Live in Garrison Woods
The former married-quarters half of CFB Calgary, rebuilt since 1998 with World War I battle-honour street names and Marda Loop on its doorstep.
Garrison Woods began redevelopment in 1998, the year after CFB Calgary closed, on the base's former Permanent Married Quarters east of Crowchild Trail: 0.8 km², 2,860 residents in 1,270 dwellings at the 2021 census, with 19% rental. Streets here carry the World War I battle honours of the regiments once stationed on the base, Marda Loop's shops sit two minutes north, and Mount Royal University is close on the southwest edge. The honest tension is generational: retained 1948–52 military duplexes stand next to twenty-year-old infill, and the two age at different rates and different price points. This is what living here is actually like.
A base's married quarters, rebuilt with battle-honour street names
Bounded by 34 Avenue SW to the north, 20 Street SW to the east, 47 Avenue SW to the south, and Crowchild Trail to the west. Ward 8.
Garrison Woods sits on the eastern half of the former CFB Calgary — the base's Permanent Married Quarters, built 1948–1952 for military families. When the base closed in 1997, Canada Lands Company began redeveloping it the following year, and the community was essentially complete by 2004. At the 2021 census it held 2,860 residents in 1,270 dwellings on 0.8 km² — the largest population of the three former base communities, on the middle-sized piece of land.
The theme. Streets carry the World War I battle honours of Lord Strathcona's Horse and the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, both once stationed here — Vimy, Ypres, Passchendaele. The Legacy Walk runs interpretive plaques along the route, and The Military Museums, one of the largest in the country, sits on the community's own western edge.
What it costs. Median household income was $146,000 in 2020, the highest of the three former base communities, and rental sits at 19% — the lowest of the three, reflecting a development built mostly for ownership from the start.
This is the most finished of the three. Twenty years on, some of the original 1998–2004 stock is due for its first major maintenance cycle, and a handful of retained 1948 duplexes sit beside the newer infill at a genuinely different price point.
- Row housing and duplexes here often share a party wall — check the sound separation and build quality specifically
- Marda Loop parking is genuinely tight, and the district's popularity has outgrown its parking supply
- Original 1998–2004 stock is old enough now for roofs, furnaces and hot water tanks to need attention
- High demand keeps prices firm — this is not the cheapest of the three former base communities
- A handful of retained 1948 PMQ duplexes are smaller and plainer than the surrounding infill; inspect separately
How Garrison Woods got here
- 1948–1952Permanent Married Quarters are built for CFB Calgary personnel on the site's eastern half.
- 1997CFB Calgary is decommissioned.
- 1998Canada Lands Company begins redeveloping the former PMQ lands as Garrison Woods.
- 1999Garrison Woods wins the Alberta Professional Planners Institute Award for Excellence.
- 2003The Manors retirement complex opens.
- 2004The Garrison Woods redevelopment is completed.
- 2021Federal census records 2,860 residents in 1,270 dwellings.
The reservoir's pathway network, a short drive south
Garrison Woods has no large park of its own — its green space is the Legacy Walk and small community squares built into the redevelopment. South Glenmore Park and the Weaselhead natural area sit a short drive south, with sailing, rowing and off-leash trails.
The resident's angle: this is a walkable community built for shops and streets, not a park frontage. The reservoir is close, but it is a drive for most of Garrison Woods, not a backyard.
15 places, with real drive times
Road-adjusted distance and drive time from the centre of the community to each destination, nearest first. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 15 places, nearest first.
Method: distances and drive times are estimated from the centre of the community to each destination using Calgary's road grid, and are rounded to honest ranges rather than presented as precise figures. This community has the shortest downtown run of the three former base communities.
Every gym within reach
Mount Royal University's recreation centre and Marda Loop's cluster of small studios cover most of what residents use day to day.
- Marda Loop's studios are small — yoga, pilates and small-group training rather than one large club
- Rockyview-area commercial gyms are close, on the community's southern edge
- The Legacy Walk and community pathways are the free option
- Confirm hours before counting on the university facility outside term time
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Mount Royal University Recreation open | Triple gymnasium, pool and fitness centre, with public memberships available. | 3–5 min |
| Marda Loop studios open | A cluster of independent yoga, pilates and small-group training studios along 33 Avenue. | 3–5 min |
| Rockyview area clubs open | Commercial gyms near Rockyview General Hospital. | 2–4 min |
| Legacy Walk and community pathways open | Free option: the WWI interpretive Legacy Walk and Garrison Woods' own pathway network. | 1–2 min |
Small and local beats big and central here. Most residents use the Marda Loop studios or the pathways rather than driving further.
Two schools inside, on the former base site
King Edward School carries public elementary and junior high on the old PMQ grounds. Lycée Louis Pasteur runs a French-language kindergarten inside a converted base chapel. No Catholic school sits inside the community itself.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| King Edward School | Calgary Board of Education | Public elementary and junior high inside the community, on the former PMQ site. |
| Lycée Louis Pasteur | Private | French-language kindergarten inside a converted base chapel. |
| Designated schools | Calgary Catholic School District | No Catholic school sits inside Garrison Woods; designates into the neighbouring Altadore/South Calgary catchment — confirm for a specific address. |
| Mount Royal University | Post-secondary | Full university campus southwest of the community, with a public recreation centre. |
Alberta funds Catholic education the same way it funds public education, so there is no tuition for a resident student at either board. Confirm the designation for a specific address before you buy — inner-city southwest catchments have shifted repeatedly as the surrounding communities have redeveloped.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel — the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- The Legacy Walk's WWI interpretive plaques ice over first, on the shaded side
- The Manors' residents keep 34 Avenue's sidewalks shovelled before the city crew arrives
- Retained 1948 PMQ duplexes hold heat better than the open-plan infill next door
- King Edward's playground stays quiet until the first chinook breaks
- A chinook can clear 33 Avenue's sidewalks of snow in an afternoon
- Lycée Louis Pasteur's chapel-turned-classroom is the community's smallest, warmest building
- The Military Museums' parking lot is easiest to find a spot in all winter
- Marda Loop's cafés fill with skiers stopping on the way home from the mountains
- Meltwater runs off the mature canopy kept since 1998 faster than off the young infill trees
- Cleats are the right footwear along the Legacy Walk's shaded stretches
- King Edward's field turns to mud before the spring bell rings
- The Manors' garden beds are the first in the community turned over for spring
- Marda Loop's patios open ahead of most of the rest of the city
- The 400 mature trees kept during redevelopment leaf out first, ahead of the 1990s plantings
- Lycée Louis Pasteur's kindergarten moves outdoor programming into the chapel courtyard
- Garrison Woods' battle-honour street signs — Vimy, Ypres, Passchendaele — reappear under the melting snowbanks
- The 800 trees planted during redevelopment are now tall enough to shade the sidewalks
- King Edward's field sports move outdoors for the season
- Marda Loop's sidewalk patios fill on the first warm evenings
- The Manors' residents move their chairs out to 34 Avenue for the evening light
- School lets out at King Edward and Lycée Louis Pasteur the same week
- The Military Museums' summer camps start filling its parking lot
- Thunderstorms roll in off the foothills, visible over the Legacy Walk
- Marda Loop's patios run full most weekday evenings
- Stampede parade traffic backs up on Crowchild Trail along the western edge
- The Manors' retirees take the shade under the mature canopy through the heat
- Marda Loop's summer festival season closes 33 Avenue to traffic
- The Military Museums draws its heaviest tourist season of the year
- The mountains are a straight run west on Glenmore Trail past Bragg Creek
- King Edward's playground empties out before the back-to-school rush
- Marda Loop's back-to-school shopping fills the 33 Avenue sidewalks
- The Legacy Walk gets its last quiet week before September traffic returns
- King Edward and Lycée Louis Pasteur both restart the same week, and 34 Avenue traffic thickens
- Frost usually reaches the Manors' garden beds before the rest of the community
- Rockyview's evening parking spills onto the surrounding streets once daylight shortens
- Aspen along the Legacy Walk turn first, ahead of the rest of the community
- Peak colour runs through the 400 retained mature trees along the older blocks
- First snow usually melts within days rather than sticking
- Marda Loop's patios close for the season
- The Military Museums' outdoor displays go into winter storage
- Dark by 5pm along 34 Avenue means porch lights come on early
- The Manors' common rooms fill as residents move activities indoors
- King Edward's field freezes hard enough for lunchtime shinny
- Marda Loop's holiday retail season starts along 33 Avenue
- A chinook arch over Crowchild Trail can flip the temperature 25 degrees in an afternoon
- The Legacy Walk's plaques frost over on the coldest mornings
- Marda Loop's holiday lights make 33 Avenue genuinely walkable after dark
- Quiet streets between the holidays, with the Manors' windows lit early
36 photographs of the community and its surroundings
All freely licensed and served from this app — nothing loads from a third party. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 36 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Garrison Woods itself.