The massive expansion of Calgary’s BMO Centre will open Wednesday after years of construction.
The dark brown, futuristic looking building is expected to revolutionize Calgary’s Rivers District, as it becomes western Canada’s largest convention space at more than one million square feet — double the size of the old building.
Over the next year, there are tons of events planned for Calgary’s state of the art building. Next week, the Global Energy Show will be underway, followed by Stampede events in July, and the Association of Zoos Aquariums in September. Next year, more than 20,000 people will be in Calgary for the Rotary International Convention, and the BMO Centre is expected to be up for the challenge, as it has the ability to host 33,000 people at once.
The expansion was first proposed back in 2018 when Naheed Nenshi was mayor.
The expansion agreement was for $500 million, with funding coming from the city, the province, and the federal government.
When the keys were handed over to the Calgary Stampede back in March, officials said the project took over two million construction hours put in by over 5,000 people. The construction of more than 565,000 square feet of new space took 10,000 metric tonnes of steel, and 2.4 million square feet of drywall.
Changes to the BMO Centre are leading the charge for development in the area, with the replacement of the Scotiabank Saddledome and expansion of the Arts Commons expected to begin in the next few years.
A ribbon-cutting at the new building is set for 10 a.m.
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