Edmonton Construction 13 (November 2015)

[240glt]

Originally Posted by Hallsy's Toupee

The provincial government is considering a redevelopment of the legislature annex.

Tearing the building down isn’t off the table.

The province is working diligently to re-stack their assets and are trying to pull out of as many leased office spaces ad possible. I think you'll see a reno of the terrace bldg based on what I've heard

[Makenosmallplans]

Originally Posted by 240glt

The province is working diligently to re-stack their assets and are trying to pull out of as many leased office spaces ad possible. I think you'll see a reno of the terrace bldg based on what I've heard

If we tear down the Annex and keep the Terrace I will lose my mind. Architecture, history, space and beauty for decades to come sacrificed to save a few dollars on lease costs in the short term? sounds about right. We should reno the Annex and tear down the Terrace. I hear we have lots of office space available in Edmonton these days. not everything is about the dollar.

[Airboy]

Terrace is getting renoed. Also some major upgrades to the whole government precinct.

[MalcolmTucker]

Originally Posted by Makenosmallplans

If we tear down the Annex and keep the Terrace I will lose my mind. Architecture, history, space and beauty for decades to come sacrificed to save a few dollars on lease costs in the short term? sounds about right. We should reno the Annex and tear down the Terrace. I hear we have lots of office space available in Edmonton these days. not everything is about the dollar.

The public service loves Terrace - it has huge grand fathered offices! Plus it would be expensive to rip down - it is all highly reinforced concrete. Even in the 80s the plan was to take the annex down and keep Terrace.

[240glt]

Originally Posted by Airboy

Terrace is getting renoed. Also some major upgrades to the whole government precinct.

Yup Sol Gen and Sheriffs ROC are already moved in and more departments are moving in as well. Terrace bldg ain't going anywhere for a while anyways

[Airboy]

Yes All the years I have been in doing renoes, the talk was about removing it. then they start another reno. Terrace need significant work to upgrade it. I guess we wait and see what RPAP comes up with in their review.

[s211]

Originally Posted by MalcolmTucker

The public service loves Terrace - it has huge grand fathered offices! Plus it would be expensive to rip down - it is all highly reinforced concrete. Even in the 80s the plan was to take the annex down and keep Terrace.

And the Terrace does SFA for the downtown, given its very isolated location. It might as well be in Leduc.

[noodlenoodle]

Originally Posted by s211

And the Terrace does SFA for the downtown, given its very isolated location. It might as well be in Leduc.

So what?

It's a provincial government building, in a location that serves the provincial government quite well.

Not everything everywhere needs to be a maximal contributor to the neighborhood writ large to be an effective & useful building.

[240glt]

^. Exactly. Creating "vibrancy" in the downtown is not the provinces mandate or problem

[technomad]

Originally Posted by s211

And the Terrace does SFA for the downtown, given its very isolated location. It might as well be in Leduc.

I wouldn't say that at all actually.. plenty of those people head to food truck alley on 108 st for lunches, lots of the businesses on 109 st up to Jasper too

[Hallsy's Toupee]

The Terrace is still a downtown office building full of paid employees who dine and shop downtown, don't fool yourselves. The biggest issue with the building is that it is an ugly barrier between the Legislature grounds and the river valley. By all rights, the two should be more integrated. Driving across the Walterdale, our entrance into downtown should be showing at the Legislature in all its glory, not some large squat concrete bunker.

But that's just me daring to have a vision.

[McBoo]

Originally Posted by Makenosmallplans

If we tear down the Annex and keep the Terrace I will lose my mind. ... We should reno the Annex and tear down the Terrace.

I love the Annex (also that it was the first curtain wall high rise in Edmonton).

BUT, from what I hear it's a functional disaster inside those lovely green panes of glass hence loved by those who gaze at it and detested by those who must work in it.

[noodlenoodle]

^^ Yeah, that's a totally valid reason to tear down a perfectly serviceable office block in a convenient location, to facilitate a 3-second-long, tree-obscured glimpse at the Legislature Building.

[Mikemike]

I actually don't mind the way the terrace building encloses the south grounds. I would be just as happy if they just fixed up the space around D it. The parking lot on it's west side should go in favour of public space, the leg powerplant should be better concealed, and whatever doesn't need to be there removed.

But no matter what they do, that location will not have the commanding presence and sweeping views. It's just one of those places like at Capilano or BuenaVista where the bank is just a long hill.

[Hallsy's Toupee]

It's not just the views. How about better access from the Legislature to the river valley and vice versa? With the Rossdale plant and the surrounding area up for redevelopment, I think Lower Rossdale should be better integrated with the Leg grounds.

Another idea I once had for the Terrace is to turn it into a promenade akin to the Victoria Promenade.

[240glt]

Ideally they'd follow through with the idea of building up the bank over River valley rd, but with a cash crunch now and a Kenney-led PC government waiting in the wings I don't think anything substantial will happen anytime soon

[240glt]

Confirmed that Service Alberta is going to occupy a large portion of the Terrace Building as well. They are pulling out of a significant amount of leased space in the CBD

[kcantor]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^. Exactly. Creating "vibrancy" in the downtown is not the provinces mandate or problem

it's not exactly a "mandate or problem" per se but given that municipalities are pretty much artificial constructs of the province, the province is still ultimately responsible for their financial well-being, municipal government act and new city charter notwithstanding. to the extend that "vibrancy" in the downtown contributes to a more viable and financially sustainable model, the province should most certainly support that. it's no different than the province supporting things like ring roads and contributing to lrt construction or paying for new school construction or renovations...

[240glt]

^ the Province should have a fiduciary duty (or at least we should hope) to make decisions in the best interests of Albertans, Whether that means consolidating offices into existing government assets or providing efficient transportation infrastructure to facilitate commerce or providing funding to large scale civic projects like LRT.

Equating that to some sort of obligation to contribute to a vibrancy campaign is a little ridiculous I think

[s211]

Originally Posted by 240glt

^. Exactly. Creating "vibrancy" in the downtown is not the provinces mandate or problem

Funny. I seem to recall quite the opposite going back 10-20 years ago. Going from memory, I recall a period where the Province recognized the importance of centralizing in the core. I can't be the only one remembering that.