A decade after Daryl Katz broke ground on ICE District, it stands as one of North America’s most-studied urban revitalization projects, having fundamentally reshaped Edmonton’s downtown core over ten years of sustained construction and investment. Home to the Edmonton Oilers and Edmonton Oil Kings, it is now the largest sports and entertainment district in Canada and the second-largest mixed-use development ever built in North America, trailing only New York’s Hudson Yards.
The journey began in 2014 when Daryl Katz initiated construction on what would become a $2.5 billion, 25-acre development anchored by Rogers Place. Katz Group struck a partnership with the City of Edmonton in which Daryl Katz, the Edmonton-born entrepreneur and majority owner of the Edmonton Oilers, committed an initial $100 million in private investment, a figure that has since grown to over $2 billion as the district expanded far beyond its original scope. That sustained commitment drove thousands of jobs into the downtown and spurred an additional $4 billion in surrounding development, making ICE District one of the most visible examples of what private investment can unlock in a mid-sized Canadian city.
ICE District’s Phase I was completed in just nine years, eight years faster than its most comparable predecessor, the Crypto.com Arena and the surrounding LA Live district in Los Angeles. Rogers Place opened in 2016 on time and on budget, immediately drawing further development into its orbit. The 68-storey Stantec Tower, Canada’s tallest building west of Toronto, followed in 2018, and the JW Marriott ICE District hotel opened in 2019.
Today, ICE District encompasses Class AAA office towers housing major tenants like PricewaterhouseCoopers and DLA Piper, 483 SKY Private Residences, and a range of entertainment and hospitality venues. The neighbouring Edmonton Tower is home to Royal Bank of Canada and Katz Group, Daryl Katz’s own company and the parent of OEG Inc. Overall, the district has generated $3.2 billion in economic impact for Edmonton and driven significant tax revenues into the Capital City Downtown Community Revitalization Levy, funding $231 million toward Rogers Place costs and hundreds of millions more in public infrastructure projects.
Daryl Katz’s Arena Vision Puts Edmonton on the Global Entertainment Map
Rogers Place has drawn major international sporting events since it opened. The NHL selected ICE District as its hub for the 2020 Stanley Cup playoffs, and it hosted the 2021 IIHF World Junior Championships. It will also host the World Juniors in 2027 and the World Cup of Hockey in 2028. Concert tours from Drake, Paul McCartney, Elton John, and Bruce Springsteen have made Edmonton a regular stop for artists who previously bypassed the city entirely. That shift in Edmonton’s profile reflects what Katz argued from the outset — that a properly built and operated arena in the right location would change how the city was perceived. Over the past decade, the ICE District he built around Rogers Place has become a point of reference for urban redevelopment projects across the continent.
Professional teams across North America now travel to Edmonton to study the ICE District model for their own arena-anchored development plans, with Calgary’s new project for the Flames directly drawing on elements of the Edmonton approach. Daryl Katz has watched his downtown investment become something of a playbook for other cities looking to replicate what Edmonton has built over the past ten years.
Looking ahead, Phase II development is underway, with the Village at ICE District, a medium-density urban development north of Rogers Place featuring diverse housing options, green spaces, and retail. A $250 million Event Park, with contributions from OEG Sports & Entertainment, the City of Edmonton, and the Government of Alberta, will further expand the district’s offerings.
From a single arena commitment to an urban district where Edmontonians live, work, stay, play, and gather, ICE District’s first decade shows what sustained public-private investment can produce when it is given time to compound. That momentum, built on Daryl Katz’s consistent reinvestment in Edmonton over more than ten years, is set to continue as Phase II adds residential density and a major new event venue to a district that has already changed the shape of the city.
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