The spiral ramp at the foot of 15 Avenue SE that corrals commuters travelling to and from Victoria Park/Stampede station provides an elevated perspective of the tall and condo-rich neighbourhood. But the onslaught of vertical development is still a relatively recent episode in the history of this eastern slice of the Beltline. In this edition of Throwback Thursday, we show how the view from the spot has evolved over the past decade.

The view from the ramp in September 2008, image by Flickr user Payton Chung via Creative Commons

By September 2008, construction on Sasso had been finished for a couple of years, followed by completion of its sibling tower Vetro, which is mostly out of the photograph's frame to the left. The developer of the twin-tower complex, Cove Properties, then launched construction of another skyscraping duo in Nuera and Alura. Construction on Nuera, the first of the two 33-storey towers to rise, had only just begun climbing above grade. 

The first signs of the eventual three-tower Keynote development — though mostly blocked by the near-complete ten-storey Stampede Station building — are also visible in the almost decade-old photo. Even further in the background is construction of the 19-storey Palliser South on the corner of 10 Avenue and 1 Street SE.

The view today, image retrieved from Google Street View

The current view yields a dramatically different look of the skyline. Nuera and Alura, completed in 2010 and 2013, dominate the scene and inhibit views of the downtown core. The Bow joined the mixed-use Keynote development as prominent additions to the city, and although obscured, construction on Palliser South wrapped up in 2010.

Judging by the pace of development witnessed over the past nine years, it seems that the remaining parcels of developable land in Victoria Park are on borrowed time, especially with plans for a new arena being considered.

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