Calgary Construction XXVI

[craner]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

From the most recent Calgary Heritage Authority minutes:

"Underwood Block Annex – Heritage Planning has approved an Intervention Request to maintain and restore elements of the building in conjunction with redevelopment of the adjacent vacant site into a mixed-use high-rise building. Interventions include repointing and cleaning of the brick assembly, potential sandstone repair, and restoration of the leaded glass transom windows. A future Intervention Request is anticipated for restoration or replacement of tin cornices and windows."

Fun fact, you may recall there was a skinny tower next to it before Union Square was built


photo: https://www.flickr.com/photos/entheos_fog/103261690

The lower building was an annex to, and the skinny tower was an enclosed fire escape to the Underwood block which burned down in 1989


glenbow.org

These were the remnants in 2002


photo: https://www.flickr.com/p/pnqpcy / Leigh Anthony DEHANEY

And today


photo: google maps

Thanks for the history lesson and photos regarding the Underwood block Dizzy - great post as usual. I really wish they would have kept the fire escape tower when Union Square was built - I loved that thing. Is Mescalaro still there ?

[craner]

Originally Posted by Littlechilds

This will be my last post on this lol...basically what I want (need) that Marda Loop can NOT provide is...

- Expansive views, above 15th floor for this is key.
- Sunrise views! Rockies views!
- Floor to ceiling windows, corner unit, more windows the better.
- Quality cocktail bars (love Proof!)
- Easy access to both rivers by foot and bike!
- Easy access to Mission!
- Easy access to work!
- Easy access to 17th

Literally, the only thing I will miss in Marda Loop is the easy access to highway 8 getting out of the city.
Like the above said... EACH TO THEIR OWN.

ps...I will be adding more (new) construction updates soon.

Littlechilds - if you want to move to the Beltline do it - don't let others tell you what is best. I think it's great for the city to have a healthy growing central population.

[GeneralLea]

Man.....that's a sad progression from that row of older structures to now. That fire escape tower does look quite unique, had it been kept.....

Great updates all around in the last few pages btw.

[SteveP]

Awesome.

Originally Posted by Daemon

Pano feature on phone

[SteveP]

Originally Posted by craner

Littlechilds - if you want to move to the Beltline do it - don't let others tell you what is best. I think it's great for the city to have a healthy growing central population.

He did ask about moving there, so no reason he wouldn’t expect responses.

[SteveP]

These are nice pics, it would be so nice to see these in the morning light.

Originally Posted by Daemon

Concorde and bonus of the Rocky Mountains



Concorde and construction crane


Concorde and again Mountains

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by SteveP

He did ask about moving there, so no reason he wouldn’t expect responses.

I thought he asked for opinions on various buildings in the Beltline not whether or not he should move there. His mind seemed made up to me.

[People.talking]

Battistella just announced on their Instagram feed:

"Nude" - A west Beltline condo, coming fall 2018

It's a bit of a wait but hopefully it will be something good!

https://www.instagram.com/battistelladev/

[Corndogger]

Originally Posted by People.talking

Battistella just announced on their Instagram feed:

"Nude" - A west Beltline condo, coming fall 2018

It's a bit of a wait but hopefully it will be something good!

https://www.instagram.com/battistelladev/

All glass? 38 floors and will have the Beltline's first nude yoga studio.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by Suburgatory

I’ll give within a block of 17th for noise and 11/12th for sirens, usually ambulances heading to the Sheldon Chumir but a lot of Beltline is surprisingly quiet for a dense area.

Yeah the majority of negatives about the Beltline are in and around 17th for sure.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by craner

Thanks for the history lesson and photos regarding the Underwood block Dizzy - great post as usual. I really wish they would have kept the fire escape tower when Union Square was built - I loved that thing. Is Mescalaro still there ?

No it closed more than a decade ago.

[DizzyEdge]

Originally Posted by People.talking

Battistella just announced on their Instagram feed:

"Nude" - A west Beltline condo, coming fall 2018

It's a bit of a wait but hopefully it will be something good!

https://www.instagram.com/battistelladev/

Anyone able to dig up where this is going?

[Northern]

You forgot to mention the biggest downside of all, and that’s living in a home the size of a rabbit hutch.

Originally Posted by Bad Grizzly

Don’t forget the other features you’ll get when living in the Beltline. Lol.

- dodging puddles of vomit on the sidewalk
- walking on the other side of the street to avoid crack dealers
- summer nights of drunkards yelling at the top of their lungs
- routing stabbings
- police sirens all the time
- trips out to the burbs anytime you want to buy something at a reasonable price
- panhandlers asking you for spare change
- getting propositioned by prostitutes
- every third vehicle being some loud jackass who removed their muffler

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by DizzyEdge

Yeah the majority of negatives about the Beltline are in and around 17th for sure.

Umm, no. Try the whole of 10th ave, and anywhere east of 4th street on top of 17th ave. I'm not trying to convince Littlechild to stay in Marda Loop. I don 't care where he moves to, it's his life and his priorities, but wanted to point out the downsides, and that most people - not all, but most who live in the Beltline aspire to live in a place like Marda Loop instead. I'm confindent he'll be done with the Beltline in a few years, and wanting to live someplace like Inglewood, Marda Loop, or Kensington instead.

[jc_yyc_ca]

Originally Posted by Northern

You forgot to mention the biggest downside of all, and that’s living in a home the size of a rabbit hutch.

Some people don't mind the smaller spaces, but again, from a financial aspect, the Beltline doesn't make sense. Those small spaces are only suited to a small portion of the population (young single people, young couples with no children, empty nesters, and the occasional martyrs who want to tell all their friends about how their living the great downtown lifestyle) and thus will never gain value. There's a reason only rental towers going up in the Beltline.

[O-tacular]

Originally Posted by Littlechilds

I'm sorry, but some of these comments are comical.

Yes they are. This forum has been overrun with suburban trolls in recent years.

[The Chemist]

Originally Posted by Northern

You forgot to mention the biggest downside of all, and that’s living in a home the size of a rabbit hutch.

North Americans make WAY too big a deal about small houses.

My apartment here in Shanghai has 3 bedrooms and is only 550 square feet, but it's perfectly livable. Listening to Canadians and Americans complain about houses under 1000 square feet being 'tiny' is comical.

[Suburgatory]

Originally Posted by Littlechilds

I'm sorry, but some of these comments are comical.

They really are.

That whole gallery has never lived in Beltline and have only been there the one time they drove their minivan down to 17th avenue for a family dinner/function they were obligated to attend.

It took them a long time to park because they haven’t parallel parked in ages and they had to buy some earplugs because there was regular urban city noise.

Someone asked them for a quarter and they swore they’d never walk down a street ever again. “These aren’t the kind of people we’re used to being in the same place with like in line at Costco!”

Then they saw a cop car go by...so... high crime.

Then they saw a mid twenties woman in a dress, on her way to meet her friends for dinner...so... prostitution

“Those condos don’t have yards and a two car garage full of stuff. How do these people live in such squalor?”

Then it got dark...

[milomilo]

Originally Posted by The Chemist

North Americans make WAY too big a deal about small houses.

My apartment here in Shanghai has 3 bedrooms and is only 550 square feet, but it's perfectly livable. Listening to Canadians and Americans complain about houses under 1000 square feet being 'tiny' is comical.

I don't want to be seen to side with the suburban 'side', but fuck that. I have no scientific data to back it up, but I'm quite sure humans are on average happier with more room, to a point. Just because people are slumming it in China doesn't mean we have to do so here - we have a smaller population than Spain living in the second biggest country on earth. We don't have to cram families into 550sqft shoeboxes, in the same way we don't all need McMansions.

[Western Spaghetti]

I'm sorry, but I have to call bullshit. You would rather have more space if you could, the problem is you can't because you live in Shanghai. And because of that you go around telling anyone who will listen how great it is to live in a 500 sq ft apartment. That is comical.

Originally Posted by The Chemist

North Americans make WAY too big a deal about small houses.

My apartment here in Shanghai has 3 bedrooms and is only 550 square feet, but it's perfectly livable. Listening to Canadians and Americans complain about houses under 1000 square feet being 'tiny' is comical.