What do you think of the design?

  • I like it a lot

    Votes: 13 50.0%

  • I like it

    Votes: 10 38.5%

  • I neither like nor dislike it

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I dislike it

    Votes: 2 7.7%

  • I dislike it a lot

    Votes: 1 3.8%
  • Total voters
    26
Well, that's more sober. I kinda like, it's a good infix development. Is there a lot of developments in this area of the city? I remember it being really animated along Whyte Avenue, with a lot of little shops as well as the Old Strathcona Market, if I recall correctly. It seemed like a nice area to live in.
 
Feb. 26

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Edmonton developer’s Whyte Avenue proposal meets stiff opposition
It takes a lot of chops as a developer to stand before Edmonton’s City Council and quote Henry Marshall Tory, the University of Alberta’s revered inaugural president. But that’s what Mathew McLash of the upstart infill company WestOak Development did last month to win hearts and minds for a 16-storey mixed-use building off the capital’s cultural hub, Whyte Avenue.

“The uplifting of the whole people shall be its final goal,” were the words the 41-year-old former lawyer opened with before launching into his pitch. In addition to 11 storeys of market-value apartments, he’s proposing four additional floors for affordable family housing backed by Habitat for Humanity, incubation offices for startups, abundant retail, a community theatre and possibly even a museum dedicated to the the world’s second largest fringe theatre festival, hosted by the Old Strathcona neighbourhood every August.

It’s a big idea, and in one key aspect, possibly too big. Mr. McLash’s plan to put a 16-storey project in a generally low-rise heritage zone has run into stiff opposition.
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Full Story (Globe and Mail)
 
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Well that's too bad. The four additional floors for affordable family housing is a great initiative.
 
On its own, I'm not sure I like the re-design better, but the splash of red does help it relate to the podium better (without trying to be faux historic). I'm also glad they got rid of the yellow box as it was kind of tacky. I'm sure this will proceed in some fashion but who knows if the scope of the project will stay the same.
 
Edmonton developer hopes to build 16-storey tower near Whyte despite city's opposition
An Edmonton developer hopes to convince councillors to let him build a 16-storey tower just off Whyte Avenue despite opposition from city officials.

Mat McLash’s proposed Mezzo project takes in a parcel of land that includes a parking lot, the Strathcona Presbyterian Church and a house on 81 Avenue. The 16-storey tower would offer up to 209 residential units, including affordable housing run in part as a non-profit and as below-market rate, small apartments.

“It’s diversity, inclusiveness, affordability and walkability,” McLash said Saturday. “If ever there’s an opportunity to make a meaningful difference in our city for affordable housing and walkability, it’s this project, this location and right now, given our economic circumstances.”
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Full Story (Edmonton Journal)
 
David Staples: Tower project is unsettling, unusual and essential to Whyte Avenue
The proposal to build a 16-storey tower just south of Whyte Avenue is unusual, unsettling even.

But the Mezzo project on 105 Street and 81 Avenue is also essential if Old Strathcona isn’t going to start going downhill in the face of stiff competition from suburban malls and power centres and, most of all, from an improving 124th Street and a downtown that is at last ready to roar.

City council will decide on the project Monday. To put it mildly, not everyone on council agrees with my positive take on The Mezzo, starting with Coun. Ben Henderson, who ably presents the concerns of Old Scona preservationists.

The Mezzo’s proposed height will harm the ambience of Whyte Avenue, Henderson says. “I have huge concerns that we will radically change the feel of Old Strathcona. We have been so lucky to hold on to that neighbourhood and it was sheer luck that it was considered a derelict neighbourhood so no one developed it at the time (the 1950s to 1970s) that we were trashing everything else. It has turned out, as a result, to be one of our most successful areas.”

There are plenty of neighbourhoods that would kill to have such a fine mixed-use residential project as The Mezzo, but it’s just not right so close to Whyte Ave., Henderson says. A six-storey was approved for Whyte Ave. itself and that same height would also be fine on the proposed site, which is now home to an old, empty church. But 16 storeys is too much, Henderson says.
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Full Story (Edmonton Journal)
 
This one is really making headlines lately, but it makes sense - if approved it will set the stage for numerous other large developments in the area.

Edmonton needs to say yes to the Mezzo: urbanist
For a city the size of Edmonton, a 20 storey building isn't "tall." But a 20-storey residential and commercial development proposed at 81 Avenue and 105 Street has nonetheless prompted a whole lot of height panic.

The tower, proffered by Edmonton's Westoak Development, would feature a 200-unit apartment building and many other amenities, along with a historic-themed street podium. But many big players in the Old Strathcona community say it's just too big.

Is it? We asked Ian O'Donnell, community liaison for the Infill Development Edmonton Association, to chime in.
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Full Story (Metro Edmonton)

(Would like it if the interviewee @IanO would spend more time here)
 
There is absolutely nothing wrong with the scale of the building in WestOak Development's proposal. The quirkiness of the above-podium portion is very appealing. Back in the '70s we had to drag the City along just to light the fuse for Old Strathcona's renewal. This is a great rejuvenation project.
 
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