haltcatchfire said:
In Calgary live/work generally means you have a nondescript townhouse with a "home" office on the main floor and are allowed a small sign to denote that you're an accountant, lawyer or any other business that requires no street level presence. Hopefully that changes.
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Most live work are slightly modified townhouse or apartment layouts that don't always of have great presence. I compare it to the beginnings of our venerable commercial streets across Canada that started out residential and slowly became commercial when owners began modifying homes for their businesses.
 
maestro said:
Most live work are slightly modified townhouse or apartment layouts that don't always of have great presence. I compare it to the beginnings of our venerable commercial streets across Canada that started out residential and slowly became commercial when owners began modifying homes for their businesses.
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What I mean is until recently, nearly all live/work units I'm aware of have been like the following in Bridgeland. Even the recently finished Park Point got it wrong. From the street, a nondescript townhouse and front patio with the appearance of a main floor living space and not a retail storefront that a passerby would ever enter without invitation. These ones in First are the only ones I've seen that got it right. Looks like just a row of CRU's under apartments, and is why they're being used for retail type uses as opposed to office in the others.

Bridgeland
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Park Point
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First
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Many of the houses converted to retail on Main Street across Canada over the past century started with front lawns. I doesn't have to look like a storefront to become something interesting and inviting over time on a street like 33rd. I prefer live/ work to not look like your average CRU. First just looks like cheap condo retail with low ceilings and all.

It's common for live/work units to have buffers like planters and raised patios such as the first two examples. It's not ideal. It's not detrimental when demand for commercial services increases. This may develop or may not develop and that's what i like the form and zoning. It's in contrast to the instantaneous complete environments that will stand virtually the same 25 years from now.
 
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maestro said:
Many of the houses converted to retail on Main Street across Canada over the past century started with front lawns. I doesn't have to look like a storefront to become something interesting and inviting over time on a street like 33rd. I prefer live/ work to not look like your average CRU. First just looks like cheap condo retail with low ceilings and all.

It's common for live/work units to have buffers like planters and raised patios such as the first two examples. It's not ideal. It's not detrimental when demand for commercial services increases. This may develop or may not develop and that's what i like the form and zoning. It's in contrast to the instantaneous complete environments that will stand virtually the same 25 years from now.
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But you brought up live/work retail as "I like live work. iIt generally attracts interesting retail over the usual chains" in a thread about a building with new live/work units. There's very little to show for interesting retail in live/work units recently constructed in Calgary. If you know of any other than First I'd stand corrected.

Calgary also has very few converted house properties on main streets that are still functioning with the live side of the zoning unlike other major cities. Sure there's a scattering of previous houses turned retail along 17th, 4th in Mission, Bridgeland, and Kensington Road, though I'd bet almost near zero have a residential component anymore.
 
Why can't this also be happening to all of Centre Street south of 40 Avenue?!
 
Silence&Motion said:
Because Centre Street N is a car sewer. It's unfortunate that many of the traditional main streets were converted into arterial roads in the mid-20th century and fortunate that 33 AVE was spared this fate.
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Yeah, centre street is almost a lost cause. If they could somehow allow parking on Centre Street, you could potentially turn it into a corridor like 4th street SW in mission, or Kensington, Inglewood etc.. Having parking on off peak times (like 10th street) might work.
 
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