East Village parkade will be a new space for start-ups and innovations
by Riggs Zyrille Vergara, Publishing Editor
Spearheaded by Platform Calgary, the parkade in the centre of East Village will now be called Platform Innovation Centre with the goal of being a hub for start-ups and entrepreneurs offering support through all stages of their journeys.
The parkade is designed to also be an innovation centre for entrepreneurs. It will provide access to resources, support, programming and events to provide entrepreneurs with the tools to push their start-ups towards success. This means classes, seminars and workshops for the entrepreneurs and opportunities to engage with business experts across Canada through meetups, pitch nights and keynotes.
“We’re excited to make East Village one of the homes of innovation in our city.”, Terry Rock, President & CEO Platform Calgary said.
The building will also have a pitch stage and community space for more than 450 people that can provide a fully immersive digital experience of events and the ability to host huge in-person events. The stage is completely equipped with display screens, built-in sound systems, lights and broadcasting cameras.
A space of 50,000 sq. ft. will also be the venue for classroom space, gatherings and prototyping and testing new technologies.
Together with the Calgary Parking Authority and Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC), the people behind this 510-stall parkade see it as a dynamic location that will adjust to the progress of the city. As Calgary becomes more and more pedestrian-friendly through better transit systems, the parkade is a building that can transform into whatever the city needs next.
“It’s part of the city’s forward-thinking project. Do we really need to have parkades anymore? That’s the primary reason we’ve designed it and built it to be convertible or adaptable in the future.”, Dale Wannamaker, the Operations & Facilities Manager of Calgary Parking Authority said.
“What it does is probably set some precedence on parking design and multipurpose. It’s one of those things where it kind of allows you to push that envelope and think about things differently.”, Rachel Knight, Business Strategy Coordinator of Calgary Parking Authority added.
Through a partnership with the Calgary Innovation Coalition, Platform Calgary wants to achieve the goal of making the city a global hub for start-ups and innovations. Their partnership aims for Calgary to have 3,000 core tech start-ups by 2031 not just to create more jobs but also to add $10 billion to the city’s GDP.
“We look at the project as it’s going to be a parkade for now with an innovation centre and it’s going to be a really active project. But what happens? What’s next?”, Kate Thompson, the President & CEO of CMLC said.
