Page 19 - 01-Jan-Feb-2025

RENDERINGS COURTESY OF REIMAGINE
A RAM TOUGH
DEBATE
Architect and developer “optimistic” that
the old museum building can be saved
THE PREVIOUS SUMMER, Alberta’s
provincial government announced its
plan to demolish the old Royal Alberta
Museum building.
Since then, there’s been a groundswell
of protest, and a proposal on the table
from Beljan Development and the team
at Reimagine Architects to repurpose
the building.
While this all may seem new, it isn’t.
In fact, Beljan and Reimagine have been
talking with the province about their
RAM-revitalization plan since Jason Kenney
was premier. If the building is going to
be saved, it’s not a case of a white knight
rolling in at the last second, but the cul-
mination of a long negotiation.
“I’m optimistic,” says Reimagine’s
founding principal, Vivian Manasc. “I’m
pretty confident that, if we keep the
conversations going, the province will see
the value of saving $50 million.”
(That’s the estimated demolition cost of
the building, which opened in 1967).
“They’re saving themselves the risk of
demolition, and I am confident that if we
keep working at it and keep talking to
people, someone is going to see that this
is a better alternative.”
The province stated in summer 2024
that the cost in deferred maintenance
on the building was $75 million, and it
would cost a minimum of $150 million to
revitalize the building. That was just too
rich for taxpayers.
But Manasc says those numbers are
misleading, because, she presumes,
they’re based on the premise that the
RAM building would still be used as a
museum. Under the Beljan/Reimagine
plan, it would accommodate a variety
of spaces — a commercial hub with a
grocery store and cafe; an arts hub that
would preserve the existing theatre; and
a recreation hub that could house a com-
bination of pickleball courts and indoor
soccer fields.
THE PROCESS
In 2020, the province issued a call to
basically anyone to come to it with
expressions of interest on the old RAM
site. Reimagine/Beljan responded to that.
“The negotiations went really well,”
says Vedran Škopac, an architect at
Reimagine who is working on the project.
“They said, ‘Yes, we agree’ — and then the
government changed.”
Kenney resigned, and Danielle Smith
became the new premier. And what
looked to be a deal that was awaiting a
single final approval… stalled.
Manasc believes that one of the sticking
points was that their original proposal
had a residential portion. Knowing that
the Glenora community has traditionally
opposed high-density residential in the
neighbourhood, and that more than
400 landowners have the power to veto
these sorts of developments through
the caveats on their properties, the
group decided to go strictly commercial/
arts and recreation hub with the
updated pitch.
“We want to make it super-clear we
have no intention to put housing there,”
said Manasc “It was on the table, but it is
no longer on the table.”
The Edmonton Heritage Council
released a statement in 2024 asking what
happened to the expressions of interest.
“We are concerned by the lack of
clarity from the Infrastructure Alberta
office regarding why proposals for adaptive
reuse of the RAM were not pursued.
The decision to demolish rather than
repurpose this historic structure not
only disregards its economical, histor-
ical and architectural value but also
overlooks the environmental benefits of
reuse. Tearing down the building has a
far greater ecological footprint compared
to adapting it for new use, making the
preservation of the RAM a critical issue
both for our heritage and for environ-
mental sustainability.”
Paul Collins, the chairman of Collins
Industries, has written to the province in
support of the redevelopment plan. As a
former Wildrose Party president, he says
the Conservative grassroots could use an
easy political win in Edmonton, a place
where it’s had a hard time finding votes.
“It would bring a lot of goodwill to the
UCP government in Edmonton,” Collins
wrote in his letter to the province. “Every
person that I have spoken to in the last
two weeks wants this iconic structure to
remain in place. I have spent thousands
of hours as a community-minded citizen
supporting conservative community
causes and gave 18 months of my life as
resident of the Wildrose Party, and I
have the best for this city and province
in my intentions.”
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