Calgary's Downtown Dilemma

[darwink]

midtown Manhattan

Is a ghost town after 6 pm.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

That's so true. Before 2015 when downtown Calgary was low office vacancy and 130,000 office workers downtown, it was a place that was midtown Manhattan during the day and a ghost town after 6:00pm.

Now, I'm seeing more of a balance. The downtown isn't as busy during work hours, but is busier off hours. Is anyone else feeling that?

Most definitely. The change year-by-year is pretty amazing even.

 

[Surrealplaces]

That's so true. Before 2015 when downtown Calgary was low office vacancy and 130,000 office workers downtown, it was a place that was midtown Manhattan during the day and a ghost town after 6:00pm.

Now, I'm seeing more of a balance. The downtown isn't as busy during work hours, but is busier off hours. Is anyone else feeling that?

I would say that’s accurate. In those past 10 years, there’s around 4-5,000 new residents DT and another 10,000 in the Beltline. Just that alone has made a notable difference, and we’re going to see even more of a difference in 2-3 years when all the conversions are done and Plaza and Kings are completed.

 

[CT_]

Opinion: Cultural institutions are the beating heart of Calgary

Museums, galleries can help save our ailing downtown

calgaryherald.com

This line from the article, kind of sums up the issue that has faced Calgary's downtown.

We designed downtown Calgary to be a place for efficient work, not a place for rich living.

Stephanie White predicted this when it was just starting to take shape in an article from 1979:

 

[Surrealplaces]

Stephanie White predicted this when it was just starting to take shape in an article from 1979:

Good find. The article makes its rounds every once in a while, and proves her point. Calgary's downtown has had a 30-40 year period of stripping out average multi-use buildings for office tower behemoths. Even the last buildings that were built did this, with Telus Sky, 707-5th and Brookfield Place. Same goes for Calgary city Centre and Jamieson Place. all of those buildings took out buildings that were active off hours.

Thankfully, we've had the opportunity to do these conversions, it's one of the reasons I supported the conversion subsidies. The CBD was at a point where it could have continued on a downhill slope, to a point where it was irreversible.