CBBarnett said:
  • Weird 1-sided retailed stretch about 23 Ave S to 33 Ave S, thanks to a strange limited-access gated-community design into and out of Upper Mount Royal.
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I'm waiting in anticipation for the day a developer has the guts to start buying up houses on the Mount Royal side of 14 street. A lot of those houses are looking pretty rough, and it would a great opportunity to clean up this mess of an intersection.
 
Densification might happen on part of that stretch. There are a few apartments on the block south of Colborne Cres., and I think that's in Upper Mount Royal.

But I know that in at least part of Upper Mount royal and Elbow Park, there are restrictive covenants, and the residents/CAs have zillions of dollars to uphold them in court. I think the folks living there appreciate the buffer from traffic noise that the slightly run-down houses provide, and would prefer them to seeing the back of a condo or commercial building.

Is there any commercial development at all in UMR or Elbow Park? Other than the Glencoe Club?

I think the west side of 14th will grow and grow. One day we'll see consistent lowrise development from 17th to 34th, and then along 33rd and 34th.
 
Silence&Motion said:
I'm waiting in anticipation for the day a developer has the guts to start buying up houses on the Mount Royal side of 14 street. A lot of those houses are looking pretty rough, and it would a great opportunity to clean up this mess of an intersection.
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Closest thing we're getting is secondary suites. This one certainly uses more of the lot but its a boring modern mansion... DMAP

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OLD
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NEW
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That’s still a pretty desirable lot, since it’s on a corner and can front in Joliet instead of 14. Aside from backing onto 14, and being across the road from the fire station, it’s still a nice location, even if it is on the periphery of MR. 14 is also a bit calmer at this end of 14 than it is further north.

I actually though Sarina or another developer had originally bought that lot (I don’t know why I had that in my head).
 
adamyyc said:
That’s still a pretty desirable lot, since it’s on a corner and can front in Joliet instead of 14. Aside from backing onto 14, and being across the road from the fire station, it’s still a nice location, even if it is on the periphery of MR. 14 is also a bit calmer at this end of 14 than it is further north.
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That house is hilarious. Imagine having that kind of money, and that's what you want to spend it on, on that corner.

Speaking of, I noticed this house has been for sale for a full year. It fronts 14th St, and even has a driveway right on 14th. But the address is technically on that dead-end stub part of Premier Way.
 
CBBarnett said:
With this project and the other two nearby, 14th Street is getting further into that blurry zone many inner city Calgary main streets have found themselves in - is the purpose of this street to access local residents and businesses? Or is the purpose to be a car sewer for rush-hour traffic? The Beltline stretch of 14th is turning far more urban and pedestrian heavy with developments like this occurring all around the corridor here.

14th Street has for so long been the "natural" barrier between high-urban and semi-urban/suburban densities. It has so much weirdness due to a century of tension of it's role:
  • A cornucopia of street typologies:
    • suburban arterial (N of John Laurie)
    • to urban residential street (John Laurie to 20 Ave B)
    • to the bizarre quasi-freeway stretch near SAIT (20 Ave to 8 Ave N)
    • back to urban street (8 Ave to Kensington Road)
    • back to quasi-freeway (Kensington Road to 10th Ave S),
    • back to urban street again (S of 10 Ave S)
  • Weird 1-sided retailed stretch about 23 Ave S to 33 Ave S, thanks to a strange limited-access gated-community design into and out of Upper Mount Royal.
  • Total mish-mash of land uses - loads of gas stations and drive-thrus, but all higher density walkable towers and some pedestrian-oriented retail clusters
  • Weird one-off lay-bys (NE corner of 14 / 17 Ave S intersection; all sorts of bizarre bus bays inside the 14 Street / 9 Ave intersection etc)
  • Random one-off turning slip lanes (5 Ave N)
  • Of course, completely random sidewalk width and quality - most of it terrible.
The street has such a rich history of one-off designs and projects. Will be interesting to watch these towers integrate into the madness. Hopefully this added population and density leads to a push to clear up 14 Street's role for the Beltline stretch at least.
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14th street follows the historic Range Road 14, so the mish mash is not suprising. A variety of land uses have existed along this road for a long time. At one time, it was also designated as a future freeway.

It used to have a segment south of Fish Creek Park that has renamed to Evergreeen St and part of James McKevitt Road, sometime around the late 90s.
 
Alex_YYC said:
I hope another exterior material becomes popular when the next batch of high-rise towers go up. All of the new towers are starting to look the same..
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There has been a growing trend in other Canadian cities to have bright & colourful cladding patterns- would be cool to see a couple of these pop up in Calgary.

Quayside, Toronto
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2400 Dundas West, Toronto
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Woodward's 43, Vancouver
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15 years ago new towers had varying looks. Chocolate and Colours looked much different than Stella or Nova, which also looked different than Montana, Xenex, Castello or Five West, Live on the Park etc.They weren't all masterpieces, but they looked different. Lately they simply blend together. It's not the worst thing, but I fear materials aren't going to change anytime soon.
 
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