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Brookfields crane is making its slow decent down. With that one soon to be craneless are we left with just Telus as the only office building with a crane? Trying to remember the last time there was just one.

edit: Not counting Place 10 (is the crane still up there?)
 
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Col du Edworthy said:
Brookfields crane is making its slow decent down. With that one soon to be craneless are we left with just Telus as the only office building with a crane? Trying to remember the last time there was just one.

edit:Not counting Place 10 (is the crane still up there?)
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Place 10 still has the crane, but outside of that, no cranes on office buildings, and no 'active' cranes. Crane count has been dropping, but amazingly there are still a few cranes yet to hit the sky. Verve, and soon to be ALT Hotel and INK.
 
Always_Biking said:
That retail plaza on Macleod has been empty for ages, so not surprising they are taking it down. Does anyone know what the plans are for that piece of land?
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There is an approved office tower from back in 2008, the 4th tower in the Keynote complex. I doubt it is moving forward, and no idea if there are any new plans for the area.
 
MichaelS said:
There is an approved office tower from back in 2008, the 4th tower in the Keynote complex. I doubt it is moving forward, and no idea if there are any new plans for the area.
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Ah, okay. Thanks Michael! You are no doubt correct in thinking it won't be going ahead. To be honest I would be happy if they put a one or two floor retail plaza back in there instead of an office building. I think Calgary is fixed good when it comes to office space.
 
Here's a rendering of the building MichaelS was referring to. A taller version of the existing office building.

Keynote IV.jpg
 

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I'm okay with new office buildings in the Beltline as long as they aren't too big. One thing that is nice about office space is it creates busyness during the day, and that's okay for the Beltline which tends to be busier outside of work hours. Ultimately if I had it my way I would build a few mixed use towers that were around 18-40 floors having about 25% office space and the rest residential.
 
If you are looking for a good office building location in the Beltline, it doesn't get much better than the east end of Keynote: 1 block to the green line, 3 blocks to Vic Park Station, 4 blocks to 7th Ave. Overall, I agree with @Surrealplaces though.

I think office has an important niche to play in the ecology of a redeveloping urban city. Dead at night, yes; but more likely to draw transit users and doesn't mind who its neighbours are. On the whole, inner Calgary has a major residential "trade deficit" that office won't solve, but there's no shortage of under utilized land for everyone.

With office supply so high and demand so low, I don't expect a lot of corporate towers to be built anytime soon (in fact I worry our best booms are behind us), but retail and residential uses aren't going anywhere. Non-corporate, non-OG offices are a good fit for the Beltline. I'd like to see more shared infrastructure between day and night users - i.e. parking, banquet halls, food services, retail, etc. It wasn't long ago that most bars were closed until 5pm. Thank you, brunch. Downtown the opposite was happening, with restaurants closing the evenings and weekends. Thanks again, brunch. Rampant consumerism to the rescue.
 
Good points about office space in the Beltline. I feel like we have too much office space in the core, but I agree that it's different with the Beltline. It's mostly residential there now, and having some more office couldn't hurt. Sorry, gotta ask, what is 'thank you brunch'? :)
 
Haha sorry, I realize that probably was out of left field.

Not long ago most (though not all) pubs and restaurants used to have evening hours only. Now, since the foodie generation of the past decade or so, almost every licensed venue serves brunch. This means operating hours begin earlier and restaurants can make more money with the same real estate. This is what we should try to do with all our land usages: use them more hours of the day, share them with different users and demographics at different times, keep them operating and lively 24-7.
 
RyLucky said:
Haha sorry, I realize that probably was out of left field.

Not long ago most (though not all) pubs and restaurants used to have evening hours only. Now, since the foodie generation of the past decade or so, almost every licensed venue serves brunch. This means operating hours begin earlier and restaurants can make more money with the same real estate. This is what we should try to do with all our land usages: use them more hours of the day, share them with different users and demographics at different times, keep them operating and lively 24-7.
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Yup, went to Grumans for brunch the other day :cool:
 
I don't think the problem with the core is too many offices, but rather too few residents - and therefore, too little interest in after hours usages, street level frontage, +15 access, services for families and the elderly, recreation, and the environment. Obviously this is slowly changing. I'm also very grateful that Calgary has so much public access to waterfront because it does wonders for environmental advocacy and our sense of identity.
 
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