New housing coming to Charles Camsell Hospital site

It’s been a long wait, but work has begun on a new housing development on the old Charles Camsell Hospital site in Inglewood. The hospital closed its doors in
1996 and sat vacant until local architect Gene Dub and partners bought the land in 2004. However, plans for a mixed-density neighbourhood have been held up with a number of delays that have plagued the project.

Rezoning efforts took five years to be realized, and the work to remove the 1960s-era asbestos from the building was time-consuming as well. “Taking out all these walls that had contaminated materials on them, cleaning up all the beams that had asbestos on them was all very laborious, slow work and it has taken longer than anticipated,” Dub told CBC News Edmonton in 2014. The on-site work continues with hopes that construction on the new development will begin in 2015.

The first phase of the project will see 230 residential units built, while the rest of the development will come later with a total of nearly 600 housing units expected for the area. It will include family-oriented houses, midrise condominium apartments, and affordable housing. The old hospital itself will be turned into a senior’s residence.

The future development’s prime location is expected to attract a lot of attention, as historic Inglewood is easily accessed by major routes like Groat Road and 11^th Avenue. Trendy 124th St. is becoming a hot retail spot in Edmonton, and the mature trees and quiet neighbourhood is a favourite destination for homebuyers. The neighbourhood’s one drawback has been the 4.7-hectare parcel of land where the Charles Camsell Hospital still sits – what residents have called an eyesore since the mid-1990s. That may change when the redevelopment begins in earnest. For residents, the revitalization and new additions to the area can’t happen quickly enough.

Photos by: Greg Donnelly