What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    52
Ohman said:
Right on.

This would be Westrich's second brand new surface parking lot on 102nd avenue, both directly adjacent to a billion dollar brand new LRT line no less.

Important to note that every surface parking lot downtown is temporary until they're developed, yes even the ones that have been there 40+ years. How many have been developed soon after becoming a parking lot? I can't think of any. A parking lot is still a parking lot regardless of how it's decorated.
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Just a correction - the new 104st Westrich parking lot is on the corner of 103Ave, not 102.
But thanks, now I know what Ken was meaning. I can't believe how quickly I forgot about that one.
 
kcantor said:
^
"...very unique and fairly temporary..."???

Just like 104 Street and 102nd Avenue?
Or the old Baccarat site?
Or Ice District Phase 2?
Or a host of others...

The problem with very unique and fairly temporary is that on their own all of these - and others - may be individually unique and fairly temporary but collectively they are neither unique not likely to be fairly temporary. Worse than that is that it would demonstrate the city's lack of commitment and enforcement of their own planning and bylaws.

The city cannot choose to "sometimes" enforce planning and bylaws as when it strikes them without being open to the Arlington and scores of other sites making a case to the city and to SDAB that the city is being discriminatory.

How much did we spend on O'Daymin Park to eliminate surface parking lots at great public expense because they are detrimental to the public good?

If Regency or whoever does buy the site wants a surface parking lot "because they need to interim revenue to justify the acquisition", then buy it for less so the numbers work or don't buy it at all.
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Thanks, I do appreciate this point of view. I guess I just interact with this site so much I’m desperate for anything really. You have me thinking about it differently.

I do think it’s a great spot for the type of backyard setup over by Epcor. Bring in some positive street interaction would help clear this area up tremendously.
 
I’d be fine with this if it had a short clause for 3-4 years. But then it needs teeth to be shutdown. The challenge is that I doubt the market for a highrise dramatically shifts in 4 years.

So do we want this for 10-15 years? Or the current crap? Or hope another buyer steps up?

Westrich has numerous highrise lots in the pipeline as well, so even if conditions improve, will this go ahead before ice tower 1 & 2? Or their grandin tower?
 
So on one side we have a property that is currently completely and utterly unacceptable. On one hand we have one option of making the site unacceptable but not a hazard and not a complete eyesore. On the other hand, we currently have hopes and dreams but that's it. There is no demand for an office tower right now and obviously, regardless of what we may think, no interest in building a new hotel. Can we maybe get this tiny proposal to happen but an extremely Limited time limit to get something built as one of the requirements? At least this way the proposal actually is slightly better than leaving its status quo
 
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Westrich is moving in the right direction with regard to vacant land but there should be NO vehicle parking on site, period. The cafe is a positive step but add more seacans and offer venders from the farmers market the opportunity to sell product outside of farmers market hours. In the process, you might get a tenant for the CRUs in the new building once it is built. The whole point is to activate, and add value to the area, we all know that parking lots do neither. If you want people to park there, add bicycle/scooter parking instead.
 
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The irony of this entire forum being up in arms about the Arlington parking lot that is not in central downtown versus some being supportive of this in the centre of our city shows a lot of hypocrisy. Come on. I doubt we’ll hear from Ian given he works for Westrich, but even he must be enraged that he had to put this proposal forward given his position on downtown.
 
The parking proposed holds 73 cars satisfying 73 people, in downtown that is nothing. You should be aiming to satisfy at least 200 people.
 
Gus Haynes said:
Not really fair for any of us to speculate as to Ian's state of mind -- as a company man, he could never publicly criticize his employer. It's probably best to leave it at that.
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Pretty easy to infer what he thinks given his thoughts about downtown parking elsewhere. Plenty of people in the world have to do things at work even though they may not agree with their employers overall direction. But yes, given the conflict, we won’t hear from him on this one.
 
I don't begrudge Westrich for proposing this. And I'm glad there is interest in the site. But doesn't mean the proposal should proceed.

As we've all said, whoever owns this site, the expectation should be that it is cleaned up and not left as is botttomline.

Perhaps something can be negotiated to find other alternatives to a parking lot - some have already been noted here such as a food truck type lot, park space, or activity space.
 
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Something like this would be great!
 
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