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MichaelS said:
Well, Jayman Built did Westman Village, so hopefully it replicates some of that. I wonder how much of the parcel it is for, as that is a large vacant area surrounding the child care building. Not sure if it is all the parcels or not.
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I did not see any land use or development permit applications, for that plot of land, on the city's website.
 
I think it may have been discussed already, but has there ever been any talk of moving the train tracks out of the core and around the city? I remember seeing the UofC did a study on the idea.
CBBarnett said:
Great photo! That entire stretch along 9th Ave was former rail sidings until the 1960s /1970s if aerial pictures are to be believed. This was a rare inner city story where the surface parking lots today were actually a *slight* improvement in the public realm, depending on how folks feel about walking by random train yards. Most other surface parking in this photo replaced houses, apartment blocks and other buildings - an obvious net loss to the city that has yet to be made up.

We have made such great progress intensifying our core, but have a long way to go before we see surface parking disappear like it (for the most part) has in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal. Also great shot of our super-wide downtown arterials, the from Day-1 over-built 5th and 6th Avenues most prominently. Would be great to cut 2 lanes off of these guys each one day and actually have consistently wide sidewalks with pedestrian amenities.

Now that a critical mass of residents and investment has been achieved in a few small areas (with more on the way), I see the next phase of urban Calgary being about addressing the increasingly obvious public realm gap. We are successfully achieving density and pockets of vibrancy, but we haven't yet cracked the old-school machine that prevents, delays or compromises the pedestrian-focused improvements on a scale that is required to support a residential-focused core.
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I remember reading something about this a few years ago. I think the conclusion was that it would be completely cost prohibitive. The city or province, or both, would have to foot the entire bill of rerouting the tracks. That is on top of purchasing the existing land/right of way from CP.
 
JonnyCanuck said:
I remember reading something about this a few years ago. I think the conclusion was that it would be completely cost prohibitive. The city or province, or both, would have to foot the entire bill of rerouting the tracks. That is on top of purchasing the existing land/right of way from CP.
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Chicago figured out a way to get rid of infrastructure they don't like but have no direct control over...

1195
 
JonnyCanuck said:
I remember reading something about this a few years ago. I think the conclusion was that it would be completely cost prohibitive. The city or province, or both, would have to foot the entire bill of rerouting the tracks. That is on top of purchasing the existing land/right of way from CP.
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I saw a presentation by a group of students (planners and engineers) from a University in the Netherlands that proposed this, and actually costed it out (they did a discounted cash flow and everything), but also did rough estimates on land sales/property tax/etc from the land freed up for it (looking primarily at Inglewood/Alyth) and it actually penciled out.
 
Surrealplaces said:

"It would take 35 years to remove it," she said, "and to rebuild on the east side of the city, going around instead of through. And it will cost about $1 billion."

I don't think there's any will to do something like this at the moment, but I still hold hope it can be done someday.
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Yup, that is the presentation I saw. It was actually fairly rigorous in terms of the financial modelling, but IIRC the cost was covered by land sales of the purchased land from CP. Interesting idea.
 
retrofiturbanism said:
Yup, that is the presentation I saw. It was actually fairly rigorous in terms of the financial modelling, but IIRC the cost was covered by land sales of the purchased land from CP. Interesting idea.
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But why would CP sell the land to allow the value to be captured by someone else? It would be different if Canada had a public operator like a network rail, where a move like this could be done with the economics getting to zero over a long time frame. With a private owner, the economics have to be much better since the costs are up front and the benefits are in the deep back end.
 
Relocating the CP mainline would be tough. There are few places west of the city with gentle enough grade for the tracks to rise out of the valley. Doing so would likely require an expensive bridge or tunnel, and might be so far away from Calgary to compromise its utility.
 
darwink said:
But why would CP sell the land to allow the value to be captured by someone else? It would be different if Canada had a public operator like a network rail, where a move like this could be done with the economics getting to zero over a long time frame. With a private owner, the economics have to be much better since the costs are up front and the benefits are in the deep back end.
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Not to mention, I doubt they capture the cost effects of any investment sacrificed in other parts of the City due to a new swath of inner City land being opened-up.
 
A lot of talk of what to do with the area should the tracks be moved revolves around some type of park. That seems the logical thing to do. I wouldn't mind seeing something like the Highline, it's one of coolest things I've had a chance to check out.

I've always been pushing the idea of turning it into a canal, by diverting water from around Crowchild area, and running it though downtown and lining the canal with restaurants/residential buildings, etc.. putting the water back into the river by Fort Calgary. I think it would turn Calgary into a world class tourist destination, but it's a lot of money to do it.
 
CP would only do it if there was something in it for them...like lotsa $$$. and that could happen, it would be a massive project, but it's not out of the realm of possibilities.
darwink said:
But why would CP sell the land to allow the value to be captured by someone else? It would be different if Canada had a public operator like a network rail, where a move like this could be done with the economics getting to zero over a long time frame. With a private owner, the economics have to be much better since the costs are up front and the benefits are in the deep back end.
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