A village is rising from the old Calgary General Hospital site in Bridgeland. It’s the fruit of public consultation and planning work that followed the demolition of the hospital in 1998. That controversial decision led to the opportunity to redevelop a large chunk of an inner-city neighbourhood.

The city hopes to be working the ground by summer, says Colleen Roberts, project co-ordinator in the corporate properties department. The city is acting as the developer for the site and will sell fully serviced lots with direct control zoning and architectural guidelines.

The site is divided into three segments: the old hospital parking lot along 1st Avenue N.E., the hospital location itself and the open spaces between the hospital and Memorial Drive N.E.

The plan shows the parking lot becoming retail and commercial along 1st Avenue, with apartments above the retail units. Possibilities include live/work townhouses and apartments above townhouses. Building heights would be about three storeys on 1st Avenue, the community’s focus.

Development plans for Bridgeland call for the open space near Memorial Drive to be filled by high-density housing.

The hospital site itself will become a park, while the current open space near Memorial Drive will be high density, to encourage transit use. Building heights in the south end of the area near the LRT station could reach eight storeys.

1st Avenue will include retail units at ground level, with apartments above.

“It’s an urban village,” says Roberts. “We’re creating a new community in an old community.”

Susan Palmer, a senior planner with the city, says development close to the street makes for a pleasant pedestrian environment. The design’s openness and an abundance of people commuting on foot will help improve safety as well.

Roberts points out that townhouse doors will be close to the sidewalk and street instead of being set back as far as in other new neighbourhoods.

Townhouse doors will be close to the street for an urban feel.

“It’s trying to bring the best of what people want today and the best of what was done in the past,” adds Palmer.

Roberts notes that respect for public open space caused the high-density parts of the project to be placed near the LRT, leaving an open space in the middle of the community.

The community hall and outdoor pool will be moved and smaller parks will break up the density throughout the community.

The retail area on 1st Avenue should be local commercial, she adds. “It’s not going to be another Kensington.”

Palmer notes that the retail area will need the entire community to support it. The community will only be about 3,500 people larger than it is now, close to the historic high for Bridgeland-Riverside.

Outside consultants on the project include architects Peter Burgener and Henry Schlichter of BKDI, and Doug Carlyle of Carlyle and Associates Landscape Architects.

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House prices kept rising across Canada in the fourth quarter of last year as low interest rates spurred

buyers, says a major real estate firm.

Royal LePage Real Estate Services Ltd. said last week that 88 per cent of bungalows and 89 per cent of two-storey houses in its survey increased in value year-over-year.

The average value of a detached bungalow rose 4.7 per cent to $205,174 and a two-storey house rose 5.2 per cent to $227,658.

Most cities reported sellers’ market conditions, shorter listing periods and some multiple-offer situations, said Royal LePage.

It wasn’t all rosy, though – the struggling stock market hurt the housing sector. Demand for high-end property in most markets, except the Westmount area of Montreal, declined substantially.

Condominiums remained popular with first-time buyers and empty-nesters. The survey included nine Calgary neighbourhoods and seven in Edmonton. The average Calgary bungalows rose 2.2 per cent to $220,759 and a two-storey house rose 4.5 per cent to $242,528.

The average Edmonton bungalow rose 10.3 per cent to $144,429 and a two-storey home in the provincial capital rose 8.6 per cent to $159,714.