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Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

Beltline_B said:
I would like to see a park put in place of the empty bare field, my only concern would be it turning into a homeless camp or hangout. I still think they need to plant some trees, but maybe a full park isn’t a good idea right now.
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As others have mentioned, they should build some activity spaces - tennis courts, basketball courts, fields - so the space can be utilized and less likely to become an encampment. It also has good access to the LRT that it should really be adapted for more uses.
 
A true park would be nice, but I agree it needs to be mixed with other sorts of facilities. Basketball courts etc… would be good. What would be great is a couple of restaurants like The River Cafe, but less fancy, with patios fronting the river pathway would be amazing. Maybe a couple of kiosks in the area as well.
The Ice cream kiosks by the Peace bridge by the kiosks are people magnets.
 
A mix of park with actual trees and benches etc., activity courts, and some resto options would transform the area, and even help transform EV. I agree, the restaurants should be something more affordable and accessible.than the River Cafe and kiosks would be good of course. Imagine a river pathway version of Cool Garden! I can't believe I'm saying this, but I would even welcome a Tim Horton's.
 
A bunch of Five-a-side soccer pitches would do so well. Those are incredibly popular in any city in the world and they are like basketball courts, they do not require too many players.

They are always packed here in Europe and there are a lot of soccer fans/players in Calgary.
FC-Bayern-Muenchen-Soccer-Mini-Pitch.jpg
 
Was just thinking with all the proposals & approved DP’s around downtown/Beltline area. It seems odd that virtually zero ground breaking’s of even 10 stories or more have happened this year so far. Is it a matter of investors? Not enough interest in Condo’s? Over saturated Rental market?? Seems the suburbs are booming and they can’t build enough of what I just mentioned. Every time I see a new development announcement it kinda makes me think it’s just smoke..
 
Golfing guy said:
Was just thinking with all the proposals & approved DP’s around downtown/Beltline area. It seems odd that virtually zero ground breaking’s of even 10 stories or more have happened this year so far. Is it a matter of investors? Not enough interest in Condo’s? Over saturated Rental market?? Seems the suburbs are booming and they can’t build enough of what I just mentioned. Every time I see a new development announcement it kinda makes me think it’s just smoke..
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Concrete construction is generally too expensive to support decent margins on for-sale condo projects. Margins are too low, contingency needs to be high in an inflationary environment and timeline for construction adds to the risk. Wood-frame construction is more reasonable, so sites that are wood-frame make for profitable for-sale condo projects. Too many sites are zoned for densities that support high-rise construction and have land speculators sitting on sky high land prices expecting that concrete high-rise will be profitable, when it isn't really right now and hasn't been for a decade.

The market is hot AF for condos and townhouses, lack of demand isn't the problem, but wood-frame is what is profitable and you can get financing on. Until $psf for condo's rise, concrete construction isn't exactly viable in the City for residential construction.
 
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Chinese_T said:
Uhh not to panic but am I correct in saying that by the time 2 Park Central is finished, Fourth St Lofts will be the ONLY highrise U/C in all of downtown?? 😢 (Not counting First & Park, the same height as the Cancer Centre)
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Sadly yes. It might be a while until the next high rise goes up. The only downtown high rises I can think of that might be coming soon are Sovereign and and the Truman one on 10th.
 
Crazy to think we're going to have a highrise building recession, especially given the current demand for housing. It wasn't this slow even during the height of the oil crash a few years back. All levels of government should immediately step up to encourage more development. Some actions I can think of are governments can reduce taxes on developers and development or subsidize the high interest on loans. This is wishful thinking but if nothing drastically changes then we're headed for disaster because I see no end to the demand for housing. Common sense would suggest reverting to more conservative immigration numbers temporarily to buy some time for supply to catch up but clearly, our federal government is running on ideology rather than common sense.
 
Mountain Man said:
There are definitely going to be more highrises going up in the near future, lots of stuff in the pipeline still.
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There are a few other proposals out there besides Imperia, Sovereign, and Gallery on 10th, for example tower 2 of Sunalta Heights, 526 - 4th Ave, 1216 - 8th ave, 1405 - 5th st but there has been no action on any of the permits. I'm hoping you know of some other projects coming down the pipe. :)

If we don't see any new high-rise activity, I'm okay with that as long as there are more low or mid-rise starts. There is plenty of multi-family going up, but it's all out in the suburbs, and probably still not enough to keep pace with population growth.
 
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