City of Edmonton seeking ideas for redevelopment of Rossdale Power Plant

The city is soliciting ideas from developers for the new Rossdale powerplant. CTV News Edmonton's Jeremy Thompson has the story.

The City of Edmonton has put out a request for ideas for the redevelopment of the historic Rossdale Power Plant after years of visions for it have gone nowhere.

Renovations to the plant will be part of the “River Crossing” area development which includes infrastructure upgrades for most of the neighbourhood.

Work is already underway to prepare the neighbourhood for another 2,500 housing units, parks, a new road and other transportation upgrades.

Avril McCalla, lead for the River Crossing project and real estate branch for the city, said the future of the power plant has gone through many iterations since it was decommissioned in 2012.

“Since that time, we’ve gone through sort of an evolution of exploration around what this community could be and how the power plant can be successful as part of a broader community redevelopment which is River Crossing,” said McCalla, adding that the city has fully owned the power plant for just under three years.

Over that period, the city has been undertaking an exploration of the plant to better understand its needs and potential approaches through an assessment.

Some of those iterations include an urban gondola that would cross the North Saskatchewan River proposed by Prairie Sky, a company that also hosted historic tours through the power plant back in 2020. City council ultimately chose to halt the gondola project in 2022.

McCalla said the city is putting out a Request for Information (RFI) to seek interest information from different proponents with submissions to how they would envision the power plant.

“We’re looking outside of the City of Edmonton as an organization and seeing what ideas, suggestions and approaches other partners might have,” said McCalla. “It’s a pretty epic opportunity in our river valley, but we want to see what other ideas there are out there for how to bring that into the future.”

She likened the potential to other centres and spaces in the country like Montreal’s Old Port or Vancouver’s Granville Island.

“There are these examples across Canada,” said McCalla. “This is our opportunity to make it our own.”

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Ward O-day’min Coun. Anne Stevenson says the potential for the area has been recognized for many years.

“As always, there’s processes and steps to go through,” said Stevenson. “What’s encouraging is that all the pieces have been put into place. We’ve been moving forward again – maybe not as quickly as some may have wanted, but we’ve created a really strong foundation."

She said the RFI will be an opportunity to refine the possibilities and identify partners who are going to step up and deliver.

“With every project, we want to make sure that we are doing our due diligence and making sure that it’s the best it can be,” said Stevenson. “With previous proposals in the area, there were gaps in terms of community consultation and Indigenous engagement … My hope is that ideas coming forward are responding to those issues they’ve raised in the past that are responding to the historic significance of the area.”

The “Touch the Water Promenade” is another element of the redevelopment, which will connect the west edge of the Rossdale neighbourhood at 94 Avenue to the east edge of the Walterdale Bridge with paved pathways lined with gathering spaces along the river’s north bank. Touch the Water is currently in a preliminary design phase. McCalla said the project would eventually extend to Government House Park.

Come spring, the city plans to create an outdoor terrace and picnic area on top of Pump House 2 to give Edmontonians a taste of the site’s potential as a public space.

The city’s RFI on the Rossdale Power Plant is currently open and closes April 30, 2026.

A glimpse at Rossdale’s history

The first power plant built in the area dates back to 1902.

Construction began on the low pressure plant in the early 1930s and was completed in the 1950s. At the time it was considered the largest and most advanced facility of its kind in Canada.

The design is associated with Alberta architect Maxwell Dewar who later served as the city’s architect. The building’s design and construction methods are characteristic of classical industrial architecture of the late 1920s and 30s. It is the only power plant remaining in Alberta of this scale and from this time period.

Prior to the redevelopment of the land, Papaschase First Nation held numerous sun dances at Rossdale Flats before the dissipation of the reserve and band in 1886 by the hand of colonizers. The site is also a known burial site.

In 2001, Papaschase First Nation fought EPCOR’s planned expansion of the Rossdale Flats powerplant. Those efforts led to the formal recognition of the historic gravesite in 2005.

EPCOR operated the plant until 2008 before it was completely decommissioned in 2012.