President Bill Cox stands outside North Calgary Branch’s new building.

The Royal Canadian Legion’s North Calgary Branch has a new building, three new revenue streams and a steady influx of new members—and it hasn’t cost a cent.

This happy turn of events took root six years ago when the branch recognized that, like many urban Legions, it was cash-poor and asset-rich. Its 50-year-old building, sitting on an oversized plot of prime urban real estate, was falling apart and underutilized. The roof was leaking, the sewers were backing up and the membership rolls, which peaked at 5,000 in the 1970s, were depleted.

The branch decided to make a trade: swap two-thirds of the property with a developer in exchange for a new building.

But not just any new building. This has a restaurant open to the public on the first floor—the 1918 Tap and Table, its name a coincidental combination of the First World War’s end and its new address near Calgary’s Kensington Road NW—a members’ lounge on the second, and commercial office rentals on the third and fourth.

Instead of 15,000 square feet, North Calgary Branch now has more than 36,000. And instead of a single revenue stream, it now has three. Annual branch surpluses are expected to approach $1 million—money for the branch, community programs and other Legions alike.

With news of the Truman Developments project, membership applications started pouring in, 60 per cent of them from the local neighbourhood, said President Bill Cox. The buzz alone brought in 304 applications in four months, most of them from younger prospects.

With construction complete, the developer is now turning its attention to the building of 204 condominium units and retail space on its newly acquired share of the lot—and purchasing two Legion memberships per unit as part of the residents’ welcome package.

With the building’s opening at the end of May, the branch expects the trend to continue, if not accelerate. “What people are seeing is that there is new life in our community through our new building,” said Cox, noting that a lot of the brick and mortar of the old building has given way to an award-winning design with magnificent windows and light. “It’s far more open and the community likes that openness.”

It was not without its trials and tribulations, said Cox. Two developers walked away from the project before George Truman took up the cause and ran with it. The process of acquiring permits was a monumental challenge to the uninitiated, but Cox said the city was on board early.

The entire concept, he admits, is “out of the box.” But Cox and Dominion Treasurer Mark Barham, who as a trustee took the proposal to the branch executive in 2011, have every confidence it will work, not just on Kensington Road but elsewhere.

Barham says the model could work for many urban branches, and smaller ones, too. A branch in Canmore, Alta., is already launching a similar redevelopment.

“Similar things could happen in many urban centres because you’ve got other branches that are cash flow-poor and asset-rich,” said Barham. “Most of our facilities across the country are more than 50 years old and they’re really not that attractive.

“So if you have a newer facility,
I think that starts to create enough community buzz that people are going to say, ‘Hey, I want to get involved over there; I want to go in there and see that.’”