University District | ?m | ?s | University of Calgary Properties Group

That's assuming they don't eventually gut reno it and remove all the built-up character, like what happened when Friars became 1600 World Bier Haus
 
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DiscoStu said:
All pubs feel generic in new developments. The best bars aren't "planned" designs, and even then you need at least a couple of decades of alcohol residue to build up that character and patina.
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All the more reason to line nice parks with a ton of random CRUs, some of which will slowly evolve into actual interesting bars over the next 50 years. That's more of U/D's success here than the actual bars as they exist today 👍
 
Mountain Man said:
Banquet is kinda fun, they have a small 5 pin bowling alley and a massive patio. There is also a resto-lounge called Borough, it's a bit more upscale. They need another pub in there, hopefully one that doesn't allow kids!
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That small bowling alley is actually great with kids. It is not too big so 5-7 year olds can easily do it. And Dads get to have a beer while watching. It is also far enough removed from the rest of the restaurant that the ensuing chaos/noise hopefully doesn't bother the other patrons too much.
 
Mountain Man said:
Banquet is kinda fun, they have a small 5 pin bowling alley and a massive patio. There is also a resto-lounge called Borough, it's a bit more upscale. They need another pub in there, hopefully one that doesn't allow kids!
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I'm pretty sure the bar and lounge in the Cineplex is 18+. Limited selection but a solid option.
 
If anything, U/D already has more night-life capacity clustered in a walkable format than any area outside the inner city:
  • 3 or 4 bars/restaurants open reasonably late
  • multiple large patios, including roof-tops
  • Cineplex VIP
  • Great public spaces
It can certainly get more stuff and feel ever-more complete of an area ... but to be honest, Calgary's bar is really low here. Marda Loop has been at this for 2 decades longer and has nothing on the scale of what already exists in U/D. Even the Beltline and city centre - which excels at all other urban-format night-life offerings - lacks a modern movie theatre like the VIP one.

Hopefully U/D inspires more copy-cat developments in other areas, including ones with far longer history of redevelopment and far greater populations. All it takes is one or two really thoughtful, but significantly confident and at scale, developments to change an area completely for the better . U/D proves that.
 
CBBarnett said:
If anything, U/D already has more night-life capacity clustered in a walkable format than any area outside the inner city:
  • 3 or 4 bars/restaurants open reasonably late
  • multiple large patios, including roof-tops
  • Cineplex VIP
  • Great public spaces
It can certainly get more stuff and feel ever-more complete of an area ... but to be honest, Calgary's bar is really low here. Marda Loop has been at this for 2 decades longer and has nothing on the scale of what already exists in U/D. Even the Beltline and city centre - which excels at all other urban-format night-life offerings - lacks a modern movie theatre like the VIP one.

Hopefully U/D inspires more copy-cat developments in other areas, including ones with far longer history of redevelopment and far greater populations. All it takes is one or two really thoughtful, but significantly confident and at scale, developments to change an area completely for the better . U/D proves that.
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It would be so nice to see a copy of U/D on the north side of the university with University ave going straight through and meeting up with another main corridor (in this case 33rd st) and follow through to the Brentwood LRT Station. As well as a secondary pedestrian path to the east running parallel.

The University Innovation Quarter plan sort of does that, but in an indirect way.

1718154053387.png
 
Surrealplaces said:
It would be so nice to see a copy of U/D on the north side of the university with University ave going straight through and meeting up with another main corridor (in this case 33rd st) and follow through to the Brentwood LRT Station. As well as a secondary pedestrian path to the east running parallel.

The University Innovation Quarter plan sort of does that, but in an indirect way.

View attachment 571595
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Lol - you know that our land use policies on collector and arterials is bonkers when to build a street people actually want, you need to build it from scratch. If we just converted 32 Ave into being a more functional place for anything but cars we'd already have this.
 
CBBarnett said:
If anything, U/D already has more night-life capacity clustered in a walkable format than any area outside the inner city:
  • 3 or 4 bars/restaurants open reasonably late
  • multiple large patios, including roof-tops
  • Cineplex VIP
  • Great public spaces
It can certainly get more stuff and feel ever-more complete of an area ... but to be honest, Calgary's bar is really low here. Marda Loop has been at this for 2 decades longer and has nothing on the scale of what already exists in U/D. Even the Beltline and city centre - which excels at all other urban-format night-life offerings - lacks a modern movie theatre like the VIP one.

Hopefully U/D inspires more copy-cat developments in other areas, including ones with far longer history of redevelopment and far greater populations. All it takes is one or two really thoughtful, but significantly confident and at scale, developments to change an area completely for the better . U/D proves that.
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So far, U/D has been a smashing for the reasons that you outlined. Especially considering how development in EV appears to have stalled. Every time I visit U/D I'm blown away by the amount of construction and how the streetscape is so pleasant to the pedestrian experience.

However, I have to counter signal you on a couple points:

1. I think you were a little too tough on Marda Loop. Marda Loop already has a lot of restaurants, bars and amenities, and even though Marda Loop may not have the same scale of night-life amenities as U/D, it doesn't have to as it's within striking distance of 17th Ave.
2. This might be a personal preference, but I think multi-plex/mega-plex movie theatres are overrated. Most new movies are horrible. I prefer seeing a foreign film at the Globe theatre on 8th ave or the Plaza in Kensington and pretending I'm a sophisticated and high-status individual 😛 .
 
I would say Marda Loop has a significantly better restaurant scene than U/D, but considering U/D's first restaurant opened less than 2 years ago, it's rising fast. Marda Loop is slow on the nightlife side, but as you mentioned, that could also be due to 17th ave being nearby.
 
I used to live in stumbling distance from ML, and the only pub consistently open in the late evening was OJ's. (I was not especially nearby the Trop).

Merchants/Union Station/Wolfman's was not open late, and neither was the Garrison Pub. The former O Restaurant/Mad Rose/Pubblico was always a revolving door of places and sometimes just not open on certain days.

Edit: I guess that last place is Big Fish/Open Range now, which I recognize from Edmonton Trail. Shows how long it's been since I was in ML.
 
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