New Oakridge Co-op store slated for completion in early 2025
Demolition of the mall surrounding the Oakridge Co-op is scheduled to begin at the end of April, followed by the construction of the new food store, with a completion date slated for early 2025.
This was the update provided by Calgary Co-op to the Oakridge Community Association board of directors on March 21st, as activity around the area is slated to ramp up significantly in the months ahead.
The present Co-op store, which was the eighth store built in Calgary back in 1976, will remain open throughout the construction period and then demolished once the new store is operational. While the new store will be 15,000 square feet smaller than the old store, through a better use of space it will provide shoppers with more offerings, including “a local vegetable program,” an expanded cheese shop, and a “community room” for free use by area residents. There will also be more pedestrian connections to the new Co-op location from Southland Drive and from Oakmoor Drive.
Most of the previous tenants of the mall have moved into the new professional building to the southwest of the Co-op, near the Boston Pizza. The final tenant will move in mid-April, just before demolition takes place.
Construction on the multi-storey residential development that will go up on the site of the present Co-op won’t begin until early 2025 with completion slated for some time in 2027. The original developer on that site went bankrupt in 2019 and a new developer is actively being sought for that location through a bid process that is about to get underway. And a result, the new development is no longer known as Oakridge Crossing, but simply the Oakridge Co-op development.
The site is still approved for an 11-storey development consisting of 178 owned condominium units. It is also approved for a below grade parkade and a connecting thoroughfare through the site between Oakmoor Drive and Southland Drive. The result will be a loss of approximately 100 surface parking stalls from the present location.