[Surrealplaces]

Here we go, the much vaunted Allies and Morrison rumour. The proposal is for the old Grace Hospital parcel. This is mainly conceptual at the moment, as no DP has been submitted yet, but the concept is pretty detailed. .

So here it is,14 buildings with the tallest one at 38 storeys. More details, heights, and measurements to be updated as the project progresses.

Kensington Yards 1302-1402 8th Ave NW

www.kensingtonyards.com

 

[DougB]

Could create some really impressive views from Riley Park.

Doesn't a much less ambitious and already approved plan exist for this site?

 

[blue12]

Wow. Not what I expected at all. Very exciting.

 

[Urban4Lyfe]

First comment on the Reddit post was about traffic and parking. This will get nimby'd into the abyss.

 

[aryanoboi]

Certainly an interesting location for the project…

38 storey tower in Kensington? I don’t know, seems a little out of place. I hope it gets built, but maybe shrink it down a little.

 

[Golfing guy]

Kinda disappointed that this is the speculation project from Allies and Morrison. Unfortunately the appeals from the folks on top of the bluff will widdle this down to a bunch of 10 stories buildings and will be a waste of a good design. Thought we would get something big and fabulous downtown or the beltline

 

[aryanoboi]

Kinda disappointed that this is the speculation project from Allies and Morrison. Unfortunately the appeals from the folks on top of the bluff will widdle this down to a bunch of 10 stories buildings and will be a waste of a good design. Thought we would get something big and fabulous downtown or the beltline

The top of the bluff at this part is the Jubilee and the SAIT campus. I don’t think this will impact sight line views of downtown for those residents on the ridge.

 

[CBBarnett]

Certainly an interesting location for the project…

38 storey tower in Kensington? I don’t know, seems a little out of place. I hope it gets built, but maybe shrink it down a little.

I wouldn't be surprised if that's the starting point but the final product is shorter.

Overall though - why not?

1. By the time this advances, Calgary's nearly a city of 2 million people. Lots of potential demand.
2. Under 600m to two LRT stations, only a stop from downtown and directly part of the inner NW corridor
3. Across from Riley Park, but with no shadowing impacts being on the north side
4. No shadow impacts to anyone regardless of height.
5. A permanently popular area, with limited housing options - detached houses within a kilometre go for over $1.5M.

It's a bit "by the book" of what we see from Toronto masterplans, in that it appears competent but not game-changing in a design sense. However, the unique part is the scale and the uniqueness in the Calgary market to build such a large, pedestrian-centric inner city development in a location that hasn't really seen this scale before. People will freak out, but it strikes me as a pretty predictable and reasonable next step in Calgary's evolution to a larger and more major city, like the Truman Marda Loop project or Chinook TOD projects.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

This is another one that I want to like more than I do...

First off, these multi tower mega proposals just scream ' never gonna happen' to me after seeing all the proposals for that two block parking lot in Eau Claire over the years.

Digging into the details, it also looks like far too many units for the location , even if the development tightly integrated to the SAIT LRT it would be too much.

The taller towers threaten to jank up one of the best viewpoints of downtown, and at a glance they look like the ugly cousins of the old Telus building.

I do like the look of the two 20 storey towers, but they'd work better either both on 14th, or one on 14th one on 8th near the intersection, but with the corner lot used as a park / entrance to the rest of the site.

Overall, would be cool if half of it was built / 10

 

[Tacom8]

I know it's just renders and will get value engineered to death but I really like the attempt at classical exteriors it gives a sense of history and place.

The reddit comments seem like just one crank. We must preserve the character and experience of quickly leaving or entering parking lots.

 

[outoftheice]

I'm a big YIMBY but that is a lot of density for a terrible location. A bit too far of a walk to the LRT, definitely too far of a walk into downtown and transit service along 14th isn't great. It means that although this is inner city, most people will still be driving and it pushes all that traffic towards 2 intersections for access.

 

[InfrastructureEnthusiast]

Kinda disappointed that this is the speculation project from Allies and Morrison. Unfortunately the appeals from the folks on top of the bluff will widdle this down to a bunch of 10 stories buildings and will be a waste of a good design. Thought we would get something big and fabulous downtown or the beltline

Yeah this was hyped up a bit too much for what was delivered...

That said, move this plan to the Westbrook site and it'd look and work 100x better!

 

[Surrealplaces]

I bet the overall size will shrink somewhat, and that's fine, but I'm with @CBBarnett in that we're a city of 2 million. It's time to wear the big boy pants. I don't think it's that out of scale for a city this size, it's just we aren't used to it.

As far as traffic, etc.. the parcel has access to 14th st and will also have vehicle access to 5th avenue. LRT is a bit further out, but is still only a kilometer away (even shorter going up the hill to SAIT station)

 

[haltcatchfire]

First comment on the Reddit post was about traffic and parking. This will get nimby'd into the abyss.

To be fair, my son goes to Hillhurst school so I drive through there every day. Traffic is already very congested in this area during rush hour with pretty limiting routes out. It’s deceiving until you have to go though every day for several years.

1. You can’t make a left from 8th Ave because the southbound traffic is backed up the hill. It’s already a pretty decent wait to make a right onto 14th northbound.
2. If you go down to 7th ave lights to make a left onto 14th, it’s the main school drop off zone there that runs into a very short light cycle. If you actually hit the green there’s not always capacity on 14th to accept another vehicle.
3. Making a left turn from 12th street to 5th avenue is near impossible some days as the traffic on 5th avenue is growing each day and the efficiency of the 14th intersection isn’t high enough that traffic backs up quite far on 5th.
4. Very regularly the southbound school buses going down 12th between the parked cars on both sides block the north bound traffic coming in and everything seizes up at the intersection. In the evening rush you need a pedestrian hitting the crosswalk light to make a left.

They’ll definitely need a set of lights at 12th St & 5th Ave and a lot of review of the surrounding light timings. Being at the bottom of the hill, they however won’t be putting any lights at 8th Ave & 14th St.

Running 8th Ave through eastward to a set of lights at 10th street would make all the difference.

 

[Cowtown]

I like this and am fine with the scale. It’ll probably get downsized, but if it doesn’t, the area can handle the density.
Would it be better suited for Chinoook or Westbroo? probably, but it can work here. IMO the inner NW has lots of room to add density. We’re nowhere near its potential.

Traffic will be a concern, but as mentioned, it can be addressed with some tweaking of the traffic lights.