The Core (stylized The CORE), which consists of TD Square, the Holt Renfrew building, and the former Calgary Eaton Centre, is the dominant shopping complex located in the

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. It spans three city blocks and contains approximately 160 retailers on four levels. The property also contains four major office towers ( TD Canada Trust Tower, Home Oil Tower,

Dome Tower Toronto-Dominion Square, originally Oxford Square, is a full-block building complex in Calgary, Alberta built by Oxford Developments. The project was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill of New York, with J. H. Cook and Associates as the archit ...

) and the historic Lancaster Building. It is the hub of downtown Calgary's +15

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system, and as such is the busiest shopping centre in the city by pedestrian count, with around 250,000 visitors passing through each week. The centre's architectural focal point is a vast suspended glass skylight which spans the length of the complex. As of October 29, 2010, The Core offers free evening and weekend parking at its underground lots. The Core is bounded by 8th Avenue SW (

Stephen Avenue Stephen Avenue is a major pedestrian mall in downtown Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The mall is the portion of 8 Avenue SW between 4 Street SW and 1 Street SE. It is open to vehicles only from 6:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. The street is known for some of C ...

pedestrian mall) on the south, 7th Avenue SW ( LRT Corridor rapid transit line) on the north, and extends above 3rd Street SW (Barclay Parade) and 4th Street SW. The mall is directly connected to the neighbouring retail complexes of

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(south) and Scotia Centre/ Hudson's Bay Store (east) via the +15

system. It also contains the Devonian Gardens, a unique glass-enclosed indoor botanical park, which reopened to the public on July 27, 2012, after a complete renovation.

History

The T. Eaton Co. opened its original Calgary department store on the site in 1929. In 1977, it was joined by TD Square (originally named Oxford Square) to the east. TD Square, an office and shopping complex, covered four levels over an entire block and contained the original Devonian Gardens indoor botanical garden. In 1990, Eaton's store was relocated into a new building one block west and a four-level shopping centre, the Calgary Eaton Centre, was built on its original site. Following the closure of the Eaton's chain in 2002,

Sears Sears, Roebuck and Co. ( ), commonly known as Sears, is an American chain of department stores founded in 1892 by Richard Warren Sears and Alvah Curtis Roebuck and reincorporated in 1906 by Richard Sears and Julius Rosenwald, with what began a ...

acted as an anchor store until 2008 when it was closed to make way for Holt Renfrew's expansion. The combination of the two centres resulted in the property being rebranded “The Core”, however the property is still referred to as "The Core - TD Square".

Redevelopment

The centre underwent a three-year, multimillion-dollar redevelopment project, which was completed in 2011. The redevelopment unified the complex under a continuous , suspended glass skylight. The skylight, completed in November 2009, is the largest point-supported structural glass skylight in the world. It creates the feel of an outdoor streetscape on the third floor, which incorporates two-storey retail facades with exterior-grade materials. Heavy construction work forced numerous retailers to close or relocate during the renovation, most of which have renovated or expanded. The renovation also widened the concourses, replaced all interior finishes and facilities, expanded the food court and added a structural glass bridge on the fourth floor of the complex. It also added several 'living green walls' near the entrances to the Devonian Gardens space. In 2009, WestNet City Wi-Fi blanketed the centre with

Wi-Fi Wi-Fi () is a family of wireless network protocols, based on the IEEE 802.11 family of standards, which are commonly used for local area networking of devices and Internet access, allowing nearby digital devices to exchange data by radio wave ...

Luxury goods and apparel

A number of stores in the centre sell high-end

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and apparel.

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contains the only Canadian locations for the 'Black Fleece' designer shop and 'Fleece' for children.

Images

Holtfacade.jpg, Historic Eaton's façade still remains LOLZpersonokTDSquare.jpg, The main shopping area taken from the fourth floor, December 2013 Core Skylight Under Construction.jpg, Installation of the new skylight

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Core Shopping Centre Shopping malls in Calgary Shopping malls established in 1977 Buildings and structures in Calgary

History

Redevelopment

Luxury goods and apparel

Images

See also

References