As of May, the City has posted a formal Request for Proposals for the construction of the public right-of-ways and neighborhood infrastructure for Phase One of the Exhibition Lands redevelopment. We expect to award the work to a contractor in late June.
Once construction gets underway road closures are anticipated to include the below areas - the anticipated timeline of work is July 2025 through Spring 2026:
Construction is expected to continue from now until spring 2026 on the first phase of the project. A map of the area has been included to show the impacts of construction for Phase One as well as other projects that will be highlighted in this update.
Following the demolition of most of the racetrack barns in 2023, the City will be moving ahead with demolition of the remaining barn buildings and the Spectrum building this year. We expect to begin remediation and abatement activities inside the buildings this August, with the physical demolition to be completed in late 2025 / early 2026. This work should have minimal impact on surrounding activities or accesses.
The operational decision to pause activities at the Edmonton Urban Farm, supported by Explore Edmonton, for the 2025 growing season was made in recent months. As shared with farmers via Explore Edmonton, this decision was necessitated by the emerging discovery of the need to construct a storm management facility (dry pond) at the site of the current Farm. This dry pond will be a usable, walkable green space the vast majority of the time, and will also ensure the safe storm water management of the neighbourhood as a whole, preventingflooding in basements and low areas. Dry pond construction requires a rezoning and amendment to the Exhibition Lands Planning Framework.
The public hearing for this rezoning and amendment proposal is scheduled for June 30. Instructions for how to provide further feedback or to participate in the public hearing can be found here.
With the assistance of Explore Edmonton, we have found temporary growing locations for many farmers this year as we build them a new permanent location near Bonanza Park, which is set to open next year. The Urban Farm is a valuable part of the City's agricultural community and will remain a key part of the Exhibition Lands site as it develops. We want to thank the farmers for their patience as we build them their new home.
Council recently asked us to explore the impacts to the approved planning framework if we were to allocate additional outdoor event space within Exhibition Lands.
In order to understand these impacts, the City contracted Urban Strategies Inc. (USI) to study the site, local market conditions and the needs of the Expo Centre. Administration has worked closely with Explore Edmonton (Expo Centre) and Urban Strategies Inc. (USI) since late last year to explore these potential adjustments. The City hosted two separate stakeholder sessions (in person & virtual) this spring and recorded feedback from attendees, which is shared again as part of this update.
Administration was originally set to present the report on the concept scenarios, USI findings report and feedback to Council this June, However, due to scheduling constraints, this date has been pushed into the future - no date has been assigned to return to Council as of yet. In the meantime, Administration will continue to share updates as they become available and we will share the new Council reporting date when it is finalized.
For more information on past engagement on the Exhibition Lands Planning Framework and Implementation Strategy, visit the Exhibition Lands site on edmonton.ca. To learn more about the approved vision and how it’s being delivered, please see exhibitionlands.ca.
If you have questions, or would like to learn more about the Exhibition Lands redevelopment project, please feel free to contact me directly at 780-496-6248, or at lovey.grewal@edmonton.ca.