Edmonton Construction 13 (November 2015)

[Coldrsx]

One thing that Tokyo, Shanghai and HK taught me was that while nice towers are nice, they do not do much for a city... it is how the first couple of floors are designed and how they interact that is important. It is about having people live more centrally and ensuring that a critical mass of density, amenity and activity is there. That is not to excuse lazy, poor quality, or awkward design... but we need to be reminded that a balance needs to be achieved.

[Daveography]

Renderings of the new food court:







Source: Global Edmonton

Edmonton's City Centre mall to consolidate on three levels, add 300 parking stalls

Edmonton City Centre’s $41.3-million upgrade will see the mall consolidated on three levels from four, as the entire bottom level will be converted into parking and the top floor on the east side will become a 500-seat food court with space for 11 vendors.

There are currently 20 vendors and 700 seats split between the two food courts. The renovation, which begins with food court construction Nov. 26, will add 300 parking stalls to the mall’s inventory of 2,600 in four parkades.

“We want to encourage people to go up,” said Olympia Trancevski, general manager of the Edmonton downtown portfolio for mall owner Oxford Properties. “Four levels is too much. It creates pockets of vacancies and they don’t do anything for us. A fully leased shopping centre on three levels, we all win.”

Full Story (Edmonton Journal)

[Daveography]

Quote from the story:

Downtown Business Association executive director Jim Taylor said the addition of 300 parking spots in the core of the city is important, especially since 17 surface lots have been consumed by 21 construction projects underway now.

Aren't most of those surface lots being replaced with underground parkades that hold even more parking spaces than the surface lots their replaced?

[rapid_business]

Originally Posted by Daveography

Quote from the story:



Aren't most of those surface lots being replaced with underground parkades that hold even more parking spaces than the surface lots their replaced?

Sure, but it's not all apples for apples. Ultima, Fox 1, Fox 2, etc. are all replacing surface lots and has parking for the residents, but not for public use.

Under the "greyhound surface lot" will be tons of stall, but will be used not only by arena and retail patrons, but by hotel guests, the office staff of Stantec and the apartment/condo tenants in the new buildings.

Under the arena are some stalls, but less than the surface lot it replaced.

It goes on. Either way, parking is still a part of any downtown, and especially in Edmonton. As downtown becomes more desirable for drivers to frequent in the evenings for events and social activities, variable parking rates also makes good financial sense from landlords. Ask Ken what their proformas projected for revenue for their parkade at EPCOR once the arena is in for game day (evening) parking.

[Daveography]

^ I guess that's true, not all of those parkades will be public. Dunno why I didn't think of that.

Oh look it's Beer'o'clock.

(Beer:30 in Newfoundland)

[ciudad_del_norte]

Meh. I think it's more of the DBA just making sure they spin the story as positive, including the parking.

There isn't any shortage of parking downtown, nor will there be. For off-hours visitors there are lots of spaces in office buildings that are available to the public at night. Existing and future larger development are also moving towards encouraging turnover - for example if you get a parking stall with work, you may only have access to it during work hours, after which it becomes public parking.

The addition of 300 parking stall certainly isn't the end of world, but to imply that these stalls are needed is a bit of a stretch.

[McBoo]

Can't say I'm very happy with a parking garage taking over a perfectly good food court and retail section.

C'est la vie, the Ice District, you could see it coming. But to call that rendering somehow an improvement on what's there now?

Underwhelmed.

[s211]

The extra stalls are really only needed if the existing above-grade parkades get knocked down, IMHO.

(please please please please please)

[Black Star]

Originally Posted by oiler-dude

Not sure if this had been posted, but rendering of the artists tower at 96 St & 102A Ave.


From: https://twitter.com/CityofEdmonton/status/667035852946690048

The podium is indeed nice. And having this in the quarters priceless.

The rest makes me sad.....

[Coldrsx]

That $205,000,000 interchange opens tomorrow...

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/local-ne...nge-that-cost-205-million-opens-thursday

[GreenSPACE]

1 down, 84 more to be built. Or until we're bankrupt.

[s4.audios]

Re Parkade at City Centre

I'm totally fine conversion to parkade. A food court in a basement really isn't that inviting and bringing it up top with natural light will. It also gets shoppers moving from the ground through all levels of retail, while non-shoppers (TD Tower workers) don't have to go through any retail to get their lunch. Win-win, good strategy.

As for yet another parkade, true there may be tons of public parking in other towers but when you got a parkade directly under the place you go shop, people will always choose this first. It will be far more utilized than any other parkade and I'm willing to bet the vast majority of non downtown residents shopping there don't even know they have so many indoor parking options. This however will be recognized right away.

[EdmTrekker]

What non-downtown residents shop there? I live in the core. I know the foot traffic they get on weekends ... London Drugs at Oliver does better.

[Landlocked]

'For Sale' sign on the Canadian Consolidated Salvage building just northeast of Police Headquarters. A few months back they scraped the salvage out of the east storage yard and none has accumulated since.

[SHOFEAR]

Originally Posted by GreenSPACE

1 down, 84 more to be built. Or until we're bankrupt.

I was told by developers in the area that the cities portion of the funding for 41 ave is all from offsite levies paid by developers in the vicinity.

[big W]

Originally Posted by EdmTrekker

What non-downtown residents shop there? I live in the core. I know the foot traffic they get on weekends ... London Drugs at Oliver does better.

There are some but many don't and perception is a huge part of it. Recall that big issue we discussed a few months ago with people not wanting to go there due to a certain segment of the population proliferating there. Guess what it does drive many people away and in enough numbers. It will change for the better once the arena opens as this will have thousands come downtown that might otherwise not done so. With the large amount of people on all times of the day and different days of the week people in Edmonton who go downtown will see a lively place and will come back more often.

[s4.audios]

^and what better way to accommodate the anticipated increase in traffic than by adding parking space from them. And like I said, they are anticipating the idea that the general public will not realize all the parking options they have and will almost always choose City Centre first. The parkade will be successful.

[Airboy]

Can we have this here as well.
Police issue tickets for left lane loitering.

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/officer...nalty+points+against/11527122/story.html

[s4.audios]

Nothing worse than a person driving excessively long in the passing lane at 115km/hr

[teddybear]

@Kasian: seems like Edmonton never repent on bad design.. sad.