Edmonton Construction 12 (December 2013)

[hilman]

I would expect a lot of the Oilers (especially the single ones) to buy/rent a condo there, talk about a sweet commute (goes for Stantec employees too).

[240glt]

Originally Posted by CanadianCentaur

Hey, cool! Do you have a scanner, or at least have access to one? Or if not, at least try to take a pic of it and show us those renderings?

I do remember seeing interesting renderings regarding Triple 5's proposal in the Edmonton Journal back at the time.

Vertical phasing is pretty damn rare. In fact the only city where I've seen this happen was in Vancouver, but I'm sure this has also happened in Toronto and Montreal. And yes, that was Bentall 5.

Here is the original proposal... Looking west down 102ave from 101st

Please DO NOT repost.. Tx!

[Black Star]

After I win the lotto Max Friday I will buy a condo there

[GreenSPACE]

^^I love the design of Eaton's. I can see the original vision was not carried out. Brutalism at the time could have worked given they would have actually had this corner entrance and transparency.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

Originally Posted by 240glt

Here is the original proposal... Looking west down 102ave from 101st

Please DO NOT repost.. Tx!

Thanks for the pic! Your "don't repost" request is noted for my part, though I don't know if you could prevent a lurker from using your pic - say, a reporter sniffing for a news story.

[s211]

Originally Posted by 240glt

Here is the original proposal... Looking west down 102ave from 101st

Please DO NOT repost.. Tx!

I love the greenery dripping off the balconies of the three residential towers on the left, versus the two clean office towers to the right. What comes around goes around.

Pretty sure that this has been posted before on SSP, so I don't know if you need be concerned about re-posting.

This is one of the two major proposals that 555 put forward. The other one had wider residential towers, if I recall. Don't have that render handy.

[big W]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

I would put money on 2 extra office floors (if the CoE tower fills up a bit) despite the market dynamics, while the condos get canned to support the condos at the hotel instead. Wouldn't be the worst outcome, even if it leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Unless a pension fund steps in to own the condos as rentals of course. And this is speaking as someone who has even odds at being back in Edmonton in the future and would love to live towering above the city, even if the market premium is a bit steep, but my logical brain looks at Pearl sales and wonders.

Well as someone who currently lives in a condo and walks to work downtown, I would consider this location a thousand times before Pearl. My wife and I would like to continue living downtown and would like a bigger suite. We discounted Pearl due to location from the office and LRT, while this location would be perfect for us. So they really are not the same thing for us.

[CanadianCentaur]

Very interesting original render of the Eaton Centre. Basically the same as that seen in Emporis, but much bigger and in colour. I think I've seen this version somewhere before.

I remember seeing other renderings of that same proposal in the Journal with shorter and wider towers with all-glass exteriors not unlike that found on the HSBC Bank building on 101 St just north of City Centre Mall West.

Interesting how many towers there are in that proposal. 2-3 residential and 2 office towers, IIRC. Even if Triple 5 (or some other overly bold developer) complied with height restrictions and actually went ahead with the whole thing, I have a feeling that Edmonton might have had even worse downtown office vacancy rates than it really had after the oil boom went bust in '81. It's also possible that Manulife Place as we know it and probably also Commerce Place next door might never have been built if the original Eaton Centre towers went up first. Especially with Edmonton already losing so much corporate business to Calgary. So in a way, that's a blessing in disguise that Triple 5's original Eaton Centre proposal never got off the drawing board.

It looks to me like this was more likely intended as a phased project, which means not all towers going up at once, but likely only one or two at a time, dictated by office/residential market conditions. And I'm sure one or maybe even two of those towers would have been hotel towers.

[s211]

Originally Posted by CanadianCentaur

Very interesting original render of the Eaton Centre. Basically the same as that seen in Emporis, but much bigger and in colour. I think I've seen this version somewhere before.

I remember seeing other renderings of that same proposal in the Journal with shorter and wider towers with all-glass exteriors not unlike that found on the HSBC Bank building on 101 St just north of City Centre Mall West.

Interesting how many towers there are in that proposal. 2-3 residential and 2 office towers, IIRC. Even if Triple 5 (or some other overly bold developer) complied with height restrictions and actually went ahead with the whole thing, I have a feeling that Edmonton might have had even worse downtown office vacancy rates than it really had after the oil boom went bust in '81. It's also possible that Manulife Place as we know it and probably also Commerce Place next door might never have been built if the original Eaton Centre towers went up first. Especially with Edmonton already losing so much corporate business to Calgary. So in a way, that's a blessing in disguise that Triple 5's original Eaton Centre proposal never got off the drawing board.

It looks to me like this was more likely intended as a phased project, which means not all towers going up at once, but likely only one or two at a time, dictated by office/residential market conditions. And I'm sure one or maybe even two of those towers would have been hotel towers.

One other version of Eaton Centre that I never saw rendered, but touted by 555 at the time, was for an 85 storey tower, if I remember the floor count properly. Talk about throwing stuff at the wall!

[Kevin_foster]

edit fixed below

[Oilers1799]

I might actually see this building from Lamont.

[Trans Canada]

A couple renders of Eaton Centre proposal (one of them is posted above)

Click for full size

The Eaton's Centre project had a turbulent history after first being announced in July of 1980. Initially expected to be CDN $500 million and take five to seven years to construct, it was to be the most ambitious mixed-use project in Canada outside of Toronto.

The project was approved within six months but the light was far from green. Controversial tax concessions from the city to the tune of $9 million irked many city officials and residents. In appeasement, and to obtain higher density ratio approval, construction of the residential towers was added to the project's first phase.
The project was the brainchild of the Triple Five Corporation. Triple Five was run by the Ghermezian family, famous for bringing West Edmonton Mall, the world's largest, to fruition.

Triple Five originally had grandiose plans for an 85 story tower. This was rejected due to Transport Canada height restrictions that exist over downtown Edmonton. This limitation exists as a municipal airport in close proximity has flight lines over the CBD. Instead, they proposed five towers virtually all as tall as could be allowed.

Much more recently, the T. Eaton's Co. Ltd. went out of business and the structure is now known as Edmonton City Centre West under the control of Oxbridge Properties.
September of 1981 saw the project's main tenant and namesake, T. Eaton Co., pull out of the project. High interest rates and economics of the project were cited. The Eaton's Centre project cost had already soared to $600 million.

Triple Five announced in September of 1983 that the project would begin construction the following spring starting with the two apartment buildings. At that time Eaton's had still not signed on the dotted line. Ultimately the Eaton's Centre's multi-level mall and a smaller hotel (Delta Edmonton Centre Suite) were completed. However, none of the five original towers came to be.

Source for images and text http://www.emporis.com/complex/eaton-s-centre-edmonton-canada

/

Thanks for the mockup Kevin... that thing is a beast!

[EdmTrekker]

Originally Posted by Oilers1799

I might actually see this building from Lamont.

[CMD UW]

The tower will be all built at once. And who says the residential portion will be a condo. I believe there is a 90% chance that it will be rental.

@Kevin - great rendering. The building is too way too wide as illustrated.

[itom 987]

^^^^Yes, you did a good job Kevin but the building is as wide as the bow. Thank god we don't have that skyscraper in our skyline.

^That is good to know CMD UW; either way, I'm not worried about sales because they have a lot of time to sell units before construction on the upper portion starts. I believe buyers will take comfort in knowing their investment is under construction and not based on a promise.

[Kevin_foster]

If I had some idea on width dimension I could get the fatness right. The floor plates sure aren't as big as the bow. Maybe similar to commerce place or bigger like Epcor?

Lemme know so I can redo , or maybe better, we'll see a full skyline impact render after dc2 and edc.

[Black Star]

Ha...Its Godzilla.

This building is going to POP!

Not to forget the hotel condo tower. Looks to be 40 to 50 stories.

[Shodan]

Construction boom raises worry of office, condo glut and parking shortage

By Bill Mah, Edmonton Journal
August 28, 2014 6:34 AM

EDMONTON - A spate of commercial and residential developments, including the newly announced Stantec Tower project, is sparking debate on whether Edmonton will soon face a glut of offices and condos and a dearth of downtown parking.

The 62-storey Stantec Tower, which will boast 26 office floors and 320 residential suites, is just the latest project in a construction boom that has hit both the multi-family and office markets downtown.

In the office sector, the Stantec Tower by itself is adding 600,000 square feet, of which 450,000 square feet will be taken by its anchor tenant.

Also under construction is a 27-storey tower to consolidate City of Edmonton employees and the Kelly-Ramsey Building, which will add 595,000 square feet of office space when completed in 2016.

But Stantec will pull 1,700 employees from four existing office buildings and city workers will move from offices in buildings such as Chancery Hall and HSBC Bank Place...

[email protected]

Twitter.com/mahspace
© Copyright (c) The Edmonton Journal

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/story_print.html?id=10156486&sponsor=

[slipsandtangles]

Originally Posted by Shodan

Construction boom raises worry of office, condo glut and parking shortage

By Bill Mah, Edmonton Journal
August 28, 2014 6:34 AM

EDMONTON - A spate of commercial and residential developments, including the newly announced Stantec Tower project, is sparking debate on whether Edmonton will soon face a glut of offices and condos and a dearth of downtown parking.

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/story_print.html?id=10156486&sponsor=

Better headlines: "Construction boom raises worry of leasing agents for aging properties" "Construction boom raises worry of people accustomed to a downtown filled mostly with surface parking".

Boo. Hoo. Yes, we should all be very very concerned about billions of dollars of investment in our downtown. I'm sick to death with worry.

[ciudad_del_norte]

I feel like this parking discussion has happened multiple times now. There is lots of parking downtown and they are actually adding more. Yes, there is more buildings and demand, but that surface parking lot will be replaced by multiple levels of u/g parking. Yeah, it will cost more...but people will survive.