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Changing Chinook

Canadian center's evolution continues with a multimillion-dollar overhaul

By Albert Warson

In Calgary, Alberta, chinooks are warm winds that moderate the Canadian province's winters. At Chinook Centre, those gusts are winds of change.

The modest 45-store center in suburban Calgary that began its retail life on 40 windswept acres of Alberta range has evolved into a 1 million-square-foot regional mall that is now in the midst of a C$150 million renovation.

As part of the renovation of Chinook Centre in Calgary, Alberta, 20 Vic Management plans to add a streetscape of stores, including the city's largest Banana Republic.

Built for $C12.5 million in 1960, the mall was joined and enclosed by a neighboring 33-store shopping center over the years. A food court was added and a west wing was established to accommodate a furniture store.

Today it is more than halfway through a two-stage total renovation and redevelopment. Zellers and Sears Canada discount department stores reopened in December, each with fresh retailing concepts in 120,000-square-foot rebuilt spaces. With 20 new retailers and other common area improvements completed at the same time, some 500,000 square feet has been rebuilt.

Demolition and reconstruction began in April 1998. By November, when the work is completed:

* a 200,000-square-foot Bay store will have been redesigned and re-opened (Chinook is the only three-anchor center in Calgary);

* another 60 to 70 new retailers will have been added, including the city's largest Banana Republic, with 7,000 square feet;

* a streetscape of stores facing the MacLeod and Glenmore Trails highways (with redesigned Gap and Eddie Bauer storefronts, for example) will have parking lot access as well as entrances from the mall interior;

* an expanded, 850-seat food court will accommodate shoppers;

* 5,000 existing free parking spaces will be increased by 150 spaces, along with traffic circulation improvements.

Located at the intersection of two highways, more than 174,000 cars pass the site each day, with more than 10,000 of those pulling into the parking lot. Thirteen-and-a-half million people visited last year, spending more than C$250 million. Between 18 million and 20 million visitors are expected at the center.

Fashion, lifestyle and family retailing zones, with connecting transitional courts, will be created to facilitate shopper orientation to specific merchandise types and services. Couches, coffee bars and zone-related themes in the courts will provide relaxing pauses between visits to the shopping areas.

Geoffrey Cresswell, managing director, MMC International, Toronto, the architectural firm in charge of the total makeover, explained the rationale for the redevelopment: "The tenants were looking for expansion, a better environment and facilities, like a large food court. The property management firm, [Toronto-based] 20 Vic Management, hired us to design and supervise the construction."

Even without the new space, Chinook Centre was second in size only to West Edmonton Mall in Alberta. The remodeling includes converting two midcenter upper levels of parking into an 80-foot-high atrium that will span about 160 feet of retail space, and relocating and expanding the parking elsewhere on the site. A tunnel is to be built from the main MacLeod Trail Highway nearby into the building.

"It's one of the largest retail projects in Canada," said Cresswell, "and when the work is done, Chinook Centre will also have one of the largest food courts in Alberta, where we're taking a more convenient, interactive, marche market kind of approach, with lounge-style seating beside open fireplaces."

Given the suburban location, the food court is an important factor in extending shoppers' visits. Community relations programs, such as early morning walking and jogging programs for seniors, will also draw local attention, he explained. "Chinook will have an animated facade, with a new 3-D front entrance that projects over the roof line," said Cresswell.

MMC has proposed an unusual kinetic sculpture inside the cone-shaped central rotunda -- a simulated, interactive dinosaur that would be designed and constructed by Toronto artist Russell Zeed from farm machinery and industrial parts local to Alberta.

Is the ubiquitous multiplex cinema in Chinook Centre's future? Cresswell says the center's entertainment area has traditionally never been large, but that possibility is being considered.

MMC also designed the complete renovation of Winnipeg's St. Vital Centre in Winnipeg, unveiled in October. A Famous Players multiplex cinema (a subsidiary of Viacom, New York) is among its new retail/entertainment attractions.

The Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan Board, Toronto -- the largest single pension plan in Canada -- owns both projects. MMC's client in both cases is Ontrea Limited, a board subsidiary.