Beltline Community Hub is closing a year after transitioning to serve vulnerable Calgarians

The Beltline Community Hub is closing its doors just a year after transitioning to serve vulnerable Calgarians — leaving residents living in the inner city with one less public gathering space with accessible programming.

Formerly the Beltline Aquatic and Fitness Centre, the City of Calgary will be officially closing the facility after nearly 70 years.

"The City of Calgary has explained that the costs to renovate the aging facility and bring it up to modern standards is prohibitive," said a statement from the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association.

The city declined to comment until the matter is discussed in council on Sept. 27, and it couldn't confirm the official date of the community hub's closure.

Tiffany Thrift often brings her son to the hub's preschool drop-in during the winter but recently saw online that the program had been discontinued.

She says she wishes the city would find a way to keep the facility hub open.

"It just feels like they're always closing the downtown things," said Thrift. "All of the resources are being put in the expanding communities, and then the downtown communities — which includes many families — seems to be having fewer and fewer activities to partake in."

From pool and fitness centre to community hub

In 2019, the city proposed closing the Beltline Aquatic and Fitness Centre due to the age and condition of the nearly 70-year-old facility. It closed the facility's pool permanently in 2021.

So the city and community joined forces to find a second life for the facility — by creating the Beltline Community Hub.

It came with a fitness centre, an outdoor climbing wall and free community programs. In its latest incarnation, it was trying to be more of a community hub — a space for underrepresented groups to seek support and community.

Peter Oliver, president of the Beltline Neighbourhoods Association, says it's deeply disappointing that the hub is closing.

"I think it was a really fair effort by the city and everyone, but ultimately we weren't really able to find anything that really works sustainably," said Oliver.

He says the city's $45-million expansion of the MNP Community and Sport Centre — formerly known as the Repsol Sports Centre, and the Talisman Centre before that —  will fill this gap, though it isn't expected to be finished for a couple of years.

Thrift says it will be a good option when it's ready, but the facility is quite costly.

"The Beltline Hub was something that was affordable for everybody and accessible for everybody, and the MNP Centre is, unfortunately, not that."