Zoom
Active Member
I'm not sure if your post is meant to be kidding around or serious. I'm you know already that it's not just a Loblaws right?
- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
Oddball
Senior Member
Haha, yeah. However, ideally he actually showed up to heave a little dirt at the ground breaking of the future tallest tower in the EV.
My girlfriend and I went for a nice long roller blade along the Bow today and spent some time in the EV too. It was pretty nice. We went and scoped out the main EV office. The Verve sales centre was set up there. I liked the model they had set up of the EV. Arris is the big white one at the back.
I also happened to see some ad space for Arris in the office too. Hopefully that's also indicative of it's start in the non-too distant future.
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You didn't happen to notice if there was any action at Verve did you? I went past there on Thursday and there was new material at the site, I suspect it's getting close now.
Silence&Motion
Senior Member
Partially kidding, partially not. Only the podium is getting built, so it is pretty much a grocery store. Nonetheless, I understand the importance of this development to the EV and downtown more generally. A grocery store is exactly the kind of amenity that downtown needs to transition into a 24-hour live/work district - especially one that is built into a mixed-use building (unlike the other grocery stores in the Beltline that are single-storey bunkers surrounded by surface parking lots). Still, it speaks to the sad state of development in this city that a grocery store is such a big deal. It boggles the mind how many condos have been able to get built within the inner city without any at-grade retail. And with a retail vacancy rate of 2.5, hopefully we'll see more mixed-use development.
Beltline_B
Senior Member
I have to disagree with you on a couple of points.
1) Only the podium is getting built ....at the moment, but the towers will get built, just a matter of when. Also, it's not just a grocery store, it's other retail as well.
2) The mayor being at a ground breaking for that project has nothing whatsoever to do with the "sad state of development in this city" The mayor doesn't show up at every grocery store ground breaking in the city, he's at this one because this is significant progress on a major urban redevelopment project.
As far as the state of development goes in Calgary, yes, it's in a down cycle, but the amount of development that is happening or has started since the down cycle hit, has been very good for a city Calgary's size. Calgary has gone from a uber active level of development down to a decent one. Calgary has seen more high rise buildings built in the last 10 years, then the combined amount of other cities it's size (Edmonton, Ottawa, Winnipeg and Quebec City)
Don't get me wrong, things are slowing and will be probably slower yet, but I wouldn't call it a "sad state" of development.
Agreed. The groundbreaking is more about getting another grocer in the inner city, especially in East Village, which is a newly forming neighborhood. It might not seem like much, but it's kind of a coup for a EV. The nieighborhood has been progressing, but retail is something it really needs.
maestro
Senior Member
Nenshi is a board member of CMLC. Why shouldn't he be there if he has the time. It's just down the street too.
BKha
Active Member
I was going to say the same thing. It's not like he travels the city whenever a grocery store is going to get built. One would expect him to be at something like this, although I noticed he wasn't in on the ground breaking for N3.
Nenshi was invited to the groundbreaking for N3 but was out of town at the time, otherwise he would have been there for that one too.
Word is that this will start construction soon (the podium and retail portion) They are getting a few things straightened out and then construction start.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
Perfect, that's what I figured.
H.E.Pennypacker
New Member
As indifferent as I am on the design, I am looking forward to seeing this one go up. It's a prominent location by the flyover and it will help tie in the EV with the rest of downtown in the skyline. EV getting it's first major retail centre will be a boost for vibrancy too, the start of it really developing as a neighbourhood.
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
I think the Rio Can retail development will have bigger implications for the development of the EV than what many people think. The property values are going to soar once it's open and I think we'll start seeing a new steady stream of proposals and new construction activity as well. People want to live in the EV, it's just that right now the amenities are so far away. This will change that entirely.
Cowtown
Senior Member
Having a grocer in EV is a def game changer. It could even have implications for Inglewood and Bridgeland.