ORGANIC GROWTH FOR AN URBAN NICHE

Calgary’s Marda Loop has been transformed in the past decade without a specific redevelopment plan in place

The downtown locale has experienced significant change in the past decade, mostly on its own

Change is under way in Calgary’s established neighbourhoods. The bungalows that once occupied the wide, tree-lined streets of the Prairie city’s postwar suburbs are slowly surrendering to building forms better attuned to the needs and preferences of a younger generation of families – from infill homes and row houses, to multiplexes and mid-rise buildings.

As market pressures accelerate the pace of change in these neighbourhoods, redevelopment isn’t always welcome by existing residents, who bought into a suburban lifestyle many decades ago. But the benefits of densification are undeniable, as a steady influx of new residents triggers not only community improvements, but it also attracts additional services and amenities to otherwise underserved areas.

Such is the case Marda Loop, a mixed-use corridor in Calgary’s southwest, whose vibrant high streets stretch along several blocks of 33rd and 34th Avenue SW, connect four distinct neighbourhoods – Garrison Woods, Richmond, South Calgary and Altadore – with a combined population that exceeds 20,000 residents.

It hasn’t always been this way. In the late 1990s, the area’s population bottomed at roughly 12,800 residents, leaving the onus of patronizing a minuscule commercial district to empty nesters. At the time, the thriving district now known as Marda Loop was little more than a stopover for commuters on their drive home after work.

Change accelerated in 2004, when Canada Lands completed the transformation of a former Canadian Forces Base in Altadore into Garrison Woods, a masterplanned community that’s attracted more than 1,200 new families to the area, detonating a momentum that spread beyond the master plan’s boundaries.

In the two decades succeeding the development of Garrison Woods, the number of households living in the census tract comprising the Marda Loop corridor expanded by at least 30 per cent, as more than 1,700 homes, including 1,139 apartments have been constructed since 2004.

Unlike other redeveloping areas that recorded similar growth in Calgary, such as Kensington and Bridgeland, Marda Loop’s evolution wasn’t part of a concerted effort.

Outside of Garrison Woods, “there really wasn’t a city-led program that came in and changed the zoning,” says Alkarim Devani, co-founder of redevelopment consultancy MDLL and of innercity developer RNDSQR, who had his professional start as a realtor in Marda Loop.

Although infill redevelopment has been continuing in the area since the late eighties, it was the development of Garrison Woods that brought attention to Marda Loop, Mr. Devani says. “People started to see the neighbourhood’s potential.”

The evolution of Marda Loop makes it one of Calgary’s most desirable districts, as a growing number of Calgarians seek the best of two worlds: the schools, parks and greenery typical of a suburban setting, and the perks of living within walking distance to a range of services and amenities whose breadth is often exclusive to inner-city neighbourhoods.

Having spent a portion of his youth in Marda Loop, Nathan Ross jumped at the opportunity of buying his first home in the area in the spring of 2020.

“I have fond memories of Marda Loop,” Mr. Ross says, pointing at a stint working a local record store.

But he doesn’t yearn for a better past. The change that’s taken place in the last 10 years has only increased Mr. Ross’s enjoyment of Marda Loop.

By 2020, the string of outdated strip malls along 33rd Avenue SW that Mr. Ross frequented in his youth had largely been replaced by apartment buildings with a retail ground floor, and the charming, century-old homes on 34th Avenue SW transformed into quirky commercial spaces filled with unique cafés, independent restaurants and mom-and-pop shops.

“It’s become such a vibrant place,” Mr. Ross says. “You look outside and see people walking their dogs, going to coffee shops.”

In the face of Marda Loop’s success, in 2023, the City of Calgary implemented a streetscape master plan to improve the experience of pedestrians in the heart of Marda Loop, and works to widen sidewalks, install planters, trees and new light standards began along 33rd Avenue SW and 34th Avenue SW.

These improvements, compounded by a construction boom within a small radius, created significant challenges for residents and visitors alike, who have endured more than two years of sluggish traffic and limited parking.

Frustrated, Marda Loop businesses went as far as proposing a $75-million class-action lawsuit against the City of Calgary in June.

Nevertheless, the neighbourhoods comprising the Marda Loop district remain as desirable as ever.

Earlier this year, Andrea González and her family of four moved from Kingston to Calgary. Seeking to live in a central neighbourhood with ready access to employment, schools, shops and parks, the Gonzálezes viewed homes in Bridgeland and Kensington, but they ultimately settled for a $1.6-million infill in Altadore, an amount $100,000 above the neighbourhood’s median sold price in the detached segment at the time.

Constructed in 2016, the young family’s home sits on a street shaded by the dense canopy of mature elm trees, where bungalows dating from the 1950s once prevailed.

Because Altadore was laid out in the postwar period to accommodate the needs of young families, there are two playgrounds one block from Ms. González’s doorstep. The private school her two children attend, as well as Sandy Beach, a popular park by the Elbow River and the bustle of Marda Loop, await just a few minutes away.

“My husband’s co-workers really recommended this area,” she says. “And we’ve quite liked it – we’re within 20 minutes from everything we need.”

The Gonzálezes aren’t alone in finding Marda Loop a great place to live, learn and play. The area’s thriving real estate market reflects this.

As Calgary entered a more balanced market in 2025, house prices experienced some decline in the neighbourhoods comprising Marda Loop. However, median sold prices remain higher than Calgary’s, which fell to $564,000 in November, according to data compiled by digital real estate platform Wahi.

In South Calgary, Altadore, and Richmond the median sold price across segments ranged between $647,000 and $828,000. In Garrison Woods, meanwhile, the median sold price peaked at $1million in November.

Tanya Eklund, a Calgary realtor, says that Marda Loop increasingly attracts more than young, affluent families, but also single professionals looking for a starter home in a central area.

“You can get a two-bedroom, two-bathroom condo that’s pretty cute for less than $400,000,” she says. “It’s still pretty affordable for first-time homebuyers.”

In November, the median sold price of condos in Altadore reached $350,000, or about $32,000 above Calgary’s benchmark in that segment. Meanwhile, in South Calgary the median sold price dropped to $300,000, despite a dwindling inventory.

“It’s a much healthier market,” Ms. Eklund says. “Buyers now can have conditions subject to financing and to home inspection.”

Despite a softer market, change is far from relenting in Marda Loop.

In October, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. recorded roughly 300 homes under construction, including 255 apartments, in the Marda Loop corridor alone. Moreover, an additional 379 units proposed by Truman Homes on 20th Street SW, between 33rd and 34th Avenues, are currently in the planning pipeline.