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Apparently Heritage Station/Towers (formerly London project) is back on the front burner. This would be towers 3 & 4 of

8740 Horton Rd SW · 8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada

8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada
www.google.ca www.google.ca
that backs on to Horton Rd. The new towers would contain 656 rental suites. This was last tabled in 2015 and then it died. I don't think Westcor is involved anymore. I have heard Pinnacle Properties??? Anyone else heard about this?
 
JonnyCanuck said:
Apparently Heritage Station/Towers (formerly London project) is back on the front burner. This would be towers 3 & 4 of

8740 Horton Rd SW · 8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada

8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada
www.google.ca www.google.ca
that backs on to Horton Rd. The new towers would contain 656 rental suites. This was last tabled in 2015 and then it died. I don't think Westcor is involved anymore. I have heard Pinnacle Properties??? Anyone else heard about this?
Click to expand...
Not the prettiest density addition but still an improvement.
 
JonnyCanuck said:
Apparently Heritage Station/Towers (formerly London project) is back on the front burner. This would be towers 3 & 4 of

8740 Horton Rd SW · 8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada

8740 Horton Rd SW, Calgary, AB T2V 0R6, Canada
www.google.ca www.google.ca
that backs on to Horton Rd. The new towers would contain 656 rental suites. This was last tabled in 2015 and then it died. I don't think Westcor is involved anymore. I have heard Pinnacle Properties??? Anyone else heard about this?
Click to expand...
I know someone in that building, it has probably the largest parkade to unit ratio I've ever seen, it's mind bogglingly expansive and constantly nearly empty. Which is to say that they surely built all the parking first, and have a capital investment to recoup, just a matter of when.
 
Love him or hate him, I'm inclined to share his sentiment about the Midtown proposal. Is there a more detailed explanation for why it was shut down? White says it had to do with the ARP, but that seems too simple.

Calgary Herald: White: Midtown Station is Calgary's next mega-infill project.
calgaryherald.com

White: Midtown Station is Calgary's next mega-infill project

Integrating transit, work and living and consulting with residents for their community wishlist makes redevelopment community a solid plan
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
 
Urban Outdoorsman said:
Love him or hate him, I'm inclined to share his sentiment about the Midtown proposal. Is there a more detailed explanation for why it was shut down? White says it had to do with the ARP, but that seems too simple.

Calgary Herald: White: Midtown Station is Calgary's next mega-infill project.
calgaryherald.com

White: Midtown Station is Calgary's next mega-infill project

Integrating transit, work and living and consulting with residents for their community wishlist makes redevelopment community a solid plan
calgaryherald.com calgaryherald.com
Click to expand...
We had a big debate on Midtown back when it was last at Council, I don't think anything has changed in my opinion since this post in the Midtown thread here - it's an enticing, but flawed, proposal and it's not at all clear that city approval is the only barrier to achieving the vision proposed.

From what I recall, several statements White makes in the article are actually not agreed upon in the detailed report by the city - the development would require public investment in utility infrastructure, the total cost of the LRT station would be much higher than the amount the developer has agreed to pay etc.

The article doesn't try to explain or clarify any of this, but reads as a booster press release where the only problem is a city approval holding back 30 towers of development. I am curious why White only bothered to interview the developer and not the city for their perspectives.
 
applications LOC2021-0072 (3719 14th Street S.W.) and LOC2021-0065 (1531 33 Ave S.W.) for anyone wondering.

The 1531 33 Ave lot has a tiny house now dwarfed by Primrose Townhomes - two sets of 5x rowhouses (each with single attached garage ) on a 100ft corner lot, and a duplex infill immediately to the east (each with a detached double garage). Two Primrose units are currently for sale, as well as a unit in CoCo on the opposite corner. It must be the other lot where life is so terrible they have to cash-in their lots.

1531 house lot is currently assessed at $550k. Each of the duplexes next door are $750k (3x more revenue same lot size). Each of the rowhouses are around $570k (5x more scaled to same lot size).

All arguments against the 1531 lot are pretty darn weak when viewed in context. I'll have to dive into the other lot later.
 
lemongrab said:
It must be the other lot where life is so terrible they have to cash-in their lots.
Click to expand...
It definitely is, but I think the CA is being disingenuous about these sales. I walked by the houses that sold on my way to the dog park the other day. They are all 50’ lots with older single story homes on 14A St, so they back on to the development. Realistically, these lots were primed for sale for future development, just like every other 50’ lot with older single story home in the neighbourhood. It seemed like they may have sold as a block because they all had the same “sold” signs in front of them.
 
3719 is the Same developer, same design. Nearest thing for sale right now is a half block down on the other side of street (actually backs onto 14th, fronts 13A)...listed at $2.9M; given their 3-car garage I kinda doubt this development is the thing driving them away. A few other $3M+ homes and newer builds listed around, but not terribly close.

Similar to 33 ave, this has a 6-plex next door with 6 single garages. The other neighbour is actually kinda funny... that fence and big conifers should keep them insulated from anything happening next door, let alone the wider world. The rest of the block is mostly duplexes with double-double garages. Most of the older homes also have garages/carports of some sort, too; no street view in the alley, but the top view shows at least one weird alley parking job at an older home.

A half block east of this site there is a playground/green block with nearly 300 meters of unrestricted parking. Satellite view shows 1 vehicle parked. Street-view tour showed 1 motorcycle. 14A st looks fairly busy for parking, but every other block in the area is not (especially east of 14 St).

But, just to be safe, maybe they should plow a few more parking spots on the front lawn (less than 1 block away). It's real shame that these infills ruin the character of the community (there are actually 4 old walkups on that block with limited onsite parking, yet somehow the streets are not overrun)

Just for fun, this kid apparently in a mario costume is awesome.
 
MissingMiddle said:
I know someone in that building, it has probably the largest parkade to unit ratio I've ever seen, it's mind bogglingly expansive and constantly nearly empty. Which is to say that they surely built all the parking first, and have a capital investment to recoup, just a matter of when.
Click to expand...
Is the parkade under the Save-on or is it under the towers themselves? There is always a ton of cars parked in the dirt lot to the west of London, figure parking there is super cheap or even free, probably a factor in the parkade being empty.
 
Mountain Man said:
I stopped reading when I read this; "they’re actually not producing livable housing". Another useless comment by a useless CA! lol
Click to expand...
In a contemporary context, the biggest determinant of "livable" housing is if someone can afford to live there. This is especially true for this specific location in Altadore that is largely sandwiched between two of the wealthiest neighbourhoods in Calgary. This isn't Industrial Revolution-era dystopia where we are arguing that houses should have running water to be "livable". The number of parking stalls being 0, 5 or 10 for these townhomes isn't close to a factor in determining "livability". Parking stalls are just an amenity like anything else.

These infills aren't likely to be cheap - but they are the only thing close to affordable, new construction in the area that is ground and family-oriented. Most critically, the supply created today will be yet another option for someone purchasing or renting 20 years from now. Just like how the most affordable options in the area now are the non-mansion infills from 20-30 years ago.

The neighbourhood stability argument is also completely disingenuous. Stability is not the same as a neighbourhood that doesn't change. Unstable neighbourhoods are monocultures where every building is the same age, same size, same income levels to support. These neighbourhoods can appear to do fine for a while, but all it takes a slight shift in economics, demographics and consumer demand and the neighbourhood is obsolete.

Best example of this is nearly all of Calgary's 1970s and 1980s era suburbs. They are not stable; they are stagnant and slowly dying - schools closing, aging infrastructure, declining populations. All of this is because they are inefficient monocultures. The great irony is that Altadore avoided the same fate by allowing developments like this, not by preventing them.

Not updating your housing stock is recipe for stagnation and instability. Diverse housing is the key to everything - different people can live here, with different life stages and needs, with different income levels throughout their life, and if there's enough supply - this can exist essentially forever.
 
CBBarnett said:
Best example of this is nearly all of Calgary's 1970s and 1980s era suburbs. They are not stable; they are stagnant and slowly dying - schools closing, aging infrastructure, declining populations. All of this is because they are inefficient monocultures. The great irony is that Altadore avoided the same fate by allowing developments like this, not by preventing them.

Not updating your housing stock is recipe for stagnation and instability. Diverse housing is the key to everything - different people can live here, with different life stages and needs, with different income levels throughout their life, and if there's enough supply - this can exist essentially forever.
Click to expand...

This is so true with what we see with housing around the city. It's so unfortunate Calgary has miles upon miles of neighborhoods like Ranchlands or Beddington. The new neighborhoods actually have good density, and the older neighborhoods with their grid layout can have updated housing stock, but areas are limited geographically, and don't come cheap. The masses of 1960-2000 aged suburbs are very difficult to change or update the housing stock. and take up enormous amounts of the city. The more recent suburbs won't be easy to change in the future, but at least they have decent density and more diversity in housing than those older suburbs.
 
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