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

MichaelS said:
The one on 6th Ave across from the court house? I see no BP on the My Property map, are you sure?
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Nope, not sure at all. I just remember seeing "commencing 2022" on the Alberta major projects website.

alberta major projects.PNG
 
Surrealplaces said:
It would be great to see more post secondary action downtown. I never considered the idea of student housing for BVC, but that might work....might also be something that can be done with provincial or federal money as well :)
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I don't know the school and its population super well (I've never studied there) but I think it has a lot of diploma or certificate programs. To me that speaks to people needing short term rentals, which the free-market doesn't serve very well.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
Can Bow Valley College get some funding from the province and just convert an old office tower nearby or build student housing already? I mean every report and news story mentions a downtown post-secondary campus. We already have one, lets fund its expansion.
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Consistently SAIT has/had trouble filing its housing (due to high turnover due to short program length), and advertises to UCalgary and MRU students to try to fill up. For at least the last 20 years (most like much longer) student housing has been self funded.

BVC is likely concerned about its ability to fill housing, with a low percentage of out of Calgary attendees and not very long experience with its highly international diploma business program which is 80% international students. Could always require international students to live in supplied housing, but that would likely raise costs so much enrollment would drop.
 
O-tac said:
I think the city should deny approval of the office portion and force them to focus on the residential and hotel towers. Also, they should be pushed to the 7th Ave side to retain 8th Ave (minus maybe the Thai building as a punch through to the courtyard. Plus keep the facades on 7th.
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On what grounds would they deny the approval? It's not the City's role to be denying an application to somehow protect the office market. The fact that there is a tenant pursuing a build-to-suit indicates that the type of office space they are seeking is not available currently (despite the glut of class B and C vacancy).

Also, why on earth would they deny an application for a major capital investment that will result in an increased property tax base? The City is still incredibly reliant on commercial property taxes and this project would mean tens of millions in property tax revenue per annum.
 
artvandelay said:
Also, why on earth would they deny an application for a major capital investment that will result in an increased property tax base? The City is still incredibly reliant on commercial property taxes and this project would mean tens of millions in property tax revenue per annum.
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This "any growth is good growth" approach to city planning has cause so much damage over the past century.
 
artvandelay said:
On what grounds would they deny the approval? It's not the City's role to be denying an application to somehow protect the office market. The fact that there is a tenant pursuing a build-to-suit indicates that the type of office space they are seeking is not available currently (despite the glut of class B and C vacancy).

Also, why on earth would they deny an application for a major capital investment that will result in an increased property tax base? The City is still incredibly reliant on commercial property taxes and this project would mean tens of millions in property tax revenue per annum.
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I would argue they could deny approval on the grounds that this project would destroy legally protected heritage buildings that exist within a national historic district. (Buildings that were restored using taxpayer dollars from the City of Calgary I might add).

This blog does a great job at describing how the City of Calgary played a role in the revival of Stephen Ave and designating the buildings as historic resources in the first place...

www.heritagecalgary.ca

Stephen Avenue, Calgary's National Historic District — Heritage Calgary

A development permit has been submitted for 8th Avenue and 7th Avenue which could affect 17 heritage sites, including 7 designated sites.
www.heritagecalgary.ca www.heritagecalgary.ca
 
The interiors of the buildings aren't original and they are preserving the facades of the vast majority, so I'm not sure the heritage argument would stand. I expect approval from the city on this. SDAB and UDRP is where this will start to hit roadblocks.
 
Heritage Calgary indicates that the Bank of Montreal building is affected in their blog (they also noted it in an Instagram post today), but this building is clearly not part of the application.
 
outoftheice said:
I would argue they could deny approval on the grounds that this project would destroy legally protected heritage buildings that exist within a national historic district. (Buildings that were restored using taxpayer dollars from the City of Calgary I might add).

This blog does a great job at describing how the City of Calgary played a role in the revival of Stephen Ave and designating the buildings as historic resources in the first place...

www.heritagecalgary.ca

Stephen Avenue, Calgary's National Historic District — Heritage Calgary

A development permit has been submitted for 8th Avenue and 7th Avenue which could affect 17 heritage sites, including 7 designated sites.
www.heritagecalgary.ca www.heritagecalgary.ca
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They could reject the entire development over those concerns, sure.

The City can't reject the office component while allowing the hotel and resi portions proceed, as has been suggested here.
 
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