Where are Calgary & Edmonton?

[ssiguy]

Alberta's population is soaring right now and Calgary and Edmonton are the 2 fastest growing cities in the country of over 500,000 yet we never seem to hear anything about them?

Are there simply no Albertans left on this forum? I would love to know what's going on in those 2 cities and especially Calgary and it development and amazing transformation of downtown office space to residential. All we seem to hear about is the delays on Edmonton's LRT?

[giallo]

I'm pretty sure most of the Calgary forumers left a long time ago. If I remember correctly, they didn't feel very welcome in the Canada forum (Calgary did take a fair amount of trolling from a few members), so they packed up, and went elsewhere. Edmonton seems somewhat active here.

It's too bad as I'd love to see what's happening in Calgary right now.

[esquire]

Chadillaccc was one of the most prolific photographers in this forum... he left a pretty big hole in terms of Calgary coverage when he got tired of this place and left.

[J.OT13]

Chadillaccc was one of the most prolific photographers in this forum... he left a pretty big hole in terms of Calgary coverage when he got tired of this place and left.

For sure. I greatly appreciated his contributions. Unfortunately, there was a lot of conflict between him and other forumers.

Edmonton I find has good representation. I'd say fourth after Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.

[Coldrsx]

Edmonton is not that active anymore either, as most have migrated to SkyriseEdmonton, but Edmonton is chugging along, disappointingly with a ton of suburban same old development.

That said, they have some of the more progressive infill bylaws, visioning and course changes of any municipality in the last decade or two.

It's a really unique city in that it has the basis for significant infill, but due to the relatively low cost of housing, short commutes and relatively high urban crime statistics, continues to
face an uphill battle; the value proposition or need to live centrally is low and options for housing are significant, available and accessible for most given the relatively high HHI.

Edmonton Regional Housing Data June 2023

Property Type Median Price
Detached $445,000
Semi-Detached $365,000
Row/Townhouse $232,000
Condo / Apartments $170,000

[thurmas]

Calgary is really pricing people out Edmonton has much more affordable and plentiful housing in comparison and would not be surprised if it soon grows faster than Calgary again due to affordability.

[Architype]

We need to see some of Calgary & Edmonton, but Edmonton is often seen in the photos thread I think. Maybe Calgarians are too sensitive, unlike Vancouver. Vancouver doesn't care about that, it's the honey badger city. ;)

[WhipperSnapper]

Chad hasn't been back probably because there's nothing to flaunt as far high rise construction is concerned. Few over 20 storeys and boxy, window wall towers with spandrel and balconies engineered around the interior floor plan. Nothing heinous. The colour choices are decent. Nothing architectural. Typical with rental in Toronto too although the colour choices are often terrible.

I don't think I'll have to wait too long to see if I'm right. There's signs of the market heating up.


Ottawa is still a problem. It's booming with high rise construction. The line Calgary has more high rise under construction than Edmonton, Ottawa, Whitehorse combined can't be said even if construction stampede in Calgary.

[jigglysquishy]

The change in Sunnyside in Calgary the last 10 years has been staggering, particularly the last 3. It's now the premier urban neighbourhood of the prairies.

[Ozy_Flame]

I've lived for years in both cities and both have their own unique building and development projects. Personally I like Edmonton more because I like what Canada's most northern metropolis offers in terms of a less in-demand downtown but has an outer core and river valley strata that makes developments unique to certain districts.

If it helps any for Calgary, the two most exciting areas to watch out for at the moment are probably Kensington/Sunnyside/Bridgeland, and Victoria Park/Stampede Station. With the ongoing work of the Stampede district and the pending Green Line, as well as the continuation of the East Village, both these areas will be significantly impacted with collateral development to supplement the master plans.

Now I'm dwelling in Etobicoke and I should be happy (especially with Islington/Bloor coming) but I can't stop watching my home province cities.

[harls]

!!!????

Fuck off who is the biggest. Get your cities together. Assholes.

[O-tacular]

I'm pretty sure most of the Calgary forumers left a long time ago. If I remember correctly, they didn't feel very welcome in the Canada forum (Calgary did take a fair amount of trolling from a few members), so they packed up, and went elsewhere. Edmonton seems somewhat active here.

It's too bad as I'd love to see what's happening in Calgary right now.

That’s not why all of the Calgary forumers left. Mods allowed a group of right wing trolls to ruin the local forum and all the OG members left. Too bad really, as it was a tightknit community. I’m still friends with many from the golden age of Calgary SSP. Skyrise has all of the development updates but lacks the sense of community and camaraderie the SSP local had. I’m probably the last Calgary forumer to post regularly in the Canada section. I don’t even check the local forum anymore. It’s tumbleweeds.

Seemingly mods never learned from that experience and have allowed certain notorious culture war obsessed forumers to go unchecked here and that’s starting to chase away good posters from the Canada section aswell.

Regarding the original request for updates I sometimes post some in the skyline thread but usually they are buried by Toronto updates.

[giallo]

That’s not why all of the Calgary forumers left. Mods allowed a group of right wing trolls to ruin the local forum and all the OG members left. Too bad really, as it was a tightknit community. I’m still friends with many from the golden age of Calgary SSP. Skyrise has all of the development updates but lacks the sense of community and camaraderie the SSP local had. I’m probably the last Calgary forumer to post regularly in the Canada section. I don’t even check the local forum anymore. It’s tumbleweeds.

Seemingly mods never learned from that experience and have allowed certain notorious culture war obsessed forumers to go unchecked here and that’s starting to chase away good posters from the Canada section aswell.

Regarding the original request for updates I sometimes post some in the skyline thread but usually they are buried by Toronto updates.

Oh wow. I had no idea. I guess I was going by what Chad had said.

That's too bad.

[craner]

Still here.

And to answer the question of the thread title:
Alberta, Canada.

[O-tacular]

Here's a recent update I posted showing 10th and the Beltline. Lots of activity going on.

From AlexYYC on SkyriseCities:

https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/forum/attachments/960bb314-59b2-4c64-a05f-14ca49f47d88-jpeg.479184/

https://cdn.skyrisecities.com/forum/attachments/0ae2f857-2515-4a72-bc25-99aed48d2296-jpeg.479182/

[Harrison]

Edmonton is definitely more active here than Calgary nowadays imo, but it is still busier over on Skyrise Cities for both. For me, I post more there as it is much easier to upload photos of projects than here on SSP where you have to use BBCode and image hosting.

[esquire]

^ That's true, the forum software here doesn't do much to encourage easy uploading of photos.

[thurmas]

Is Acheson the new Okotoks?

[isaidso]

For sure. I greatly appreciated his contributions. Unfortunately, there was a lot of conflict between him and other forumers.


If a standard of conduct/respect for others mattered to SSP, he'd still be here. And he's hardly the only member who got fed up and left.

[MonkeyRonin]

Regarding the original request for updates I sometimes post some in the skyline thread but usually they are buried by Toronto updates.


I hear it repeated often enough how there's too much Toronto content here and it drowns out all the other cities, but as a petty little experiment I went through the past 10 pages of the Canadian skylines thread and found that (excluding reposts) in that snapshot of time we've seen:

16 photos/videos of Vancouver
13 photos of Montreal
16 photos/videos of Kitchener
10 photos of Edmonton
9 photos of Ottawa
6 photos/videos of Toronto
5 photos of Calgary
3 photos of Halifax
1 photo of Hamilton
1 photo of Saskatoon

Seems fairly balanced and not Toronto-centric. Toronto content dominates the tallest proposals & u/c threads for obvious reasons; while Toronto posters do seem to be more active in the future skylines and construction update thread - but the problem there is not they're contributing too much; it's that posters from elsewhere aren't contributing enough. Those threads would be dead if not for the contributions of those Toronto forumers. This feels like a classic Canadian tall-poppy-syndrome complaint to me.

[ssiguy]

Their rate of growth will see metamorphic changes in their cities over the next decade not only in terms of population but also urbanity especially Calgary which already has a much more vibrant downtown/inner city already. The Washington Post has done an article on how Calgary is leading the way in NA in the repurposing of old office buildings into housing units and how the approval times by the City are incredibly fast.

Has the general database been updated recently? I for one would love to see more Alberta content in all of the forums.

[Maldive]

"Where are Calgary and Edmonton?"

3 degrees on the first day of summer... so likely staying inside (and not contributing to the 'What's the Weather' thread).

[O-tacular]

"Where are Calgary and Edmonton?"

3 degrees on the first day of summer... so likely staying inside (and not contributing to the 'What's the Weather' thread).

Not that far off this morning which is only 6 degrees. Been rainy and cold the past week and a half after 30 degree heat all spring. At least it helps with wildfires.

[Harrison]

Is Acheson the new Okotoks?

No, I'd say go further west to Spruce Grove to find that.

[WhipperSnapper]

Calgary had a head start on 30% vacancy office vacancy. The conversions are having a positive effect on the vacancy rate which is below 30% and still dropping while everyone else is imploding. The conversions, on average, are ugly as sin. Nothing to show off.

There's an office tower that just finished a reclad and the facade is now being ripped apart again to accommodate several floors of residential with balconies. Must be the shortest reclad ever.

[O-tacular]

Calgary had a head start on 30% vacancy office vacancy. The conversions are having a positive effect on the vacancy rate which is below 30% and still dropping while everyone else is imploding. The conversions, on average, are ugly as sin. Nothing to show off.

There's an office tower that just finished a reclad and the facade is now being ripped apart again to accommodate several floors of residential with balconies. Must be the shortest reclad ever.

Are you referring to Palliser Square?

[WhipperSnapper]

yes indeed

https://livewirecalgary.com/2022/04/27/downtown-calgary-office-conversion-projects-announced/

[ssiguy]

Calgary had a head start on 30% vacancy office vacancy. The conversions are having a positive effect on the vacancy rate which is below 30% and still dropping while everyone else is imploding. The conversions, on average, are ugly as sin. Nothing to show off.

There's an office tower that just finished a reclad and the facade is now being ripped apart again to accommodate several floors of residential with balconies. Must be the shortest reclad ever.

Yes Calgary has had a head start due to it's high vacancy rates but the difference between it and the rest of the country is that it is truly doing something about it. Most Canadian cities have seen a precipitous rise in office vacancy rates but in most Canadians cities to even try to attempt to do this would require a 5 year Royal Commission while approvals in Calgary take around 2 to 3 months.

I respect Calgary as it really is a 'can-do" city. When they decide to do something they do it while the vast majority of cities in Canada simply study it and then end up doing nothing.

[WhipperSnapper]

The precipitous rise in vacancy across Canada has happen in the last 12 months or less. Calgary has been over 25% vacancy for over 5 years and, during that time, there has been three major conversions completed with less than 400 units. There's a few more underway but most remain proposed. There's also a 10 storey vacant office building being demolished with no replacement in site.

Conversions to residential happen all the time. Office space isn't all that convenient to convert. It's not just the size of the floor plate. It's built for one or more tenants with centralized facilities. It's more typical for older hotels to be converted. There's been thousands of hotel rooms in Toronto and Montreal that have been converted to senior or student housing over the last decade. One converted downtown Calgary hotel created 252 residential units or more than half all the converted office units.

To say Toronto can't produce 400 converted units in 5 years with 30% office vacancy is nuts. The residential market is bigger, hotter and, priced higher than Calgary. There's probably 20 active proposals that include demolition of older office high rises for mixed use skyscrapers with replacement office space to sway council to approve. With 30% vacancy space, these condo developers shouldn't have any issue convincing council to not build the replacement office space.

It takes more than 5 years to get approval for a 60 storey tower on a lot zoned for 3 storeys. Permission to convert to another use within the existing envelope is no where near the same process. Subsidies or incentives to promote empty office conversions is also not as likely to be necessary as it is in Calgary.

"Can do" is a rhetorical slogan popularized during the big oil boom. I don't really hear it anymore. It is an accomplishment however, we're talking about resource extraction. There's little intellectual or proprietary. The dynamics to build in Calgary is the same as everywhere else as the whole country shares the same developers, financial investors, and federal housing initiatives.

[kevinbottawa]

Wow. Calgary looks great. My wife has family there. I'll need to visit soon. The buildings look a lot better than Ottawa.

[LightingGuy]

Wow. Calgary looks great. My wife has family there. I'll need to visit soon. The buildings look a lot better than Ottawa.

Calgary has some wicked urban canyons downtown. It's fun to drive through them on the weekend when there's less traffic.