Stephen Avenue Quarter | 241m | 66s | Triovest | Gibbs Gage

I know. However that block is a total dump. Especially when you compare to whats across the street with Telus Sky...

Terry Wong might actually help preserve the heritage buildings and force a bit of a redesign on 7th Ave. Enemy of my enemy and all that in this one case.
I think 7th avenue is negotiable, Stephen Avenue less so.
 
I'd like for that podium to be dropped down to a single floor taller than the tallest on Stephen Ave and for the podium to get retail similar to what's at Arris 5th and 3rd. The current podium design has WAY to much office space that should be limited to the office tower. Also there's too much parking (5 levels) in the design for a project that is adjacent to 7th Ave
 
Richard White has already posted a bit of a project booster article on his blog...


I think this is the most important tidbit from his article:

"Stephen Avenue Quarter will be a phased project, likely taking 15+ years to complete"

So we lose historic parts of Stephen Avenue today all on the promise of a phased project that might last over 2 decades of changes in economic realities?? Has any phased project in Calgary actually built out as originally planned? The heart of downtown is about to be destroyed on a promise of a better tomorrow from a company that already promised a better tomorrow for the historic buildings along 7th Avenue and failed to deliver. I honestly think this thread is the most depressing one I've come across on this forum because we are about to destroy the only vibrant part of downtown Calgary for a shit project and everyone is pretty resigned to the fact that this Council will sign off on it happening.
I think White is just pulling stuff out of his butt.
Everything I’ve heard is they plan to complete all phases by 2028.
And what’s this nonsense he mentions about the hotel lobby in the Hudsons Bay Building - that’s not even on the same block.
 
I think White is just pulling stuff out of his butt.
Everything I’ve heard is they plan to complete all phases by 2028.
And what’s this nonsense he mentions about the hotel lobby in the Hudsons Bay Building - that’s not even on the same block.
The Hudson Block is the building in the SE corner of the project site. It’s the building with ATB inside.
 
Two points to make:

For those saying that they're fine in seeing the buildings torn down along 7th Ave because they are run down and the area is sketchy, remember this was a conscious choice by the developer in order to make a proposal like this more palatable to Calgarians. Had Triovest actually gone through with creating a "hip enclave" downtown like they promised in the 2016 Herald article when they bought the properties, you can bet Calgarians would be out in larger numbers protesting this development. Instead Triovest spent the last 6 years neglecting those properties and keeping them empty of tenants and looking worn down only to turn around and say 'we want to tear down these empty, worn buildings'. This is a purposeful attempt to manipulate public sentiment by this developer. They should not be rewarded for it.

I also agree with the other posters here about writing everyone possible with your objections to this project. Too often I have seen projects that were controversial on social media get to Council and the package presented only includes one or two official letters of objection from the public. It allows Council to pretend like the public is fine with it, even though social media might suggest otherwise.

Speaking of social media, I've seen a few tweets out there about this project using the hashtag #SaveStephenAve. If you are active on social media, I would encourage you to use this hashtag in your posts. It allows people with concerns to easily connect and build a united opposition and if by some miracle the hashtag starts to trend the media takes notice and the story becomes about the opposition movement and makes it harder for Council to ignore.
 
I think White is just pulling stuff out of his butt.
Everything I’ve heard is they plan to complete all phases by 2028.
And what’s this nonsense he mentions about the hotel lobby in the Hudsons Bay Building - that’s not even on the same block.

The Hudson Block is the building in the SE corner of the project site. It’s the building with ATB inside.

Earlier 1891 Hudson's Bay store
 

Now the media's got a hold of it


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Coun. Terry Wong, whose Ward 7 includes the area, said it is important that whatever is developed, the history and heritage of Stephen Avenue Walk is maintained.

“This is something I take pride in, is our history and heritage, and we don’t want to lose that,” he said. “We’ve seen a number of implementations where that has been done very effectively, but at the same time building very modern contemporary sort of buildings.”
 
I think 7th avenue is negotiable, Stephen Avenue less so.
I've long accepted that the 7th Ave strip will get demolished. What I find sad is that there is no attempt to save the facades. The last thing we need is a bland, block long podium like what happened with Eighth Ave Place and the historic facades would help with that.

The Stephan Ave side is amazingly heavy handed. I'm not sure what the site is currently zoned for but heritage preservation (keeping a facade is not preservation) should be a precondition for the amount of density they are seeking. Instead, they seem to be proceeding in spite of heritage preservation. It's kind of a cake and eat it too situation

For those that think a building's condition justifies tearing it down and replacing it with something new and better here are some hard lessons from the past:

Calgary-1960s.jpeg

9th ave in the 60's. A nice character retail street but those hotels became derelict and unsavoury. Every building in this image apart from the Palliser and the Grain Exchange building has since been demolished and replaced with this beautiful character streetscape we have come to love:

Screen Shot 2022-05-11 at 8.47.58 AM.png


The Penney Lane mall made way for this lively modern space:
Penny Lane Mall 2.png


Screen Shot 2022-05-11 at 8.53.14 AM.png

And hey, we also got a big tall tower out of it to boot!

Calgary's downtown core is generic and stale because of our tendency towards massive "redevelopments" or "revitalization efforts" that have torn down en masse, blocks of discrete, historic, human scale buildings and replaced them with massive block sized buildings with sterile, harsh podiums. Stephan Ave is no exception (i will pull up some photos of what the area around the Municipal Building looked like prior to the last big downtown "revitalization" effort). This development is yet another example of our inability to recognize that a developer who is trying to "maximize the site's potential" is another way of saying "maximize the site's profit for ourselves, while leaving nothing of substance for future generations".
 
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Triovest declined a request for an interview but issued a statement.

The building is being designed by local firm Gibbs Gage Architects, they declined comment on the story.



Are they just hoping the whole thing flies under the radar??? What is going on here?

I've never seen a proposal where none of the proponents want to talk about it.
There is going to be plenty of opportunity for public engagement. The city of Calgary will make sure of that. If I was Triovest, I would not want to comment prematurely either. This is far from a finished design or concept.
 
I've long accepted that the 7th Ave strip will get demolished. What I find sad is that there is no attempt to save the facades. The last thing we need is a bland, block long podium like what happened with Eighth Ave Place and the historic facades would help with that.
The entire length of 7 Ave along the LRT is bland with the exception of the Hudson Bay building. Unlike a few blocks of 8th Ave, there is no continuity whatsoever on 7th Ave. Almost all of it has been redeveloped over the last 20 years.
I don't think the majority of Calgarians will care about preserving one block of inconsequential buildings. Everyone talks about how the buildings were let go when Triovest purchased them. They were dumps when they were occupied. It is fine to say, they should be kept 'because' but someone(s) has to spend tens of millions of dollars on their current state to make them functional again. That to me is not a wise investment.
Now ...8th Ave is another matter. That is where the fight will be.
 
Hmm.... I hope the tower designs are great. Not so sure I like what I am seeing with the ground floor yet. They look to be blowing some holes into the Stephen Avenue side as well (preserving the 2nd storey facades....)
View attachment 399109
And I maybe get that the buildings on 7th Ave are too far gone to preserve, but it would have been great to see some facade preservation like they do in Toronto. Not sure this will match the current streetscape that is there now:
View attachment 399110

I don't want to pass judgement too much without seeing more details, but so far, I am starting to dread what is in the drawings...... Not off to a great start in my opinion.

Absolutely awful! The 7th Ave side is an oppressive bunker. No justification for disrupting the historic streetwall on Stephen Ave either. This entire proposal pisses me off as we still have empty parking lots that could better be developed! Why does Calgary always destroy what little heritage remains to build bland block long podiums?! I started out excited when I saw the story on Global mentioning a new tallest. This is my worst fear though. And to add insult to injury this will completely block Telus Sky from the south. Argh!!!!!
 
The entire length of 7 Ave along the LRT is bland with the exception of the Hudson Bay building. Unlike a few blocks of 8th Ave, there is no continuity whatsoever on 7th Ave. Almost all of it has been redeveloped over the last 20 years.
I don't think the majority of Calgarians will care about preserving one block of inconsequential buildings. Everyone talks about how the buildings were let go when Triovest purchased them. They were dumps when they were occupied. It is fine to say, they should be kept 'because' but someone(s) has to spend tens of millions of dollars on their current state to make them functional again. That to me is not a wise investment.
Now ...8th Ave is another matter. That is where the fight will be.
How can it possibly be inconsequential when they are a few of the last remaining buildings on what was once the major commercial avenue of the city? How can you possibly rationalize demoing historic buildings by using our past approach to heritage preservation (which has gutted our core and replaced it with dog shit buildings) as justification for continuing to demolish our heritage? 7th ave is bland because of bland developers and planners. And we have enough continuity of bland, sterile buildings in this city to last a life time.
 

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