Rumours & Speculation

[darwink]

indoor public market

My dream for this is the main hall of the north building of the Telus convention centre. There were concerns about it being even more uneconomic as a convention centre after the BMO expansion was finished. When else do you get a large column free hall that has great loading dock facilities, utilities, and parking right on transit in the centre of the city. Could keep the east most bit configured as an eating area that could be locked off and used for chamber lunches and the dinners as needed if there were significant concerns.

 

[TooBizzy]

Putting this in the Rumours & Speculation thread instead of Urban Development & Proposals because we're just dealing with words, not plans here. But reading through some RENX news, I saw Primaris list Marlborough and Sunridge on their short-list of development opportunities in their portfolio.

Primaris to work with developers, intensify shopping centres

Primaris REIT (PMZ-UN-T) has been very actively acquiring enclosed shopping centres over the past couple of years, and is taking steps to intensify some of the sites. Multifamily buildings are likely to start appearing at several of its malls.

renx.ca

A few years ago they sold part of Northland Mall for development, and recently sold the mall itself off. They're in the business of holding onto malls they think are profitable, but they're looking into repeating the sort of parking lot reuse they did at Northland.

Marlborough has already seen some growth recently with the BMO finishing up. I think a lot of these owners are recognizing that free surplus parking isn't paying any rent to them, and that it would be much more productive to fill up some of those empty spaces. Exciting to hear specific interest in multifamily though, definitely potential maybe closer to Marlborough and Rundle Stations.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Putting this in the Rumours & Speculation thread instead of Urban Development & Proposals because we're just dealing with words, not plans here. But reading through some RENX news, I saw Primaris list Marlborough and Sunridge on their short-list of development opportunities in their portfolio.
Marlborough has already seen some growth recently with the BMO finishing up. I think a lot of these owners are recognizing that free surplus parking isn't paying any rent to them, and that it would be much more productive to fill up some of those empty spaces. Exciting to hear specific interest in multifamily though, definitely potential maybe closer to Marlborough and Rundle Stations.

That would be great, and is long overdue. A good part of Marlborough's parking is either empty or used by lrt commuters, it would be in their interest to develop part of it.

 

[gsunnyg]

Both those malls desperately need to be redeveloped, similar to how malls are being rebuilt in Vancouver. A few 4-12-storey buildings on top of a mall with some sort of main street incorporated would be ideal. Right now, the NE, east of Deerfoot, has nothing for main streets

 

[TooBizzy]

Both those malls desperately need to be redeveloped, similar to how malls are being rebuilt in Vancouver. A few 4-12-storey buildings on top of a mall with some sort of main street incorporated would be ideal. Right now, the NE, east of Deerfoot, has nothing for main streets

Both of them are limited by the AVPA (which I think is total bogus, as a biased NE resident - the lack of development and vibrance around me has been much more negative an impact on my life than some intermittent rumbling), but I hope a forward thinking planner can find a creative way through the restrictions and set a strong precedent.

There have been a few proposals looking at the Firestone site, and the potential for mixed-use development along old defunct industrial spur lines in Meridian, but of course, no political agent with vision representing the area (again, very biased ).

 

[CalgaryTiger]

Firestone site

Does this require any remediation? The view of the city and mountains from here is unmatched! I've long dreamed of the fieldhouse and subsequent retail and residential development going there.

 

[Beltline_B]

There is remediation required unfortunately. I agree, this would be a great site to develop.
It’s sad how many LRT stations are adjacent to wasteland areas of parking lots and nothingness.

 

[Surrealplaces]

There is remediation required unfortunately. I agree, this would be a great site to develop.
It’s sad how many LRT stations are adjacent to wasteland areas of parking lots and nothingness.

Very ironic. We invest billions in an lrt system, but not in any TOD. I feel like this is finally starting to turn. North Hill and Firestone are help back due to remediation and others like Marlborough and Sunridge could easily be developed but are relying on the mall owners. Some areas like Brentwood and Heritage are seeing good gains, and Chinook is headed that way.

 

[darwink]

Very ironic. We invest billions in an lrt system, but not in any TOD. I feel like this is finally starting to turn. North Hill and Firestone are help back due to remediation and others like Marlborough and Sunridge could easily be developed but are relying on the mall owners. Some areas like Brentwood and Heritage are seeing good gains, and Chinook is headed that way.

Mini-TIFs should be used for remediation where there are strategic implications imo. Suboptimal compared to having someone else pay, but there isn't a great alternative, and it isn't like waiting has led to good outcomes.

A rail realignment (or I guess a BRT realignment if much cheaper) could also improve connectivity a lot imo.

 

[Surrealplaces]

Mini-TIFs should be used for remediation where there are strategic implications imo. Suboptimal compared to having someone else pay, but there isn't a great alternative, and it isn't like waiting has led to good outcomes.

A rail realignment (or I guess a BRT realignment if much cheaper) could also improve connectivity a lot imo.

I'm fine with the idea of mini-TIFs used to get things going. As you said, not optimal, but would be better than the lots sitting empty, and would pay out over the long-term, via increased efficiency via reducing sprawl, and increasing usage of the already built lrt sysetm.

 

[Cowtown]

Any word on the rumored Allies Morrison designed proposal? I'm sure we would be all over it by now, but wanted to bump that rumor one more time.

 

[Tarsus]

I voted Eau Claire for a couple of reasons.
1) Quadreal is proposing a mega project with up to eight buildings.
2) That’s exactly the type of development Allies and Morrison does designs for.