Edmonton Construction 9 (2008-08) - Page 352

newfangled · #**7021** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 1:18 PM**

^ have you been for a ride since the storm?

Unless the city has been super-quick with the cleanup there are a lot of sections where you have to get off and walk between the Capilano and Capilano foot bridge. So if you want to see the destruction take the north bank. But if you want to get there quickly take the south.

SHOFEAR · #**7022** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 3:39 PM**

not sure if this large version has been posted before.

Jasper and one o nin · #**7023** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 3:52 PM**

^ I dont know, I think that is a great building for that corner. And, as my moniker suggests, I am a little fond of that particular intersection

Jasper and one o nin · #**7024** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 3:53 PM**

^^ as I understand, work, as in ground testing, will occur in the fall, correct?

tallisgood · #**7025** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 5:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SHOFEAR

not sure if this large version has been posted before.

I really like the look of this, but won't the lack of balconies be a sticking point for sales?

Coldrsx · #**7026** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 5:50 PM**

^not at those sizes and price ranges.

Daveography · #**7027** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 6:02 PM**

Plus it's a rental building.

CanadianCentaur · #**7028** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 6:24 PM**

Cool rendering of that proposed place on the Mayfair hotel site.

But look at the building on 10830 Jasper (INTACT) - it's still in the pre-reno mode!

Now...when is the Mayfair Hotel ever going to be taken down? The last thing I want to see is yet another eyesore of a boarded-up building still up year after year a la Arlington (well, not quite exactly, but...).

Coldrsx · #**7029** Posted **Jul 21, 2009, 6:29 PM**

^they have a demo permit...

bulliver · #**7030** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:25 AM**

Updates from today...

Serenity south elevation:

CCIS

Professional:

Quest:

Icon:

AGA:

Epcor:

Shodan · #**7031** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 12:49 PM**

Great updates, man! Thanks for sharing!

Don't think anyone will miss this place too much...

Motel hell's doors will remain shut
Crime-infested establishment loses appeal to reacquire business licence

Scott McKeen
Edmonton Journal

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

There are things I don't want to know. People I never want to meet. Places I avoid instinctively.

The Trailway Motel on Gateway Boulevard was such a place. The motel's clients were those kind of people. Their habits, well, not the kind of stuff I like to think about.

Trailway Motel guests, according to evidence, included the wretched, the addicted, the exploited and the exploitative.

Salim Jessa was their host. The rumpled owner of the Trailway Motel provided them rooms by the night, or by the month. Guests often paid in cash. In some cases, they pawned valuables in exchange for a room, with apparently no questions asked.

A search warrant was issued for the Trailway Motel in 1995. Jessa was charged with possession of more than $100,000 in stolen property. In 2008, he was convicted.

Over the years, the Trailway Motel became more and more a source of police response and concern. Cops were dispatched to assaults, to domestic disputes, to generic calls of "trouble unknown." They seized drugs, weapons and even neglected children.

Police response to the Trailway Motel was six times that of other motels and hotels in the area. A mark of dishonour, especially when you consider the Trailway doesn't even sell liquor.

In 2007, cops were at the Trailway every second day for one kind of complaint or another. The motel was also the subject of two health orders.

And so the police took their Trailway Motel file to city hall. Its chief licensing officer, Randy Kirillo, took the unusual move earlier this year of refusing to renew the motel's business licence.

Without a business licence, the motel lost its right to operate. So Jessa appealed the decision. On Tuesday, he and his lawyer appeared before a tribunal of city councillors, known as council's quasi-judicial committee.

The committee, after hours of evidence, upheld Kirillo's decision. The Trailway lost its city business licence. Jessa has until Aug. 31 to clean up its affairs and evict its month-to-month guests.

The writing was on the wall from the moment the hearing started. The evidence against the Trailway was significant and solid.

Jessa's lawyer, Dale Knisely, tried to point out technical flaws in the case. Knisely even claimed the police service was biased against his client.

Bias? Or self-fulfilling prophecy? The evidence is that the Trailway Motel operated with arms wide open to criminals.

Cash was accepted for rooms. Identification and licence plates weren't properly recorded. Perfect conditions for attracting the wrong clientele.

The police took the initiative and created a banned client list of troublemakers. But one of the Trailway's employees took it home to--get this --edit it. The employee then "lost" the roster of bad characters.

Then, of course, there was the stolen property conviction against the owner. Knisely pointed out that his client had paid his debt to society. Surely the committee wasn't about to bar someone with a criminal record from owning a business?

Of course not.

What the committee is responsible for, though, is protecting something called "the public interest."

It is in the public interest to have a thriving business community, creating employment and offering goods and services to the citizenry. It is not in the public interest, however, to allow businesses to offer services to the underworld.

Police gave the Trailway Motel 19 recommendations to clean up its act and drive off the criminal element. Some recommendations were followed. But Jessa said others, if he stuck to them, would cost him his livelihood.

I approached him during a break in Tuesday's proceedings. I asked him what he'd do if his licence is revoked and his motel shuttered.

"I've had it for 20 years," said Jessa in a raspy voice. "I have nothing else to do."

I am not incapable of sympathy. Desperate people sometimes fall into association with criminals and then find it near impossible to escape.

Perhaps that is Jessa's story. His lawyer made it sound that way.

He added that an appeal is possible.

Jessa can even re-apply for a business licence, if he brings his fleabag motel up to snuff.

If he learns his lesson. That the public interest, ultimately, was also in his interest.
© The Edmonton Journal 2009

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CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

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Shodan · #**7032** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 12:54 PM**

Not enough room

Big-bucks conventions have to be turned away

By FRANK LANDRY, CITY HALL BUREAU

Last Updated: 22nd July 2009, 2:55am

Just three years after taxpayers sunk millions of dollars into expanding the Shaw Conference Centre, officials say the building is once again bursting at the seams.

Last year, 12 conventions had to be turned away -- meetings that had the potential to inject $10 million into the city's economy, according to a report slated to go before city council today.

Most of those meetings went to other cities.

"What's happening is we can't accommodate all of the business that wants to come here and meet in Edmonton," said Mike Fitzpatrick, vice-president and general manager of the city-owned Shaw.

"That's really the issue, you see."

The Shaw opened in 1983 with 80,000 sq. ft. of convention space and nearly 40,000 sq. ft. of meeting rooms.

In 2006, an additional 25,000 sq. ft. of ballroom space was added with the opening of Hall D.

That cost roughly $29 million, with about half of that coming from the city through tax and grant money.

The Edmonton Economic Development Corporation is now asking for approval from council to commission a study that would look at how to meet the demands of the convention industry over the next 30 to 40 years.

It's expected to be completed early next year.

The study will look at, among other things, whether it's physically possible to expand the Shaw, Fitzpatrick said.

It's important to keep convention business downtown because of proximity to hotels, he said.

Fitzpatrick said it was initially believed Hall D would meet demand, but bookings spiked when the new space was promoted.

Downtown Coun. Ben Henderson said business is booming.

"We waited so long with Hall D, we were almost at capacity before we got it done," said Henderson.

"So what they're trying to do is look further out at future needs, so we can be a little bit better prepared."

Mayor Stephen Mandel said the notion of expanding the Shaw again "has merit."

"I think council understands the importance of the convention business, and so we'll move in the most effective way possible," Mandel said.

The Shaw hosted 47 conventions in 2008, 34 in 2007, 46 in 2006 and 37 in 2005, according to city figures.

Peak convention periods are April to July and September to November.

It's estimated the facility pumps $44 million a year into the local economy.

[email protected]

http://www.edmontonsun.com/news/edmonton/2009/07/22/10216556-sun.html

Coldrsx · #**7033** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:27 PM**

^re: shaw

i would love for them to consider doing another Hall D sized venue that is cantilevered in line with the foot bridge (remove it) over the road and into that smaller side parking lot. Include a pedestrian connection and restaurant with a large balcony/patio overlooking the valley and Louise McKinney Park. With that said, they truly need to renovate the break out rooms, the smaller ones that is. They are embarrassing to say the least.

Coldrsx · #**7034** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:29 PM**

Can someone tell me why the hell Rexall is not using the corner as their entrance (a la Sobey's)????????

Corners are meant for that, not a display case for perfume. ARGH

Coldrsx · #**7035** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:29 PM**

RE: Serenity - personally i think this is far better done than everything hold Uptown with regards to buildings in the past 3-5 yrs.

Coldrsx · #**7036** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:33 PM**

RE: Quest - so Omega'ish...

Coldrsx · #**7037** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:34 PM**

RE: AGA - love it more and more... and i have to say the 'whale going back into the water' look is bang on.

Coldrsx · #**7038** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:35 PM**

RE: Icon II - pouring 32 soon from the looks of it

Kevin_foster · #**7039** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 2:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Coldrsx

RE: Serenity - personally i think this is far better done than everything hold Uptown with regards to buildings in the past 3-5 yrs.

Really? I think this south facing wall is BRUTAL

Coldrsx · #**7040** Posted **Jul 22, 2009, 3:06 PM**

^the far right wall should have been window wall as well and at 20 storeys this would have been a much nicer building but it is simple, effective, and they used a good mix of elements.