^^Agreed. 116th is such an anomalous street, with some massive built form on the east side thanks to the UofA's engineering buildings, with the opposite of that on the west. (Only a few years ago, the LDS church even razed a couple of houses to expand their parking lot, making it worse!)

I'm sure the neighborhood will react calmly to this and not lose their minds.

Lyin' Dani:

Politics and public projects! Whoever thought they would be intertwined?!

I'd argue these days it's more like: "Vote for us, and suffer."

No, this is a direct result of Danielle Smith being a shitty premier. Period.

A real masks-off moment for Danielle and the UCP, that's for sure.

I don't necessarily have strong feelings on this design either way, but I notice that your preferred colors appear to be the most neutral/drab/boring options available. I wonder if a pop of color would be more interesting?

Chad Griesbach. Virgin Blatchford.

I wonder as well. Our "urban format" grocery experiences have generally had very rocky runs over the years (e.g. Sobeys 104 and College Plaza, although at least the latter is now an H Mart).

The old Northern Chicken space on 124th Street is not staying closed for very long:

Isn't the white section original to the building (i.e. the part the contained the old Rigoletto's), but just entirely gutted inside?

Me too. It has a cool Die Hard-esque aesthetic that we're going to lose.

It's no screaming hell, but I think it's fine for where it is. It's not like this is a place of prominence like the former BMO site that Regency is letting rot. This area is already defined mostly by lower-intensity buildings, educational institutions, and parking lots.

^I suspect Rogers Place is influential for food/beverage investors, but far less so for other types of retail. Jerseys aside, the average arena-goer is not going to buy clothing or electronics or flowers on their way to (or from) the hockey game or concert.

Capital Apartments tried to have a building full of street-level CRUs just a block and a half south of here, and other than a few intermittent pop-ups, didn't have any success in filling them with tenants. Now, they're in the middle of being converted into residential units. So, to echo many of...

I hope this is good (and successful). Edmonton's taken a couple steps back in terms of cocktail bars in the past few years (imo), outside of the incredible Honi Honi.

How about moving things south of Jasper Ave instead?

Feels like there are a lot of reasonable options to choose from, whether that's simply shifting things north of 102 Ave, or using some combo of Michael Phair Park/Beaverhills and/or the adjacent alleyway.

^Taking over the "Craft Cafe" space, I imagine?