Sunnyside Community Overview

Sunnyside is an innercity community in Calgary, Alberta located on the north side of the Bow River immediately adjacent to Calgary's downtown. The community partners with the neighboring community of Hillhurst to form the popular area known as Kensington.

Kensington is a Business Revitalization Zone and the communities of Hillhurst & Sunnyside has an area redevelopment plan in place. In short Sunnyside is a trendy area to live and has an exciting future.

Historically, Sunnyside is one of Calgary's oldest communities. Originally settled by homesteaders in the 1880's, the land was purchased by the City of Calgary and incorporated into the city proper in 1904. Although the majority of the original residents of Sunnyside were Canadian Pacific Railway and Eau Claire Sawmill employees, the community now mainly attracts urban professionals and their families due to its quiet neighbourhood atmosphere and close proximity to Calgary's active downtown.

Beginning in 1913, streetcars were the main means of transport within the city. One of the lines travelled east through Sunnyside on 2 Avenue to pick up workers for the CPR. It then went up the hill to the north end of the Centre Street bridge. There, the workers caught another streetcar to downtown. Today you can still see where the streetcar went up the embankment as it is now part of Calgary's paved pathway system; it begins behind the Calgary Curling Club, passes underneath the McHugh Bluff stairs and onwards to the top of the bluff.

Sunnyside's community association is known as the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association and is reportedly established in 1942. Their mandate today is the same as it was then: Provide and organize sports, recreational, and social activities, and act as an advocacy group for the community's interests on planning and other civic issues.

In the 1970s the integrity of neighborhood was threatened by proposed high-speed transportation routes and by increasing land development. It was proposed that Memorial Drive become a major highway and an interchange be built where Memorial Drive and 10th Street NW intersect today. The Louise Bridge would be replaced by two new bridges; a south bound bridge aligning to 10th Street NW and a north bound bridge aligning to 9A Street. The association adopted an activist approach, and succeeded in blocking the interchange plans and retaining much of the traditional small-scale quality of the community.

In the 1980s a new transportation development was proposed. Calgary's light rail transportation line was proposed to replace 9A Street NW and many homes were to be demolished to make way. This proposal did go through and in 1987 the Sunnyside Station was completed but not before many changes and concessions were made by city planners. While not all the homes and buildings were torn down, many of them were left with no front access point, instead relying on the alleyway.

Today the association remains very involved in the review of development plans through it's Community Environment Committee. The concern today is the City of Calgary's plan for Transit oriented development (TOD). TOD is a plan where higher density development is concentrated near the station (600m radius) to make transit convenient for more people and encourage ridership. The irony of this plan is that Sunnyside is positioned so close to downtown and already has most amenities that most residents walk to their destination. In fact many suburbanites choose to drive to Sunnyside, park their cars and then walk in to downtown for work. Furthermore, because the Sunnyside Station is the last stop on the NW line the trains are often packed to capacity. Although this may be alleviated by the introduction of 4-car trains in the future.

Sunnyside has an elementary school, a station on the C-Train (Calgary's Light Rail Transit system), and a grocery store as well as many popular restaurants, coffee shops, and boutique stores.

Community overview from Wikipedia.

Sunnyside Apartment Rental Stats

Property Type # of Listings Min Price Max Price Avg Price
Apartments24$900$9000$1954
Condo Units7$1700$3200$2267
Main Floors2$1799$2400$2099
Room For Rent2$850$1200$1025
Townhouses3$2895$4995$3946
Total Rentals38$850$9000$2127

Sunnyside Closest Schools

Name/Address Distance
Crescent Heights High School | Calgary Board of Education
1019 1 Street Northwest, Calgary
0.88 km
Alberta University of the Arts
1407 14 Avenue Northwest, Calgary
1.07 km
First Nations Adult & Higher Education Consortium (FNAHEC)
132 16 Ave NE, Calgary
1.51 km
Dancing Til Dawn
121 17 Avenue Northeast, Calgary
1.51 km
Canada School of Public Service
220 4 Avenue Southeast, Calgary
1.58 km
Calgary Italian School
416 1 Avenue Northeast, Calgary
1.75 km
Alberta College of Acupuncture & Traditional Chinese Medicine 阿尔伯塔针灸中医学院
628 12 Avenue Southwest Suite #500, Calgary
1.84 km
Alberta Ballet School
906 12 Avenue Southwest #2, Calgary
1.84 km
Connaught School | Calgary Board of Education
1121 12 Ave SW, Calgary
2.02 km
Western Canada High School | Calgary Board of Education
641 17 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
2.37 km
Stew Hendry / Henry Viney Arena
814 13 Avenue Northeast, Calgary
2.37 km
St. Monica School
235 18 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
2.49 km
Saint Mary's High School
111 18 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
2.59 km
MNP Community & Sport Centre
2225 Macleod Trail Southeast, Calgary
2.82 km
Delta West Academy
414 11A Street Northeast, Calgary
2.99 km
James Fowler High School | Calgary Board of Education
4004 4 Street Northwest, Calgary
3.18 km
St. Francis High School
877 Northmount Drive Northwest, Calgary
3.44 km
William Aberhart High School | Calgary Board of Education
3009 Morley Trail Northwest, Calgary
3.48 km
Columbia College
802 Manning Road Northeast, Calgary
4.13 km
Westmount Charter Mid-High School
2215 Uxbridge Drive Northwest, Calgary
4.15 km

Distances are estimated from a central point within the community.

Sunnyside Closest Libraries

Name/Address Distance
Little Free Library Charter #5913
901 11 Avenue Northwest, Calgary
0.51 km
Alberta Family Histories Society (AFHS)
712 16 Avenue Northwest, Calgary
0.95 km
Ristech Information Solutions Ltd.
813 4 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
1.00 km
Reg Erhardt Library at SAIT
MC111, Stan Grad Centre Southern Alberta Institute of Technology, 1301 16 Avenue Northwest, Calgary
1.07 km
Alberta Wilderness Association
455 12 Street Northwest, Calgary
1.08 km
Little Free Library
500 5 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
1.12 km
Evergreen Regional Office
900 6 Avenue Southwest, Calgary
1.18 km
Alberta Law Libraries
Calgary
1.24 km
Memorial Park Library
1221 2 Street Southwest, Calgary
2.01 km
Louise Riley Library
1904 14 Avenue Northwest, Calgary
2.04 km
Alliance Française Calgary
1721 29 Avenue Southwest #350, Calgary
3.85 km
Giuffre Family Library
3223 14 Street Southwest, Calgary
3.88 km
Business Library
Scurfield Hall, 301, 215 Campus Place Northwest, Calgary
3.92 km
Doucette Library
Education Block #370, 2500 University Drive Northwest, Calgary
4.00 km
Health Sciences Library
3330 Hospital Drive Northwest Room 1450, Calgary
4.08 km
Bennett Jones Law Library
2800 University Way Northwest, Calgary
4.13 km
Canadian Music Centre Prairie Region
Craigie Hall, Room G203, University Court Northwest, Calgary
4.18 km
Taylor Family Digital Library
410 University Court Northwest, Calgary
4.26 km
Gallagher Library
Room 180, Earth Sciences Building, 2500 University Dr NW, Calgary
4.36 km
Nicholls Family Library
1421 33 Street Southwest, Calgary
4.56 km

Distances are estimated from a central point within the community.

Sunnyside Distance to Local Landmarks

LandmarkDistance
Alberta Children's Hospital 5.02 km
Alberta College of Arts and Design (ACAD) 1.43 km
Ambrose University College 7.91 km
Bow Valley College 1.95 km
Calgary Airport 9.36 km
Calgary Zoo 3.57 km
Chinook Centre Mall 6.80 km
City Hall 1.98 km
Cross Iron Mills 25.80 km
Deerfoot Mall 6.10 km
Devry Institute of Tech 5.77 km
Downtown Calgary 0.86 km
LandmarkDistance
Foothills Hospital 3.91 km
Market Mall 6.21 km
Mount Royal University 6.41 km
Peter Lougheed Hospital 6.88 km
Rocky Mountain College 5.24 km
Rockyview Hospital 7.66 km
SAIT 1.02 km
South Health Campus 21.54 km
Southcentre Mall 11.89 km
Sunridge Mall 6.59 km
University of Calgary 4.35 km

Distances are estimated from a central point within the community.

Sunnyside Map View

Community data is not guaranteed by RentFaster.ca