Developer makes plea to Alberta government to reconsider plan to demolish old museum

Developer asks to save, redevelop old RAM An Edmonton property developer is making a public plea for the province to consider its plan for the former provincial museum building.

An Edmonton property developer known for reimaging old buildings says it's bewildered the Alberta government has moved ahead with a plan to tear down the former provincial museum.

Beljan Developments – the company responsible for transforming several local landmarks such as the Strathcona Hotel, Substation 600 on 124 Street and Station Park at Whyte Avenue and Gateway Boulevard – already had a working relationship with the province starting in 2020 on the future of the former site of the Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) in the Glenora neighbourhood.

The province announced in August the former museum building would be torn down and replaced with a green space.

Owner-director Ivan Beljan said his firm was taken aback at the news.

"It really caught all of us by surprise just because of the time we invested in putting this together," Beljan told CTV News Edmonton on Tuesday.

He said his company had been working "in earnest" with the Alberta government "to come up with a plan and a structure that saw us bringing that building back to life, taking that building sort of off their books, and looking for a sustainable financial model that could work for everybody."

"We put our team on it. We put a proposal together. I think we were the only ones, to be honest with you," Beljan said. "I'm not sure if anybody else thought about how they could reimagine that asset."

In 2022, however, he said it seemed that the big project of close to 200,000 square feet "was sort of shelved."

"I think people changed within the government," he said. "We were told to just be patient and hang on, and we touched base every few months. We were told nothing was happening, and the next thing we know, we got a press release (saying) the government planned to bulldoze the building."

Sarah Hoffman, the Alberta NDP MLA whose constituency includes the former museum site, told CTV News Edmonton several people are concerned with the recent plan to tear it down.

"I think a lot of people have really strong memories and connections with the building ... and have lots of ideas," Hoffman said. "I think the government owes it to them to hear them out and hear their ideas and to give answers to a lot of the questions people have."

Beljan Developments is making a public plea in hopes the province will reconsider its decision to demolish the old museum.

Even though the 57-year-old building is starting to show its age – the structure hasbeen vacant for almost a decade, with the Alberta government claiming it'll cost $200 million to repair it – Beljan says the firm's plan was to come up with needed capital for its project and enter into a lease with the province.

Beljan says the old RAM can still be something special. They saw possibilities not just for the commercial side – perhaps a boutique grocery store, coffee shop and a micro brewery – but also the cultural, sports and fitness sides given the building has a functional auditorium and large, open-span areas to accommodate activities within the building.

"A lot of what we do is bringing community together, bringing tendencies together, creating an energy in a building that allows everybody to feed off each other and coexist," he said.

"What a community would want and embrace and support, that's super important. In a site like this, it stretches far beyond the community. I think this is one that can stretch even past the city. I just think everybody has a connection to this building emotionally and physically."

In 2018, a new RAM in downtown Edmonton replaced the old building, which was called the Provincial Museum and Archives of Alberta when it opened in December 1967 as the province's Canadian centennial project.

The structure on the Government House grounds was the result of five years of planning and construction, and cost $8.5 million to build –  $75.2 million in today's dollars – of which the federal government provided $2.5 million, the equivalent to $22.1 million today.

It was renamed the Royal Alberta Museum in 2005, when Queen Elizabeth visited it as part of her tour of the province that year for its centennial.

The old RAM building closed in December 2015.

Beljan said while time has not been kind to the old RAM – "there are always challenges when a building is not being sort of kept up, and I think, for the most part, the province has done a good job of doing that.

"Anything is possible," he said, when he considers what projects his firm has taken on before, including bringing the Strathcona Hotel "back to life" after a fire.

"There are always going to be a few challenges in skeletons, but by no means am I worried or scared about what the potential this building can hold," Beljan said. "I think it's a great canvas for a future building."

With files from CTV News Edmonton's David Ewasuk