University City - What's Your Opinion

[mersar]

Originally Posted by unibrain

I dont know if they will be starting construction so soon.. I dont believe they've applied for a DP yet.

They plan on excavation by Spring I believe. No DP though yet for the project itself.

That said, their DP for the sales centre is being appealed (kind of too late though if they did sell as many as units as they said)

[saskhomeboy]

Originally Posted by WhipperSnapper

These guys know what they are doing. Well, I don't know about Knightbridge but the Toronto side does. They're masters at finding ways to cut corners amist rising construction costs. I'm sure they have units in reserve as well.

Well, that's not too reassuring..."cutting corners" I mean. You don't think the other high rise builders have tried cutting corners, and they still can't get their prices anywhere near the prices at University City?

This is another Midtown waiting to happen. I am now waiting to hear when everyone gets a letter saying that they need to pay another $50/sq ft or the project won't go ahead.

[187 Feet Tall]

Originally Posted by saskhomeboy

Well, that's not too reassuring..."cutting corners" I mean. You don't think the other high rise builders have tried cutting corners, and they still can't get their prices anywhere near the prices at University City?

This is another Midtown waiting to happen. I am now waiting to hear when everyone gets a letter saying that they need to pay another $50/sq ft or the project won't go ahead.

I don't think the price/sq ft is actually much lower(lower at all?) than most other developments. They're just really really small and the finishings aren't expensive.
They should be fine on covering the costs with their sales prices; my only concern would be their deposit structure and if it's strong enough for their financiers.

[ClaytonA]

Did anyone go the apparently well advertised community associations meeting last night? The tone of the article's media was typical in reporting the stereotypical emotional reactions, but I was wondering if anyone could provide details.

I think the project idea is great. I hadn't looked up renderings - looks cheap like POV's development next to COOP downtown. I'd really like to see the bottom wrapped in commercial retail units, so it isn't a dead zone. Also the idea posted by someone about 3 bedroom units for families rings true - is their no profit in condo's for families?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Br...674/story.html

[mersar]

There are actually retail CRU's on the main floor of the buildings, or at least on the first two buildings. From what I've been told essentially the developers got the property for cheap from RioCan, in exchange for RioCan getting ownership of the retail units in the buildings which they'll then manage and lease after construction.

[187 Feet Tall]

surprise, surprise??

[LFRENCH]

Originally Posted by ClaytonA

Did anyone go the apparently well advertised community associations meeting last night? The tone of the article's media was typical in reporting the stereotypical emotional reactions, but I was wondering if anyone could provide details.

I think the project idea is great. I hadn't looked up renderings - looks cheap like POV's development next to COOP downtown. I'd really like to see the bottom wrapped in commercial retail units, so it isn't a dead zone. Also the idea posted by someone about 3 bedroom units for families rings true - is their no profit in condo's for families?

http://www.calgaryherald.com/news/Br...674/story.html

I went to the open house if that is what your referring to. While there it was not in the plans, the city was pushing for them to move their visitor parking away from brentwood rd and replacing it with more commercial use. The planning department would prefer the visitor parking be more retail use.

[Surrealplaces]

I noticed this little blurb from their website.....

Buy at UniversityCity.ca & Go Green!
Knightsbridge Homes through Calgary Car Share will provide cars at University City that can be rented by residents for an hour or two or a day or two. With the unique advantages of “living on the line”, why own a car with big monthly expenses when you don’t need to?

Having cars available for use, makes it handy not to have a car.




A few renderings from their site. Some people may not have seen these ones.

[frinkprof]

Looks great, but you've got to wonder....

WHERE WILL THE CHILDREN PLAY

[mersar]

They also had some watercolor streetscape renders on their facebook page, I'll post them in a bit if I remember

[DizzyEdge]

I should make a tshirt of my avatar

[atlas_inc]

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Univer...46576208712332

[mersar]

Noticed the other night that a section of the parking lot to the east of Jameisons has been fenced off, which I suspect means the first visible signs of this thing coming to life are upon us.

[LFRENCH]

Originally Posted by mersar

Noticed the other night that a section of the parking lot to the east of Jameisons has been fenced off, which I suspect means the first visible signs of this thing coming to life are upon us.

That is where jamiesons is going to be relocated to no?

[AUM]

The towers are ok...but my real problem is with the lack of consideration to the public realm at the ground level. There is no real urban design and that to me makes it hard to consider this a great project.
I was able to attend a lecture by Jan Guel here in Vancouver and it really spoke to the problem with development today and how we only focus on how nice projects look in a rendering or from an aerial view. No one really considers what it will be like at the human scale. The more I get to experience Vancouver, the more I realize how successful many projects are with regards to the public realm. Before all the climate critics jump at my statement, yes I am aware of Calgary's winters, I lived there for the past 10 years before relocating here. I truly think Calgary needs to focus a lot more on the public realm in creating more livable urban environments. I would be impressed by a developments that illustrated more what it would be like to experience their project from a human scale rather than from a bird's eye point of view.

[Wooster]

There is a retail podium facing to the north, which none of these renders really show.

[AUM]

^^^ Wooster,

I did see that on their website. But I'm speaking more to the urban realm and not retail amenity. The renderings on their site show basically parking and asphalt with some sidewalks....that to me doesn't speak well to for the public realm and what you experience while living there. It is as if they expect everyone will stay cooped up in their unit. I think there is so much more potential on the ground level to introduce outdoor seating areas, green park space and so on. IMO it really doesn't differ from any other development apart from its aesthetics. Being a TOD development with proximity to the University you would think they would have focussed more on pedestrian movement and less on cars. I thought that is the purpose of TOD is to move away from the car as primary mode of transportation.

[kw5150]

Originally Posted by AUM

^^^ Wooster,

I did see that on their website. But I'm speaking more to the urban realm and not retail amenity. The renderings on their site show basically parking and asphalt with some sidewalks....that to me doesn't speak well to for the public realm and what you experience while living there. It is as if they expect everyone will stay cooped up in their unit. I think there is so much more potential on the ground level to introduce outdoor seating areas, green park space and so on. IMO it really doesn't differ from any other development apart from its aesthetics. Being a TOD development with proximity to the University you would think they would have focussed more on pedestrian movement and less on cars. I thought that is the purpose of TOD is to move away from the car as primary mode of transportation.

We are working on that, everyday, fighting for it in meetings. Calgary is still relatively small and just breaking out of its small minded shell. At least we have this development on the go. There are many other future plans for that area that will also be focused on pedestrian quality urban development. The next five years should be pretty interesting.

[Wooster]

Overall, the TOD plan includes a lot of green space and pedestrian amenity. Blakiston park will be completely overhauled to provide the primary green space for the community. Just west of this first phase, there will be a more urban-type plaza space and a transit plaza at the landing of the LRT bridge. There will also be a retail main street environment across, with a strong pedestrian priority the length of the TOD. It's difficult to isolate just two towers within the overall development to judge the public realm quality of this project.

[AUM]

Originally Posted by kw5150

We are working on that, everyday, fighting for it in meetings. Calgary is still relatively small and just breaking out of its small minded shell. At least we have this development on the go. There are many other future plans for that area that will also be focused on pedestrian quality urban development. The next five years should be pretty interesting.

Originally Posted by Wooster

Overall, the TOD plan includes a lot of green space and pedestrian amenity. Blakiston park will be completely overhauled to provide the primary green space for the community. Just west of this first phase, there will be a more urban-type plaza space and a transit plaza at the landing of the LRT bridge. There will also be a retail main street environment across, with a strong pedestrian priority the length of the TOD. It's difficult to isolate just two towers within the overall development to judge the public realm quality of this project.

Wooster I understand that this is only one component to the bigger pricture. It may seem that I am picking on this development. Perhaps being that it is a new development to get underway since the recent slow down, I would hope that the developer realizes that it is a tougher market now and that they need to offer people more if they want to ensure future success. Also for the overall success of the TOD each component should strive to offer more.

That being said, having only left Calgary a few months ago, I know it is on the right tracks for the most part, especially with Nenshi as mayor. Hopefully he will be able to curb sprawl and the city can focus on improving the areas already in place before expanding further. Calgary has the opportunity to right a lot of the wrongs with regards to its growth during the boom.

- kw: I too look forward to how the next 5 years will shape up. I'm trying to learn as much as I can while in Vancouver, both the good and bad aspects of urban development to be a more informed designer.