The Great Canadian Skyline Thread!

[Boris2k7]

I always find it funny how people come to Calgary and expect the CBD to be bumping at all times. This is a North American-styled downtown people, not Enlightenment European. If you don't see people, you are in the wrong spot. Where are people after 6PM or on the weekend around downtown? On Stephen Ave, in Chinatown, in Eau Claire -- walking or biking or jogging on the riverwalk or on Prince's Island. Also in surrounding hotspots like Kensington or Inglewood or the Beltline (especially on 17th). They aren't hanging around Bow Valley Square on Sunday afternoon.

Now do I expect some things to change? Of course. The East Village will be building up. Eau Claire will be building up. Adding a ton of rental units and condos and hotels on 10th Ave should help by bringing some more activity across the tracks. But our experience with the West End is that just building towers doesn't necessarily lead to lots of activity (the place is arguably just a vertical suburb, where people drive in and drive out of their towers). I certainly don't expect the areas with the densest concentration of financial offices and law offices and oil company headquarters to get bumping anytime soon, and really nobody should.