Live in Pineridge
A 1974 community in northeast Calgary's 'Properties' cluster, built around its own City-owned leisure centre and a short ride from the Rundle CTrain station.
Pineridge was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 but not developed until 1974, when it went up alongside Whitehorn, Temple and Rundle as one of the four communities known collectively as "the Properties" during the mid-1970s building boom. Before that it was treeless prairie. At 2.6 km² by the City's boundary polygon it holds Village Square Leisure Centre, one of only two leisure centres the City of Calgary owns and operates, plus the schools that anchor the neighbourhood. At the 2021 census it held 9,850 residents in 3,735 private households, with 39% of residents immigrants against 33% citywide.
One of the Properties, and one of only two City-owned leisure centres
Bordered north by 32 Avenue NE, west by 52 Street NE, south by 16 Avenue NE (the Trans-Canada Highway), and east by 68 Street NE. Ward 10.
Pineridge was annexed by the City of Calgary in 1961 but not built until 1974, when it went up alongside Whitehorn, Temple and Rundle as one of the four communities known collectively as "the Properties" during the mid-1970s building boom. Before that it was treeless prairie: there is no older layer to the neighbourhood underneath the 1970s streets.
It is bounded by 32 Avenue NE to the north, 52 Street NE to the west, 16 Avenue NE (the Trans-Canada Highway) to the south, and 68 Street NE to the east. Ward 10.
Housing mix. At the 2021 census, 34% of households rent, against 31% citywide, and only 45% of the occupied dwellings are single-detached houses: 19% are apartments in buildings under five storeys, 16% semi-detached and 15% row houses, with nothing above five storeys. Median household income was $76,000 in 2020, against $98,000 across Calgary, and 25% of households spend 30% or more of income on shelter. Seventy-two per cent of the stock was built between 1961 and 1980.
Who lives here. 39% of residents were immigrants at the 2021 census, against 33% across Calgary, and 66% speak English most often at home against 75% citywide. The community held 9,850 residents in 3,735 private households, down from 10,022 at the last civic census in 2019. Fourteen per cent of households are five people or more, against 10% citywide.
Village Square Leisure Centre sits inside the community: a wave pool with a Safari Splash Zone and water slides, two 185 by 85 foot ice arenas, two full-size gymnasiums, a weight room and a floating-floor fitness studio. With Southland in the far southwest, it is one of only two leisure centres the City of Calgary owns and operates.
- 72% of the occupied stock was built between 1961 and 1980. Original roofs, windows, furnaces and electrical panels are at or past design life
- Aluminum wiring was still being used in Alberta in this era; have it inspected specifically
- The Trans-Canada Highway forms the entire southern boundary: go and listen at different times of day
- Airport flight paths are a real consideration across the northeast
- Sunridge Mall and the Real Canadian Superstore cluster are five to eight minutes west for the fuller shop
- Getting west to the mountains means crossing the entire city. Budget over an hour and a half to Kananaskis
How Pineridge got here
- 1961The land is annexed by the City of Calgary, more than a decade before any development begins.
- 1974Pineridge is established, built out alongside Whitehorn, Temple and Rundle as the four "Properties" communities of the mid-1970s boom. Before that the area was treeless prairie.
- 1975The Pineridge Community Association is registered on 25 March. Its hall at 6024 Rundlehorn Drive NE has a 300-capacity main hall, a stage, a kitchen, a lounge and a games room.
- 1970sVillage Square Leisure Centre is built at the same time as the surrounding streets: a wave pool, two 185 by 85 foot ice arenas, two full-size gymnasiums, a weight room and a fitness studio. With Southland, it is one of only two leisure centres the City of Calgary owns and operates.
- 1984Clarence Sansom School opens inside the community.
- 1985Rundle station opens on 27 April with the original Northeast Route 202 line, at 2529 36 Street NE, 8.4 km from the City Hall interlocking.
- 2021The federal census records 9,850 residents in 3,735 private households: 34% of households renting, 39% of residents immigrants, and a median household income of $76,000 in 2020.
Elliston, Prairie Winds, and a full lake twenty minutes east
There is no river valley inside Pineridge itself. The open space is civic: Elliston Park, 415 hectares around a 20-hectare stormwater retention pond, seven to eleven minutes south, and Prairie Winds Park, 16 hectares at 223 Castleridge Boulevard NE with a spray park, lazy river, wading pool, tennis and basketball courts and a winter sledding hill. Elliston was the home of the GlobalFest fireworks for years, and the City's park page still says so, but GlobalFest itself now runs at Spruce Meadows.
What the map does not show: Chestermere Lake, sixteen to twenty-two minutes east on the Trans-Canada, is the genuine recreational upgrade. A full lake town with beaches and boating that no amount of civic parkland inside the city replicates. That is the honest trade for being on the northeast side of Calgary.
Elsewhere in Calgary, not Pineridge
21 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 21 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. Pineridge's numbers are shaped by its position in the Properties cluster: the Rundle CTrain station, Sunridge Mall and Peter Lougheed Centre are all a short drive away, and the mountains are the furthest thing on the list.
Every gym within reach
Pineridge has its own recreation anchor inside the boundaries, which is unusual on this site: most communities rely entirely on facilities elsewhere in the quadrant. Confirm hours before you count on any of the rest.
- One of only two leisure centres the City of Calgary owns and operates, alongside Southland in the far southwest
- Wave pool, water slides, a Safari Splash Zone, two ice arenas, two full-size gymnasiums, a weight room and a fitness studio
- GoodLife Fitness at Sunridge is the closest paid chain gym, six to ten minutes away
- The community's own pathways and Elliston Park are the free options
| Facility | What it is | Drive |
|---|---|---|
| Village Square Leisure Centre open | Wave pool, water slides, safari splash zone, hot tub and steam room, two ice arenas, two full-size gymnasiums, a weight room and a floating-floor fitness studio. | 3–4 min |
| Genesis Centre open | Recreation facility further north in the northeast. No publisher we could open sets out its facilities. | 8–11 min |
| GoodLife Fitness, Sunridge open | National chain club on Sunridge Way, next to the mall. | 5–8 min |
| Pineridge community pathways open | Free option: the community's own internal pathway and green-space network. | 1–2 min |
| Elliston Park pathways open | Free option: pathways around the 20-hectare stormwater retention pond at 1827 68 St. S.E. | 7–11 min |
| Prairie Winds Park open | Free option: 16 hectares at 223 Castleridge Blvd. N.E., with a spray park, lazy river, wading pool, tennis and basketball courts and a winter sledding hill. | 7–11 min |
Village Square is the whole reason to check the schedule first. Its programming, from swim lessons to arena bookings, fills up: plan around it rather than assuming drop-in access.
A full K-to-12 chain inside or right at the boundary
Pineridge School, a multiage-classroom school, and Douglas Harkness School serve the community on the public side, Clarence Sansom opened here in 1984, and Lester B. Pearson High School carries International Baccalaureate, English Language Learning and Knowledge and Employability streams. Forest Lawn High School also lists Pineridge among the sixteen communities it serves. St. Patrick School, just over the western boundary, is the Catholic school Wikipedia places here. Only Douglas Harkness names a grade on its own page.
| School | Board | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Pineridge School | Calgary Board of Education | Multiage-classroom school, the community's namesake. Its own page prints no grade range. |
| Douglas Harkness School | Calgary Board of Education | Calgary Board of Education school inside the community, with kindergarten among its classes. |
| Clarence Sansom School | Calgary Board of Education | Opened 1984, inside the community. Its own page prints no grade range. |
| Lester B. Pearson High School | Calgary Board of Education | Grades 10 to 12, with International Baccalaureate, English Language Learning and Knowledge and Employability streams. |
| Forest Lawn High School | Calgary Board of Education | Its own article lists Pineridge among the sixteen communities it serves, grades 10 to 12 at 1304 44 Street SE. |
| St. Patrick School | Calgary Catholic | Catholic elementary just over the western boundary, named in Wikipedia's article on Pineridge. The district's site refuses automated clients, so nothing here was read from it. |
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 current designation for a specific address with the board before you buy: the Calgary Catholic School District's site refuses automated clients, so nothing on the Catholic side here was read from the district itself.
Month by month, what living here looks like
Not a highlights reel: the actual annual rhythm, including the dates residents have to remember.
- Chinooks reach the northeast later and weaker than the rest of the city
- Village Square's wave pool and twin arenas carry the indoor season
- The Trans-Canada Highway boundary gets priority plowing
- Coldest mornings mean a queued warm-up at Douglas Harkness and Pineridge School drop-off
- Family Day programming fills Village Square and the Genesis Centre
- Longer light by month end
- Coldest stretches usually break with a chinook
- Indoor recreation is at its busiest all year
- Melt and refreeze on side streets through the community
- Spring break fills Village Square's wave pool and Sunridge Mall alike
- Pathways through Pineridge reopen as the snow retreats
- Elliston Park's lake starts to shed its ice
- Last hard frosts: planting waits until the long weekend
- Elliston Park's lake draws migratory birds back
- Playing fields at Prairie Winds dry out for the season
- Street sweeping clears the winter sand off 24 Avenue and Rundlehorn Drive
- Community league and field sport seasons start at Pineridge and Clarence Sansom
- Long evenings: sunset past 9pm by month end
- Hail season begins: the northeast gets more than its share
- Sunridge Mall's parking lot fills for the May long weekend
- Peak daylight at the solstice: over 16 hours
- School year ends at Douglas Harkness, Pineridge, Clarence Sansom and Lester B. Pearson
- Thunderstorm season is fully under way
- Village Square's wave pool sees its longest lines of the year
- Calgary Stampede: ten days, about 20 minutes southwest
- GlobalFest has left Elliston Park; it now runs at Spruce Meadows, across the city
- Evening thunderstorms roll in from the west
- Hottest month, with the wave pool and Chestermere Lake both busy
- GlobalFest runs 27 to 30 August at Spruce Meadows in 2026, an hour's drive southwest
- Chestermere Lake at its warmest for a day trip east
- Quietest weeks before school returns
- Back-to-school retail builds at Sunridge Mall and Real Canadian Superstore
- School year restarts across Douglas Harkness, Pineridge, Clarence Sansom, St. Patrick and Lester B. Pearson
- First frost typically arrives late in the month
- Sunridge and the Rundle CTrain platform are busiest with the return commute
- Prairie colour turns at Prairie Winds and Elliston Park
- First snow is normal, and normally melts
- Snow tires go on before the Trans-Canada gets its first real ice
- Chestermere quiets down for the season
- Shorter evenings noticeable by mid-month
- Dark by 5pm
- Indoor recreation season restarts at Village Square and Genesis Centre
- Real Canadian Superstore and Sunridge Mall begin holiday retail
- Freeze sets in on Elliston Park's lake
- Village Square's arenas and wave pool run holiday programming three to four minutes away
- Holiday quiet across the community
- Chestermere ice starts to hold, twenty minutes east
- Chinooks, when they come, arrive late and weak in the northeast
29 more photographs of Calgary and the region
Drawn from the site's shared, freely licensed Calgary photo library, not photographs of Pineridge itself. Filter by category.
Showing 1–12 of 29 photographs.
Honesty note. This page uses only the general Calgary, seasonal, Alberta-wildlife and day-trip photography from the site's shared library: the Fish Creek and Midnapore-specific images used on the southeast pages are deliberately excluded, because this community is in the northeast and those are not its surroundings. Nothing here is presented as a photograph of Pineridge itself.