Northland Village redevelopment to start in early 2022, parts of mall closed to public

Redevelopment of a stagnant northwest Calgary shopping centre will start in early 2022.

Northland Village Mall will be redeveloped into an open air shopping complex, according to a post on the mall's Facebook page. The public will not be able to access the interior of the mall starting Nov. 15.

"Over the years, Northland Village Mall has been where you went to see a new movie, got the latest music, met up with friends to grab a coffee at Smitty's or a cinnamon bun from Grandma Lees and skipped school (sorry mom and dad) to go to Wizards Castle," the Facebook post read.

"It is the end of an era."

Some stores will still be open after Nov. 15, according to the Facebook post.

Best Buy, Goodlife Fitness and Walmart can be accessed through their exterior entrances. Winnersand Alberta Health Services Hemodialysis will still be accessible through the upper parkade and north east entrances. Tim Hortonswill stay open until the end of December 2021. The Tim Hortons location at Northland Village told CBC Calgary that it has not yet confirmed whether it will stay open past December.

In July 2020, a land-use amendment was accepted by city council to redevelop Northland Village. When the master concept plan for the mall's redevelopment was proposed to council last year, some councillors were concerned that the plan didn't include a new light-rail transit (LRT) station and was not pedestrian friendly.

Northland Village was built in 1971. The once thriving shopping centre has struggled in recent years to find tenants.

What's ahead

The new shopping centre will include about 230 residential units, according to Primaris, the company that owns Northland Village. The new shopping centre will just be called Northland.

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Before the pandemic, shopping malls were already split into two camps: the haves and have nots. But online shopping has real estate investors and the owners of physical shopping centres rethinking how they can stay relevant.

The entire redevelopment is expected to be done by 2025, according to Primaris's website. That will include 400,000 square feet of space for retail and other services.

The company's website says it is now leasing space for the new mall. Several stores and restaurants will remain in the new shopping centre including Walmart, Winners, McDonald's and Subway.