Regina Construction II

[Le-TanK-]

Gardens on Rose is going to be breaking ground in November. this is on there FB page.

[Stormer]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Why can't they just retain the facade as the base of the new skyscraper like they do often in Toronto, Vancouver and even London Ont?

I believe even Winnipeg's ALT hotel proposal incorporates the original facade of a heritage structure.

If I was to guess, this is probably their fall back position if they get too much grief from Council.

[thefourthtower]

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[thefourthtower]

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[Draftsman]

Originally Posted by Stormer

To me it is more about the location than about too much supply. Why build on Sask Dr. next to the CP mainline when there are so mnay other suitable sites?

I agree. The only places on Sask Drive that would be available for development (between Broad & Albert) is at the west end towards Albert. The only space on the south side would be where the Empire Hotel sits, or on the north side of the street backing the CPR mainline. Remember, the tracks are not coming out just the multi-model facility. I think these sites would be a terrible place to build a condo. The traffic is bad at times and the noise from the trains, especially the whistle-blowing at night, is horrible. I live in a 'hi-rise' 6 blocks south of the tracks and I can hear the train horns blaring in the middle of the night with my windows closed but this is another issue altogether.
I always thought a prime location for a downtown hi-rise condo would be the vacant lot on the south-west corner of 11th Avenue & Lorne Street.

[thefourthtower]

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[thefourthtower]

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[Treesplease]

I've always thought that 13th Ave between Smith and Hamilton was ripe for condo development with a couple floors of commercial at the base. The street is lined with parking lots and is generally quiet, close to the Y and close to most offices in downtown. Only a honking big set of power lines running down 13th.

[thefourthtower]

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[TechnicalRecession]

Originally Posted by thefourthtower

A facade saving is worth it on this building , the Hill family has done so much for this city, more on here should be happy with them , it would be nice to see the new scraper with elements of the old building .

Saving the facade would be good, better than demolitioning the whole thing, but that doesn't seem to be Harvard's plan. I agree that the Hill family has done a lot for this city, but I'd like to see them put more effort into respecting historic buildings and history of downtown Regina. They've left a positive mark and built a lot of landmarks, but historic buildings are a part of the cities past and efforts should be made to restore and perserve that in some cases, I think these buildings would be one of those cases. Hopefully they can come up with a creative solution to do that.

[thefourthtower]

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[urbanregina]

Originally Posted by Draftsman

I agree. The only places on Sask Drive that would be available for development (between Broad & Albert) is at the west end towards Albert. The only space on the south side would be where the Empire Hotel sits, or on the north side of the street backing the CPR mainline. Remember, the tracks are not coming out just the multi-model facility. I think these sites would be a terrible place to build a condo. The traffic is bad at times and the noise from the trains, especially the whistle-blowing at night, is horrible. I live in a 'hi-rise' 6 blocks south of the tracks and I can hear the train horns blaring in the middle of the night with my windows closed but this is another issue altogether.
I always thought a prime location for a downtown hi-rise condo would be the vacant lot on the south-west corner of 11th Avenue & Lorne Street.

Funny, I find the sound of a trains whistle kinda comforting. Probably because I grew up in a small town and didn't live far from the tracks. Anyways it's kind of a non issue at that location. The trains only sound the whistle at places where they need to give warning, like level crossings. I think the closest ones are at Elphinstone st. and at Park st. Still I don't see them developing along the tracks until later, after all there is still many surface parking lots that can be filled.

[thefourthtower]

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[Stormer]

I am definitely in favour of the Plaza opening to limited traffic - unless it turns out to be a complete gong show. Let's try it and see what happens. No matter what there should be right hand turns off of Scarth allowed.

Without traffic, at least to drop off and pick up, it will be difficult to attract street level businesses to this area. They spent a lot of money to make this driveable, including the reinforced concrete base - they should use it.

[CoR East]

Originally Posted by Stormer

I am definitely in favour of the Plaza opening to limited traffic - unless it turns out to be a complete gong show. Let's try it and see what happens. No matter what there should be right hand turns off of Scarth allowed.

Without traffic, at least to drop off and pick up, it will be difficult to attract street level businesses to this area. They spent a lot of money to make this driveable, including the reinforced concrete base - they should use it.

Not to mention the fact that it could have been half the size if the plan had not been to include traffic...

[wacko]

Yes, City Square definitely needs to be open to vehicular traffic by winter.

I'm still irked by the permanent conversion of 11th and 12th to two-way streets. It's not just left-hand turns, it's also parking that potentially holds up traffic when reduced to one lane in each direction. I'd like to know what the rationale behind this decision was.

Plus the city buses now make their long stops on 12th between McIntyre and Lorne. This makes it harder for me to turn right at Smith. To their credit, the bus drivers seem to be aware of the issue, and check for traffic that may be cutting in front of them once the light changes.

Don't get me wrong, the paving at City Square looks nice. I just wonder if all these changes were necessary, as they seem to make vehicular routing harder than it needs to be.

[Stormer]

Spectacular night shots of the Plaza:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qkOblGO5NGI

[CCF]

Originally Posted by wacko

Yes, City Square definitely needs to be open to vehicular traffic by winter.

I'm still irked by the permanent conversion of 11th and 12th to two-way streets. It's not just left-hand turns, it's also parking that potentially holds up traffic when reduced to one lane in each direction. I'd like to know what the rationale behind this decision was.

The rationale is that there is plenty of research out there that shows one-way streets have a negative impact (e.g. higher traffic speeds) on the downtown environment compared to two way streets (e.g. businesses are more successful on two way streets, calms traffic).

Many cities over the past 10 years have done away with some of their one ways.

[Regina Boi]

Not sure if this has ever been posted yet, but looks like the Y downtown has plans to renovate the exterior of the building. They've been doing a ton of work inside, so I assume this will happen shortly.

[Nathan]

Originally Posted by CCF

The rationale is that there is plenty of research out there that shows one-way streets have a negative impact (e.g. higher traffic speeds) on the downtown environment compared to two way streets (e.g. businesses are more successful on two way streets, calms traffic).

Many cities over the past 10 years have done away with some of their one ways.

Except where Regina is concerned, many businesses are saying that people seem to be staying away from downtown because they find the new 2-way streets too difficult to get through easily (left hand turns cutting off traffic flow at intersections and such things like that).


Also, glad to see YMCA is doing improvements; that place has been a bit of an eye-sore for years.