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As recently reported by the CBC, the days are now numbered for a long-surviving 1950s gas station that has operated within the heart of Calgary's East Village for more than 60 years. Built in 1952, the Can Pro gas station was once among many of its kind, part of the burgeoning postwar car culture that was integral to the growth of Calgary over the last half-century. Today viewed as an impediment to the East Village's continued growth and redevelopment, it is not without a sense of irony that the station, once a beacon of modernity, will soon face the wrecker's ball in the name of progress.
Located at the SW corner of 4th Street SE and 8th Avene SE, just a block north of the recently completed National Music Centre and the related heritage facade of the King Edward Hotel, the 1950s-era gas station has long been a staple of the neighbourhood. Soon to demolished to make way for an eventual land assemblage that will in turn be sold off to developers as part of the larger East Village Master Plan, the Can Pro gas station will be no more, as the structure itself has no obvious historical merit.
Taking up a prime location at the heart of the rapidly rising East Village neighbourhood, the gas station's fate was virtually a foregone conclusion in an area slated for a burst of condo development over the next few years. Close to transit and within an easy commute of downtown, the East Village has already started to become a popular urban destination, with cranes and construction crews today a mainstay of the quickly evolving neighbourhood. As reported, the remediation and clearance of the site in preparation for its eventual sale will take until early 2018 to complete, and only the will tell what exactly will take its place, though some sort of high-rise development is almost certain.
SkyriseCalgary will be sure to return to this file as more details continue to emerge.
