As food service options become increasingly important to Canadian shopping centre owners, Cadillac Fairview says it will spend $17 million to revamp food services at its downtown Calgary’s CF Chinook Centre.

An artist’s rendering of the new dining hall to be constructed at the CF Chinook Centre in Calgary. (Courtesy GH+A Design Studios / Cadillac Fairview)

The food services upgrade is part of a major investment of more than $100 million in the mall during the past three years. It comes as Saks Fifth Avenue prepares to open its first Western Canada outlet in the Chinook Centre in February – the high-end retailer’s third store in Canada.

“Dining is an essential aspect of the overall shopping centre experience and we are delighted to evolve the centre’s food court into a signature CF Dining Hall where guests can enjoy culinary delights in a premium environment,” said Josh Thomson, CF’s vice-president, development, in a media release announcing the latest project to provide a “premium shopping experience” for mall customers.

The project will see the entire food court and outdoor patio renovated, improving the aesthetics, design and seating capacity. CF says it includes expanding and modernizing units, enhancing decor elements such as tiling, upgrading furniture with communal tables and banquets, and the implementation of sorting stations for waste.

30,000 square feet of redeveloped space

The 30,000 square feet of redeveloped space will feature 835 seats and 20 dining options — including six new vendors which CF says it will announce as they are confirmed. This will expand the current 750-seat food court by about 1,600 feet.

The food court layout will be improved “in a more efficient design with shared tables and banquets allowing for more flexible seating,” CF spokeswoman Anna Ng told RENX in an email. 

However, some of that additional square footage is to improve traffic flow for the new 61 Avenue S.W. pedestrian bridge over Macleod Trail, which connects to the centre. 

“We’re proud that CF Chinook Centre’s dining space is consistently one of Canada’s busiest and most productive food courts year after year,” said Paige O’Neill, general manager of the centre, in the release. “We look forward to transforming the food court into a CF Dining Hall which will be open and inviting, with more communal spaces that better reflect the tastes of our shoppers and community.”

The project will occur in two phases to allow sections of the food court to remain in operation. The south half of the food court will close this month and reopen in June 2018. The second phase will commence in June 2018 with the closure of the north side of the food court and reopen in October 2018.  

CF also announced an additional $4.5M investment to enhance the south portion of the centre in 2018, including new tiling and railings.

About Cadillac Fairview

Cadillac Fairview is one of the largest owners, operators and developers of office, retail and mixed-use properties in North America. The Cadillac Fairview portfolio is owned by the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan, a diversified global investor which administers the pensions of more than 300,000 active and retired school teachers.

The real estate portfolio also includes investments in retail, mixed-use and industrial real estate in Brazil, Colombia and Mexico.

Valued at around $29 billion, the Canadian portfolio includes more than 38 million square feet of leasable space at 67 properties in Canada, including landmark developments, such as Toronto-Dominion Centre, CF Toronto Eaton Centre, CF Pacific Centre, Tour Deloitte and CF Carrefour Laval.