up shop.

One of the theories of building such a huge business park outside the downtown core was to create a “reverse rush hour” so the flow of traffic was against traditional rush hours.

With Deerfoot Trail so readily accessible, downtown and even the airport are easy to get to.

When the Green Line LRT starts construction in 2020, it will run through Quarry Park with a stop planned across from the YMCA.

When Quarry Park is complete, there will be 10,000 people living in this neighbourhood and approximately 18,000 people working in the business park.