I think this is a great next step for the area. While 14th street has always felt like a bit of an eyesore/car sewer, I think this could add an anchor point to make the area more inviting. And the additional connection between the SAIT/AUArts LRT station and the bottom of the hill is a big bonus, imo.
 
For the folks who think the scale is too big, I would argue that this is the roughly the same scale as Glenmore Landing, but in a far better location with nearby LRT, SAIT, nearby bike lanes and Kensington in general.
It’s the perfect place for high density.
 
Chinook Arch said:
For the folks who think the scale is too big, I would argue that this is the roughly the same scale as Glenmore Landing, but in a far better location with nearby LRT, SAIT, nearby bike lanes and Kensington in general.
It’s the perfect place for high density.
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The problem being that Glenmore Landing would have even worse chances of getting built today under the current city council
 
Chinook Arch said:
For the folks who think the scale is too big, I would argue that this is the roughly the same scale as Glenmore Landing, but in a far better location with nearby LRT, SAIT, nearby bike lanes and Kensington in general.
It’s the perfect place for high density.
Click to expand...
A good reminder of the types of projects going up in greenfield like in Springbank Hill, with not dissimilar density to this but is a far inferior location with weaker transit, about 1 / 10th the nearby restaurants and amenities, and 1/1,000th the amount of nearby jobs. Still, these greenfield projects are pretty decent otherwise despite having average trip lengths 5x as far as this development, and distance to stuff meaining mostly car-dependent for most trips.

So I get it's not everyone's favourite and the conceptual renderings are bit uninteresting, but I can't really get into this is too big or too tall for this location argument. It's central to 1 million jobs and with no nearby properties impacted by shadows. Traffic and congestion will be an issue, but not an insurmountable one - apart from the immediate streets nearby, it's likely hardly noticeable compared to the volume of suburban traffic cutting through here daily to downtown or SAIT's. I'd rather have the car trips commute from here then drive across town from the burbs to get here.
 
outoftheice said:
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.
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Bus lanes on 14 St anyone? It's pretty serious N-S corridor that could use a major rethinking, especially once it crosses the Bow. There are several suitable sites for high rises all along 14 St, and whenever lifecycle comes up for the junction on 16 Avenue it would probably be wisest to toss it. Let's get ahead of the curve now and use the ridiculous amount of money coming in from levies and property tax uplift on development to turn this into a big boy inner city street.
 
Just to make it 100% explicit - this is the moment where we decide - is Calgary a big city, or a small town? Can we manage a population of 2 million and growing, in a sustainable and resilient way, or are we doomed to continue spreading thin and purchasing from our future selves?

We need several density nodes outside of Downtown, and we should be strong enough to have them in vibrant commercial and institutional hubs like this that are near, if not directly next to rapid transit. If not this, then what?

Just as Surreal said, this is standard for a city that is the size we are becoming, the question is, will our political culture recognize that, and open up the gates for growth, or will we close the doors on the rest of the world and wither?
 
I saw the title and was like “it’s not April 1st yet”… what in the absolute fck are they thinking proposing that in this location? I agree that we need to start thinking like the big city we are, and I like this proposal, but this is Calgary. The NIMBYs will have this proposal nuked from orbit. Please tell me this is a joke and not actually the vaunted rumoured proposal? Cause if it’s not a joke… we’re not getting an Allies and Morrison project.
 
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This outcome of this proposal will be tell us where the city is at. I'm sure there will be opposition against it, but I don't believe it'll be as strong and organized as it was for Glenmore landing. I'm also expecting the city and developer to negotiate a smaller scale and shake hands. I'm okay with the 38 and 35 storeys, but I won't be surprised if it ends up being the same towers but 10 floors shorter. I'm okay with that too.

TooBizzy said:
Just to make it 100% explicit - this is the moment where we decide - is Calgary a big city, or a small town? Can we manage a population of 2 million and growing, in a sustainable and resilient way, or are we doomed to continue spreading thin and purchasing from our future selves?
Click to expand...
Agreed. The city has talked about sprawl and density for a while, and it's time to walk the walk.
Roaring Flames said:
The problem being that Glenmore Landing would have even worse chances of getting built today under the current city council
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With a more conservative council, one would expect the city to kibosh it, but with an inner city location, it might actually get more support than Glenmore Landing did. IIRC, when Sola went to council, Druh Farrel was the only councillor to vote against it. A couple of conservative minded councilors (McLean and Yule) have said they support density if it's in the inner city.
 
I question demand more than approval. Despite several years of record population growth, the condo market remains terrible and rents are declining. The commercial market is even worse. Canada is likely headed for something like the 90s where all real estate values are flat to decling for many years. Calgary will likely still fare better than dumpster fires like Toronto and Vancouver.
 
I predict that after all the dust settles, this will get approved, but will be scaled down. If we had first seen the scaled down project with the actual building designs, we'd all be thrilled. The designs look somewhat similar to the ones A&M typically do, but the real life designs have better attention to materials and detail, then these conceptual designs.
 
Cool proposal, for a nice area, but there's like a billion condos in the city with values to fall even further in the next few years as more come online

Realistically needs to be scaled down or else it won't go anywhere
 
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