Quote:
Originally Posted by Channing
How about four 20 storey towers instead? That's essentially what this replaces. Concentrating it all into one single piece of land that doesn't even fit the 80 storey tower without buying more planned parkland.
The zoning laws are pretty new. Like last 10 years new. The Quarters Redevelopment plan is a lot of hard work done by planners. The current zoning requires that the City ask for a lot. The tallest towers allowed in the Quarters is currently 150m I believe, and that requires the highest sustainability targets in the zoning.
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Dear Mayor and Councillors,
RE: Bylaw 17844 – To allow for the development of a high rise mixed-use tower, Downton, Boyle Street and Riverdale; and supporting Bylaws 17841, 17870, 17871, 17842 and 17843
Please accept this letter as one of support for the above series of bylaws intended to provide for the potential development of the Alldritt Tower tentatively named The Quarters Hotel and Residences.
I am a resident of Riverdale and have worked downtown for the past 18 years. In that time, I have been actively involved in the development and redevelopment of buildings throughout the Edmonton region but more particularly in downtown Edmonton. I have taken quite public positions supporting the closure of the City Centre Airport and the development of the new downtown arena. I have also taken less public positions supporting the Capital City Downtown Plan, the redevelopment of Sir Winston Churchill Square and the Art Gallery of Alberta, and the relocation of the Royal Alberta Museum. Through the auspices of the Edmonton Downtown Development Corporation, I have taken an active role in the redevelopment and management of the Goodrich Block and the development plans for the Quarters when the Quarters was still identified as Jasper East Village.
I have been a supporter when warranted, not just booster, and I have been a critic when I felt criticism was appropriate. The Quarters Hotel and Residences has the potential to earn long-term admiration as a positive contributor to our downtown civic design and urban edges that its Conference Centre neighbor was unable to. When I say this, it is not a reflection of the relative height of the two projects although I am sure height will be an oft-raised topic in the current discussions. When it comes to height, it is important to remember that we lose or create our urban edges and our access to and views of our river valley at the street level of what we develop, not at the top.
Through the use of height, the Quarters Hotel and Residences will provide a two block open vista and links to the river valley that our Convention Centre denies for a similar distance. Some will want to focus on the proposed height exceeding that in the Quarters ARP. To that, it must be noted that the only other completed project in the Quarters to date exceeds the initial height restrictions and massing while the only other currently permitted project in the Quarters exceeds the plan’s height restriction by a factor of 3 – from 6 stories to 18. Many architects and planners would posit that the changes to urban design by increasing height from 18 stories to 37 – or from 37 stories to 80 – are less substantive than changing them from 6 stories to 18.
There will be concerns raised about potential underlying soils issues and the potential need to address old coal mines. The potential underlying soils issues are no different than those encountered beneath the new Stantec Tower in the Ice District. The potential need to address old coal mines is no different than those encountered by the adjacent Convention Centre. In both cases, these are cost issues borne by the developer, project designers and contractors. They are not zoning concerns.
As for integration into the urban fabric, we need to plan for integration into tomorrow’s urban fabric, not yesterdays. There was concern about how well the Pearl would integrate into Jasper Avenues urban fabric. Now completed, the Pearl provides a focal point to Jasper Avenue when travelling west through downtown and its urban edges are not much different that those of the Illuminada and other projects with much less overall height. The Quarters Hotel and Residences will provide a similar focal point travelling east - something that was at one time proposed as a civic goal during the Japer Avenue revisioning– with the added bonus of protecting our river valley views and enabling improved access from Jasper Avenue.
If there is one caveat to this support I would ask the City to address, it would be the length of time it may take from commencement to completion and the City’s insistence that any city sidewalks underneath any potential crane swings be scaffolded and protected. Insofar as this project is concerned, I would request that the City limit overhead crane swings to a 210 degree radius such that the sidewalks on the north side of Jasper Avenue connecting the Armature and the new Hyatt Place hotel to the Convention Centre and Canada Place remain accessible and pedestrian friendly and that those buildings and storefronts along the north side of Jasper don’t become disconnected from our urban fabric for years pending the completion of construction.
Yours very truly,
PRIMAVERA Development Group
Kenneth L. Cantor, President
Honorary Member, Alberta Association of Architects
[email protected]
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