Quote:
Originally Posted by Colin May
I don't know about 're-gentrify', but I do know that the demographics of downtown are a cause for worry. We have a friend in Admiralty Place who describes the property as deathly quiet and full of retirees, many of whom spend 3-4 months in the sunny south. As I posted previously the 30+ group are buying single detached properties and thus the area is going through a generational change.
My block now has 1 child on it whereas 20 years ago there were 10 children. Retirees are not big spenders in the local economy but families are. Providing more housing for families will be better for downtown business expansion than condos for singles and retirees. The schools, parks,transit and recreational facilities are here but development aimed at families is non existent. We cannot improve the area without understanding the past and realising what the statistics are telling us.
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So then how do you propose to force families into downtown? You can build the units - the big question is whether they BUY or RENT them. This is a big issue we're having in some of our growth corridors in Calgary. We get developers building 2 and 3 bedroom units; but families aren't the ones buying them. So all the work we put into getting these 'family oriented units' isn't making a hill of beans difference.
Dartmouth downtown (compared to Spring Garden Road) is in rough shape. But we can't focus on what it is - it's time to look at what it can be/will be. With King's Wharf growing, the height limits removed and a lot of interest occurring (I spoke with some planner folk while I was home - there have been pre-applications) what we see today will not be what we see in 15 years time.
Rome was not built in a day...