Ezra on Riley Park | ?m | 8s | Birchwood Properties | NORR
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Momin
Senior Member
Just build it
Active Member
Ezra fits in beautifully alongside the park.
snorklepowder
New Member
Just build it
Active Member
Looking good so far. It's turning out very like like the renderings.
I'm happy with how Ezra's turned out. I wouldn't mind a couple more like this in around Kensington.
DiscoStu
Active Member
I wouldn't mind a couple more of these anywhere. Too late to bulldoze Live On The Park and replace it with this? Same premise, 1000x better execution.
A few of this type and scale in places like Bridgeland, EV, Mission, Marda Loop would be great...or like you say, anywhere for that matter.
Always_Biking
Senior Member
I'm a big fan of these types of projects. The scale is perfect for building a great urban environment, and I would take a dozen or so of these over the two Guardian towers.
CBBarnett
Senior Member
It's good to see Hillhurst/Sunnyside getting some density and adhering to an excellent urban-scale design. However, I think that we should acknowledge that this development's scale is determined by economics; specifically the project's size is feasible at 8 storey's because they can charge a premium per unit for the location and neighbourhood. This isn't always a problem in itself, but this development also represents gentrification which isn't acknowledged as a force in Calgary enough, largely due to our very high incomes. Calgary continues - much like Toronto and Vancouver before it - to reveal itself to have a "missing middle" problem where it's very challenging to build mid-rises without a higher price-point. Instead we get entire neighbourhoods of $750,000 townhomes or very high-density tower blocks. Ezra is a great project from a design standpoint, but it isn't a perfect city-building tool that it might seem. A entry price of $300,000 for a 350sq-ft studio doesn't scream diverse, vibrant, and accessible inner city community.
I'm not sure there is much of a solution to the problem I am describing as it is rooted deeply in out housing system (apart from allowing continued development and having Filtering effects keep prices lower in the coming decades by increasing supply, compared to if no development was allowed). A few more projects like Ezra and Hillhurst will soon be "built out" by it's definition of what that is (i.e. develop expensive, mid-rise condos in a ring around a protected SFH enclave immune from any serious density increases). At that point the whole area hits the Toronto and Vancouver world of every increasing prices, reduced accessibility and unaffordable. Recall that 90% of Calgary doesn't understand urban life, a good way to keep that number high is making it impossibly expensive for many people to consider.
Not to rain on the parade of Ezra of course, it is a beautiful building. And the phenomenon I am describing isn't unique to that building alone nor is it the building's fault for having a high price-point. That's economics. It is just that sometimes buildings like it feel like winning a battle while losing the war that we don't see. Namely the people that never could live here.
I'm not sure there is much of a solution to the problem I am describing as it is rooted deeply in out housing system (apart from allowing continued development and having Filtering effects keep prices lower in the coming decades by increasing supply, compared to if no development was allowed). A few more projects like Ezra and Hillhurst will soon be "built out" by it's definition of what that is (i.e. develop expensive, mid-rise condos in a ring around a protected SFH enclave immune from any serious density increases). At that point the whole area hits the Toronto and Vancouver world of every increasing prices, reduced accessibility and unaffordable. Recall that 90% of Calgary doesn't understand urban life, a good way to keep that number high is making it impossibly expensive for many people to consider.
Not to rain on the parade of Ezra of course, it is a beautiful building. And the phenomenon I am describing isn't unique to that building alone nor is it the building's fault for having a high price-point. That's economics. It is just that sometimes buildings like it feel like winning a battle while losing the war that we don't see. Namely the people that never could live here.
Mountain Man
Senior Member
That basically describes the difficulties of affordable housing in the inner city. Property values are high, so density or price has to be high for it to be a feasible development.
maestro
Senior Member
Affordability is also linked to buyers being accustomed to quantity over quality with square footage.
Always_Biking
Senior Member
Those are very valid points, and are part of an unfortunate situation. I imagine someday, maybe 30-50 years from now the buildings will be older and hopefully cheaper housing stock, but that's a long ways to wait for good affordable inner city housing.