Spanning seven blocks down 104 Avenue, MacEwan University is a key anchor of the city core, but did you know that MacEwan had a downtown presence in the 1970s?
Fifty years ago, Assumption Campus, located at 98 Street and 107 Avenue, was home to many of MacEwan’s business programs. Nearly 600 students travelled to Edmonton’s core daily to learn what they needed to become accountants, administrators, property managers, secretaries, retailers and travel consultants.
A fledgling of a campus compared to the new School of Business building under construction, which is seven stories tall and will create capacity for 7,500 additional students.
How did we get to where we are today?
It starts with a difficult chapter in Edmonton’s history – the fallout of the 1970s energy crisis that ultimately caused a significant drop in oil prices during the 80s. Edmonton struggled and the downtown core was hit hard.
At the time, MacEwan’s enrolment was exploding and campuses across the city were full. In fact, the space crunch got so challenging that MacEwan leased rooms in a pool hall for more classroom space. The small campus model couldn’t keep up. MacEwan, and its students, needed a central campus.
To secure support for the project, MacEwan’s second president, Dr. Gerald (Gerry) O. Kelly, realized that in order to be successful they needed to link the new campus to another objective – downtown revitalization.
It took five years of what Kelly called “intensive planning, lobbying, scheming and dreaming” before Premier Don Getty committed $100 million for the City Centre Campus in 1988. A decision which would breathe new life into the old Canadian National Railway yards.
When the new downtown campus opened in 1993, with its four emblematic towers marking its location on 104th Avenue, Grant MacEwan Community College turned an industrial area into an iconic landmark of Edmonton’s core.
Slowly and surely, MacEwan and Edmonton both experienced a rebirth. Academically, MacEwan evolved from a community college to an undergraduate university, as the needs of students and demand from Alberta’s industries changed. And physically, MacEwan expanded – adding a residence, the Robbins Health Learning Centre and Allard Hall.
So did Edmonton’s core. After two decades of stalled development, Edmonton's first major downtown office high-rise, EPCOR Tower, opened in 2011. Momentum continued to grow through the next eight years, with the addition of the ICE District and several residential towers and building conversions.
Scott McKeen, former Edmonton city councillor and a Distinguished Alumni recipient knows how transformative the decision to place MacEwan’s central campus downtown was. “Thank god for MacEwan or 104 Avenue would have ended up as a sea of stores and parking lots,” said McKeen. “Building the City Centre Campus was a great decision for MacEwan and for the entire city. To have that level of investment in a downtown that was moribund for 30 or 40 years was huge.”
The timing of the new School of Business building couldn’t be better. With the Government of Alberta’s recent assurance of capital funding for the building, MacEwan is on track to invite learners into the space for the Winter 2027 term.
“This building, bolstered by $125 million in provincial support, will be key in helping us meet the needs of our growing province. It’s the cornerstone of our university’s commitment to meeting industry demands for highly skilled, job-ready talent – exactly the type of graduate MacEwan is known for,” said Dr. Annette Trimbee, MacEwan’s president and vice-chancellor.
Attracting more students, faculty and staff to the core will be an important part of downtown’s next chapter, which includes the development of a downtown Education District and the realization of new projects supported through the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy.
Together, these projects will support not only education and business, but also the arts, culture and community organizations that make downtown Edmonton a place where people want to live, learn and connect.