Building our One Stop Shop Downtown

After a thorough competitive process, today the City announced a decision to go with the Edmonton Arena District (EAD) First Street Building Corporation proposal. This move will enable the City to consolidate two-thirds of our downtown workforce, now spread over several buildings, into one location. It’s a big step in building an administration that is more productive, efficient and responsive to your needs as an Edmontonian.

Instead of being scattered across nine separate buildings throughout downtown, we’re starting to create something I spoke a lot about during the election: a one-stop shop for citizens.

I recognize questions will come around who we are partnering with, and why. There will undoubtedly be those who will try and connect the dots to something deeper.

The plain truth is: we could not have struck a better possible deal for the taxpayers of Edmonton, which is why in the end the decision had strong support from Council.

Consolidation of two-thirds our downtown workforce will allow us to reduce our space needs by 25%, which is part of how we’ll save $5 million over the first 5 years in lease costs compared to today. These savings can be put towards other projects that are of huge importance to our continued growth as a globally competitive city.

My faith is rooted in the vigorous competitive process we went through: the City engaged a Fairness Advisor to ensure there were no missteps along the way. We brought in two additional independent peer reviewers to evaluate our process. We looked beyond ‘hard numbers’ to include additional investments and contributions to downtown, but this was always about getting the best deal for Edmontonians.

As a bonus, EAD made a commitment of an additional $500 million in land and development surrounding the project, investments that will drive more growth downtown. I’m also excited about features like a daycare space that downtown workers desperately need.

You can read more about this project — and our thorough process — here.