trevorhayden
Active Member
102 street between City Centre Mall and 103 Avenue is so bleak, considering it connects the Mall to Ice District. Put it on a road diet and add a flowering roundabout at the dead end in front of the Delta Hotel layup area.
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- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
thommyjo
Senior Member
I think 103st is a HUGE opportunity actually. The western side is pretty good from jasper to ice. The east side sucks. Half of it can’t change. The other half is basically city centre mall.
If the CC mall part was redeveloped with the right kind of podium and some hotel/apartments, and then we redid the entire streetscape to be way more pedestrian focused and nice, it could be an insanely good street.
trevorhayden
Active Member
Also an important idea
David A
Senior Member
There is nothing preventing the old Bay space in City Centre space from being divided into smaller possibly street facing retail, except perhaps general lack of demand downtown since COVID. Perhaps something will eventually happen as more people come back to downtown.
However, even the Boardwalk which a nice old character building already with street facing spots has empty spaces and the commercial space in the nicely renovated 103 Street Centre is also still empty after a number of years. Unfortunately, the problems of our downtown are beyond what fixing or replacing a building or two can solve.
However, even the Boardwalk which a nice old character building already with street facing spots has empty spaces and the commercial space in the nicely renovated 103 Street Centre is also still empty after a number of years. Unfortunately, the problems of our downtown are beyond what fixing or replacing a building or two can solve.
TAS
Senior Member
It doesn't help the 103st west side commercial units to have a deadzone of a building (The Bay) on the east side of the street.
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David A
Senior Member
It doesn't help our downtown to have so many vacant spaces in various places, but they are not the cause but more the symptom of the problems.
IanO
Superstar
Very, very pleased to see this rehabilitation along Heritage Trail.
trevorhayden
Active Member
Needs a curb extension
Greenspace
Senior Member
The optometry place in First Edmonton Place is now a FYIdoctors (10665 Jasper Ave). Was briefly Women with Vision. They're having a grand opening Wednesday with prizes, spin-to-win and such.
IanO
Superstar
Chris RickettChris Rickett • Community & Economic Impact | Engagement & Partnership Leader | Local Government Strategist & Civic InnovatorDriving
Downtowns don’t come back because workers return — they come back because people live there.
This Globe and Mail editorial is right that Ottawa’s downtown needs help and that the federal government can play a significant role. But it shouldn’t be about bringing workers back to the office.
https://lnkd.in/gpadqGZu
Let’s be honest: getting public servants back to their desks won’t save downtown Ottawa.
Even before the pandemic, the core was struggling. Empty storefronts, unused office space, and a lack of everyday life after 5 p.m. were already there. The shift to remote work didn’t cause that decline — it just made it visible.
And forcing workers back now — under the banner of “saving downtown” — risks something worse: resentment. Many public servants don’t see their commute or coffee purchase as a civic duty. When we make “return-to-office” the driver of downtown recovery, we pit workers against businesses, and culture against policy.
What Ottawa really needs isn’t more office workers — it’s more residents. Downtowns thrive when people live in them: when there are just as many grocery stores as food courts, when playgrounds outnumber surface parking lots, and when lights stay on long after office hours.
The Canadian Urban Institute’s A Living Capital strategy put the numbers to it: 40,000 new residents downtown could generate $900 million in new local spending and tax revenue.
That’s how you build a living capital — not by refilling cubicles, but by rebuilding community. And that’s where the federal government can play a fundamental role: by accelerating the return of its vast real estate holdings to residential uses, so that people are actually living downtown.
Workers and tourists are great — and Ottawa should absolutely continue to grow both — but they should be the gravy, not the foundation.
Downtowns don’t come back because workers return — they come back because people live there.
This Globe and Mail editorial is right that Ottawa’s downtown needs help and that the federal government can play a significant role. But it shouldn’t be about bringing workers back to the office.
https://lnkd.in/gpadqGZu
Let’s be honest: getting public servants back to their desks won’t save downtown Ottawa.
Even before the pandemic, the core was struggling. Empty storefronts, unused office space, and a lack of everyday life after 5 p.m. were already there. The shift to remote work didn’t cause that decline — it just made it visible.
And forcing workers back now — under the banner of “saving downtown” — risks something worse: resentment. Many public servants don’t see their commute or coffee purchase as a civic duty. When we make “return-to-office” the driver of downtown recovery, we pit workers against businesses, and culture against policy.
What Ottawa really needs isn’t more office workers — it’s more residents. Downtowns thrive when people live in them: when there are just as many grocery stores as food courts, when playgrounds outnumber surface parking lots, and when lights stay on long after office hours.
The Canadian Urban Institute’s A Living Capital strategy put the numbers to it: 40,000 new residents downtown could generate $900 million in new local spending and tax revenue.
That’s how you build a living capital — not by refilling cubicles, but by rebuilding community. And that’s where the federal government can play a fundamental role: by accelerating the return of its vast real estate holdings to residential uses, so that people are actually living downtown.
Workers and tourists are great — and Ottawa should absolutely continue to grow both — but they should be the gravy, not the foundation.
IanO
Superstar
Another beautiful fall evening yesterday and yet almost nobody on patios along 104st. What gives? Is 'happy hour' a thing of the past??!?!?!
policyenthusiast
Senior Member
I wonder if people are spending less on dining/bars due to a general bearish atmosphere on the Canadian economy?
IanO
Superstar
policyenthusiast
Senior Member
MLS stats show the same pattern for home prices in DT.
David A
Senior Member
Yes, but I think we know what the bigger problem really is downtown. Our governments have been slow an ineffective to act to deal with the problems and once the stigma sets in, it is hard to get people back.