UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
2300 units completed and in progress just from office conversions. Very cool!
And another 700+ in planning.
And another 700+ in planning.
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Office Space Conversion
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Garceyues
Active Member
The impact that these will have on the availability of rental housing in the downtown/beltline and the increased foot traffic for local (and often struggling) businesses cannot be understated.
Nine new office conversion projects announced in downtown Calgary
The City of Calgary has announced details of nine new office-to-residential conversions in the downtown core.www.ctvnews.ca
Col du Edworthy
Active Member
5th Ave is getting a lot of attention. Is there any hope that this spurs a rethink of how that avenue functions?
Red Star
Active Member
I think adding more residents to the core is only half the battle. The other half would be putting 4th, 5th, 6th and 9th Ave on a road diet and improving the sidewalks.
A brutal streetscape is still a brutal streetscape. Five vehicle lanes are not required for 22 hours of the day. I'd love to see a bus lane of 5th, 6th and 9th. Ave.
thecivilengineer
Active Member
We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our… | Maxim Olshevsky
We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our 4th and 5th conversions in the Downtown West End, delivering approximately 180 new homes designed...
www.linkedin.com
CalgaryTiger
Senior Member
Appreciate that they're keeping the facade the same. Unique building that will end up better than Cornerstone and 800 SIX WEST.View attachment 697365We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our… | Maxim Olshevsky
We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our 4th and 5th conversions in the Downtown West End, delivering approximately 180 new homes designed...
Red Star
Active Member
I think the trick for office conversions is to keep the original facade and exterior cladding. Only change out the windows.
Red Star
Active Member
That would be incredible if CRUs were added to the ground floor. It would really bring life to this stretch of 8th Street:View attachment 697365We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our… | Maxim Olshevsky
We are proud to be one of nine new projects announced yesterday through the City of Calgary’s Downtown Calgary Development Incentive Program. With this announcement, the Atrium buildings become our 4th and 5th conversions in the Downtown West End, delivering approximately 180 new homes designed...
zagox
Active Member
Totally agree that 4, 5, 6, and 9 ave need to be rethought to be supportive of urban life rather than suburban commuters.
However, the only way to create political will to do that is to have more people living on those avenues.
I think the city is following the right strategy to focus on adding residential units first. That will create momentum for better place making later.
100% with you on this. The one way traffic is really meant for peak traffic that's only busy for a couple of hours in the morning and in the late afternoon. It's time to rethink downtown as a large office park and more of a community.
Also agree about putting residents in as the first step. It's always tough trying to decide where to put funding when it comes to downtown improvements, but the benefit of putting money into residential is it's a one time cost and the residents will be there going forward. The next steps like improving the public realm, adding more retail, increasing safety, etc.. will fall into place, but without the residents we can't really move to the next steps.
Garceyues
Active Member
Another thing I appreciate about the office conversions is that the majority of them are happening in the downtown proper. In terms of new builds and high rises, the vast majority of those seem to be concentrated more so in the beltline. Off the top of my head, Kings by LaCaille and Plaza are all I can think of in terms of new buildings under construction/planned for the downtown. Without these office conversions, I think that the avenues you mentioned and the downtown as a whole would have a tough time being activated and supporting new urban life.
lemongrab
Active Member
Completely agree. Personally I hope they don't knee jerk to making them 2-ways; I think you can achieve the best of all worlds with tightened up 1-ways.
There are a whole bunch of key elements at play here that we know will be changing significantly sooner or later. The Bowforth Park redesign and reclaiming more space along the river could really catalyze a major rethink - along with 11th St underpass, old science centre, West Village design overall (incl Bow Tr and 14th St), and a future grade separation of the red line running across 4/5/6 Aves.
The bastardization of