News   Apr 03, 2020
Pastel Morning
 6.3K     1 
News   Apr 02, 2020
A Message to Our Readers
 7.9K     4 
News   Apr 02, 2020
Soon to be Gone
 4.7K     0 

Urban Development and Proposals Discussion

Cowtown said:
I posted this pic in the skyline photos thread, but I’m posting it here also. As much as we complain about Calgary and empty parking lots, this photo gives me hope. Seeing how many new buildings of risen up in this photo over the last 20 years, makes me excited for the next 20 years.
Click to expand...
I always like seeing these aerial pics, it let's us take stock of what's happening with the core. In the green are buildings built in the last 20 years, and aside from the sheer amount of builds, it's encouraging to see that most of the development has been radiating away from the dense office core and filling up the areas around it. Also so much more residential compared to office, and more residential to come in the form of new towers and conversions. For a city this size, it's been an amazing run.

1755551422310.png
 
badc0ffee said:
Looks like this is called Parkdale Home.
Click to expand...
I was surprised by the lack of density/intensity selected and the site design i saw for this site, especially considering the location. 24 units for folks with developmental disabilities with high support needs in a 2-storey complex. When i saw the Site Plan, it had the two stories buildings closer to 3 Ave/Bowness Rd and the entire northern half of the lot was surface parking, definitely had a lot more than 24 parking stalls. Measuring the parcel on DMAP, it's about 9,255sm, so the gross floor area is 2,517sm (that is ~0.27FAR).

I get they wanted on-site parking for support staff, that surface parking is cheaper to build and that they may have a budget that is too low to more intensively development the site. But 0.27FAR is extremely low, it may be the lowest density development currently going in the City that isn't a gas station. Even this car dealership and CRU development in Royal Vista is about a 0.44FAR site:
1755547474824.png

To make a residential care centre ~38-39% less dense than a car dealership in the suburbs takes a concerted effort to waste land and the Province is treating valuable infill land like it is free. A single-family house in the suburbs is probably around a 0.6FAR, so this development is approx. half the density of a single-family home.

This lot is identified as Low (up to six stories) and Neighbourhood Flex in the SSLAP. This development is far below the minimum allowable density of a townhome site in the suburbs (minimum is 35uph, this development is ~26uph) and is using the land at about 10% of it's described density that would probably achieve between 2.5 and 3.0FAR based on the LAP. I would've expected something like 1.5FAR (13,883sm GFA) on the lower side but 0.27FAR (2,517sm GFA) is not even trying to use the land in an efficient way.

The demographic they are catering to is unlikely to drive so the parking is far oversized and driving serious site inefficiency. This approach to the development lacks intensity to such a degree that it would be underutilizing land in a place like Vulcan or High River, it is very out of context in an inner-city neighbourhood like Parkdale. I'm all for providing this type of supportive housing, but maybe this isn't the right parcel of land for such an inefficient land use if the design is driven by budget constraints and they can't use the land anywhere near its highest and best use.
 
Surrealplaces said:
I always like seeing these aerial pics, it let's us take stock of what's happening with the core. In the green are buildings built in the last 20 years, and aside from the sheer amount of builds, it's encouraging to see that most of the development has been radiating away from the dense office core and filling up the areas around it. Also so much more residential compared to office, and more residential to come in the form of new towers and conversions. For a city this size, it's been an amazing run.

View attachment 674634
Click to expand...
that is amazing! Also there are a lot of other buildings - especially the highrises in the West End - that were built in the late '90s and early 2000s. A couple minor additions - Chocolate was finished in 2006, and Sasso and Vetro were finished in 2006 and 2008. And don't forget the BMO Centre :)
 
13th Avenue really looks like a greenway in that picture. It's too bad they cancelled the greenway streetscape redevelopment project beyond 4th Street. Serious lack of initiative in remaking our downtown streets in this city. The inner city has moved beyond the car, yet street cross sections have not.
 
DougB said:
I'd also like to see the section of Memorial between the flyover and Deerfoot shrunk to 4 lanes. It bottlenecks at the bridges so the extra lanes are pointless
Click to expand...
I can’t see that happening, that section of Memorial was once referred to as the east-west “penetrator” to get cars from/to Deerfoot into/out of downtown. Bow Trail West is also a “penetrator” flowing suburbanites to/from downtown from/to Crowchild.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top