HISTORY

July 1, 2025 – Canada Day

Having just reviewed the 20th anniversary publication, we thought we’d provide a short update on the past dozen years.

The ECCA produced this document just a month before the devastating 2013 floods affected Eau Claire and all of downtown. As part of the flood resiliency projects, the south side of the Bow River has had permanent flood barriers installed from the Peace Bridge to Eau Claire Plaza and from the Jaipur Bridge to the Reconciliation Bridge.

The City decided to complete additional projects during the same period, so the entire Eau Claire public realm was reimagined and constructed at the same time. The Jaipur Bridge (named for Calgary’s sister city in India) had reached the end of its life and was closed for safety reasons even before construction began.

July 2nd marks the grand re-opening of Eau Claire Plaza, a huge redesign which will hopefully provide a meeting place for the community, Calgarians and visitors for decades to come. ECCA was very involved with this project from inception and was able to persuade the City team to make changes to benefit residents.

2014 saw oil prices drop, and 2020-2021 saw the COVID pandemic send everyone who was able to work from home. Those two things resulted in a 30% vacancy rate in the downtown towers. Thus was born the Office to Residential conversion program. Page 6 of the 20-year document mentioned that Eau Claire I and Eau Claire II were built as office towers in 1980. They re-opened in 2025 as residential buildings, The Hat and The Eau Claire Residences, respectively. Some other significant changes in the community since this document was written, include:

  • The Birchcliff building was repurposed as the Westley Hotel by Hilton.

  • EC Apartments have been replaced by First and Park.

  • Oceana Restaurant closed during the lockdown and has not reopened.

  • YMCA sold the land at 101 – 3rd Street, and it reopened this month as the Eau Claire Athletic Club.

  • Eau Claire Market and River Run condos were both demolished in 2025 as part of the former planned development of the Green Line LRT. Since the original downtown alignment has been scrapped and the city is expecting a two-year consultancy period before determining a new downtown alignment, ECCA is pushing for these areas to be activated recreationally in the interim.

  • 222 – 7th Avenue is now the very popular Alforno Bakery and Café.