Explore Bowness community real estate information below and become a part of the action in this vibrant neighbourhood Calgary Stampede Breakfast 2024!
Over the years, the area surrounding the Bowness neighbourhood, with a rich history dating back hundreds of years, has changed dramatically but the pace of that change has accelerated in recent years.
Despite that, Bowness has managed to keep its small-town atmosphere and has increasingly become a neighbourhood that is sought-after by potential homebuyers.
Ken Richter, who is with RE/MAX Real Estate https://www.remaxcentral.ab.ca/communities/bowness.html (Central), has been the number one selling agent in the Bowness/Montgomery areas for 30-plus consecutive years, selling more than 1,500 properties in those areas.
And he has recognized the growing interest in the area since his roots in the community go back to being born and raised in Montgomery, right beside Bowness.
“We had dirt roads, an outhouse and buckets of water across the alley from somebody else’s well. That was our water in Montgomery,” he said. “In the 50s and after the War, people migrated here. You could buy a lot in these communities for $500 because there was no infrastructure.
“So that preempted them to build whatever they could, which were small, little houses. Our house was 580 square feet with no basement for six of us – four boys and the parents.”
Today, Bowness has one of the highest parks per ratio for any housing development with three major parks in the immediate area.
“You’re on the regional bike path system. You have housing stock from $150,000 condos to one just sold for $2.8 million on the (Bow) River. So you’ve got a good cross-section,” said Richter of the Bowness of today. “You’re close to all amenities. Now with Stoney Trail you can make it to the airport in 20-25 minutes.
“You’ve got the University of Calgary, the U of C Research Park, two hospitals within a five-minute drive. You’ve got Market Mall. And the Superstore is being built. There’s lots more infrastructure that’s going to happen here with these new developments – most of it is high density. So land’s always going to be valuable like any other inner- city community.
“But the mandate of the community is to keep it as a small town atmosphere. Keeping that integrity of the small town and community atmosphere is a challenge in itself because Bowness is a big area and it’s very diverse. But there’s that strong commitment to the area that people want to live here . . . Everyone is pretty much a neighbour. There’s a lot of positives of where the community is going forward from the stigma of where it was.”
According to the Bowness Historical Society, the area of Bowness was operated as a ranch in the 1890s.
In 1911, John Hextall, entrepreneur and visionary, registered subdivision plans that became the framework for the village and town of Bowness, it says.
“Hextall’s ambitious plans faded with the beginning of World War One. The land sat primarily vacant until after the Second World War when a settlement for veterans was established, along with the arrival of many Dutch and German immigrants. The Bowness community quickly grew into a village in 1948, then as a town in 1952 and finally into part of the City of Calgary in 1964,” according to the Society.
Bowness has been long-known for its all-season Bowness Park, its charming main street with a small-town feel, its homes along the mighty Bow River and iconic businesses such as Angel’s Drive In with a car on the roof.
But recent developments in and around the community are raising the neighbourhood’s profile and turning it into an even more sought-after place to live, work and play.
The site of the former Sunnyside Garden Centre is being transformed into a retail power centre with multiple stores and anchored by a Real Canadian Superstore.
Then up the hill from Bowness Road two major developments are unfolding along the busy TransCanada Highway – Trinity Hills with its mixed-used shopping and residential area as well as Greenwich with its huge residential component and recently-opened new Calgary Farmer’s Market.
And of course the interchange at Stoney Trail and the TransCanada Highway will improve access to all the surrounding areas.
Richter says many people say that Bowness has dramatically transformed in recent years. But it really hasn’t.
“I’m in a development committee in Bowness and the perception’s changed more than the actual physical. There’s been more change in the last five years than there has been in 50. It’s more perception of other people of our area,” says Richter, who lives in Bowness.
Richter describes Bowness as “eclectic” with a diverse population as well as a range of housing right up to million-dollar homes along the Bow River.
(Mario Toneguzzi is a veteran of the media industry for more than 40 years and named in 2021 a Top Ten Business Journalist in the world and only Canadian)
Start writing or type / to choose a block
Start writing or type / to choose a blockImage
