Drove around Blatchford for a bit, including up to the 119th Avenue crossing at the LRT tracks (which may or may not have been legal, idk, there were no barriers but it wasn't paved). I'm guessing that at this point in the season, construction work would be mostly stopped, so now's a good recap of what's been developed there.

In terms of transportation, a LOT of roads have been laid out or graded (and I assume the utilities are in place too), so it seems that a lot of the area is ripe for development, and it's just a matter of people wanting to come in and buy homes. This includes a long stretch of Alpha Boulevard and the road running parallel to the transit mall. I'm guessing that the roadway crossings will be finished next year (just in time for the opening of the Metro Line extension), which will allow people to easily shortcut from Blatchford to NAIT by car (not that it would be encouraged), and then shortcut to the rest of the neighbourhoods east of 107 Street.

As for development, it's basically fully built out between Cedric Mah and Blatchford Roads up to Alpha Boulevard, and new townhomes are slowly coming along by Fane Road. Honestly, it's really starting to look like a cozy community, especially with all the Christmas lights set up. I think once they finish building out Fane Road, some more development further northwest along Alpha Boulevard, between that road and the stormwater pond and turning the concrete pads around the Indigenous high school into grassy fields, that should really tie the community together and spur along development at a faster pace (along with the LRT being in service and the station connections being done).

2024 is going to be a year for Blatchford to shine in an otherwise filler-year when it comes to infrastructure projects (VLW, Capital Line South and Yellowhead projects slowly chugging along).
 
NAIT hiring an interesting position - Manager, Campus Planning & Architecture

Curious if this is backfilling or indicative of future projects and expansion?
 
Culdesac is rental only. I'm in favour of reaching out to Culdesac and offering them an area of Blatchford to purchase at a desirable rate, and I've contacted city councillors about this in the past.

I don't think rental only, where the ownership is a single entity, is a good idea for such a big area. I would be happy to have Culdesac as a Blatchford developer, though. It would be great for a pocket of Blatchford right next to a transit center.
 
thommyjo said:
This account and development is just a masterclass in what Blatchford should have been like in my opinion.

Instead, the comms for blatchford are bland, low quality pics, no vision, no persuasion, no brand.

Click to expand...
100% agree that the Blatchford comms have been pretty pathetic. However, I’ve seen the comparison for Culdesac more than once and it doesn’t seem to be a good comparison given the scale. Yes, like Barnaby said, having a culdesac in Blatchford would be great but as just one (large) project.
 
I am sure it's been discussed but why hasn't NAIT / the province jumped on student housing as a jumpstart to the area and filling a need? Reduce impact on nearby areas' rentals, plan ahead for the increased student populations, help out people getting their start in the trades, pool of workers and customers to start populating the commercial core they planned and frequent existing business. Like what about it isn't an easy win? That planned higher density corridor along the LRT should have been well under construction to lead the way rather than the small scale low rises we are still seeing. That instant population would have been a great to help it all feel alive.
 
It's not NAIT's core purpose and those dollars are hard to come by versus expanding programming and the like. That said, I suspect that future expansion will include some housing, but again, not their priority or MO.
 
slightly off topic and I'm sure there's another thread somewhere, but what is happening with the reno of that historic hangar near NAIT? wasn't there supposed to be student housing as part of that? Haven't heard anything about that in a while and it looked like an amazing project.
 
slightly off topic and I'm sure there's another thread somewhere, but what is happening with the reno of that historic hangar near NAIT? wasn't there supposed to be student housing as part of that? Haven't heard anything about that in a while and it looked like an amazing project.
 
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