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General Construction Updates

Nawads said:
On the topic of Marda Loop road construction... The businesses are unhappy with the disruption and how long it's taking.

livewirecalgary.com

City of Calgary named in $75 million class action Marda Loop lawsuit - LiveWire Calgary

The City of Calgary has been sued for $75 million over alleged business disruption in Marda Loop due to ongoing construction projects in the area. The Statement of Claim under the Class Proceedings Act was filed May 30 with the Court of King’s Bench of Alberta, with Silver Sage Beef and Diner...
livewirecalgary.com livewirecalgary.com
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Can't blame them, 2 years is a long time. Once it's done the area will be far better for it, but the process is pushing some businesses to the brink...
 
Mountain Man said:
Can't blame them, 2 years is a long time. Once it's done the area will be far better for it, but the process is pushing some businesses to the brink...
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Could this possibly go anywhere? Disruptions happen, and it's for an improvement project funded by every taxpayer in Calgary. I also find the impact on business a little suspect. There's been so many new restaurants and shops opening in the area, housing values there climbed faster than comparable neighborhoods. I get the argument if there's a bunch of empty storefronts but that's clearly not the case.
 
I haven't been in the area for a few years, so I can't comment on the effects at the street level. If there's a class action suit starting up, then I would expect that some businesses are losing significant money.
 
Surrealplaces said:
I agree. An argument could also be made for Bridgeland, but Marda Loop has seen a lot of change over the past decade. Once all this construction is finally done it's gonna be rockin.
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The construction will never be done. There will just be different projects on the go.

Mountain Man said:
Can't blame them, 2 years is a long time. Once it's done the area will be far better for it, but the process is pushing some businesses to the brink...
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Some businesses in the area are thriving while some businesses are struggling. Construction has a big impact for sure, but some of these businesses are going to struggle regardless.

As an example, Adesso Man opened in Henry Block in 2023. It lasted around a year, citing construction as a reason for the closure. Next door, Slow Burn Books has been incredibly popular and has struggled to keep up with demand. A women's consignment store opened up in the location of Adesso Man. They moved in across the street from a long established and popular consignment store and are significantly more expensive. If they fail, is it because of the construction? Or because they weren't able to compete?

There has to be a balance between helping out local businesses and making them suck it up.
 
Construction timeline projects in this city and country are a joke though. Something like this would have been done in a fraction of the time in Asia and parts of Europe. I get the frustrations of the businesses. Look at Eau Clare….3-4 years to redo the plaza….that is a joke. The same thing is about to happen with Olympic Plaza. How does an arena get built faster than an outdoor plaza (yes I know the answer, but the point still stands). The city needs to through more resources to get these projects done faster. The 75million they may have to pay in the lawsuit could have gone to speeding this up. I shudder at how long Stephen Ave is going to take….
 
$75M? Get real! That's >2X the project costs. This would set a really bad precedent.

There is no way that the business owners are facing these types of losses. I remember seeing an article in 2023 where the owner of the Apt22 consignment store claimed they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, and ultimately closed down. In the same article K-Thi, the Vietnamese restaurant claimed to have lost $50,000/month in revenue. I guess that now that it's in front of the courts, they will have to prove it.

I don't disagree that construction could have been managed/scheduled better, but part of that was the City trying to appease the business owners.

I'm not unsympathetic to these business owners, but the reality is that some of the pain they are dealing with is self-inflicted. Silver Sage and Diner Deluxe are the primary plaintiffs. I'm a patron of both. I find Silver Sage overpriced and Diner Deluxe poorly managed (I find the service slow). Also, I'm pretty sure Diner Deluxe moved in well after it was known that the City would be undertaking the Main Streets construction in the neighbourhood.

As some have mentioned, some businesses have thrived, despite the construction, while others have failed. I have a hard time believing that those that failed, only failed because of construction.
 
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adamyyc said:
$75M? Get real! That's >2X the project costs. This would set a really bad precedent.

There is no way that the business owners are facing these types of losses. I remember seeing an article in 2023 where the owner of the Apt22 consignment store claimed they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, and ultimately closed down. In the same article K-Thi, the Vietnamese restaurant claimed to have lost $50,000/month in revenue. I guess that now that it's in front of the courts, they will have to prove it.

I don't disagree that construction could have been managed/scheduled better, but part of that was the City trying to appease the business owners.

I'm not unsympathetic to these business owners, but the reality is that some of the pain they are dealing with is self-inflicted. Silver Sage and Diner Deluxe are the primary plaintiffs. I'm a patron of both. I find Silver Sage overpriced and Diner Deluxe poorly managed (I find the service slow). Also, I'm pretty sure Diner Deluxe moved in well after it was known that the City would be undertaking the Main Streets construction in the neighbourhood.

As some of mentioned, some businesses have thrived, despite the construction, while others have failed. I have a hard time believing that those that failed, only failed because of construction.
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I would have a hard time seeing how businesses would prove harm through "injurious affection" here, which I think the Municipal Government Act is the clause they are referencing. I am no lawyer so take all this as a "hot take" from an uniformed casual observer:

Generally, cities can't be liable for doing things they were directed to do as long as it's within the scope of what a city is allowed to do (such as rebuild a main street through a Council-approved program). Otherwise we'd all sue the city for making me late for work because they tweaked the signal timing.

This "injurious affect" clauses in the MGA they reference is a exception. It's when the city does something that permanently depreciates your appraised value of land - so there might be compensation if you could prove this occurred. However it's really limited - the MGA references only the existence of infrastructure, not construction, being a cause. Also the compensation can be offset by the benefit to your land that the improve may cause too - you can't sue the city if they make your land value go up! I don't see where the negligence exists here - construction sucks and has delays, including community-induced ones due to more and more engagement being required on projects like this. Everyone wants stuff to be built faster, but the reason it was slower at first was the community asked for it to help pace things and regular, run of the mill construction. Really hard to prove the city acted outside of it's job when rebuilding a street.

So best guess - this seems PR and rent seeking behaviour by the businesses suing. It seems like the idea would be to have an absurdly high sticker price to generate headlines, get politics involved and shame the city (by getting Council to direct it) to provide a bit more compensation, while drumming up consumer support to visit these businesses. I don't see how neighbourhood beautification and infrastructure upgrades permanently reduce the value of the land in Marda Loop, if anything it unleashed ever higher valuations for land owners.
 
The Familia said:
Construction timeline projects in this city and country are a joke though. Something like this would have been done in a fraction of the time in Asia and parts of Europe. I get the frustrations of the businesses. Look at Eau Clare….3-4 years to redo the plaza….that is a joke. The same thing is about to happen with Olympic Plaza. How does an arena get built faster than an outdoor plaza (yes I know the answer, but the point still stands). The city needs to through more resources to get these projects done faster. The 75million they may have to pay in the lawsuit could have gone to speeding this up. I shudder at how long Stephen Ave is going to take….
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I know people often say this, but outside of China, most European and Asian countries are really not as speedy as people here would believe. They're also bundling a lot of work into main street, I'm pretty sure there were road widening/narrowing, utility relocations, water main replacements.

adamyyc said:
$75M? Get real! That's >2X the project costs. This would set a really bad precedent.

There is no way that the business owners are facing these types of losses. I remember seeing an article in 2023 where the owner of the Apt22 consignment store claimed they had lost hundreds of thousands of dollars in revenue, and ultimately closed down. In the same article K-Thi, the Vietnamese restaurant claimed to have lost $50,000/month in revenue. I guess that now that it's in front of the courts, they will have to prove it.

I don't disagree that construction could have been managed/scheduled better, but part of that was the City trying to appease the business owners.

I'm not unsympathetic to these business owners, but the reality is that some of the pain they are dealing with is self-inflicted. Silver Sage and Diner Deluxe are the primary plaintiffs. I'm a patron of both. I find Silver Sage overpriced and Diner Deluxe poorly managed (I find the service slow). Also, I'm pretty sure Diner Deluxe moved in well after it was known that the City would be undertaking the Main Streets construction in the neighbourhood.

As some of mentioned, some businesses have thrived, despite the construction, while others have failed. I have a hard time believing that those that failed, only failed because of construction.
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Every business is going to say they suffer because of the construction, but we know naturally some businesses fail. Settling or providing any compensation (above what is already given) sets a really bad precedence. It'll make public works projects more expensive. I also think the dramatic change in Marda Loop and some of the people that live there will naturally change the types of businesses that succeed there. Much like homeowners that want the same neighborhood they bought into for $20k 50 years ago, the area change and the businesses surrounding it will as well.
 
Noticed a big PDI demolition banner hanging on the side of the 1300 8th St Sw. Haven't heard of any development approved for there so assuming it will become a parking lot.
 
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