There is an urgent call for changes by the Downtown Revitalization Coalition (DRC) to save businesses in Edmonton’s downtown.
The group is calling on city council to implement emergency measures, which comes as over half a dozen downtown restaurants announced closures this summer.
Chair Cheryll Watson says it’s really concerning to see businesses shutting down, so the DRC is offering suggestions it says are practical for Edmonton city council to implement.
“Construction is necessary, but the way it is currently being managed is placing an unsustainable burden on businesses that are already dealing with public safety concerns, reduced foot traffic and rising operating costs,” Watson said.
The coalition has crafted a Downtown Economic Stabilization Plan. It includes:
- Immediate changes to how downtown construction is coordinated and sequenced, with business access and minimized customer disruption treated as core project requirements
- Higher standards for contractors working on downtown projects, including clear expectations for site cleanliness, pedestrian access, fencing, signage and the daily maintenance of construction sites to ensure they do not become eyesores that further discourage people from visiting downtown
- Free on-street parking in the downtown core for the remainder of the 2026 construction season
- Waiving patio permit fees for downtown businesses for the 2026 season
- A single senior administrative lead accountable for coordinating the city’s downtown business response
- Regular public reporting on actions taken, timelines and results
“Declaring downtown economic stabilization an immediate priority would send a clear message that the city understands the seriousness of the situation,” Watson said.
“Directing the city manager to act would ensure that this does not become another issue that waits until fall — while more businesses disappear.”
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The DRC says the current measures from the city aren’t working, and if they don’t make changes, there’s fears more businesses will close — and not just restaurants.
Heather Thomson, vice-president of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce, supports the DRC’s calls to action.
She says despite some businesses opening in the downtown, more of them are closing.
“Right now, we’re seeing the closure rate to openings is 2:1,” Thomson said.
“That is not a good trajectory.”
The chamber of commerce notes some businesses that have their access impacted for months — if not years — making survival a struggle.
“Yes, construction is going to happen. It’s a great sign of progress,” Thomson said. “But making it coordinated, making sure its clean, making the availability and accesses to businesses is not impactful to their business.
“Unfortunately, a lot of the businesses that we’ve seen closed had very close proximity to the massive LRT construction.”
Mayor Andrew Knack acknowledges more construction is taking place this year, but he says the city has been addressing some of those issues through a motion he put forward last year.
“It’s part of why I made the motion last year to try a different approach. It worked last year,” Knack explained.
“We saw intersections that were originally partially opened for two to three years get done within two months.”
The mayor says despite some impacts, there are some stores opening.
“We are seeing the impacts of some of those closures, and while we also had about 10 new businesses open in the downtown, at least that I’m aware of in the last little while, we need to support the ones setting up and the ones that have been there for a long time,” Knack said.
Knack says he expects conversations about putting more money into the Downtown Action Plan when the next four-year budget deliberations take place in December.
This article makes it clear: downtown businesses aren’t closing because construction exists — they’re closing because construction is being mismanaged. Delays, messy sites, blocked sidewalks, and no coordination between projects are avoidable. The City needs to raise contractor standards, improve sequencing, and appoint one person responsible for downtown construction impacts. Add temporary relief like tax relief, free parking and waived fees, compensation directly caused by construction & repairs, and we can stabilize the core while fixing the root problem: project management.
It SEEMS that Mayors and Council are NO LONGER satisfied with ONLY DOING THE JOB they USED TO GET PAID to do and that was to ONLY ensure that ALL INFRASTRUCTURE like roads and bridges and sidewalks and winter road cleaning, ADD THE WORD PROPER winter residential road cleaning, was enough WORK for these people to do so they have been slowly ADDING to their job descriptions and increasing their salaries because of it for a lot of years now and we edmontonions have never had any idea how to STOP THEM from sticking their noses where they do not belong, and never should have gone, into our lives and taxing us to house homeless people etc.etc. Imagine had they all stuck to their original job descriptions how much money we taxpayers would have saved all these years if mayor and councils had just stuck to their ORIGINAL job descriptions when it came to just running this city – and staying within budget every year.
You mean having Leonard from Big Bang Theory as mayor wasn’t a good idea?
But you voted for this Edmontonians, and you keep voting for it. One look at your City Council is proof of it. Enjoy.
To the Mayor and Members of City Council:
Downtown businesses are collapsing under the weight of your decisions, and the evidence is right in front of you. Construction delays, disorganized project management, inaccessible streets, and a complete lack of economic mitigation have pushed many long-standing businesses to closure. You call this “revitalization,” but the results show the opposite: fewer customers, more vacancies, and a downtown that is deteriorating faster than you can repair it.
If you truly believe the strategies you’re pushing are the right ones, then you should be willing to put your jobs on the line for them. Leadership means accountability — and right now, the only people paying the price for your decisions are the taxpayers and the businesses you’ve disrupted.
When your projects directly reduce a business’s ability to operate, the City should compensate them. That means lowering or removing business taxes during construction, providing real economic support, and managing projects with the professionalism and urgency that businesses deserve. Instead, we see disorganization, poor planning, and timelines that drag on for years while businesses lose customers, lose revenue, and ultimately shut their doors.
If you are confident that your approach is sound, then commit publicly to being held accountable for the outcomes. Because right now, the outcomes speak for themselves — and they are not acceptable.
Edmonton deserves leadership that understands business, understands economic impact, and understands that “revitalization” is meaningless if the very businesses that make a downtown vibrant cannot survive your decisions.
The market has spoken. You don’t get any handouts downtown businesses. Businesses are an investment and you failed.
Edmonton city treats downtown like a video game where you try building different things. Lets block off part of downtown to make it ‘walkable’. Hmm that didn’t work, let’s open it up to vehicles but put in wide sidewalks and bike lanes. Hmm that didn’t work, let’s build an arena but restrict parking. Hmm, that didn’t work. Downtown worked 40 years ago, they should have just left it alone.
You mean the city councillors and the mayor will actually need to do grownup work?!