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Great idea to fix up these areas, but I would have thrown that $35 million towards the Stephen Ave refurbishment. That street should become THE prime destination in the entire city with 17th, 4th Street, Kensington, and 9th Ave (Inglewood) as the 4 main secondary sites.

I “liked” this post at first, and I do agree that Stephen Avenue should be theee destination. However, I like the chosen locations for this $35 million. It spreads investment and beauty around the city, and that’s what all great cities have and do. We certainly need more of it, and I’m glad we are getting it. Stephen Avenue is perfectly functional and already well travelled and already a key destination. I would rather its restoration hold off another decade or so, so that it can be incorporated into the 8 Avenue Subway, so that we don’t have to spend another $80 to 100 million redoing it at the end of subway construction. I understand that the subway is not a project that’s going to happen soon, but it is absolutely inevitable, so we might as well save some significant coin.
 
I understand that the subway is not a project that’s going to happen soon, but it is absolutely inevitable, so we might as well save some significant coin.
I would also fund Stephen Avenue as the premier street. I like the ideas to make a nod to saving money on an eventual redo (again), but I think the basics should be done as soon as possible (e.g. remove all clutter, clean up random curbs and broken bricks, clean up and reorganize for patios and pedestrians etc.) That will probably be a not small amount of money, but by the time the subway happens we will be at the next lifecycle for the street anyways.
 
I would rather see the city try spend money to improve connectivity to Stephen Ave and the surrounding areas. Stephen Ave has always been a tourist strip and stopover for office workers surrounded by a pretty uninspiring (and at times awful) public realm. When I lived in the Beltline, I had to remind myself that Stephen ave was an option for restaurants and bars, in part because none of the north-south arteries really encouraged you to walk into the core to access them
 
With the way the Greenline is going, the 8th Ave Subway will be decades away. I say go full tilt renovating Stephen Ave from City Hall Plaza all the way down to the Armoury. By the time the subway is even built it would be time to re-do the street all over again anyways.

Fair enough.
 
Finally! Stunning. So happy with that.
 
1st Ave in Bridgeland has a new commercial building proposed, extending the mainstreet west a bit further:

Located here:

Nothing on Gravity's website that I can see, but they do pretty solid work, so it should be good.
Drove by the site today, and there is a rendering on the development sign. Apologies for the poor photo, snapped it with my phone out of the car window as I parked:
IMG_20200509_094451840.jpg


Here is a grainy zoom in on my photo:
1589072450935.png
 
Is that north or south side of the block?
 
Dang. I really wish it was on the north side.
 
I scanned Moda’s site but couldn’t find anything on this.
 
There's a neat historic looking brick walk up on the 2nd St side of that property. It would be a shame to lose it. Hopefully the proposal incorporates the building in some way.
 

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