REPORT TO THE COMMUNITY
The parkade features a publicly accessible ground floor sport court and with stunning city skyline views, the seventh floor offers a panoramic event rental space. The facility also hosts a 50,000 square foot Innovation Centre, supporting local start-ups and entrepreneurs. Learn more about what the Platform Calgary Innovation Centre is doing now and how to get involved here.
The dynamics of transportation and city spaces are changing and are expected to continue to reshape as transportation continues to evolve. Designed by Kasian and 5468796 Architecture, the Platform Parkade allows for future conversion of space into office, residential, or a mix of both uses. The floor-to-ceiling height is approximately one and a half times that of a traditional parkade to accommodate future mechanical, electrical and HVAC requirements and the above-grade design, which includes a central atrium, allows natural light to penetrate through the building. Another unique feature is that the structure does not have a ramp system; therefore, no ramps will have to be removed when converting from one use to another.
Located in the historic East Village, Platform Parkade is a new addition to Calgary’s oldest neighbourhood. The East Village, with its proximity to Fort Calgary and the location where the Bow and Elbow River’s meet, is one of the most traditionally important gathering places for local Indigenous peoples. In 2021, we, like the rest of Canada, were shaken by the on-going discoveries of mass graves on former Residential School land. We know that Indigenous issues are our issues, and our organization will continue to listen, learn and do our part to further truth and reconciliation in a genuine and meaningful way.
As part of this commitment, we are so happy to have supported the Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary (AFCC) and its mandate to provide social, cultural, education and employment services to Aboriginal peoples within the Calgary Metropolitan area.
"The Aboriginal Friendship Centre of Calgary is grateful for the support of the CPA over the last year. The kind donation assisted our team in delivering much needed basic need supplies and healthy food hampers to Calgary’s most vulnerable.”
from all Platform Parkade monthly customer agreements, from the opening of the parkade until the end of 2021, was donated to AFCC.
was contributed to the AFCC as part of this campaign.
In the summer of 2021, in partnership with Fort Calgary, we took steps to learn and share more about the history of the East Village and the land that Platform Parkade is built on.
To continue the #TruthandReconciliation conversation, we wanted to learn more about the East Village where our newest parkade just opened. Our friends at @fortcalgary have shared stories about the community with us, and we want to share them with you! Stay tuned over the next four weeks as we learn more about the historical significance of this land.
East Village is one of Calgary’s oldest communities, and can trace its roots back to the establishment of Fort Brisebois (soon after renamed Fort Calgary), in 1875. For strategic reasons, the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) placed the fort, from which the City of Calgary took its name, at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow rivers. This was a place of gathering for Indigenous peoples since time immemorial.
The Simmons Building was once a mattress factory & warehouse, & is now home to a restaurant, coffee shop, & bakery. Its red brick walls hold over a century of light industrial & new urban history. Thanks for sharing, @FortCalgary!
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Image: The Simmons Building. Photographed by Mark Eleven. Courtesy of the Calgary Public Library, Williams and Harris Shared History Centre.
Thank you to Hal Eagletail for sharing our next post with us.
“The East Village in downtown Calgary holds a great historical significance for the Tsuut'ina Nation.
Not long after the Tsuut'ina Nation established its current reservation site in 1885, tactics of the federal government to starve out First Nations by withholding treaty-promised food rations were deployed. Our signatory Chief for peace Treaty 7, Bullhead (Chiila), was forced to move our people to camp out on the East Village site. There, he started a lobby campaign for food. He would request food from Fort Calgary and when that fell on deaf ears he threatened violence.
#DYK in the earliest days of permanent residence in what’s now #EastVillageYYC, Victoria Park, Mission, Inglewood, Ramsey, and Erlton, #Calgary was a predominantly Métis settlement. In 1881, 67% of Calgarians were Métis!
#IndigenousHistoryMonth
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The Métis have been in the Calgary area since at least the late 1860s. The Godin family had established themselves in the vicinity by 1870, and over the next few years, other Métis individuals and families trickled in. The Métis population settled along the Bow River was about 35 people by 1874. This population tripled the following year when, in April 1875, Cuthbert McGillis and Addison McPherson led an expedition of Métis from Buffalo Lake to the Bow Valley.
When the North West Mounted Police (NWMP) arrived at the confluence of the Bow and Elbow Rivers in the summer of 1875, and established what became Fort Calgary, a Métis settlement quickly sprung up around the fort. This settlement ran along the Elbow River, including what is East Village today, and the Métis quickly came to form a majority population in the emerging community of Calgary.
Established in 1905, the King Edward Hotel or “King Eddy” rose to prominence in the 1980s as one of Canada’s first & foremost blues bars. Rebuilt & restored after its 2013 dismantlement, the King Eddy continues to be a place where music lives & plays.
#IndigenousHistoryMonth
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Image: The King Eddy. Photographed by Mark Eleven. Courtesy of the Calgary Public Library, Williams and Harris Shared History Centre.
Nestled in the Bow River between #EastVillageYYC & Bridgeland, St. Patrick’s Island Park is one of the oldest green spaces in #yyc. Its transformation into a public space began as early as the 1890s, making it almost 130 years old. #IndigenousHistoryMonth
Image: St. Patrick’s Island Park and East Village. Photographed by Peak Experience Imagery. Courtesy of the Calgary Public Library, Williams and Harris Shared History Centre Centre.
Traditionally, the Blackfoot word for “elbow,” Mohkinsstis, refers to the place where the Bow River bends like an elbow from east to south, giving the Elbow River its name.
Nowadays, Mohkinsstis also refers to Calgary, the city that sprung up from the bend in the Bow. #IndigenousHistoryMonth
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Image: "Ernest Cashel, Calgary, Alberta.", [ca. 1903] (CU183203) by . Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary
The Platform Parkade builds off of what is needed to succeed today while being primed to adapt as mobility needs shift in the future. The Calgary Parking Authority is proud to be part of this project and believes in working collaboratively to support the current and future parking needs of the communities we serve while contributing to the creation of vibrant community spaces.
Read more about the Platform Parkade in Avenue Magazine. Reimagining Calgary's Parkades - Avenue Calgary
