Eighteen months ago, a morning espresso from Alforno or a scoop of Village Ice Cream meant driving into the inner city. Since April 4, 2026, both have operated from the ground floor of a single six-storey building at 780 78 Street SW, a short drive from most Aspen Woods driveways. By fall, four more businesses had moved in around them. The building is called The HQ, and its developer, Truman, uses it as its own corporate headquarters.
In about six months, that one address turned into a full block of daily errands, and it is the first finished example of what most of West District is designed to become.
Six storefronts, filled in one season
The HQ is mixed-use, with rental apartments above and retail at street level. Here is the order in which that street level came to life.
- Alforno, the Teatro Group café known for its coffee and baked goods, opened its West District location on Saturday, April 4. Daily Hive reported it was the brand's eighth outpost in the city.
- Village Ice Cream opened the same day, at the same address, according to Daily Hive.
- Hula Poké was already open by early April, when West District's spring retail update listed it alongside the two openers.
- Pulse Fitness and Rejuvenation Dermatology were both slated for summer 2026 in April. Rejuvenation sits in unit 201, and West District's retailer directory now lists both as open.
- House of Toli, the salon and spa, finished its move and held a grand opening on September 18, with complimentary skin consultations and dry styling for guests.
That makes six businesses at one address: coffee and pastry, ice cream, a quick lunch, a fitness studio, a dermatology clinic and a full-service salon. Together they cover a good share of a normal week's errands.
Familiar names, moved closer
Every tenant on that list was already known somewhere in Calgary, and that was the plan.
Village Ice Cream was founded in 2012. Before West District, its locations were Victoria Park, Britannia Plaza, Garrison Corner, Bridgeland and University District, as Retail Insider listed them. All of those are inner-city or university-adjacent. The West District shop is the brand's first move toward the city's western edge. Alforno has been open since 2015 and is the baking arm of Teatro Group, supplying bread and pastries to the group's restaurants.
Truman said as much in the same Retail Insider piece. "As this community continues to grow, we wanted to make sure we brought together some of Calgary's most beloved brands under one roof, to offer a downtown experience in West District," Tony Trutina, Truman's COO, told Retail Insider.
House of Toli is the local exception. It was already a neighbor. Its own site says the business was established in Calgary's Aspen area in 2009. After seventeen years nearby, its move to The HQ kept it in the same part of the city, now on a block with a café, a fitness studio and a clinic a few doors away.
So the building did two things at once. It brought in names that had only existed east of here, and it gave an established Aspen-area business a new home.
The template for the rest of the district
The HQ matters beyond its six storefronts because Truman has said this is how most of West District will be built.
Abby Woitas, Truman's marketing manager, told Retail Insider that the finished district would include about 17 condo projects, one townhome development and 11 single-family homes. She said the majority would be mixed-use buildings, "multi-family residences on the top and retail offerings on the first floor."
Single-family homes will be a small share of what West District builds. The ground floors of those condo projects are where the district's shops and services are meant to go. The HQ is one of those ground floors, finished and leased, and the first test of whether well-known Calgary brands will sign on at the far west end of the city. Six did.
For anyone living in Aspen Woods, that changes how to think about the next few years of construction along 78 Street. Each mixed-use building that goes up is built to add more street-level retail, using the model this one has already proved.
Radio Park turns the block into a place to linger
The park next to The HQ gives the block somewhere to stay once the errands are done.
Daily Hive reported that Radio Park was scheduled for its grand opening on September 20, 2025, so this fall is its second. West District's Radio Park page describes the layout:
- North Plaza, a large green space at the north end with five animal statues.
- Radio Block, the restaurant and retail edge that overlooks the park.
- The Great Lawn, which doubles as a skating rink in winter, with a viewing plaza over the pond.
- An amphitheatre by the pond that hosts concerts, festivals and events year-round.
- A stormwater pond with walkways, terraced gardens and a recirculating waterfall.
The rink matters most for the months ahead. West District's events page is the place to check for skating-season dates as temperatures drop. Once the lawn freezes, the café and the ice cream counter sit a short walk from a public rink, an arrangement Calgarians have usually had to drive downtown or into the inner city to find.
West District already tried that kind of programming this month. Its Broadcast Ave. Boo Bash on October 24 sent trick-or-treaters from business to business along Broadcast Avenue and ran a pumpkin hunt in Radio Park. It was a street, its storefronts and the park beside them used as one space.
What's on the calendar, and what's still pending
The next few weeks continue the pattern, with a couple of items still unconfirmed.
| What | When | Where | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Great Pumpkin Carnival | Friday, October 30, 5:00–7:30 p.m. | Strathcona-Christie-Aspen Community Association | Scheduled, with carnival games, pumpkins, prizes, candy and food trucks |
| Moonlight Serenade seniors' dance | Friday, November 27, doors 6:30 p.m. | Strathcona-Christie-Aspen Community Association | Scheduled, advance tickets required |
| Radio Park skating rink | Winter 2026–27 | Great Lawn, West District | Seasonal; check West District for dates |
| McDonald's | Late 2026 | West District | Listed as coming soon, no address or date given |
The Great Pumpkin Carnival is tomorrow evening, the easiest Halloween-week outing on the list for families in the Strathcona, Christie and Aspen area. The Moonlight Serenade needs a ticket bought ahead of time.
McDonald's is a different kind of tenant. West District's retailer directory shows it as "Coming Soon!" without an address, and Truman has said only that it will open in late 2026. Unlike the locally founded brands at The HQ, it is a national chain, which suggests the district's retail mix will widen as more ground floors open.
For now, the finished part of West District is one building and the park beside it. Pick a morning when the rink is open, walk from the Great Lawn to Alforno, and you'll see the rest of the district's plan at street level.
At Dexter and Co, we follow how places like The HQ change what a home in Aspen Woods offers day to day, because a café, a rink and a salon within walking distance count for more than a feature sheet suggests. If you're curious how West District's growth fits into the value of your own home, request a private valuation and we'll go through it with you street by street.
