The Retail Thread

[Spring2008]

Yeah seems like it. Stadium plaza, 2 other outlet malls including a Tanger along TCH and now this one all within a fairly close distance.

[Policy Wonk]

And a conventional power centre where the trailer park is (or close to it, I don't have the plat handy)

[kev_427]

highstreetcalgary.com
highstreetcalgary.com/325_MVH_HighstreetCgWebPanels_complete.pdf
This document shows the site plan as well as proposed transportation improvements. The property to the east is a also proposed shopping centre called Bow Valley Crossing, owned by Loblaws.

[Spring2008]

^Some potential there.

Good Life Fitness on Stephen will be their flagship location:

CALGARY - The historic downtown Bank of Montreal building, which sat vacant for more than 10 years, is springing back to life and will be the future home of GoodLife Fitness.

Just recently, Seven Generations Energy took over office space of about 25,000 square feet on the third and fourth floor of the building, at the corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street S.W., and GoodLife will be setting up operations hopefully by the summer on the mezzanine, main floor and basement in about 24,000 square feet of space.

Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, said the downtown corner is an important one along the Stephen Avenue corridor and it’s exciting to see a heritage building come alive again.

“It’s an extremely vibrant area and a really important corridor and (the building has) been a real blight on that corner and it’s such a shame because it’s an extraordinarily beautiful building,” said Schofield. “It’s been an area where we’ve had issues with crime and vandalism . . . We are absolutely delighted to see that someone has embraced the building and is going to make it viable once again.

“The active use is such an important piece on the corner and on Stephen Avenue. A fitness facility may seem like an unusual execution of that building but from our perspective it provides non-standard business hour activity. So it will be open during the day but when you’ve also got weekends, evenings, and early mornings it creates that buzz and has people coming and going. It makes it more vibrant.”

A&B Sound was the last business to operate at the location, more than 10 years ago. The building, built in 1931, is owned by Steiner Properties.

The limestone-clad building features Corinthian columns, inside and outside, a 35-foot coffered ceiling in gold leaf as well as extensive use of marble.

Sue Chambers, vice-president of operations for GoodLife Fitness, said it’s going to take the company longer to build a club on the site than it normally does because of the building’s historic nature. But it’s shooting for an opening in June.

“We’re maintaining everything in it. It’s going to be our flagship club,” said Chambers. “It’s going to be a very unique club for us to build but it’s going to be the most beautiful club that we have.

“It’s hard to find that perfect location . . . We’ve been looking I bet you for five or six years for a downtown location . . . It’s just the perfect location. Everyone can walk to it. It’s just easy access. Right off the street. Great visibility. It’s so central. It’s just going to meet all our needs and to get a club downtown that size so we can have all of our facilities in there.”

The company has about 300 locations across Canada. Currently there are 12 clubs in Calgary and two in Airdrie. Another club is opening in Cochrane Wednesday. There are three more in Edmonton and one in Lethbridge.

Bernie Bayer, president of the Taurus Property Group which leased the retail space in the building, said the introduction of GoodLife will ‘re-energize” the downtown corner.

“It’s going to be another reason for people to go there,” he said. “I think we’ll see a lot more pedestrians on Stephen Avenue as a result.”

In recent years, the building underwent a massive multimillion dollar restoration.

Aly Lalani, vice-president/partner with Colliers International, which leased the office space in the building, said the third and fourth floors of the building were completely re-done.

According to a Herald heritage column in 2003, the building was described as neo-classical, clad in Manitoba tyndall stone. “Ashen green was the dominant colour in an opulent interior . . . The main entrance was framed in blue marble and crowned by a clock in a blue-and-white marble setting. Identical brass sculptures in the shape of classical Greek lamps stood on both sides of the doorway. Walls, floors, columns and counters were finished in four types of marble . . . The most impressive feature was the coffered ceiling with its moulded plaster rosettes encrusted with 917 ounces of gold leaf.”

http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/re...istoric+Bank+Montreal/9413364/story.html

[Full Mountain]

Anyone heard anything about what's going in at 605 8th Ave (the base of Opus 8/Plains Midstream Plaza)?

[Spring2008]

^Was wondering that too. Some pretty heavy duty renovation work going on there. Prob a new restaurant.

Interesting article on 17th including the possibility of opening 16th AV up for more small business shops.


http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/917126/...ead-whats-next-for-calgarys-17th-avenue/

[Retail-Insider]

Upscale Vancouver-based grocer Urban Fare will open at Mount Royal Village:

http://www.retail-insider.com/2014/01/urban-fare-to-open-at-calgarys-mount.html

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by Retail-Insider

Upscale Vancouver-based grocer Urban Fare will open at Mount Royal Village:

http://www.retail-insider.com/2014/01/urban-fare-to-open-at-calgarys-mount.html

Great news. Known about this for a while, but nice to see it public. To me, better than less affordable Whole Foods. Great amenity for the area, which is growing fast and picking up momentum.

[Wooster]

Originally Posted by kev_427

highstreetcalgary.com
highstreetcalgary.com/325_MVH_HighstreetCgWebPanels_complete.pdf
This document shows the site plan as well as proposed transportation improvements. The property to the east is a also proposed shopping centre called Bow Valley Crossing, owned by Loblaws.

Shape also bought Deerfoot mall. Cool plans for that too, which I got a peek at today.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

^Was wondering that too. Some pretty heavy duty renovation work going on there. Prob a new restaurant.

Interesting article on 17th including the possibility of opening 16th AV up for more small business shops.


http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/917126/...ead-whats-next-for-calgarys-17th-avenue/

"Taylor said storefront rents immediately on 17th are becoming quite pricey, and he supports expanded retail development on north-facing sections of 16th Avenue and “perhaps even lane-side retail” to give mom-and-pop shops more opportunities and help keep the area diverse and lively."

Originally Posted by Retail-Insider

Upscale Vancouver-based grocer Urban Fare will open at Mount Royal Village:

http://www.retail-insider.com/2014/01/urban-fare-to-open-at-calgarys-mount.html

"Upscale Vancouver-baserd grocery retailer Urban Fare will open a store near Downtown Calgary. According to First Capital Realty, Urban Fare will anchor a 110,000 square foot retail/commercial building adjacent to Mount Royal Village. This will be Urban Fare's only existing store outside of British Columbia, though not the first time it has opened a store in Alberta."

Well, it sounds like the area may be getting some love sooner than later.

I don't have experience with Urban Fare, but I think any grocery store is good news for the area. With Drake 90% moved in, Uno sold out, The Block almost complete, and Ten Mount Royal busy under construction, I'd say the area is ready for some more residential developments. Smith? MRV tower? I wonder what will happen at the NW corner of 16th Ave & 9th St. There are still a ton of opportunities on the north side of 17th west of the liquor store @ 11th st.

As strange as it sounds to say this, I'd like to thank BestBuy for catalyzing the area.

[RyLucky]

Urban Fare is going to have a solid stream of business from the second it opens its doors.

[srperrycgy]

Urban Fare is pretty much the upscale version of Save-on-Foods. Nice addition.

[Full Mountain]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

^Was wondering that too. Some pretty heavy duty renovation work going on there. Prob a new restaurant.

It looks like they split it into two CRU's, the front (8th ave) looks to be retail while the 5th street side looks to be more restaurant.

[fusili]

Glad I bought my condo in the location and the time I did. Being two blocks from Urban Fare is going to be awesome!

[SpongeG]

don't buy the breakfast sandwich thingies at uf... i used to make em ick

[mersar]

Originally Posted by RyLucky

Smith? MRV tower? I wonder what will happen at the NW corner of 16th Ave & 9th St. There are still a ton of opportunities on the north side of 17th west of the liquor store @ 11th st.

Both Smith and the MRV tower are coming (I know who the residential developer is for the MRV tower, not sure if its public knowledge though) and it will be interesting. Smith is moving ahead fairly fast, quite possibly in the ground this summer if they can get their permits all in a line.

The NW corner of 16th Ave and 9th Street is owned by Grace Presbyterian Church (who I also do some consulting for, not development related though), which is right to the north, and uses that parking lot heavily on weekends. Long term plans are to redevelop the site with underground parking, and some cultural/arts type facility at grade.

[YYCguys]

Originally Posted by Wooster

Shape also bought Deerfoot mall. Cool plans for that too, which I got a peek at today.

Good, cuz in its current state, it's a dumpy dead mall! I hope the whole feel of the mall will be improved with the redesign.

The proposed site plan shows Sears as an anchor still, although they've been gone from there for some time, and I see that nobody else has moved in there. That's a big space to fill! Walmart obviously will have a lot to say about who should occupy that space, so pretty much guaranteed it won't be Target.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by mersar

Both Smith and the MRV tower are coming (I know who the residential developer is for the MRV tower, not sure if its public knowledge though) and it will be interesting. Smith is moving ahead fairly fast, quite possibly in the ground this summer if they can get their permits all in a line.

The NW corner of 16th Ave and 9th Street is owned by Grace Presbyterian Church (who I also do some consulting for, not development related though), which is right to the north, and uses that parking lot heavily on weekends. Long term plans are to redevelop the site with underground parking, and some cultural/arts type facility at grade.

I couldn't ask for more . That could potentially be a nice bit of social infrastructure to keep that part of 17th up to speed culturally with Inglewood and EV - beyond just bars and restaurants. As it stands, Tubby Dog is bearing the flag of community culture, which, is not necessarily a bad thing.

[Spring2008]

Some tenant info I haven't seen posted about the existing Mt. Royal Village mall redevelopment.


Also mentions 250,000sq ft for the condo tower. This should be around 300 units or 40 stories.

Mount Royal Village, Calgary, Alberta

As part of its redevelopment of Mount Royal Village, First Capital Realty is nearing completion on the major renovation of the 136,000 square foot Mount Royal Village shopping centre mixed use retail and office complex, which includes as major tenants London Drugs and GoodLife Fitness and is expected to also include a high-end furniture retailer and restaurants. In addition, the Company is currently in the entitlements process for the development of an adjacent three-level, 110,000 square foot retail/commercial building, to be anchored by an Urban Fare grocery store. The Company intends to sell a land parcel forming part of the property to a residential developer for construction of a 250,000 square foot high-rise residential condominium building.

Mount Royal Village is located on 17th Avenue SW, in the beltline of Calgary's downtown core, and is in the heart of a densely populated, fast growing, high income neighbourhood. On completion of the redevelopment project, Mount Royal Village will total 336,000 square feet of retail/commercial space and 630 parking stalls.

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1294349/...des-update-on-major-development-projects

[Jimby]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

Some tenant info I haven't seen posted about the existing Mt. Royal Village mall redevelopment.


Also mentions 250,000sq ft for the condo tower. This should be around 300 units or 40 stories.



http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1294349/...des-update-on-major-development-projects

Not on 17th Ave!