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General Construction Updates

CalgaryTiger said:
Anyone go to Folk Fest and see how used the new Eau Claire Plaza was?
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I saw a couple of people using the tables, and the mister went off at one point. But I was just passing through 2x a day for the 4 days, and the weather was pretty bad most of the time.

One thing I will say is the pedestrian flow to the bridge to Prince's Island is good. It's a straight, wide, clear corridor. (The area in front of Joey/the Sheraton where pedestrians mix with cabs parking at the hotel still sucks though)
 
Here's a recently updated photo showing Seton's market street from CBRE:

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So I finally made it down to the new Eau Clare Plaza with my kids. As someone who was openly negative about this plaza during construction, I will offer my final opinion after seeing it in person.

Overall I would give this a 7.5/10 which is better than I was expecting.

Likes: Main tree lines walkway with catenary lighting is appealing. Little sand beach was a hit with my kids, it was freshly raked and litter free. The main plaza had some type of festival with food trucks which was nice, but it seems barren if nothing is going on. Misters were OK, but nothing compared to a wading pool or splash park. Everything was clean, grass and trees in excellent shape thanks to the rain. Lagoon boardwalk is not bad, I like the new terraced stones that lead down to the lagoon.

Dislikes: Lack of trees is my biggest gripe. They really cheaper out on the amount of trees and it will never have as nice of a tree canopy as the original. Choice of pavement and ground finishing is rather bland and cheap. The sticks around the plaza really don’t do much and appear awkward. As mentioned the misters are Ok, but rather boring on their own without a spray park or splash pad to accompany it. Beach should have been bigger.

Overall it is clean and offers some unique aspects. It will be more functional to host events in the summer, but I feel it will be windswept and empty in the winter. That plaza should have been able to convert into an ice rink in the winter. Once the trees mature it will help a lot as right now it feels a bit barren. Still sad to see the big trees gone. It’s a little sterile, but hopefully as it matures and the market space gets redeveloped it should liven it up. Not as bad as I feared but nothing earth shattering to write home about. I would go back again mainly for the beach as that is the most unique draw.
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I think the two pieces still to come at Eau Claire Plaza will really help elevate the experience.
#1 - A tenant moving into the Eau Claire Lumber Company building. People having somewhere to grab coffees and sandwiches and a nice patio to enjoy them on will help with the vibe.
#2 - The opening of the playground this fall. This will help with the year-round draw of the plaza and in the summer I can easily see kids doing the circuit between the beach, misters, and playground and back.
 
I hope the interim condition of the old market and townhome site isn’t only contemplated as a parking lot.

There are a lot of people using the riverwalk and plaza and as discussed here there is a lack of retail to service that.

Something like a BOXPARK that is in Shoreditch or Camden (in London) would be nice to have in the short to medium term that interfaces with the pathway and plaza.
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Just think it would be nice to have some retail and food options on the Riverwalk and to make Eau Claire plaza more of the centre of gravity for activity. I would imagine it would be well patronized in the the summer months in particular
 
outoftheice said:
I think the two pieces still to come at Eau Claire Plaza will really help elevate the experience.
#1 - A tenant moving into the Eau Claire Lumber Company building. People having somewhere to grab coffees and sandwiches and a nice patio to enjoy them on will help with the vibe.
#2 - The opening of the playground this fall. This will help with the year-round draw of the plaza and in the summer I can easily see kids doing the circuit between the beach, misters, and playground and back.
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Totally agree on the lack of retail, can’t believe the Eau Claire Lumber building is still empty. I’ve been a couple times lately and the park was packed. The design is great and luckily there’s at least a couple patios to the south and a new coffee shop opening in the former ymca gym, but it’s wild the city didn’t add coffee shops or patios around the plaza, which currently feels empty.

The river paths and much of the City Center overall is buzzing, someone estimated 2,000 new residents per year, and with all the office conversions and towers coming, that should keep going. But areas like this need help. I’m not confident Harvard will ever actually build the Eau Claire redevelopment, hoping they pass it to a stronger developer. That site has huge potential including the addition of retail along the plaza and river.
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Calgcouver said:
I hope the interim condition of the old market and townhome site isn’t only contemplated as a parking lot.

There are a lot of people using the riverwalk and plaza and as discussed here there is a lack of retail to service that.

Something like a BOXPARK that is in Shoreditch or Camden (in London) would be nice to have in the short to medium term that interfaces with the pathway and plaza.View attachment 671223View attachment 671231

Just think it would be nice to have some retail and food options on the Riverwalk and to make Eau Claire plaza more of the centre of gravity for activity. I would imagine it would be well patronized in the the summer months in particular
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The River Hall plaza thing last summer near the LRT bridge was amazing start for this - it had mostly food, beer and music but seemed incredibly well attended everytime I went by. Hopefully it comes back and starts to prove this is a concept that works in other places too.

Retail on the river pathway is among the most obvious improvements Calgary could make to boost its already stellar pathway system. There’s been generations of Calgarians wandering around the pathways desperate for a patio, an ice cream or a coffee. Every time we do line up retail and food with the pathway, it works and is successful - just do more of it!
 
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