gsunnyg said:
I think the city was pressured to say "OK" after the backlash they faced from rejecting the Oakridge concept. These designs are absolutely lazy, poorly planned, and unappealing. I would rather have another private developer take over the land and put some actually effort into it.
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What was the backlash?
 
I don't hate it, but don't love it. The pros are that it's a better use for that space than the current use, and it's reasonably close to an LRT station. Not part of a TOD, but people walking or cycling to the station isn't out of the question.

I'm trying to think of what the cons would be. I can't see traffic being that much of an issue, with it having direct connectivity from the parking lot to Dalton Drive and Shaganappi.
 
Silence&Motion said:
What was the backlash?
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https://globalnews.ca/news/3981273/co-op-oakridge-redevelopment-goes-back-under-the-microscope/
If you read that article you can see Co-op wasn't too happy to have invested a couple million into the vision of the project already and then be told its not good enough. Now they're considering just renovating the co-op. Further one of the Councillors span the whole thing saying Calgary's City council has a negative business attitude and that millions of dollars in investment is being thrown away. Another article had people bashing city council for being too anti business in the comment section. I think just because you have plot of land that needs a makeover doesn't mean you should immediately rush to get it done with little effort. The investment should have a vision good enough to last for generations.
 
gsunnyg said:
https://globalnews.ca/news/3981273/co-op-oakridge-redevelopment-goes-back-under-the-microscope/
If you read that article you can see Co-op wasn't too happy to have invested a couple million into the vision of the project already and then be told its not good enough. Now they're considering just renovating the co-op. Further one of the Councillors span the whole thing saying Calgary's City council has a negative business attitude and that millions of dollars in investment is being thrown away. Another article had people bashing city council for being too anti business in the comment section. I think just because you have plot of land that needs a makeover doesn't mean you should immediately rush to get it done with little effort. The investment should have a vision good enough to last for generations.
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I agree. I'm not sure why they needed top spend a million bucks on this before every posing it to the community and the city. Maybe that's the cost of doing these things nowadays, but wouldn't it be better to get a very simple concept together with a few conceptual renderings and float the idea first?
 
Hire consultants to explore new revenue streams --> Hire consultants to test business case of condos and such --> Hire consultants on whether they should keep gas stations or not --> Hire consultants to do massing and fit --> Hire consultants to run the numbers again with massing and fit --> Hire consultants to prepare applications to for the city.

Easy to blow through a ton of money.
 
Exactly. Work with the community from the start. The end results are always a better development.
 
darwink said:
Hire consultants to explore new revenue streams --> Hire consultants to test business case of condos and such --> Hire consultants on whether they should keep gas stations or not --> Hire consultants to do massing and fit --> Hire consultants to run the numbers again with massing and fit --> Hire consultants to prepare applications to for the city.

Easy to blow through a ton of money.
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You don't need to hire consultants for most if any of this. A full service architect will do it.
 
Architects get paid when the job is done. They will usually include some early concepts and will meet with the community as a thank you for their service.
 
maestro said:
Architects get paid when the job is done. They will usually include some early concepts and will meet with the community as a thank you for their service.
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Architects get paid when certain milestones are hit, not when the job is done. Nobody would be in business if it took 2-4 years to get paid...
 
Decades can pass by between the first concept models and construction drawings. The project could have change hands too.
 
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