Calgary business leaders are expressing concern about the future of the city’s closed Hudson’s Bay Company stores, particularly the historic downtown location.

“How do we look at this amount of retail space and meet the current demands with our focus on intensification?” asked Mark Garner, the Calgary Downtown Association’s executive-director in an interview with CTV.

“We want more people living downtown. What are the amenities that are needed in a building like this that should be repurposed?”

The downtown location is among those on which RioCan REIT has stopped covering expenses. The REIT holds the asset in a joint-venture with the Bay that is now under receivership.

Meanwhile, B.C. billionaire mall owner Ruby Liu is seeking the acquire the lease for the former Bay location at Market Mall in the city’s northwest. It is among the 25 additional leases Alberta, Ontario and B.C. She has already acquired three leases tied to former Bay store spaces at B.C. malls that she owns and is seeking more in the province.

Garner and others want the Calgary locations to be occupied as soon as possible.

“We don’t have an heir-apparent retailer—a large retailer who’s going to replace all this,” said Bruce Winder, a Toronto-based retail analyst, told CTV.

Pictured: Former Bay store in downtown Calgary.

Photo: Shutterstock