All it took was an impromptu visit over beers and a well-timed email notification to set the resurrection of a Calgary institution in motion. And it quickly became clear that Dean Brown and Darren Thomson were the right people to get it done.
The men were friends bonded by squash, enjoying a 40-year friendship forged through high-level competition. The accomplished entrepreneurs had worked in fitness, hospitality and the energy sector across the country over the years and had no intention of making a major life change over drinks amidst the challenges of COVID in 2020. However, as they chatted, Thomson received word that his squash club, The Bow Valley Club (BVC), was in receivership and shutting its doors for good. The Club had been a unique one in Calgary, and they mourned the loss over a pint. But only for a minute. Then they started planning.
“We just looked at each other and said, ‘Well, let’s get this thing going again,’” says Dean Brown, CEO of Bow Valley Athletic Club. “Then a guy named James Muraro, being passionate about the club as a member, jumped in with us to try to resurrect it, and a bit later, Mike Rose, CEO of Tourmaline Oil Corp., became our fourth partner to help us with capital improvements.”
Brown and Thomson quickly decided they would take a chance and dove right in, meeting with receivers, negotiating their lease in Bow Valley Square, planning the much-needed renovation and getting the word out that the Club would be back up and running, better than ever. The news was well received, and around 200 members were signed up and ready for the new Bow Valley Athletic Club (BVAC), set to reopen in November 2021. Word of mouth, referrals and corporate membership discounts have brought the membership to more than 800 today, and the Club still has limited room to accommodate new members, particularly on the women’s side.
The new owners paid homage to the storied history and those who had built the club into a members’ home away from home. Today, members walk through the original Bow Valley Club glass doors to enter the club restaurant, which bears the last name of the original GM, squash professional and one of the best squash players in the world in the 1980s, Murray Lilley. John Lecky purchased the Club after Lilley departed and many of his art pieces remain on the walls of the renovated club.
These touches of the past are complemented by the massive modernization of the facility, both in ideology and appearance, to better meet the diverse needs of today’s membership. It started out in 1981 as a men’s-only club, until Lecky built the women’s club on the floor below in 1996. After his death in 2003, Lecky’s widow sold the Club to 35 members who ran it as a limited partnership. Financial issues in 2016 forced these owners to close the women’s club, and BVAC remained men’s-only until they declared it bankrupt in 2020.
“Closing the women’s club was perceived by many as moving backwards,” says Brown. “We’d like to attract another 50 executive women as members of Bow Valley Athletic Club right now.”
The new programming and amenities have certainly helped with this goal. Among the first orders of business when the managing partners took over was to create a women’s locker room on the main floor, delivering a spa atmosphere, including a steam room, in the expansive space. They also turned the former men’s lounge into Lotus Yoga studio, which offers 16 classes per week, and they repurposed a squash court into Matrix fitness studio with more that 20 HIIT and bootcamp sessions per week.
The upgraded upstairs fitness area boasts new equipment for weight and cardio training, and certified trainers are available to individualize programs and offer motivation and support as members work to reach their fitness goals. But at Bow Valley Athletic Club, the main attraction remains the squash. The club has four international squash courts and one North American doubles squash court (one of only five in Alberta) which can double as a pickleball court. Members of all levels can join Club leagues and play in tournaments, or book sessions to improve their game with Connor Turk, the full-time squash professional and one of Canada’s top squash players. Always looking for ways to be better, the managing partners have additional renovations planned to facilitate even more programming for members.
“We want to do a patio next summer, and there’s a new sport called Padel, and we’ve got room on the roof to put one or two of those courts, which we’d like to do,” says Darren Thomson, GM of BVAC. “There’s also space between Towers 1 and 4, a street level park on 6th Avenue, where we can put three pickleball courts.”
The owners are working with their landlord, Armco Alberta, to install these pickleball courts that would be available to Club members as well as the other tenants of the building. With the rest of the Club’s real estate accounted for after the renovations, this partnership is a great way to expand the club’s offerings for members.
The most striking of these renovations was the men’s locker room which enjoyed a complete overhaul of the shower area and introduced a sauna, a steam room and gentleman’s lounge, making it a bright and welcoming space for members. The rest of the facility was freshened up, too, with a coat of paint, new flooring and modern furnishings. Last summer, they opened the entire club up by tearing down the brick wall that used to greet members when they walked through the front door and replacing it with a new Court Side Lounge that would be at home in any upscale hotel.
After all, the restaurant and bar are where connections happen after a workout, lesson or a squash game; it is that connection that elevates BVAC from a gym to a social club, an urban country club in the heart of downtown. The Lounge has four beers on tap, a menu of healthy salads and poke bowls, as well as wings and burgers served in a warm, comfortable space overlooking the courts. Lilley, the upscale sports lounge, offers an incredible menu, impressive wine list, specialty cocktails and a fun atmosphere. These areas are designed to welcome members in and encourage them to stick around and visit over a drink. To accommodate oenophiles who prefer their own wine, the Club offers onsite wine locker rentals where they can store their favourite labels, paying only a small corkage fee. The partners have created the perfect balance between sports club and destination social club that has Bow Valley Athletic Club on Calgarians’ radar.
More and more, BVAC is gaining traction as a prime event venue as well, whether that’s for private parties or corporate meetings. Brown and Thomson are natural ambassadors of the Club, participating in events and being a daily part of Club culture; they get to know all of the members, take a genuine interest in their lives, and they and their staff greet people by name. They refer to the Club as the “Cheers” of the fitness and racquet world, where ‘everybody knows your name’. The goal: to build relationships that will last decades.
“There’s no other place that you can go to where you can start building a social network like this club,” says Thomson. “When the club opened in 1981, there were 20-somethings as members, just out of university, and when it closed 40 years later, they were still members. They were cleaning out their lockers, crying, saying, ‘I built my life around this club.’ There’s no other club like that in Calgary. Not even close.”
There’s also no other club that hosts high-level squash events either. Since reopening, Bow Valley Athletic Club has been the proud host of the Canadian Open tournament, and the entire staff is excited to be part of the action again this year when the tournament kicks off in March. This prestigious event, organized by Squash Canada and the Professional Squash Association, attracts some of the top-ranked squash players from around the world.
Twenty-four competitors will battle for the 2026 title in an all-glass squash court set up in the atrium of Bow Valley Square. The Open is an incredible spectacle, inviting fans to watch from the bleachers surrounding the portable court, or tune in to traditional media and digital broadcasts airing gameplay across the globe.
“Of the four champions we’ve had since we started running it, two have won the world championship. We get the very best guys coming from all over the world. It’s never been in Calgary before we came in and took the Club over,” says Brown.
Dean Brown and Darren Thomson, along with a dedicated BVAC team of 50, stand as the ultimate comeback story, a testament to what vision, stewardship and a passion for the game can accomplish. After four short years, the partners have reclaimed the Club’s legacy as a sophisticated urban country club where competition, community and culture come together. Through quality men’s and women’s programming, world-class amenities, unparallelled member services and a growing membership, Bow Valley Athletic Club has once again become a dynamic, vibrant hub in the heart of downtown Calgary.
370, 250 6 Ave SW
Calgary, Alberta, T2P 3H7
(403) 300-1432
info@bowvalleyathleticclub.com