The Great Canadian Skyline Thread! - Page 221

Acajack · #**4401** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 4:45 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

Never crossed the river, how is the density on the Quebec side? it looked OK from Ottawa, but also had a gritty industrial look to it as well...

It's a gappy mish-mash.

There are still a lot of small SFH that were built for match factory workers a hundred years ago or so right in the downtown, often sitting right next to office towers, like this:

http://goo.gl/maps/iiUzY

http://goo.gl/maps/sBoVI

Retail "street wall" strips are quite rare as well.

This is the main one:

http://goo.gl/maps/kPHp8

OTSkyline · #**4402** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 8:41 PM**

Ottawa definitely doesn't have that tall or "wow" skyline in its CBD due to the height restrictions but yes, anybody who has spent time there in the last year or so know that it is very dense and feels very much big city with the office towers, condos and canyons for blocks and blocks away..

Case in point; this is the typical view around downtown:
https://maps.google.ca/maps?ll=45.420806...i-1TcRhvmvyPL-n6BA&cbp=12,9.87,,0,-27.66

Razor · #**4403** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 9:09 PM**

Ya, I always maintained that it all comes down to how a city is cut up..

Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary are pretty much the same size, so whether you have the same office space in a few 50 story towers or more 15 story towers, it's all the same...Ottawa's a short stout person, and a city like Calgary is a tall lanky person who both step on a scale and weigh the same give or take a few pounds. I never researched it, but I'm sure all three cities have the same office square footage give or take.I do like how Calgary's skyline is evolving though. I like how all the office space seems to be focused in the dt, vs campuses spread through out the city which Ottawa seems to have going on..I wish Ottawa had more of that. Calgary has done it right IMO.

Boris2k7 · #**4404** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 9:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

Ya, I always maintained that it all comes down to how a city is cut up..

Ottawa, Edmonton, and Calgary are pretty much the same size, so whether you have the same office space in a few 50 story towers or more 15 story towers, it's all the same...Ottawa's a short stout person, and a city like Calgary is a tall lanky person who both step on a scale and weigh the same give or take a few pounds. I ever researched it, but I'm sure all three cities have the same office square footage give or take.I do like how Calgary's skyline is evolving though. I like how all the office space seems to be focused in the dt, vs campuses spread through out the city which Ottawa seems to have going on..

But... it's not equal at all. Calgary has 2x the office space of Ottawa and 2.6x more than Edmonton.

Razor · #**4405** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 9:24 PM**

^ Okay, I never researched it, but ya..That is a big difference then.

Boris2k7 · #**4406** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 9:32 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razor

^ Okay, I never researched it, but ya..That is a big difference then.

Full number for Q3 2014 accessible here: http://researchgateway.cbre.com/Layouts/...BID=2a3e10cb-586a-45cf-bbe4-5e22bcf09f80

To be clear, my post is based on the downtown numbers. If you go by total market numbers (downtown + suburban), Calgary has 61.9M sqft., Edmonton 24.3M sqft., and Ottawa 39.3M sqft. Not as wide of a difference but still big.

Razor · #**4407** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 9:35 PM**

Then I guess both Edmonton and Ottawa have more subdivisions and rural/exhurbs ha ha

Hybrid247 · #**4408** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 11:05 PM**

Randomly found this on google earth and thought it was worth sharing

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/76946387?source=wapi&referrer=kh.google.com

Beedok · #**4409** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 11:50 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Calgarian

I would definitely agree with this. Unless you are walking around looking up, you almost don't notice whether you are beside a 10 storey building or a 50 storey building. The skyline is more something to be appreciated from a distance.

That I would debate. Ottawa has loads of like 10-15 floor buildings, and many feel really stubby. Now 20-25 stories and you're not really noticing the height difference, but a 10 floor building isn't that impressive. Maybe if you're right beside it, but if you're across the street you almost never have to look up to see the top of buildings in Ottawa.

Also everything is so crammed together with no room to breath it's hard to feel like you're actually in a city rather than just a single street canyon. There's a few vantage points with parks, parking lots, or whatever where you can see the city continues in all directions and it feels bigger, but most of the canyons just feel like a stubby little row with no sense of anything else. Now the Byward Market area, that has lots of nice space so you can see that there's plenty of buildings for several blocks and realise you're in a big city.

Darkoshvilli · #**4410** Posted **Feb 12, 2015, 11:58 PM**

Thats a great Calgary shot.

SkahHigh · #**4411** Posted **Feb 13, 2015, 12:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hybrid247

Randomly found this on google earth and thought it was worth sharing

http://www.panoramio.com/photo/76946387?source=wapi&referrer=kh.google.com

Wicked shot.

esquire · #**4412** Posted **Feb 13, 2015, 12:00 AM**

^ At first glance it almost looks like Central Park South.

niwell · #**4413** Posted **Feb 13, 2015, 12:04 AM**

Regarding the CBRE stats, do they fully account for government owned office buildings? I remember reading that the stats can be misleading for publicly owned buildings, but can't find anything right now. Obviously the government leases a ton of space, but they own a fair number of buildings as well.

While Ottawa's downtown has much less office space than Calgary, the figures for the city overall seem low. Particularly since Ottawa has very little industrial space (especially compared to Edmonton). Either something's left out or the public sector and tech industries cram cubicle workers in way tighter than the oil industry!

Beedok · #**4414** Posted **Feb 13, 2015, 12:16 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by niwell

Regarding the CBRE stats, do they fully account for government owned office buildings? I remember reading that the stats can be misleading for publicly owned buildings, but can't find anything right now. Obviously the government leases a ton of space, but they own a fair number of buildings as well.

While Ottawa's downtown has much less office space than Calgary, the figures for the city overall seem low. Particularly since Ottawa has very little industrial space (especially compared to Edmonton). Either something's left out or the public sector and tech industries cram cubicle workers in way tighter than the oil industry!

Maybe they just don't have as many large CEO offices and meeting rooms?