The little triangle of land wedged between Jasper Avenue and 101st Avenue on 96th Street is one of downtown’s ugliest eyesores.
The .2-hectare parcel is home to two boarded-up little buildings, one pink, one blue, surrounded by a fraying chain-link fence. The garbage-strewn land, halfway between the Shaw Conference Centre and the majestic St. Barbara’s Russian Orthodox Cathedral, is a bleak pocket of urban blight.
It also commands one of the most spectacular views of the North Saskatchewan River valley, a panoramic vista that includes Louise McKinney Park, the Muttart Conservatory, and everything in between and beyond.
The city has been negotiating for years to buy the parcel as part of The Quarters redevelopment. The plan was to turn the site into an “urban balcony.” It sounds like someplace a hipster Juliet might await her hip-hop Romeo. But the city’s plan is to create a public green space and lookout point, and to ensure that the view belongs to everyone.
Full Story (Edmonton Journal)