Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

[coaxial]

montreal just finished this "bus barn" project that is well-designed and integrated into the community with green space on top, its a nice model for how these structures can have a function for both transit and public park space

Bellechasse Transport Centre

"This is a remarkable transformation of a building type, taking a massive parking garage with all its negative impacts and turning it into a landscape and public space feature."

www.canadianarchitect.com

 

[CallmeCatbread]

Doing that would require the city to have a modicum of vision and ambition, which they don't.

 

[DiscoStu]

What's the price on that sucker? Looks great, but not sure that's in the cards.

 

[Mountain Man]

That looks great, but would likely cost $2-300 million at least.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

That looks great, but would likely cost $2-300 million at least.

Yeah, in these times that price tag for a park and a bus barn will not happen. In the good times, I could see it. We have industrial land near starting points that the cost of this could build three buildings and a park (where the old bus barn is, not that that's what should be done with that space).

 

[Urban4Lyfe]

Doing that would require the city to have a modicum of vision and ambition, which they don't.

You mean the citizens of Calgary right?

Can't even build a bike lane in this city without the locals losing their minds.

 

[darwink]

What's the price on that sucker? Looks great, but not sure that's in the cards.

“A long-awaited bus depot for Montreal's transit authority is now estimated to cost about $584 million, more than double its initial estimate.

Announced in 2017 by then Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, the Bellechasse project was initially slated to cost $254 million, about 40 per cent of the current price tag.”

Cost of STM bus depot balloons to over $500M, more than double initial estimate

A long-awaited bus depot for Montreal's transit authority is now estimated to cost about $584 million, more than double its initial estimate. Announced in 2017 by then Montreal mayor Denis Coderre, the Bellechasse project was initially slated to cost $254 million, about 40 per cent of the...

ca.news.yahoo.com

 

[The Familia]

Wow! No thanks, we don’t need a half billion dollar bus barn. We have ample land and space, hold a normal barn in an industrial area or something. I’d rather spend that money on a field house, stadium, or a dozen other projects for the city.

 

[maestro]

A bunker in an industrial park isn't going to be $150 to $200 million either. It's going to cost $300 to $400 million. Still much cheaper than the Montreal Taj Mahal for transit buses. I just wonder how it only cost $600 million.

 

[CBBarnett]

A bunker in an industrial park isn't going to be $150 to $200 million either. It's going to cost $300 to $400 million. Still much cheaper than the Montreal Taj Mahal for transit buses. I just wonder how it only cost $600 million.

Given how expensive all infrastructure is, $600M actually seems like a pretty good deal to get a fancy underground bus storage centre fully integrated into an established inner city area with a park on top. If you had built this where Vic Park bus garage was in the first place, no one would be asking you to move it as it's a net positive to your community development, not negative. Put some perspective on it, you could get 1.5 to 2 of these fancy garages for the price of an arena!

All that said, Montreal has a very different context, scale, history and land availability context. Something like this in Calgary doesn't have enough factors aligned to exist, most notably because we have great located vacant land all over the place that doesn't require as much good urban design and engineering to make work.

 

[Mountain Man]

Why is everything so incredibly expensive to build these days? half a billion is an insane cost!

 

[UrbanWarrior]

I

Given how expensive all infrastructure is, $600M actually seems like a pretty good deal to get a fancy underground bus storage centre fully integrated into an established inner city area with a park on top. If you had built this where Vic Park bus garage was in the first place, no one would be asking you to move it as it's a net positive to your community development, not negative. Put some perspective on it, you could get 1.5 to 2 of these fancy garages for the price of an arena!

All that said, Montreal has a very different context, scale, history and land availability context. Something like this in Calgary doesn't have enough factors aligned to exist, most notably because we have great located vacant land all over the place that doesn't require as much good urban design and engineering to make work.

It would be wonderful to have a park raised well above the flood plain in the VP bus barn spot. The views would be incredible, and a great opportunity to dampen the rail noise with a fairly dense line of trees at the northern and western sides of it, with little groves interspred throughout, and sloping into the river like we have at Riverwalk Plaza and the Centre Street Bridge.

 

[CalgaryTiger]

I

It would be wonderful to have a park raised well above the flood plain in the VP bus barn spot. The views would be incredible, and a great opportunity to dampen the rail noise with a fairly dense line of trees at the northern and western sides of it, with little groves interspred throughout, and sloping into the river like we have at Riverwalk Plaza and the Centre Street Bridge.

You don't need to bury the thing in the ground. Just bury it by building up the ground, like you say.

 

[Albertasaurus]

DP just submitted by DAAS Architects for a neat little triplex development in Sunalta. I'm a fan.

 

[maestro]

Why is everything so incredibly expensive to build these days? half a billion is an insane cost!

There's so much nonsense in government contracts that narrows down the field and allows the few experienced government bidders to up their bids.