[Mountain Man]

The momentum of East Village should spread to East Vic Park easy enough, so long as we keep Cidex and their spandrel fetish out of there lol.

 

[Surrealplaces]

I don't know if this has been discussed yet, but this new centre will be amazing for people with accessibility issues. I have a friend who isn't able to use stairs, and when she went to a concert at the Saddledome a few years back, she had to be carried to the entrance because there literally isn't any entrance that has a ramp instead of stairs. The interior was pretty bad as well.

On another note, a while back I made an album comparing key parts of Edmonton's downtown from 2009-2019ish (basically pre and post Rogers Place). I wonder if this new event centre will encourage similar development? I've only been to the Saddledome once, so I'd love to hear your thoughts on how much economic investment this new centre would actually encourage compared to what's currently there.

As mentioned above there is at least one handicap entrance, but overall the Saddledome isn't what I would call handicap friendly. At the time it was designed most buildings weren't handicap friendly, but the movement was starting to pick up.

TBH, I don't expect the new arena will spur development in the same way, as Rogers' Place as the new arena was never meant as urban renewal project. There has been development in Victoria Park (the area adjacent to the arena) and has been planning for Victoria Park under CMLC (the same group who did East Village). It's been an ongoing thing for a while, but there's no specific CRL for the area like there was with East Village. There's been talk of a CRL, but not sure where it's at.

 

[Roaring Flames]

As mentioned above there is at least one handicap entrance, but overall the Saddledome isn't what I would call handicap friendly. At the time it was designed most buildings weren't handicap friendly, but the movement was starting to pick up.

TBH, I don't expect the new arena will spur development in the same way, as Rogers' Place as the new arena was never meant as urban renewal project. There has been development in Victoria Park (the area adjacent to the arena) and has been planning for Victoria Park under CMLC (the same group who did East Village). It's been an ongoing thing for a while, but there's no specific CRL for the area like there was with East Village. There's been talk of a CRL, but not sure where it's at.

Victoria Park is under the same CRL the East Village is.

The news you heard was likely when they extended it by 20 more years (up until 2047) which was done in January 2019. The original CRL was only for 20 years and was set to expire in 2027.

 

[Mountain Man]

I had no idea the CRL was that extensive, thanks for posting that!

 

[Surrealplaces]

I had no idea the CRL was that extensive, thanks for posting that!

X2

 

[Mull]

Victoria Park is under the same CRL the East Village is.

The news you heard was likely when they extended it by 20 more years (up until 2047) which was done in January 2019. The original CRL was only for 20 years and was set to expire in 2027.

This is curious, I was looking on the City's website for the River's area and some maps include Manchester and the northern portion, and others don't. Any idea why?

The Rivers District Community Revitalization Plan

www.calgary.ca

Also, any idea why is Manchester included in it? The City likely doesn't plan on giving up that land any time soon?

 

[UrbanWarrior]

There was a big proposal on those lands.... I think I recall it being called something like Ramsay Station or something. It was a significant high rise district. Nothing came of it of course.

 

[Urb]

CMLC now owns those lands

 

[Mull]

There was a big proposal on those lands.... I think I recall it being called something like Ramsay Station or something. It was a significant high rise district. Nothing came of it of course.

Was the City ever on Board? Do they have a back-up site for their operations and investment there?

CMLC now owns those lands

Really? Couldn't find it on their website

 

[darwink]

There was a big proposal on those lands.... I think I recall it being called something like Ramsay Station or something. It was a significant high rise district. Nothing came of it of course.

Dominion Bridge at Ramsay Exchange. With wonderful non-hyper-realistic renderings.

 

[artvandelay]

There was a big proposal on those lands.... I think I recall it being called something like Ramsay Station or something. It was a significant high rise district. Nothing came of it of course.

You’re thinking of Ramsay Exchange, which was a pretty cool Torode proposal back in the day. It was for the old Dominion Bridge site which is actually just outside the boundary drawn. Most of what is inside the boundary are City lands.

CMLC now owns those lands

I believe it was actually the Stampede that acquired the site, which is adjacent to their back of house.

 

[MissingMiddle]

The area has already been seeing heavy development for a decade. It's gone from an uninterrupted ocean of 12 city blocks of surface parking, now there are 18 residential towers home to over 5,000 people within 5 blocks of the new arena. We don't really need the small district development like the Ice District. The Arena and Convention Centre will be kitty corner to each other, thousands of residential units proposed as part of the CMLC master plan, a subway station on the green line connected to the Arena, and a new hotel at the convention centre which isn't too far off.

I agree. I used to live in downtown Edmonton and worked on 104th, the ICE District is 2 blocks away from the CBD. The Event Centre parcel is much more isolated. Not exactly apples to apples. That said, East Vic Park is definitely developing, but still lots of empty space. In 20 years it will be a pretty cool neighborhood. I just wish we'd encourage more 6-15 story development instead of only zoning for 30+, it leaves these huge monoliths in a sea of surface parking for decades on end. Let's not underestimate the impact good small buildings can have too.

 

[Urb]

Great profile name btw^ I agree with your sentiment on tall buildings. The Rivers District Master Plan shows a gradual decrease of height as you move closer to the river. This should help the site lines balance out in the Victoria Park Area.

 

[Surrealplaces]

You don't have to convince me that 6-15 floor buildings would be better. I love seeing the odd tall tower here and there, but the Victoria Park landscape would be much nicer if most of the buildings low or medium rise buildings.

 

[UrbanWarrior]

Agreed, especially about the mid-sized buildings. The main difference in the incomparable comparison is that Calgary doesn't have an ocean of parking inside the CBD to turn into an arena and a few towers, that's why we've got what we're getting. The only other viable option was the west village, which was a far tougher sell and even less developed.