Busiest Downtowns in Canada

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Calgary will unquestionably be the hardest hit major city in the country economically. However, the Calgary CBD and Beltline have nearly as many rental apartment and condo units under construction as the entire city of Ottawa combined (including SFH). So regardless of the economic slump, the core of Calgary is going to massively outpace the growth of central Ottawa.



If you're comparing a 12x12 area and a 12x6 area, then you should also consider that Calgary's downtown core/Beltline is ringed by historic, dense, walkable, and extremely active areas during day and night. Mission, Inglewood, Kensington, and Bridgeland. All of which has analogues in Ottawa within a nearly identical geographic area.

Geographic comparison would be the Glebe, Sandy Hill, Wellington West and Westboro. Throw in le Vieux Hull in there too.

Ottawa has quite a few pre-war urban neighborhoods centered around main streets. The old Streetcar suburbs.

Vanier and St-Joseph are other busy, central areas, though quite rough. Lots of potential. In the case of Vanier though, a possible Salvation Army homeless shelter (re-location from the ByWard Market) might slow down its trajectory.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

The Centretown photo also dates from around 10 years ago. A good dozen towers are completed or u/c since then (a few of which would be out of frame).

Lots more residential development, part of a rental market boom, going up along the Confederation and Trillium Lines within the urban core, particularly at Dow's Lake and along Scott Street. Rideau Street, a short walk from Rideau Station, is also experiencing quite a revival, including a new student residence, an office conversion (to a student residence) and eight other residential towers.

Zibi's a significant new entertainment district that will help bridge the gap between the Downtowns of Ottawa and Hull. If LeBreton can ever gets off the ground, it will be a major boost to central core.

So a similar but noticeably less amount of development than downtown/beltline. East Village akin to Zibi, except much farther along and a couple major cultural institutions. Entertainment and Cultural District (grounds surrounding Stampede Park) akin to Lebretton Flats, and both at a similar level of development except that our Arena and Convention Centre are both funded and approved, with a couple thousand residential units recently completed/UC.

Rideau Street reminds me a bit of First Street, both having been/undergoing revitalization and intensification.


Here's a photo of the Beltline from this decade (last June), with - I count - 25 residential towers plus 2 hotel towers built since. This is the "core area" of the Beltline I mentioned earlier. It doesn't count the 11 residential skyscrapers built to the left (east) of the image in the last 10 years. I'd estimate for the Beltline alone, not including the several thousand units under construction currently, that this number would amount to around 11 000 units since 2010, possibly more.


By me

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Geographic comparison would be the Glebe, Sandy Hill, Wellington West and Westboro. Throw in le Vieux Hull in there too.

Ottawa has quite a few pre-war urban neighborhoods centered around main streets. The old Streetcar suburbs.

Vanier and St-Joseph are other busy, central areas, though quite rough. Lots of potential. In the case of Vanier though, a possible Salvation Army homeless shelter (re-location from the ByWard Market) might slow down its trajectory.

Le Vieux and Wellington West are a fair bit out of the geographic comparison, but yeah the Glebe, Westboro, and Sandy Hill are analogous to the inner ring of Calgary. Ours are also centred around the old streetcar lines, but the "streetcar suburbs" like Marda Loop, Bowness, etc are too far out (like Wellington West or Le Vieux) to be considered in this comparison.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Le Vieux and Wellington West are a fair bit out of the geographic comparison, but yeah the Glebe, Westboro, and Sandy Hill are analogous to the inner ring of Calgary. Ours are also centred around the old streetcar lines, but the "streetcar suburbs" like Marda Loop, Bowness, etc are too far out (like Wellington West or Le Vieux) to be considered in this comparison.

Wellington West is actually closer to Ottawa CBD that Westboro is - it's the area that is between downtown and Westboro.

And Vieux-Hull is about 500 m from Parliament Hill.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Acajack

Wellington West is actually closer to Ottawa CBD that Westboro is - it's the area that is between downtown and Westboro.

And Vieux-Hull is about 500 m from Parliament Hill.

Oh shit I must have confused the two (Westboro and Wellington West). Despite their adjacency, adding in Westboro would be akin to me adding in Marda Loop, which I wouldn't do in this scenario. When I lived in Gatineau I don't remember anywhere Le Vieux, so I was just going by the area where two businesses have "Le Vieux" in their name in close proximity. Do you just mean downtown Hull? Cause saying that would make it a lot easier for literally everyone outside of that region to understand

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Oh shit I must have confused the two (Westboro and Wellington West). Despite their adjacency, adding in Westboro would be akin to me adding in Marda Loop, which I wouldn't do in this scenario. When I lived in Gatineau I don't remember anywhere Le Vieux, so I was just going by the area where two businesses have "Le Vieux" in their name in close proximity. Do you just mean downtown Hull? Cause saying that would make it a lot easier for literally everyone outside of that region to understand

Yes, that's correct. Vieux-Hull is the island that is right across the river from Parliament Hill and the Byward Market.

[Chadillaccc]

Ah I see. Is this a nice/active area? I never spent any time there. Though I do recall several forumers here talking about how shitty of an area it is. Like with all the "urban renewal" government buildings and Museum of Civilization and stuff.

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Yes, the fact that Calgary and Ottawa are roughly equal is more of a testament to Calgary's downtown population, due to Calgary having no major educational institutions within 2 km of the core (downtown/beltline).

SAIT seems close enough to pop downtown for lunch between classes - do people do that? And do people live on campus there?

[Hali87]

I'd posit that Steven (Stephen?) Ave is Calgary's equivalent to Byward Market. Not the same, but sort of analogous, and not necessarily "lesser".

Edmonton's downtown feels distinctly Northern compared to those two.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

So a similar but noticeably less amount of development than downtown/beltline. East Village akin to Zibi, except much farther along and a couple major cultural institutions. Entertainment and Cultural District (grounds surrounding Stampede Park) akin to Lebretton Flats, and both at a similar level of development except that our Arena and Convention Centre are both funded and approved, with a couple thousand residential units recently completed/UC.

Rideau Street reminds me a bit of First Street, both having been/undergoing revitalization and intensification.


Here's a photo of the Beltline from this decade (last June), with - I count - 25 residential towers plus 2 hotel towers built since. This is the "core area" of the Beltline I mentioned earlier. It doesn't count the 11 residential skyscrapers built to the left (east) of the image in the last 10 years. I'd estimate for the Beltline alone, not including the several thousand units under construction currently, that this number would amount to around 11 000 units since 2010, possibly more.


By me

Based on this image, Beltline looks to have had twice the development as Centretown over the last 10 years.

Zibi started out slow, but it's picked up over the last year. Two new condo buildings are now complete, along with two heritage structures fully rehabilitated. I believe two apartment buildings and two office buildings are now u/c.

Off the top of my head, 8 towers are u/c in Centretown.

Calgary is outpacing Ottawa in development, but we're doing well.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Ah I see. Is this a nice/active area? I never spent any time there. Though I do recall several forumers here talking about how shitty of an area it is. Like with all the "urban renewal" government buildings and Museum of Civilization and stuff.

I would say it is so-so. I go out there quite a bit. My favourite bar is there as are several of my favourite restaurants. One of my kids goes to school there too.

[Chadillaccc]

Originally Posted by Hali87

SAIT seems close enough to pop downtown for lunch between classes - do people do that? And do people live on campus there?

It most definitely is not. SAIT is close enough to Kensington to go there for lunch breaks of course. The school, as you saw on Google Maps, is a 2 kilometer walk from the western edge of the downtown core (which is a pretty shitty area), 3 km walk from Eau Claire, and 3.5 km from the western (closest) end of Stephen Ave.

So no.

And yes, thousands of students live on the SAIT campus.

Originally Posted by Acajack

I would say it is so-so. I go out there quite a bit. My favourite bar is there as are several of my favourite restaurants. One of my kids goes to school there too.

Oh okay, well that's good to know. I'll have to check it out next time I'm there. When I move back to Ontario next year my plan is to spend the summer travelling the whole province as much as I can. Get myself reacquainted with the place after a decade away.

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Based on this image, Beltline looks to have had twice the development as Centretown over the last 10 years.

Zibi started out slow, but it's picked up over the last year. Two new condo buildings are now complete, along with two heritage structures fully rehabilitated. I believe two apartment buildings and two office buildings are now u/c.

Off the top of my head, 8 towers are u/c in Centretown.

Calgary is outpacing Ottawa in development, but we're doing well.

Oh yeah, totally. I've been impressed with your updates on Zibi. I also am in love with the concept of the neighbourhood, much cooler than East Village, since it's on an island. To be fair to EV though, it did include the $50 million revitalization of an island into a stunning natural park. Are there many heritage buildings left on Zibi Island? Every historic building in EV has been restored, but there are only 4

[Hali87]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

It most definitely is not. SAIT is close enough to Kensington to go there for lunch breaks of course. The school, as you saw on Google Maps, is a 2 kilometer walk from the western edge of the downtown core (which is a pretty shitty area), 3 km walk from Eau Claire, and 3.5 km from the western end of Stephen Ave.

So no.

And yes, thousands of students live on the SAIT campus.

It seemed close enough by C-Train when I was there although maybe my distance threshold for that kind of thing is higher than the average student, or maybe Kensington has better options (I'll concede I'd probably just eat at school or in Kensington, most of the time, personally)

[Chadillaccc]

Kensington is both walkable from SAIT and has better options than the proximate areas of downtown. Having to wait for a train, ride the train, rinse and repeat just during a lunch break doesn't seem at all practical. Most students don't even leave campus at U of C or SAIT between classes.

Remember, SAIT is also on top of the 100+ foot tall bluffs that rim the northern edge of downtown.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Oh yeah, totally. I've been impressed with your updates on Zibi. I also am in love with the concept of the neighbourhood, much cooler than East Village, since it's on an island. To be fair to EV though, it did include the $50 million revitalization of an island into a stunning natural park. Are there many heritage buildings left on Zibi Island? Every historic building in EV has been restored, but there are only 4

Here's Zibi's heritage preservation map. The buildings not numbered are Hydro Ottawa property.


https://www.cip-icu.ca/Honours-Award...Re-development

[Kilgore Trout]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Ah I see. Is this a nice/active area? I never spent any time there. Though I do recall several forumers here talking about how shitty of an area it is. Like with all the "urban renewal" government buildings and Museum of Civilization and stuff.

Hull feels a bit dumpy but it's improving a lot. There's a very nice little cluster of bars and cafés around a pedestrian street (Aubry Street) and Eddy Street has potential as a neighbourhood main street. There's plenty of activity, it just needs a bit more love in terms of improving sidewalks and planting trees.

There's also a fairly big Portuguese community around there which was a surprise to me.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

When I lived in Gatineau I don't remember anywhere Le Vieux, so I was just going by the area where two businesses have "Le Vieux" in their name in close proximity.

Lol...

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by lio45

Lol...

As in... Vieux Duluth.

[Acajack]

Originally Posted by Kilgore Trout

Hull feels a bit dumpy but it's improving a lot. There's a very nice little cluster of bars and cafés around a pedestrian street (Aubry Street) and Eddy Street has potential as a neighbourhood main street. There's plenty of activity, it just needs a bit more love in terms of improving sidewalks and planting trees.

There's also a fairly big Portuguese community around there which was a surprise to me.

Aubry is pretty nice and where I generally go.

Eddy has a long way to go though.

Portage is a better main street, at least for now.

[lio45]

Originally Posted by Acajack

As in... Vieux Duluth.

Completely unfair comparison!!! "Old Town" Duluth (downtown) is 140+ km away from the Ontario border and should totally not count.

https://www.google.com/maps/@46.7868...7i16384!8i8192