[occidentalcapital]

We repurposed our easiest converted spaces years ago.

I wish we were a tad more creative. Sky view restos, Imagine doing yoga on the 30th floor, a multi floor night club. As these buildings often have highly centralized plumbing, what about a hostel.

Best yet, Empty out the Terrace building on the Legislative grounds, move everyone into a tower and tear that eff’r down.

Building it was a travesty to Urban Design.

Terrace building recently renovated and looks nice now.

There are much more significant things to focus on than tearing down occupied buildings.

Frankly the last thing we need is to tear down more stuff.

 

[David A]

I would agree that most of the space such as old warehouse space that could be nicely repurposed for residential was done a long time ago here.

We were actually ahead of the times a bit then and as usual we don't get much credit for it, but have to read in the national media recently about how smart some other cities only doing this 20 or so years later are.

However, of course repurposing really never ends. At this point the conversion to educational and other such purposes makes more sense for some of the remaining space which is not as suitable for residential.

 

[David A]

While I don't disagree with your statement, I do believe that Edmonton must continue being aggressive in attracting businesses and corporations to setup shop downtown. This is where we need our business leaders, politicians, board members etc. to start advertising the city regionally and beyond Alberta's borders because having gainful employment downtown has spinoff effects, such as supporting restaurants/cafes/bars and having people want to actually be able to walk to work, thus having people (mainly young professionals) look for spaces to live in and around the core.

I know you're absolutely for trying to get business and corporations to come downtown. I'm just one of those people who tends to place a bigger emphasis in general in trying to market ourselves as a good place to do business and that our downtown has the potential to be a fun and lively place.

Downtown is disjointed. I've said this in the past, but there lacks a cohesiveness in the core that results in some lively pockets and then some absolute eyesore streets/areas that kill any momentum. I wish some CRU's could be filled with a mix of retail and niche businesses that cannot be found elsewhere, however without the critical mass needed to support that, we'll continue to just be hopeful of a successful cafe or restaurant filling these spots in and consider that a win.

In a lot of ways, downtown has come a long way. I think aesthetically things are MUCH better then when I even moved here 6 years ago. The Parks project alone will spruce things up quite a bit. But I think having downtown continue to become a residential and entertainment destination is as important as attracting corporations and getting crime/public disorder reduced.

In most cities, it is the presence and concentration of corporate business and a financial centre that leads to a critical mass. It is harder to get that in a place that historically has mostly been content to be a branch plant city.

There are some places, like Vancouver, where you can get a lot more residential without a proportionate increase in the business financial core. However, I feel there are a lot of unique factors that makes it much easier there. Are a lot more people going to want to live downtown here without more jobs and more retail nearby? Doubtful. So it is not one or the other, we have to work on all of these things together.

However, we are doing well on creating an entertainment destination and that will help some too. Crime/public disorder are getting more attention now, but it will take more time and effort to improve enough to ease people's concerns.

 

[occidentalcapital]

In most cities, it is the presence and concentration of corporate business and a financial centre that leads to a critical mass. It is harder to get that in a place that historically has mostly been content to be a branch plant city.

There are some places, like Vancouver, where you can get a lot more residential without a proportionate increase in the business financial core. However, I feel there are a lot of unique factors that makes it much easier there. Are a lot more people going to want to live downtown here without more jobs and more retail nearby? Doubtful. So it is not one or the other, we have to work on all of these things together.

However, we are doing well on creating an entertainment destination and that will help some too. Crime/public disorder are getting more attention now, but it will take more time and effort to improve enough to ease people's concerns.

Historically Edmonton was not a branch plant centre. Historically was financial and business capital for Alberta until 1970s 80s ish. Not sure what you're saying here.

 

[David A]

I don't recall the early 70's or earlier well, but I believe Winnipeg was considered the financial and business centre for western Canada for much of that time. However, I am more referring to the last 40 years or so.

 

[wormwood]

Wish this one happened. Sorry for making you think there was an update.

 

[IanO]

Was nearly sold, but I don't think it got across the finish line.

It's one of the top 3 'I wish it had timed to go'.