Edmonton will be the first city outside of Quebec to have two Simons department store locations when the new Londonderry Mall location opens this August.
The two-storey, 90,000-square-foot location will feature women’s and men’s fashions, home goods and the chain’s first dedicated shoe department.
Peter Simons, president of the 177-year old, family-owned department store chain, said the mall’s redevelopment along with the opening of the last section of Anthony Henday Drive made Londonderry an attractive option for a new location.
The Londonderry Simons location will feature new environmental sustainability initiatives. More than 50 per cent of the store’s electricity usage will come from on-site renewable energy sources including solar panels on parking lot canopies and the store rooftop. The panels are expected to generate more than 550,000 kilowatt-hours per year, equivalent to powering 80 homes.
Other environmentally sustainable features include LED lamps and fixtures throughout the interior as well as electric-car charging stations in the parking lot adjacent to the store.
implementing and monitoring work/live units is much more problematic than it sounds.
first, it needs to be recognized that there are two kinds of work/live units.
the first type is typically represented by artist work/live units. they are usually subsidized through some sort of entity that provides ongoing control and compliance.
the second type is "life-style" branded. while appealing in principal to the market and to government initially, the vast majority of these units revert to residential only use in very short order.
even the nature of work can complicate things. sculpture and large paintings can require large studio type space within the unit, the same kind of space that might also be attractive to dancers. musicians can manage in smaller spaces but will generate different types and levels of noise. writers and poets requirements are quite different again and their work can often be done just as efficiently from within purely residential space and can often obtain business licenses and approvals within those purely residential spaces without the need for defined work/live space.
lastly, regardless of which type was initially provided, lifestyle pressures will start to intrude on those activities that take place after hours or in odd hours or that generate noise or traffic inappropriate for their neighbors who have developed moved on to conflicting life styles with alternative definitions of appropriate working hours and noise levels etc.
Major home based, minor home based and artist work well and are not any more complicated than any other type of dwelling, if anything easier and less complicated due to the exterior entrance.
There's a few projects like this where the commercial isn't obtrusive.
The trick also is that the commercial portion gets designated as such when property tax assessments are prepared, so that the business portion is paying a commercial property tax mill rate.
There's a few projects like this where the commercial isn't obtrusive.
The trick also is that the commercial portion gets designated as such when property tax assessments are prepared, so that the business portion is paying a commercial property tax mill rate.
We have these in a few condo buildings that are zoned commercial. Glenora Gates is one building that comes to mind where a number of the ground-oriented units are used for businesses - salon, accounting, legal, psychology, etc.
The reality is that you will have to pay more to be more central in general and especially for larger units...but that said, we can provide more affordable product in and around the core. Concrete new will be $450sqft, but you can do a pretty good 3bdrm layout in 800-900sqft. and get it under 400k.
^^ you assist neighbourhoods where housing is affordable and infill is needed by making them cleaner, safer and by helping community leaders dispel the negative perceptions of the neighbourhoods
There are lots of places you can buy a house or duplex for under $500k, you can buy a brand new one for close to 300 in many places close to downtown. But the city won't support those neighbourhoods so you don't see as much redevelopment as there is potential for. It's so simple but the city doesn't seem to get it, and in fact often works in contrarian ways, simultaneously attempting to attract people and pushing them away
See that number needs to drop somehow imo. I totally get that you have to pay more the more central you are, and understandably so. But that difference in price is just too large and why sprawl will continue to forever win.
240, affordable housing in undesired neighborhoods is true, but they are undesired. Making them cleaner, safer, and taking away negative perception will result in jacked up prices. So you're still stuck losing.
Also, I haven't shopped around so could be very wrong here but, my parent's hood Inglewood which is fairly central but arguably the outskirts of "central". New infill goes goes for about $450K more or less. Don't think I've ever heard of anything new close to $300K, and it is not that central. Edit.. Inglewood definitely has cleaned up quite a bit lately but still doesn't have a rosy perception either.