West Village Towers | 149.95m | 42s | Cidex Group | NORR Dubai Yahya Jan

General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 8 7.2%

  • Very Good

    Votes: 15 13.5%

  • Good

    Votes: 39 35.1%

  • So So

    Votes: 13 11.7%

  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 16 14.4%

  • Terrible

    Votes: 20 18.0%
  • Total voters
    111
Golfing guy said:
I’m a little confused on why someone wouldn’t want to live here. The average renter probably doesn’t have a stick up their butt when it comes to what the outside of their building looks like. If the rental suites live up to the luxury they are marketed as then 95% of people looking for a place to rent/live won’t care if 9th ave is too busy or the podium isn’t too the liking of the peeps on this site. I’m guessing the developers have the same thoughts as well. Wonder if they ever come on this site and laugh at some of the ridiculous comments. I personally couldn’t care less what the outside of my 40+ story building looks like if it ticks all the boxes and let’s me have some great views. Just my 2 cents worth
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Not everyone drives everywhere they go, especially downtown. The reason this sucks is because it creates a terrible environment for anyone who isn't driving.

Good communities need to support a diversity of transportation modes, and even better, create a diversity of opportunities for interaction with the community. This development accomplishes none of those things. Sure it adds marketable floor area, which from a developers perspective is a success. The problem is the margin for success in creating a positive contribution to a community includes more than that.
 
Is the terrible environment for active modes this development's fault, or the fact that 9th Ave is so big? This project puts about 500 homes right on the corner of two of our key cycle tracks downtown (Stephen Ave and 11th Street). And, as much as we complain about the podium, remember what the sidewalk looked like before? A lot narrower than what it is now.
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1875 said:
when i hear dubai i think bowling trophy, dont know what the influence was but is the podium supposed to look like sand dunes?
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Design inspo was the mountains.
MichaelS said:
Is the terrible environment for active modes this development's fault, or the fact that 9th Ave is so big? This project puts about 500 homes right on the corner of two of our key cycle tracks downtown (Stephen Ave and 11th Street). And, as much as we complain about the podium, remember what the sidewalk looked like before? A lot narrower than what it is now.
www.google.ca

Google Maps

Find local businesses, view maps and get driving directions in Google Maps.
www.google.ca www.google.ca
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Personally, I think the poor planning enables the poor design, but that it's not an excuse. Of course it's better than what was there, but that's a low bar.
 
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This was designed by the Dubai office of NORR, but the drawings were done by the Calgary office, resulting in a very watered down design. Cidex wanted this to be a showpiece, but are too damn cheap to actually pull it off. I'm still hoping that they can get something in the podium that will help liven the street up a bit, but that's a tough sell in that location, especially with the brutal streetscape they created.
 
I toured the interior of several units last week and was less than impressed

1. The finishings are on par with Arris and other rental condos. They are bland and lower-end feeling as they probably expect maintenance and replacement due to rental turnover
2. The amenities are not in the podium, but rather clustered in the top trapezoid shapes and therefore quite small. The gym is small, the lounge is small. They are about the size of a normal condo unit in width. Great views.
3. There are garbage chutes which was odd, I thought they were outlawed (aside from grandfathered buildings) due to fire hazard
4. The overall walls, blue carpets, finishings etc. reminded me more of a student dorm at University than a luxury condo and the prices they are charging
6. The trapezoid shapes look cool from the outside but for the units inside, they create strange boxed in balconies and sloped ceilings that reminded me more of 1970s homes
7. I feel like just like many other condos in town that switched to a rental-only model, that everything has been budgeted down and watered down significantly
8. The sales team had no idea what was going on in the podium
 
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Skyfire said:
I toured the interior of several units last week and was less than impressed

1. The finishings are on par with Arris and other rental condos. They are bland and lower-end feeling as they probably expect maintenance and replacement due to rental turnover
2. The amenities are not in the podium, but rather clustered in the top trapezoid shapes and therefore quite small. The gym is small, the lounge is small. They are about the size of a normal condo unit in width. Great views.
3. There are garbage chutes which was odd, I thought they were outlawed (aside from grandfathered buildings) due to fire hazard
4. The overall walls, blue carpets, finishings etc. reminded me more of a student dorm at University than a luxury condo and the prices they are charging
6. The trapezoid shapes look cool from the outside but for the units inside, they create strange boxed in balconies and sloped ceilings that reminded me more of 1970s homes
7. I feel like just like many other condos in town that switched to a rental-only model, that everything has been budgeted down and watered down significantly
8. The sales team had no idea what was going on in the podium
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info. I wonder how:
a). The price compares to other rental towers in the downtown area.
b). The quality will affect absorption; it'd be a shame if a shitty build of this scale influenced market evaluations.
 
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