Calgary Predictions 2010

[shogged]

I think its about the right time for 2010 predictions! And since I haven't seen anything else I thought i'd get it started!

Here is last years thread if you want to check out how you did this year!

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=160466


and my predictions are...
- Waterfront finishes phase 2 but the future phases are indefinitely put on hold

- commuter bus service begins to all of calgary's bedroom communities, ridership is below expectations but the pilot project continues

- Eau Claire is demolished but the project replacing it is delayed due to a saturated market

- EAP is topped out and cladding done to the top floor before the bow tops out just its steel

- West LRT is delayed 6 months. Could be something to do with bow trail or 17th ave.

- One of the TOD projects moves forward with fantastic results

- airport tunnel is fully financed

- London manages to sell 75% of phase 2 before the company goes bankrupt

- Home prices head back up and the bridges benefits with the next phase moving forward

- Flames miss the playoffs by 1 point, only colorado from the northwest division makes it. Stampeders lose in the west semi final. Roughnecks win championship again. Hitmen repeat as western hockey league champs but miss out on the memorial cup again.

- Peace bridge starts construction just as the city enters the election phase.. which leads too...

- Ric Mcivor runs for mayor under a platform of fiscal responsibility with the peace bridge as his poster child. Ric ends up losing the elections because most people were uncomfortable with the amount of blinking he did during his debates and television interviews. Most will think bronconnier wins, however when the absentee ballots come in, there will be 780,000 votes for alnoor in one mass envelope from kenya where alnoor is currently tying up loose ends for his banking scandal.

- Bill gates will get bored of his fortune and decide that his legacy project will be a maglev train that goes from ft mac to lethbridge, with legs to grand prairie, banff and jasper. He also funds LRT extensions to calgary international and leduc international. He wants to see the project complete before he dies so it proceeds with a 24/7 construction schedule. Project starts in Feb and finishes in Dec. Tickets are heavily subsidized and cost just 10 dollars for a return trip anywhere in the province. The economy flourishes with Edmontonians spending afternoons in banff, rig pigs going home after every shift, and the entire city of lethbridge visiting chinook centre every week.

Happy Holidays everyone! =D

[frinkprof]

Altogether not a whole lot of change from 2009. Some ramping up, but far from a return to the activity of '06 and '07.

Highrise construction

- Bow and EAP top out
- Both Centennial I and II are occupied

The following begin to rise:

- Midtown I
- Waterfront II
- Keynote Residential II

The following commence excavation/construction:

- The Crossings in Bridgeland finally commences (toward the end of the year)
- City Center hotel/condo phase starts

- New Library design competition is announced and started

Infrastructure

- Heritage/MacLeod interchange gets funding and priority
- WLRT starts heavy construction in March, sets a blistering pace
- Subway study is released with recommended alignments, however SELRT becomes an important plank in municipal election platforms, and is eventually promised and prioritized, but not funded
- More LRVs and articulated buses are ordered
- The current order of new-style 38 LRVs begin to arrive and go into service
- Bowfort Road/16th Avenue interchange gets funding and priority
- Airport tunnel funding is sorted out (not going to predict the exact scheme), and gets the go-ahead


------------------------


That's all I have for now.

[MasterG]

MY 2 cents:

- in the spring, WLRT starts things up fast, leading to chaos on Bow trail for many months/years ( itll be worth it in the end)

- the unexpected construction of a signficant series of midrises along the WLRT route, focusing on the Westbrook mall area and Sunalta.

- The TFDL gets ints finishing touches opens in the fall, to rave reviews

- Waterfront II begins to rise, other larger towers postponed, perhaps with a few restarting towards the end of 2010.

- While the beltline condo tower market flounders, many smaller projects (such as Casel on 17ave) start up, making 2010 the Year of the Infill! Montgomery, Bowness, Upper 17th ave and Mission are the biggest winners.

- Construction starts on one or two new condo/mixed use blocks in the East Village.

Happpy new year everyone!

[MasterG]

Oh and one more thing: major development announced for the creation of the regional rail network to Airdrie, okotoks, and cochrane. Now that would be something to see:)

[devonb]

Great changes on tap for Calgary's future


BY DAVID PARKER, CALGARY HERALDJANUARY 1, 2010


It's that time of year when many look back over the previous 12 months -- or some the entire decade -- to see where we've been. I prefer to look ahead at what we can expect during the next 12 months to picture how this city will prosper.

One thing we can be sure of is that we will have a civic election; and we will see changes in the ranks of aldermen.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier will run again and I agree with columnist Rod Love that he will be elected. It's too bad, because fellow councillors who decide to take him on will lose their seat if that happens. I think there will only be one contender and he happens to be one of our better aldermen.

We may see a couple of aldermen retire and the tragedy of civic politics is that it is difficult to persuade qualified people to run. Who wants a 24/7 job that draws criticism from all sides? Plus, there is no training.

For those wishing to be re-elected, I present a suggestion to bite the bullet and cancel the fancy bridge to nowhere and the unnecessary new city branding.

And they should also take a good look at the health of the downtown. Any idea of increasing parking fees or charging evening rates would be disastrous for shops, restaurants and entertainment places. Isn't it great to see the number of vehicles parked along 8th Avenue after 6 p.m.?

Crowds mean safety, so the more people in the core, the better. I trust that buyers will return to downtown and Beltline condo developments, enabling more people to walk to work.

Interior designers and movers are going to have a great year as firms make moves into new quarters, and commercial realtors will have a heyday finding the best lease deals for their clients among some large vacant spaces -- many as a result of tenants moving into Jamieson Place, Centennial Towers, Palliser South and Harris-Homburg Centre.

Very early in January, we will celebrate the opening of Le Germain Calgary, the boutique hotel across from the Calgary Tower. The building will also present us with a new dining experience called Charcut Roast House, adding to a long list of great restaurants to be enjoyed in downtown.

Soon I will be able to name another, which will open in the elegant space between Jamieson Place and the Westin.

Residents will begin moving into the Waterfront, students will be able to make use of the new Bow Valley College, and buildings will begin to rise out of the old dirt we call East Village -- and hopefully a start will be made on the Mustard Seed's affordable housing tower.

You will also see lots of development happening outside the core.

Sixteenth Avenue N.W. already looks so diff erent, now that the ugly parkade at SAIT Polytechnic has been demolished, and I look forward to a start being made on the boldly designed Trades and Technology Complex that will stretch over to 14th Street and dramatically change the look of the campus.

Construction continues at the University of Calgary, but the big news will be the naming of its new president, to be announced before the end of January.

As new chair of the board of the Calgary Airport Authority, Doug Mitchell is going to be asked more questions about the effect of the new north-south runway that, although announced several years ago, still seems to have shaken businesses in that area.

Despite herculean eff orts, I cannot see the provincial and federal governments coming up with the money for a tunnel under it -- one of 2010's hot political decisions. And if there is money to spend, why not provide LRT service?

I believe we will continue to see a healthy residential market and I will be eagerly anticipating the further development of Quarry Park and a start to Currie Barracks.

A year ago, I predicted there would be no progress on a new downtown library; the Haskayne School of Business would renovate a downtown office for classrooms; and wished for a new tenant for the former Bank of Montreal building across from the Bay. That grand old structure is still embarrassingly vacant, the library is still a dream, but the university's choice at 8th and 8th S.W. is coming along nicely.

Happy New Year to all -- it's going to be a good one.

David Parker appears Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. He can be reached at 403-830-4622 or e-mail info@davidparker.ca.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[ScottFromCalgary]

I wish the media would "bite the bullet" and stop talking about the fuckin' bridge. Seriously, just leave it alone. Don't mention it again until it starts construction.