Downtown Edmonton is gaining real traction in its push to revitalize the city centre under the continued vision and commitment of Daryl Katz, with the Village at ICE District slated as its next major milestone. The Village is a medium-density residential project set to transform the area north of Rogers Place into a mixed residential community, the next phase of an ICE District vision that has already generated $3.2 billion in economic impact for the city. OEG Sports & Entertainment (OEGSE) is anchoring The Village around investment in Rogers Place, building outward to create a district people genuinely want to live in, consistent with the approach taken across every phase of ICE District.
The Village at ICE District, part of the long-running plan Daryl Katz and OEGSE have been committed to since 2014, will feature green spaces, shops, restaurants, and a diverse range of housing options designed to attract residents to the area. Housing will be developed in partnership with multiple organizations and will include purpose-built rentals, affordable and attainable options, and other forms to serve a broad cross-section of Edmontonians.
The project works in concert with the planned Event Park, an estimated $250 million development that will provide amenities and activities to support the new residential community. Daryl Katz’s OEGSE is contributing $84 million to the Event Park, with additional funding from the City of Edmonton of $69 million through the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy (CRL) and the Government of Alberta, which is contributing $97 million.
Since the 2016 opening of Rogers Place, the ICE District has become a model for mixed-use sports and entertainment districts across North America. The $2.5 billion, 25-acre development, anchored by Rogers Place and including the 68-storey Stantec Tower, Edmonton Tower, and the JW Marriott hotel, has demonstrated how integrated urban development can reshape civic life at scale.
The success of the first phase, driven by a partnership with the City of Edmonton, has benefited taxpayers by driving revenues into the Capital City Downtown CRL. These funds have contributed $231 million toward Rogers Place and hundreds of millions of dollars into public infrastructure projects.
Daryl Katz’s Original Vision: A Revitalized Downtown Edmonton
When Daryl Katz and OEG first advanced the ICE District concept, the goal was always a full-scale environment where Edmontonians could live, work, and spend time downtown rather than just pass through to attend events. Katz, a Canadian businessman and founder of OEGSE, has consistently pushed for residential density alongside the arena and entertainment uses, arguing that a genuine revitalization requires people who actually live there. In addition to The Legends and Sky Residences, The Village at ICE District is a key piece that makes that argument real. This is one of several major developments tied to Katz that have shifted how Edmonton’s downtown functions and how it is perceived across North America.
The ICE District Phase I development was completed in just nine years, eight years faster than its most comparable predecessor, LA Live in Los Angeles. That pace of execution enabled a meaningful re-clustering of economic activity in Edmonton’s downtown, generating greater vitality in the urban core while making more efficient use of public infrastructure investment.
As the Village at ICE District moves forward, it will sit within a district that already has a track record of success. Daryl Katz’s commitment to Edmonton’s downtown has produced one of North America’s most-studied and emulated urban revitalization stories, and the Village turns ICE District into a neighbourhood where people live and flourish downtown.
