Sparks Street

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Takes a huge swath of storefront while contributing very little to the street (Grecos seems to have quite limited hours and goodlife fronts on Queen, although it does have a back door on Sparks).

Yeah, Goodlife has a not-so-good street presence on Queen, and leaving that for good retail would be very important. But PLEASE fix the Queen Street façade. It's awful!


Goodlife Fitness by Shel DeF on Flickr

[JHikka]

It's funny because after 7PM that Goodlife provides half the pedestrian traffic around Downtown just from people walking to and from the gym.

[Kitchissippi]

Being right in front of the future LRT station entrance, that location is going to be prime space in a few years. I predict that Queen and Sparks are going to have an amazing renaissance within a decade

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by acottawa

Takes a huge swath of storefront while contributing very little to the street (Grecos seems to have quite limited hours and goodlife fronts on Queen, although it does have a back door on Sparks).

Do not misunderestimate the contribution it makes to the street by virtual of mere motion, late-night light, and, um, eye candy.

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Do not misunderestimate the contribution it makes to the street by virtual of mere motion, late-night light, and, um, eye candy.

Do they use the ground floor? The area can still be vibrant if it's on the upper floors of a building, with the ground floor for other retail. They should fix the mess on Queen Street.

[MountainView]

Good Life only leases the space. It would be up to the building managers/owners to fix that facade.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by defishel

Do they use the ground floor? The area can still be vibrant if it's on the upper floors of a building, with the ground floor for other retail. They should fix the mess on Queen Street.

Yes, they use the ground floor. Goodlife expanded to that floor last winter/spring. It's a much better ambiance than that horrid discount clothing store was (though I'd still love to see Marks and Sparks back.)

[Arcologist]

Sparks needs more residential to bring in more people after the 9-5 workday.

[OTSkyline]

^ Very true. Except the one and only residential/hotel project that was to be built on Sparks seems to have been cancelled or stalled forever...

[citydwlr]

Bier Mrkt showing some progress:


[Source]

This should be a livelier corner come next summer. Looking forward to it!

* Why is there a Mannequin Pis over the entrance?

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by citydwlr

* Why is there a Mannequin Pis over the entrance?

A new fountain feature of some sort?

[citydwlr]

Here's some surprising news regarding the dismissal of the head of the Sparks Street BIA:

Les Gagne relieved of duties as Sparks Street BIA boss (via CBC)

The BIA’s board quietly cut Gagne loose after he served for more than two years as the board's executive director.

In an email to Sparks Street merchants, the board’s treasurer said that as of Nov. 3, Gagne was "relieved of his duties as executive director of the Sparks BIA and the Sparks Street Mall Authority."

No reason was given for Gagne’s departure and members of the board have declined to comment.

[Urbanarchit]

Originally Posted by citydwlr

Here's some surprising news regarding the dismissal of the head of the Sparks Street BIA:

Les Gagne relieved of duties as Sparks Street BIA boss (via CBC)

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by defishel

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

...and the inane zip line idea.

[Uhuniau]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

...and the inane zip line idea.

Inane how?

[Harley613]

I, for one, was really looking forward to the INSANE zip line...

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by Uhuniau

Inane how?

It's one thing to have a zip line in an amusement park, where like-minded people go looking for that kind of excitement, and have other rides available to complete their day of adventure, or out in the wilderness somewhere where you can safely fly past the treetops or across the river in an expansive environment. But this kind of attraction, built small-scale as it would have to be to fit within the confines of a narrow pedestrian mall, simply wouldn't survive as a paying attraction, IMO. Nor is it really compatible with the other uses of the mall: business, shopping, loitering, etc. Would you really want to be sitting out at the patio at Nates, and have somebody noisily zip over your table every few minutes? Think of the liability of an installation like this over a high-traffic public area. And do I need to mention the NCC? This idea was never going to fly.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by defishel

Is this the antagonistic person responsibility for their social media presence? CBC says he was responsible for the "valet parking" on the pedestrian mall.

I'm surprised. I've never met him but there seemed to be a genuine effort to improve the street in the past couple of years with him at the helm, including the creation of the New Years' Eve party and Poutinefest.

It's too bad the zip line hasn't come to fruition. I think it would have been cool.

[TransitZilla]

Originally Posted by rocketphish

It's one thing to have a zip line in an amusement park, where like-minded people go looking for that kind of excitement, and have other rides available to complete their day of adventure, or out in the wilderness somewhere where you can safely fly past the treetops or across the river in an expansive environment. But this kind of attraction, built small-scale as it would have to be to fit within the confines of a narrow pedestrian mall, simply wouldn't survive as a paying attraction, IMO. Nor is it really compatible with the other uses of the mall: business, shopping, loitering, etc. Would you really want to be sitting out at the patio at Nates, and have somebody noisily zip over your table every few minutes? Think of the liability of an installation like this over a high-traffic public area. And do I need to mention the NCC? This idea was never going to fly.

Sorry, all of those sound like pretty lame, bureaucratic reasons why it couldn't be done.

[rocketphish]

Originally Posted by bradnixon

Sorry, all of those sound like pretty lame, bureaucratic reasons why it couldn't be done.

If bureaucratic reasons like suitability, cost, profit, liability, zoning regulations, NCC approval, etc, are lame, then so be it. At the end of the day that's what really matters, not how cool the idea might be.