What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    47
I love how ambitious Beljan is with their projects and I know this will get more successful with time, but as of now they may need to work on their marketing and activation of this site. Maybe they should talk to the Farmer's market and cook something up for the weekends đź‘€
 
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First time at EPIC Market/Station Park yesterday.

Really cool concept, but they are having real issues with people stopping at Gateway/Whyte and turning back vs. crossing the street and exploring; ~50% of the retail is vacant. They hope to create a more event based draw in the plaza next year.

EPIC super cool, reminds me of places in much larger cities, but again, how do you get enough people there on a regular basis to support 4 or 5 kitchens and two bars. Food prices were higher than I expected, but the food looked really good.
 
^ Time for a wide pedestrian bridge that also has retail components on the bridge -- could be constructed of SuperWood + CLT + reinforced Ceramic components. It could also be another "Gateway" Edmonton entrance feature. It would need to be creative enough to draw inquisitive-minded pedestrians into an exploration-minded mode. It could have an LSM-propelled glass-enclosed elevator at each end. It could connect diagonally from the Strathcona Hotel to Station Park across both Whyte and Gateway.
 
I will design what I am talking about to make it chuckle-proof for the chuckle-duck crowd. This may take a few weeks because it is complex and because I have to do it in "spare time" -- I currently have a very intense workload.
 
I agree part of the issue is the location and having to cross busy streets to get to it. I feel the size of it may also be a factor, perhaps it is not quite large enough to draw many people in to cross the street.

However, it is a great concept, so I hope they come up with some good ideas to draw more people in.
 
I don't buy that it's the road crossing that's the problem.. That's a pedestrian scramble crossing there; easy peasy. I don't think a multi-million $ bridge is the solution; if folks can't get up the energy to cross 30' of pavement (which they do with aplomb one block west at Calgary Trail), they're not going to climb up a set of stairs to cross; not enough of a draw is the most likely cause.
 
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buildings said:
I don't buy that it's the road crossing that's the problem.. That's a pedestrian scramble crossing there; easy peasy. I don't think a multi-million $ bridge is the solution; if folks can't get up the energy to cross 30' of pavement, they're not going to climb up a set of stairs to cross; not enough of a draw is the most likely cause.
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For me, its mostly an issue that it's along a very busy, congested roadway. Just not a pleasant place to walk as nice as the improvement is with this building.

I like the project. If this was over by the bus barns, farmer's market would it be a slam dunk?

Regarding Patagonia, such a nice store. Does retail only do well in malls and power centres in Edmonton?
 
It does seem street front retail in Edmonton is very poor compared to almost any other major city in Canada. It is like we are especially addicted to power centres and suburban malls.

Of course it is worst downtown with so many empty store fronts still, but even Whyte Ave has had its struggles particularly over the last several years.

The Lululemon store which was right on Whyte Ave closed. Yes, Whyte Ave seems to draw a lot of traffic, but a lot of that is to bars, restaurants, coffee shops, theatre and the farmers market, perhaps not as much to other retail.
 
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