1150 Centre Street SE | 121.5m | 37s | Oxford Properties | Zeidler

Mountain Man said:
Someone needs to convince O'Connor's to sell their parking lot and develop it. It's never full and they patrol it diligently to make sure no non-customers park there, such a waste of prime space!
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Gonna go against the grain here...but as an occasional shopper at O'Connor (they seasonally have good shoes on sale!), having ample parking is a big park of the draw, as it removes a typical pain-point for inner city shopping. Now maybe it doesn't need to be that big, but knowing that shopping there is easy-peasy is why I often go there instead of Supreme or someplace on 17th. Think of their typical clientele (older, well off, probably not living within walking distance)....nobody from that demographic is coming by bus to get measured for a $5K suit. If you remove the parking, you might as well close it down.

I've said this before, but the magic of a mid-sized city like Calgary has always been being able to balance the mix of vibrancy and easy accessibility, and being able to serve not only locals but visitors from across the city. O'Connors, Camera Store, MEC...these are all destination retail spots that work because they not only service the immediate community, but also provide access via parking to people from all over. I don't think some people realize how important having parking access is for many these retailers. You remove the parking, these places will die or move, which affects the draw for other businesses.

Decidedly Dense said:
ever time I walk by I imagine that whole store swapped out for an amazing restaurant with a patio. And the parking lot gone for apartments. Ugh to dream…
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Here's an independent local business that's been around for 75+ years, that's locating/investing in the inner city, and offers unique brands no available at the mall...and you'd rather have another restaurant/patio? One that will most likely be a mediocre chain to be able to afford that big space, and/or go out of business in a couple years?

Maybe O'Connors is not bringing in the hip-and-happenin' demographic that's the dream of every urban planner and forumer...but personally I'm glad they are there. You need places like this if you want a thriving and diverse inner city.
 
DiscoStu said:
Gonna go against the grain here...but as an occasional shopper at O'Connor (they seasonally have good shoes on sale!), having ample parking is a big park of the draw, as it removes a typical pain-point for inner city shopping. Now maybe it doesn't need to be that big, but knowing that shopping there is easy-peasy is why I often go there instead of Supreme or someplace on 17th. Think of their typical clientele (older, well off, probably not living within walking distance)....nobody from that demographic is coming by bus to get measured for a $5K suit. If you remove the parking, you might as well close it down.

I've said this before, but the magic of a mid-sized city like Calgary has always been being able to balance the mix of vibrancy and easy accessibility, and being able to serve not only locals but visitors from across the city. O'Connors, Camera Store, MEC...these are all destination retail spots that work because they not only service the immediate community, but also provide access via parking to people from all over. I don't think some people realize how important having parking access is for many these retailers. You remove the parking, these places will die or move, which affects the draw for other businesses.



Here's an independent local business that's been around for 75+ years, that's locating/investing in the inner city, and offers unique brands no available at the mall...and you'd rather have another restaurant/patio? One that will most likely be a mediocre chain to be able to afford that big space, and/or go out of business in a couple years?

Maybe O'Connors is not bringing in the hip-and-happenin' demographic that's the dream of every urban planner and forumer...but personally I'm glad they are there. You need places like this if you want a thriving and diverse inner city.
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The answer can be both, can't it? It doesn't have to be either or, there can be both parking for a business and a better use of land than parking on 1st Street.

If O'Connors wasn't on 1st Street, then I agree who cares, but stretching 1st from 10th to 17th sounds exciting.
 
DiscoStu said:
Gonna go against the grain here...but as an occasional shopper at O'Connor (they seasonally have good shoes on sale!), having ample parking is a big park of the draw, as it removes a typical pain-point for inner city shopping. Now maybe it doesn't need to be that big, but knowing that shopping there is easy-peasy is why I often go there instead of Supreme or someplace on 17th. Think of their typical clientele (older, well off, probably not living within walking distance)....nobody from that demographic is coming by bus to get measured for a $5K suit. If you remove the parking, you might as well close it down.

I've said this before, but the magic of a mid-sized city like Calgary has always been being able to balance the mix of vibrancy and easy accessibility, and being able to serve not only locals but visitors from across the city. O'Connors, Camera Store, MEC...these are all destination retail spots that work because they not only service the immediate community, but also provide access via parking to people from all over. I don't think some people realize how important having parking access is for many these retailers. You remove the parking, these places will die or move, which affects the draw for other businesses.



Here's an independent local business that's been around for 75+ years, that's locating/investing in the inner city, and offers unique brands no available at the mall...and you'd rather have another restaurant/patio? One that will most likely be a mediocre chain to be able to afford that big space, and/or go out of business in a couple years?

Maybe O'Connors is not bringing in the hip-and-happenin' demographic that's the dream of every urban planner and forumer...but personally I'm glad they are there. You need places like this if you want a thriving and diverse inner city.
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Lot of other poor land use properties in Beltline that also could be developed so it's not really a big deal at the moment, but in a dense urban environment, if you need free parking for your business and can't afford to build it, do you belong in a downtown?

Maybe O'Connors is the only business that could survive in that location right now but exactly why is it important that they are in "your" community? Literally no one needs to be in walking distance to a menswear store. Parking may be important to them, but I can't imagine a downtown location is all that much. Perhaps it's a prestige thing being downtown close to office towers? Maybe they need that prestige and the parking, but there comes a time where if you can't afford to build underground parking or your customer won't pay for parking then clearly your target customer and location aren't aligned.

I just don't buy the argument. If you want to be in an urban area, you better be okay to have little to no parking, and there are businesses that have no problem surviving that way. There is a Costco downtown Vancouver with no free parking.

Anyways... exciting about this project. 11th Ave is going to become such a big street in 5-10 years. With this, Beltline Block, the GWL project on 4th, 4SL, Imperia, Lincoln, Broadway on 17th and Sovereign, the area between 4th and 1st and north of 17th Ave should really get boxed in and become super active.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
The answer can be both, can't it? It doesn't have to be either or, there can be both parking for a business and a better use of land than parking on 1st Street.
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It all depends on how many lots they need to still be viable...10? 15? It always seems about half full, so I imagine the staff parks there too. Ideally they would have incorporated underground parking in the new building...but they didn't, so here we are.

I agree that having a parking lot on a street like that is not a great look from outside, but look at it from the business's perspective. What's their motivation/risk to develop/sell that lot? Can they sell/develop a portion of the lot, and still have the amount of parking they need? Can they sell/develop the whole lot but with underground parking? And if so, can they remain solvent for the 2-3 years it would take to build and not have any place for your clientele to park? Is any of it worth the headache?

I have no idea what the right move is, but you gotta think at it from their point of view. That parking lot may be an eye sore to us, but it's probably hugely important for their viability. If I were them, I'd probably keep it as-is, but rent out the north half the lot and get some revenue from all the people coming to 1st.
 
Rusteez42 said:
Lot of other poor land use properties in Beltline that also could be developed so it's not really a big deal at the moment, but in a dense urban environment, if you need free parking for your business and can't afford to build it, do you belong in a downtown?
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I don't disagree with you...it all depends on what's viable for the market. Maybe a retailer of this size doesn't belong downtown anymore. But as things stand now, they own the property, it seems to works for them, and they are under no obligation to build anything new just for the benefit of some grand urban vision. Unless you don't believe in the free market, you can't force them to sell or do something with it.

There are of course tradeoffs, but I think having a long-standing menswear store downtown is a good thing. Especially if the alternative is probably another overpriced and underwhelming restaurant or some bland condo. I know I'm in the minority on this, but I know which one I'd visit.
 
There must be dozens of decent towers with good location, underground parking and vacant cru’s available.

Parking underground sucks but getting measured for a suit isn’t exactly popping in to buy a pack of smokes.

How ever until the beltline is no longer riddled with parking lots everywhere I can’t see the urgency to do anything in this case.
 
1875 said:
There must be dozens of decent towers with good location, underground parking and vacant cru’s available.

Parking underground sucks but getting measured for a suit isn’t exactly popping in to buy a pack of smokes.

How ever until the beltline is no longer riddled with parking lots everywhere I can’t see the urgency to do anything in this case.
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Gotta keep in mind there's also gotta be motivation/incentive from their side. The building they are in was custom-built for them, so while I'm sure there are other suitable locations that could work, chances are it would be a compromise/downgrade for their operations and customer experience.

We all want the parking lots filled... but often times there's a business reason why they are not, and there's gotta be some reason to change the situation (I assume involves barrels of cash).
 
Maybe O'Connor's should relocate to DT Hudson's if they want an iconic location. I have no problem with a unique retailer like O'Connor's being situated in the Downtown/Beltline area, but that specific plot of land is highly underutilized, given the location and could have much more to offer. Hopefully, as empty lots become more scarce in the beltline, the O'Connor's site gets a nice high-density proposal
 
piece of equipment on site

IMG_1038.jpeg
 
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