[Gronk!]

I've heard there's been a lot of progress being made on the former remand centre site becoming the spot for a brand new courthouse. Not sure how much merit there is in that, but I've been hearing it through the grapevine....

Hopefully they can repurpose the current Law Courts building into an extension of the AGA plus a live music venue.

 

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Chancery Hall has been "remade" a number of times over the years -- I think it might well be in its end-of-life throes (never was that well designed in the first place) and probably would face the demolition wrecking ball rather than a very, very expensive makeover to convert it to residential. On the other hand with a clean slate it would be great to see AGA expand southward across the street (eliminating part of the street for a half block from Century Place westward. Century Place is a different matter -- a more substantial building -- with a little imagination and consumption of the remainder of the half block not dedicated to AGA it could become a great addition for the Courthouse complex with the existing courthouse retrofitted (minor job in the large scheme of things) to serve only criminal justice and the new Family Courthouse (talked about recently) picking up the south end of the existing courthouse site, the intervening street and the tower all redesigned to house a very imaginative new courthouse dedicated solely to Family Law -- that with a major street-facing (97th Street) restaurant with a public entry on the street.separate from the entrance to the family court but also with access from the court lobby. The space between the AGA expansion and the new Family Courthouse could be an atrium enclosed space for a sculpture garden. The Century tower could then house court administration offices, judges chambers, and other non-courtroom functions. The new restaurant would face George Broumas' Oil Lamp restaurant across 97th Street. It would be a great project to hand over to an architectural office like GEC or to Doug Cardinal -- Doug on the AGA addition and GEC on the courthouse..

 

[David A]

Makes a lot of sense, but man o man those will be hard to backfill unless converted. I recall looking at Chancery about 10yrs ago for a previous employer and it was going to be very hard to do.

I doubt the Government of Alberta would want to take on the headaches of dealing with older buildings and all the work that would entail to bring them up to speed.

It is probably easier and no more expensive for them to build something new on a site nearby. Fortunately in this case, there are at least a couple good possibilities.

 

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A lot cheaper to retrofit the Century Building for offices for court functions than building new -- by a lot of $$$, Provincial Government or otherwise -- and the new family court would be built on undeveloped land. The building that can't be saved or repurposed is Chancery Hall.

 

[Glenco]

A lot cheaper to retrofit the Century Building for offices for court functions than building new -- by a lot of $$$, Provincial Government or otherwise -- and the new family court would be built on undeveloped land. The building that can't be saved or repurposed is Chancery Hall.

Wasn’t Century Tower refurbished a couple of years ago?

 

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I don't think so @Glenco but maybe I am wrong. If a group like GEC Architects got a hold of a project like this I could see them putting a new skin on the Century Tower and gutting the interior to the effect of creating a more modern aspect for judges, administrators and public perception. Both the present Courthouse and the Century Tower are substantial buildings -- a new Family Court Structure, especially if it had public amenities like a "named" restaurant and a conjoined Atrium space could complement both the existing Courthouse and an expanded Art Gallery. Turn Century Tower into something beautiful, add a whimsical extension to the Art Gallery (Doug Cardinal's bailiwick) and focus on a new Family Court Structure and several elemental pieces would be moved forward for the City -- the cultural precinct would be more contiguous surrounding Churchill Square, 97th Street would be better activated and integrated, an almost ugly tower would be revived aesthetically and functionally and the City's core would be further healed. Directly in your area of expertise @Glenco I would love to see 99th street pedestrianized (there's that word again) and converted into an urban linear park with trees and plantings that also were implanted on the eastern half of the library roof -- creating a mystical urban pathway.

 

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I could see a functional split something like this where the Existing Structure handles Criminal Law cases (unfortunately common enough these days to warrant a special Architectural circumstance) along with Appellate Law cases, Immigration and Nationality Law cases, Commercial Suits, and Legal Malpractice Law cases -- this would require some internal restructuring of the present building once the new Family Law Centre is developed. The new Centre could Handle Family Law (divorce settlements, custody cases and the like) as well as Bankruptcy cases; Estate, Trust and Probate cases; Franchise and Commercial Distribution cases; Taxation cases; and Workers Compensation cases.

 

[JNO1]

^^^ ^^ I did see a document, 3 or four years ago, with details of a full reno of Century including a rather attractive re-skin. I'll see if I can dig it up,

 

[EdmTrekker]

Hopefully they can repurpose the current Law Courts building into an extension of the AGA plus a live music venue.

That will be a prefect use.

 

[husky]

Would a new courthouse be an entirely new operation? Or could they build a more modest building as an expansion then reno the existing one when the new one is operational?

Law Courts occupy a pretty large area and it would be a shame to have that go vacant or be torn down.

 

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This is how I could best answer your questions @husky. The courthouse falls into a Provincial jurisdiction and Edmonton has a pretty substantial one that is nonetheless busting at the seams -- realistically, and what has been talked about primarily, is the budgeting and building of a Family Law Courthouse as a new entity. I think it is realistic to surmise that a Family Courthouse could be an adjunct of the existing building substantial enough to house all of those cases that relate primarily to Family Law. Part and parcel of a new courthouse would be interior elements that include dedicated courtrooms for Family Law (divorce and child custody are the major functions), probate matters (deciding issues related to the dispersion of estate assets), and other non-criminal civil cases; a security screening area adjacent to a main entry lobby; public restrooms and private restrooms (for judges and court staff); mediation rooms (where dueling parties can go to see if they can gain a resolution to a dispute without having to go to court in front of a judge); and comfortable waiting areas adjoining some of the other functions. All of these functions could be housed in a brand new building separated and secure from the existing courthouse which would then be renovated to suit criminal cases and others not related to Family Law. Another feature of the new building could be a restaurant that has both a dedicated street entrance as well as an entrance from the entry lobby area (outside of the security zone) -- this could be a sizable, well-appointed facility that is relaxing in its demeanor, perhaps demised for a more casual space separated from a more private and discerning space, one as a general convenience eatery and the other as a place for more guarded discussions between attorneys and their clients. Insofar as it would be a Family Law centre with cases affecting Children, there should also be a monitored dedicated play area for children ages pre-K through tweens.
The Century Tower building could be renovated to provide offices for court administration, judges chambers (on upper secure floors), conference rooms for attorney meetings, restrooms for staff and attorneys (already existing just needing updating). Space savers and modern conveniences could include electronic case files stored on in-building secured servers, electronic signage for easy directional flow of people, video conferencing capability, surveillance cameras, and separate user interface for resolving public questions and concerns.
As another public calming feature (and a distracting mechanism for stress) an atrium could be developed between the new Family Court and an extension on the Art Gallery of Alberta -- a lush jungle-like planted space that features sculpture pieces from noted artists. All in all with new structure and renovated existing structure and renovated office tower and atrium the whole project could be an exceptional piece of architecture -- look what GEC did with the U of A Commons building - https://gecarchitecture.com/projects/university-commons/ - and they are also the architects for MacU's School of Business - https://gecarchitecture.com/projects/macewan-school-of-business/ - and the latest expansion project for Norquest recently divulged on Skyrise Edmonton.

 

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Maybe the City of Edmonton could trade the Century Tower in a deal with the Province that sees the Province pass over to the City the former Museum site (as is) and the former Remand site, post-demolition. The City could then revive a purchase deal with Beljan to develop the Museum (maybe a dedicated First Nations museum/art gallery/ethnic native food hall) and a separate purchase deal with Qualico for the Remand site to see their Urban Village expand across 97th Street with that potentially beautiful pedestrian bridge in the deal to work as a connecting park -- the site is large enough for twin residential towers and would be a great addition to Qualico's Urban Village concept on a scale that is even greater than ICE II. The Province would then have the land in hand for a Family Courthouse Project -- both sides, City and Province, benefitting from no budgetary expansion for land and existing buildings. And the City of Edmonton public benefitting to the max.

 

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An afterthought -- as part of the sale deal of the Remand site to Qualico the City could condition the build-out of an LRT station as a part and parcel of the sale. This would benefit Qualico in that their urban village would now have "internal access" to a station that connects to the entire City through the train network -- an incentive for early development of the site -- a "Big City" move! The City would benefit with a classy mixed use residential development on the north end of the Boyle Street area, thereby opening the door for "more-to-come", certainly improving the value of their land holdings in the area generally. Also, the imagined LRT station as part of the development could have a direct connection to RAM, to the EPS building, to the existing Courthouse, and to the John E. Brownlee Building.

 

[David A]

Maybe the City of Edmonton could trade the Century Tower in a deal with the Province that sees the Province pass over to the City the former Museum site (as is) and the former Remand site, post-demolition. The City could then revive a purchase deal with Beljan to develop the Museum (maybe a dedicated First Nations museum/art gallery/ethnic native food hall) and a separate purchase deal with Qualico for the Remand site to see their Urban Village expand across 97th Street with that potentially beautiful pedestrian bridge in the deal to work as a connecting park -- the site is large enough for twin residential towers and would be a great addition to Qualico's Urban Village concept on a scale that is even greater than ICE II. The Province would then have the land in hand for a Family Courthouse Project -- both sides, City and Province, benefitting from no budgetary expansion for land and existing buildings. And the City of Edmonton public benefitting to the max.

This is a very interesting idea - we'll trade you our old office building for your old museum. I had thought the cost and work of renovating the office space would be too much, but if you are correct and it is a considerably less expensive than building something new, then that is a very good incentive for the province and the trade may also result in less or no initial cash outlay for them to buy a property. Plus this office building is already quite close to the existing court space, which makes things easier for the Province, so there are a lot of potential wins for them here.

There are a couple of issues, first I suspect the Province would still want to keep the land south of the old museum and access to that, but this is probably not too difficult to manage and second how to best deal with the existing court space which has major issues, but is worth keeping and has good potential for various future uses. I'm still not sure the province has a great interest in fixing up older buildings here, but there seem to be several good opportunities here right now.

 

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even the subway/LRT station would be relatively easy to develop in that the infrastructure for a new platform apparently already exists, including stair shafts and elevator ways --

and here is an article that better pinpoints the location below 97th street between the former Remand Centre and RAM -- all the more enticement in a deal to be made with Qualico if the trade of sites between City and Province should ever go ahead... https://edifyedmonton.com/urban/structures/future-station/