Honestly, I hope these towers remain empty upon completion. Perhaps it will finally give Cidex a wake up call about building pieces of crap. Who the hell would want to live in this thing?
I have been thinking about this post as a resident of the Downtown West End. While I agree the aesthetics of this project have been disappointing, I do think we are being a bit hard on Cidex, and feel the positives this project will bring to the neighbourhood (and City overall) will outweigh the negatives. These aren't the first (and aren't the worst) ugly buildings to go up in a prominent location) in Calgary.
We will get hundreds of new residents added to the already densest neighbourhood in the City. These residents will be 1 block away from the free fare LRT zone, so will likely live a much more car-free lifestyle than just about any other new tower. The new residents will also further boost demand for local commercial retail, which has remained healthy. I think every retail bay along 10th street is now full again (had a few vacancies for a while there, but some new restaurants have replaced the Good Earth and Upper Deck pub). The only vacant bay I can think of in the area is the one in the Main Streets building on the north side of 8th Avenue across from this project, seen here (all of Vogue's units are filled I think):
https://www.google.ca/maps/@51.0462...=97.01246&pitch=0&thumbfov=100!7i13312!8i6656
As an aside, that Mainstreets Building has had a complete exterior overhaul. It is now fully white, with an LED lighting element around the top of it. While not an architectural gem, it looks much better than what is shown in the google link.
WVT will also bring several thousand square feet of new retail. Yes, the interface with 9th Avenue may be crappy, but it will still add substantial retail amenities for the area residents. Last time I talked to someone from Cidex about it (a couple of years ago now) the plan was for an urban grocer. Fingers crossed something like that goes in, but if not, there will likely be at least a couple more restaurants (and the future residents will be 2 blocks away from the Mid-Town co-op).
Another positive, and risk taken by Cidex that another developer may not have done, is the amount of family friendly, 3-bedroom units that will be available in these towers. This article states there will be 84 of them in these two towers:
https://calgaryherald.com/life/homes/new-homes/white-the-3-bedroom-urban-condo-dilemma
If we want to make downtown living more viable for people, this housing variety will go a long way towards it. Let's hope it works out for Cidex, so we see more come to market.
Overall, I would have liked to see the final product resemble the initial renderings, and would have preferred to see the City change their stance about 9th Avenue design priorities (something that may still happen, and these new residents will help emphasise). But, I do think this will still be a positive addition to the Downtown West End, and the people who will live in these towers will have great access to a lot of local amenities and transportation options. Not to mention the views out west towards the mountains will be unrivalled.
