WSL Currie | 22.5m | 6s | Western Securities | Hindle Architects

I don’t know if anyone else here lives in the neighborhood, but I know many of us feel your pain.
Early in the development stages the master plan looked overly ambitious, but still promising, especially given its proximity to Marda loop.
I don’t know what the difference is with University district, a similar sized area and also started around the same time. Maybe the University properties group has done a much better job managing the build out than Canada lands has?
One thing I can’t stand that I absolutely hate with every fibre of my being is the stupid double or triple roundabout connection they have for Flanders Ave. It destroys any urban, walkable feel you should have when entering Currie. It’s not even a nice experience coming into the neighbourhood as a driver.

Is Currie a write off? IMO it will end up a half decent neighbourhood once those main arteries get built out and there is some retail, but I agree with you on the timelines, there should be more of that built out by now.
 
Yeah it is pretty ambitious, but it was also built the wrong way. The affordable housing coming in has some of my neighbours complaining, I think people have started to view it as Mount Royal 2.0. Hopefully with these more dense projects completing is will push the needle the other direction. There is still a stronger focus on the single family home right now though, a lot of the construction on the north side is villas/very large SFH. They really should have started with the main street, or at the very least done it in tandem with other areas. Considering it will take years to build, even if it starts now the timeline is still fairly far out. Other residents were told that this was coming in 2017. I know an economic downturn and covid happened, but housing demand is booming right now and they are slow to respond.

The roundabout is awful, and once again people have told me that its a great way for pedestrians to get over to Garrison Woods. As someone who walks that route semi regularly, I would disagree. The crossing points on Garrison side are right by on/off ramps to an 80 km/h road. The on ramp is the worst side, with cars checking left into the circle, merging, and then accelerating out to get onto crowchild... right to the crosswalk. Pedestrians are put on a crosswalk with low visibility, due to drivers watching the traffic circle (as they honestly should be). Feels unsafe as a pedestrian, and the cars really don't appreciate it either. Give it a few years with more pedestrians and more cars and it will clog up the traffic circle and frustrate a lot of people.
 
Beltline_B said:
I don’t know if anyone else here lives in the neighborhood, but I know many of us feel your pain.
Early in the development stages the master plan looked overly ambitious, but still promising, especially given its proximity to Marda loop.
I don’t know what the difference is with University district, a similar sized area and also started around the same time. Maybe the University properties group has done a much better job managing the build out than Canada lands has?
One thing I can’t stand that I absolutely hate with every fibre of my being is the stupid double or triple roundabout connection they have for Flanders Ave. It destroys any urban, walkable feel you should have when entering Currie. It’s not even a nice experience coming into the neighbourhood as a driver.

Is Currie a write off? IMO it will end up a half decent neighbourhood once those main arteries get built out and there is some retail, but I agree with you on the timelines, there should be more of that built out by now.
Click to expand...
One key difference with University District is that the University properties group (UCPG) actually owns all of the retail space. This likely gives them two key advantages:

1. Developers will build retail space anywhere that UCPG wants since they aren't the one shouldering the risk on the retail portion.
2. UCPG can give out discounted lease rates in order to entice the type of retail that they want to help make the whole neighborhood more attractive.

I believe this is how they got the grocery store to open in 2020 when only something like three residential projects had been completed in the whole neighborhood. They have been able to prioritize having a complete feeling retail main street before the majority of the residential has even been built, which has helped them generate a lot of momentum for the neighborhood.
 
Canada Lands should take note and follow suit!

How did Truman do West District? It's similar to UD where I think the retail street is first. Though as the local and area developer, Truman can basically decide how to progress...
 
NWUrbanism said:
One key difference with University District is that the University properties group (UCPG) actually owns all of the retail space. This likely gives them two key advantages:

1. Developers will build retail space anywhere that UCPG wants since they aren't the one shouldering the risk on the retail portion.
2. UCPG can give out discounted lease rates in order to entice the type of retail that they want to help make the whole neighborhood more attractive.

I believe this is how they got the grocery store to open in 2020 when only something like three residential projects had been completed in the whole neighborhood. They have been able to prioritize having a complete feeling retail main street before the majority of the residential has even been built, which has helped them generate a lot of momentum for the neighborhood.
Click to expand...
Interesting. I knew the University District was leased, but didn't know UCPG controlled all of the retail. That explains partly why retail has filled up so nicely there.
 
When comparing Currie and University District, don't forget that UD land is all 99-year leasehold. The university or its arm itself owns all the land. Not even the condo boards of the buildings own the land. At the end of the 99 years, the condo boards will need to pay another big trunk of money to renew the leases. Not that anyone living in UD would care probably because 99 years is a long time and the condo owners themselves don't own the land no matter where the condo buildings are anyway. That's also probably why you won't see any detached homes in UD - no one would want to buy a SDH and not owning the land. Having lived in Currie in both a condo apartment and a SDH, I have to say it's a great community to live in. It's safe, convenient, and family-friendly. Let me expand. Safe - where else in the inner city you feel safe walking right in a quiet and dark park in the middle of the night? In Currie, you can. Convenient - where else in the city you can drive 7 mins to work downtown? You don't necessarily want to, but you could and I did during COVID when I only need to work in the office for couple days a week and parking rate was $9/day. Family-friendly, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk around without worrying about cars ramping down the street at 50km/h, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk on the lawn without worrying about needles? With the upcoming Richmond Green Park that's right next to Currie and can be thought of part of Currie, the amount of accessible and usable greenspace surrounding the community is unreal. It'll also improve the connection to the Marda Loop. True, it's not perfect. So as all other communities in the City. Everything is full of compromises. I wish there's a supermarket, but I don't necessary want the traffic that comes with it. I wish there's BRT, but I don't necessary want the noise and vehicle and human traffic that comes with it. I wish it's more walkable to Marda Loop, but it'll also mean Currie is more walkable from the Marda Loop. That's my prespective as a past Currie residence and home owners.
 
seawalker said:
Safe - where else in the inner city you feel safe walking right in a quiet and dark park in the middle of the night? In Currie, you can. Convenient - where else in the city you can drive 7 mins to work downtown? You don't necessarily want to, but you could and I did during COVID when I only need to work in the office for couple days a week and parking rate was $9/day. Family-friendly, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk around without worrying about cars ramping down the street at 50km/h, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk on the lawn without worrying about needles? .
Click to expand...
Ive been living in Altadore and now South Calgary for 15 years would say all those points apply here as well. Just even closer to downtown
 
NWUrbanism said:
One key difference with University District is that the University properties group (UCPG) actually owns all of the retail space. This likely gives them two key advantages:

1. Developers will build retail space anywhere that UCPG wants since they aren't the one shouldering the risk on the retail portion.
2. UCPG can give out discounted lease rates in order to entice the type of retail that they want to help make the whole neighborhood more attractive.

I believe this is how they got the grocery store to open in 2020 when only something like three residential projects had been completed in the whole neighborhood. They have been able to prioritize having a complete feeling retail main street before the majority of the residential has even been built, which has helped them generate a lot of momentum for the neighborhood.
Click to expand...
Canada Lands has the ability to do similar, although to a lesser extent. In fact, I know that for one of the historic buildings (in the middle of the park), they were willing to lease it at a discounted rate for a cafe (it fell through) while the community is still building. The building is now in use by a developer, not sure how long that lease is.
 
seawalker said:
When comparing Currie and University District, don't forget that UD land is all 99-year leasehold. The university or its arm itself owns all the land. Not even the condo boards of the buildings own the land. At the end of the 99 years, the condo boards will need to pay another big trunk of money to renew the leases. Not that anyone living in UD would care probably because 99 years is a long time and the condo owners themselves don't own the land no matter where the condo buildings are anyway. That's also probably why you won't see any detached homes in UD - no one would want to buy a SDH and not owning the land. Having lived in Currie in both a condo apartment and a SDH, I have to say it's a great community to live in. It's safe, convenient, and family-friendly. Let me expand. Safe - where else in the inner city you feel safe walking right in a quiet and dark park in the middle of the night? In Currie, you can. Convenient - where else in the city you can drive 7 mins to work downtown? You don't necessarily want to, but you could and I did during COVID when I only need to work in the office for couple days a week and parking rate was $9/day. Family-friendly, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk around without worrying about cars ramping down the street at 50km/h, where else in the inner city can you let your kids walk on the lawn without worrying about needles? With the upcoming Richmond Green Park that's right next to Currie and can be thought of part of Currie, the amount of accessible and usable greenspace surrounding the community is unreal. It'll also improve the connection to the Marda Loop. True, it's not perfect. So as all other communities in the City. Everything is full of compromises. I wish there's a supermarket, but I don't necessary want the traffic that comes with it. I wish there's BRT, but I don't necessary want the noise and vehicle and human traffic that comes with it. I wish it's more walkable to Marda Loop, but it'll also mean Currie is more walkable from the Marda Loop. That's my prespective as a past Currie residence and home owners.
Click to expand...
Kinda feels like a lot of that is enjoying the Mount Royal 2.0 vibe I was mentioning before. Yes, it is great to have a community close to downtown that is quiet and doesn't have a lot in it. That's not the way it is meant to be built, nor should it be built like that. We really need density in areas like this, and with density comes the tradeoffs.

I don't think the idea is to have a supermarket that people are supposed to drive to with a big parking lot though. Marda Loop has Safeway and is getting coop. Glamorgan has a Safeway too. The intention is for the market area to be walkable, not a big parking lot for everyone to drive into (in fact, I don't believe there will be an above ground parking lot). With the intended population, they won't need people driving in. The BRT is to help cut down on the amount of vehicle traffic by providing appropriate transportation for a dense neighbourhood instead of so many people driving. Having crossover between the communities of Currie and Marda Loop/Garrison Woods should only be a net positive. We want people walking around and enjoying the city and not just shuttling themselves in a tiny metal box between each area. People not within the community who want to visit should be able to through walking, wheeling, or transit instead of clogging up the intentionally narrow roads. There are multiple other projects in the area (Viscount Bennet, Taza, MRU has some plans for a larger mixed use area instead of those parking lots, and some stuff south of MRU that's empty land too). This could be so many amazing communities where people can get outside, enjoy the areas and have access to a ton of amenities without needing to drive everywhere.
 
One good thing I will say about Currie is that it has some strong, unique, commercial anchors (The Inn, Veranda, Wild Rose).

I love UD, but everything there you could find at a generic shopping centre.

Currie needs to build off those anchors and add more services (and schools) so that the area is a destination.
 
CalgaryTiger said:
Sarcasm? There are lots of private schools... You must mean public?
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Yeah I'm confused. The amount of schools in the area is actually pretty crazy. I think it's 5 right now? Directly in the neighbourhood. Masters across the way, Bishop Carroll, an entire university, and a spattering of others in easy walking distance like AE cross and Sir James Lougheed. The biggest problem with schools in the area right now is barely anyone taking the bus so it gets flooded with cars at school start/stop. It's fine while half of Currie is dirt fields.... but it's going to get problematic soon.
 
NWUrbanism said:
One key difference with University District is that the University properties group (UCPG) actually owns all of the retail space. This likely gives them two key advantages:

1. Developers will build retail space anywhere that UCPG wants since they aren't the one shouldering the risk on the retail portion.
2. UCPG can give out discounted lease rates in order to entice the type of retail that they want to help make the whole neighborhood more attractive.

I believe this is how they got the grocery store to open in 2020 when only something like three residential projects had been completed in the whole neighborhood. They have been able to prioritize having a complete feeling retail main street before the majority of the residential has even been built, which has helped them generate a lot of momentum for the neighborhood.
Click to expand...
Did not know that they own the retail space!😃
 
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