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Dystopian towers in the park development like Cherry Hills in London are the most depressing style of residential development. Calgary is fortunate to have missed most of the 50's-60's urban renewal fad, and the MURB tax incented crap from the 70's/
But I thought everyone loves Brutalist / Soviet style apartments! /s
 
There was some drilling for what I assume was soil sampling that was occurring this morning on the gravel parking lot immediately to the east of the building in East Village with the Bow Cycle in it. Same thing happened at the lot to the west of the Simmons Building about a month before the latest development proposal was announced. Here's hoping that means we're about a month out from an announcement for the lot to the east which is the last parcel of riverfront land in East Village.
 
Calgary Co-op CEO indicated in an interview in December that they intend to open the Marda Loop store in 18-24 months. Seems aggressive given they haven’t submitted any application yet, especially if it’s going to include residential.

 
I spoke to Co-op's new director of real estate recently, and asked him about that interview. He chuckled, and said yes it was pretty optimistic. But, the project is moving forward. Expect to see residential above retail. Where this site really differs from some of the other projects in Marda Loop is the density, it has an FAR of 5.0, which is higher than what we have seen recently from Sarina Homes and RNDSQR.
 
A new DP has been submitted along 1st Ave NE in Bridgeland. It is replacing a DP that was submitted in 2021 for a single storey commercial building. New one is a different architect, for a licensed retaurant. I think this is the lot where the house "exploded" last year:
Some basic elevation drawings have been included on the DP link for this project. No fancy renderings, but you get an idea of what this new restaurant/mixed use building on 1st Ave will look like. 2 stories, so not bad for such a small lot:
1642089194624.png
 
Calgary Co-op CEO indicated in an interview in December that they intend to open the Marda Loop store in 18-24 months. Seems aggressive given they haven’t submitted any application yet, especially if it’s going to include residential.

I believe there are 5 locations now that are planned with a residential component.

Mission Landing
Oakridge
Brentwood
Winston Heights
Marda Loop

Mission Landing residential was put on hold. Oakridge site is currently under construction. Anyone know if they have found a developer/partner yet?
 
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I believe there are 5 locations now that are planned with a residential component.

Mission Landing
Oakridge
Brentwood
Winston Heights
Marda Loop

Mission Landing residential was put on hold. Oakridge site is currently under construction. Anyone know if they have found a developer/partner yet?
They do not have a development partner yet is what i understand.
 
I spoke to Co-op's new director of real estate recently, and asked him about that interview. He chuckled, and said yes it was pretty optimistic. But, the project is moving forward. Expect to see residential above retail. Where this site really differs from some of the other projects in Marda Loop is the density, it has an FAR of 5.0, which is higher than what we have seen recently from Sarina Homes and RNDSQR.
Thanks for the update! Interesting information about the FAR, but if there's a property in the neighbourhood where it makes sense, that's the one. It's going to be a bit of a nightmare to get around the area when they are in construction.
 
Hopefully Co-op nails the design on this site. Could make or brake the heart of Mardaloop
I am not holding my breath - all the previous CO-OP plans were pretty rough and (unsuprisingly) suburban grocery store first, apartments second. A solid, urban format design would be too big of leap from what we have seen from them - even other residential developers in Marda Loop are just waking up to the level of density and urban style the area is trending towards.

The site size in Marda Loop might constrain the damage a bit, but I am thinking it's Kensington Safeway 2.0 is what we will end up with. I think they'll end up over-parked including an unnecessary surface parking lot. I wouldn't be surprised if they end up dropping the non-grocery parts altogether if it gets too difficult and they can't figure it out because they aren't in their typical business area.

A urban development project featuring a grocery store is likely to be good; a grocery store project featuring urban development is not.
 
They have dropped their partnership with Quarry Bay Investments (and I have heard rumour of a lawsuit as well), the previous real estate develompent firm they were partnered with. I have much greater confidence in quality projects coming from Co-op than what we have seen in the past.
 

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