East Hills Overview
East Hills is home to the East Hills Shopping Centre, one of Calgary's largest and most successful power centre developments, located at the intersection of 17 Avenue SE and Stoney Trail on the eastern edge of the city. The centre is anchored by Walmart, Cineplex Odeon, Winners, SportChek, PetSmart, and a comprehensive lineup of national and specialty retailers and restaurants, drawing shoppers from east Calgary, Chestermere, Strathmore, and the Rocky View County trade area.
The East Hills node serves a large and underretailed trade area that historically lacked a regional retail destination. Since opening, East Hills Shopping Centre has consistently performed above national benchmarks for power centre retail sales per square foot, and its anchor tenants have posted strong renewal commitments. The centre's success has attracted complementary retail, restaurant, and service-commercial development in surrounding areas, creating a robust retail cluster at the 17 Ave SE / Stoney Trail interchange.
Key Commercial Corridors
The primary commercial spine of East Hills runs along 17 Avenue SE from Stoney Trail to the east, encompassing the East Hills Shopping Centre power centre and surrounding pad site development. This corridor captures traffic from the Trans-Canada Highway interchange and Stoney Trail ring road, giving East Hills one of the highest traffic count commercial locations in east Calgary. Drive-through pads, QSR end-caps, and hotel sites occupy the arterial frontage.
Secondary commercial development has occurred north and south of 17 Avenue SE within the Belvedere and East Hills communities, with neighbourhood commercial uses including medical clinics, childcare centres, and service-commercial strip centres extending the trade area's retail offering beyond the power centre. The broader node continues to evolve as residential development in east Calgary and Chestermere drives ongoing demand growth for retail and service businesses.
Asset Classes
Power Centre / Big Box
Large-format anchor and junior anchor retail bays within the East Hills Shopping Centre, occupied by national tenants on long-term leases.
Retail Pad Sites
Drive-through and stand-alone pad sites at the 17 Ave SE / Stoney Trail interchange, suited to QSR, fuel, and financial services users.
Inline Retail Leasing
Inline bays within the East Hills power centre for specialty retail, food court, and service-commercial tenants in a fully tenanted national anchor environment.
Investment Sales
Stabilized retail investment properties within and adjacent to the East Hills node, offering long-term cash flow backed by national covenant tenants.
Investment Drivers
East Hills Shopping Centre represents a rare institutional-quality retail investment in a market where established power centre assets rarely trade. The centre's dominant market position in an underserved east Calgary trade area, combined with long WALT (weighted average lease term) from national anchors, makes it a highly defensive cash flow asset. Investors targeting Calgary retail exposure consistently identify East Hills as one of the city's most compelling locations due to the combination of strong anchor covenant, high traffic, and a growing residential catchment in Chestermere and east Calgary.
The ongoing residential expansion of communities east of Stoney Trail — including Belvedere, Redstone, Cornerstone, and Chestermere — continues to grow the East Hills trade area population, supporting above-average retail sales performance and minimal long-term vacancy risk for well-positioned tenants within the node.
Development Pipeline
East Hills is substantially built out within the power centre footprint, with remaining development activity focused on pad site development and outparcel infill adjacent to the main centre. Residential development in the surrounding Belvedere community and ongoing east Calgary growth will continue to expand the trade area population over the coming decade. Canada's Home Commercial actively monitors investment sale opportunities and leasing vacancies within the East Hills retail node.