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Infill Development Discussion

I've always thought that the office building in Mt.Plesant could use something like this. And some retail facing 4th Street. Such a huge parking lot for what is essentially a few law offices and remax.
2322 4 St NW
I live near there and would love something fronting the street, retail or residential (or ideally both)
 
I don't want my intended point to be missed. It's not that I oppose a mechanics shop in this community. My simple point is this specific shop, however affordable or convenient, (in my opinion) has created an eyesore that likely scares people away from the area. I don't know for a fact that people haven't bought near here because of that shop. I just know it would bug me and it would immediately turn me off from the Marlo development.

I love small business and I like to think of communities as little small towns within a larger city that have a variety of small businesses. I just don't think this property is well kept.
Looking at the streetview (and I was by it in person a few months ago) the issue is it visually appears to be half auto shop and half wrecking yard.
 
I don't want my intended point to be missed. It's not that I oppose a mechanics shop in this community. My simple point is this specific shop, however affordable or convenient, (in my opinion) has created an eyesore that likely scares people away from the area. I don't know for a fact that people haven't bought near here because of that shop. I just know it would bug me and it would immediately turn me off from the Marlo development.

I love small business and I like to think of communities as little small towns within a larger city that have a variety of small businesses. I just don't think this property is well kept.
Gotcha - I misunderstood. I think it's fair to criticize on those grounds and it sounds like they could do a better job at general upkeep.

Exactly. How are we supposed to build environmentally sustainable, walkable communities that people can choose to live in whether or not they have a car, if the residents don't have easy access to an auto shop to handle their everyday needs? Sure, for the residents of Marda Loop who have cars, without this community business it would be an easy drive under 10 minutes to visit the many auto repair shops in Manchester instead. But if this were replaced with homes for people instead, then Marda Loop residents without cars would have to spend almost an hour walking or on transit just to take their car to get fixed. We can't keep claiming we are building communities that people can live in without needing cars if the residents will need a car just to be able to get their car fixed.
Is it not more environmentally sustainable to be able to be able to drop of my car at a mechanic in my neighbourhood and continue about my day on foot, as opposed to driving to an industrial area and having to take a cab/get a ride after drop off, and back again to pick up the car? Does that not create about 4x the driving? Think of all the pollution! 😮

Anyway, it's likely that >80% of households in the area own a vehicle and the raw number of vehicles in the area is not going to decrease in the foreseeable future even as walking and transit increase in mode share. All I'm saying is that it's nice to have a broad variety of shops and services in your neighbourhood.
 
Noticed this land use re-designation in marda loop area: https://developmentmap.calgary.ca/?find=LOC2022-0056

I use to rent up the street from here... with surrounding multi-family, I don't see why this wouldn't go ahead.

Properties currently look like this:
Satellite.JPG
 
It looks good from the front, and I don't have an issue with the height, but I don't like the depth. It's like a mini version of Vantage Pointe, and is way out of context in that regard. If the height was lower, the depth would be okay, or at its current height but less depth.
 
It's definitely out of scale for the context, the question is whether or not that's a good thing.

I'd love to see some stretches of urban SFH turn into more of the New York (or even Montreal) rowhouse style, but it has to start somewhere. So if not directly adjacent to Kensington, where?

The grey stucco is clearly them banking on the adjacent properties following suit - in the mean time, yikes.
 
Is it just me or does that proposal look like they're just adding to the existing building?


You’re correct. They’re doubling the square footage towards the back, adding a 3rd floor, rooftop and elevator. Keeping the existing house.
 
I like the rendering of the front of the building but would hate to be the neighbour to the north who has to look at that wall from their back yard. All the neighbours seem to be concerned about the precedent that this one would set. There are some neat character homes on the street, although I'm not sure this one proposal is what will ruin the character. I'm also not sure what the market would be like for this one. The location is great because it's right in Kensington, but is anyone going to be in the market for 3, presumably high-end units next to the back alley of a 5? 6? story building, with alleys on two sides. I'm just not sure these will appeal to anyone with the kind of money I expect they'll be looking for.
 
I like the rendering of the front of the building but would hate to be the neighbour to the north who has to look at that wall from their back yard. All the neighbours seem to be concerned about the precedent that this one would set. There are some neat character homes on the street, although I'm not sure this one proposal is what will ruin the character. I'm also not sure what the market would be like for this one. The location is great because it's right in Kensington, but is anyone going to be in the market for 3, presumably high-end units next to the back alley of a 5? 6? story building, with alleys on two sides. I'm just not sure these will appeal to anyone with the kind of money I expect they'll be looking for.
I believe their angle is this is all for their family, multi-generational living under one roof.
 

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