Canadian Skyline Thread III

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Kelowna looking amazing. Punches well above its weight.

I suppose that's what happens when locals are priced out and it becomes a playground for the rich haha.

[zoomer]

Originally Posted by biguc

I had friends who lived in one of those buildings back in the 2000s. I once got all drunk on OE at their place, lost one of my shoes (in the apartment), and decided to go to a bar across the street (in the mall parking lot) anyway. This was during a Winnipeg winter. I learned something valuable about homelessness that day: OE hits different.

Anyway the apartments were big a cheap. Perfect for students or people on their first jobs. The surroundings are depressing looking, but you actually have pretty good amenities at the mall, the highway-looking stroad out front has a speed limit of 50 km/h, and bus service to downtown and the U of M is pretty good. It's even walkable to some of Winnipeg's best neighbourhoods. And the SFH neighbourhood behind isn't as single-use as it looks. There's a pretty good legion back there with snooker tables.

I'm not saying it's awesome or anything. But you could do worse. Some suburban areas are just impossible to unfuck--tangles of stroads and cul-de-sacs that'll never gel urban no matter how many far-flung transit stops and TODs we build. This area though? It'll never be great but throw up some five and ones on the mall parking lot and loosen the zoning a bit, I bet it would be more than OK.

OE and winter do not mix!! Thanks for the neighbourhood insights biguc and good points, it’s got more potential than I realized. I’m still looking for anywhere in the country that has successfully transitioned stroadsville/mall sprawl into a good urban fabric. It can be done right? Maybe it takes a century and not just the past few decades we’ve been trying.

Cool Kelowna shot - great setting and exciting to see smaller cities transform as each new building really makes a significant impact and matters, while in Toronto or Vancouver you wouldn’t even notice them. It’s why I follow the Saskatchewan/Manitoba forum because changes in Saskatoon for example are easier to wrap your mind around and keep up with. Other cities with similar easy to see visual changes are Moncton, Halifax, Kitchener.. anywhere else? Next up - hopefully Nanaimo. Lots of good changes there recently, tons of development and good population growth - they just need a quality Vancouver high-rise developer to go in start building good buildings downtown.

Also appreciate the Ottawa pics - have to respect their downtown density!

[MonkeyRonin]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Kelowna looking amazing. Punches well above its weight.

Does it though? Not trying to be petty here, but it's a nearly Regina or Saskatoon-sized city with a much lesser skyline IMO. It's been developing fast, but looks about on par with a TOD development around a random Metro Vancouver transit station.

[J.OT13]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport

^that shot reminds me greatly of the so-called Concordia Ghetto (aka, Shaughnessy Village) area of downtown Montreal

Official and non-official student housing. Very similar situations.

Originally Posted by FactaNV

I suppose that's what happens when locals are priced out and it becomes a playground for the rich haha.

That will happen with or without the new housing.

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Does it though? Not trying to be petty here, but it's a nearly Regina or Saskatoon-sized city with a much lesser skyline IMO. It's been developing fast, but looks about on par with a TOD development around a random Metro Vancouver transit station.

Not quite the same. Kelowna has more variety in height, more space between the towers. Regina and Saskatoon are largely big clumps of generic office buildings, though Saskatoon has seen some good improvements with Nutrien. And we can't compare any of these cities with the suburbs on steroids of Toronto and Vancouver.

[GeneralLeeTPHLS]

Yeah, some of these suburban nodes in the GTA and GVA are quite massive. I'm always gobsmacked looking at images of Surrey and Metrotown/Burnaby posted here.

But Mississauga (Or Missingsausage as it's sometimes called) is really becoming quite notable. I took this a few days ago (Note, this is still missing some of the skyline)
August 27th by Josh Kennington Photographics, on Flickr

[rousseau]

Originally Posted by Mr Tall Forehead

The long straight blocks in older parts of Winnipeg are the result of the original river lot (seigneurial) survey system that parceled off land in the Red River valley, not early developers returning from an ox cart trip to Chicago or Kansas City and trying to replicate it here.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/3765028579/

Farmers owned parcels 300 or so feet wide and two miles deep extending out from the river so the predominant development pattern was stick a road down the middle and flank lots on either sides. No real need for curves or bends because there were no geographic features or elevation to work around.

Many parts of older Winnipeg do have shorter blocks with more cross streets.

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.88000...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

https://www.google.ca/maps/@49.93430...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

But when the area in the original view first started developing (North River Heights) it was the city's high end homes were being built (and still are). The minimal cross streets was likely a selling feature as it meant that only residents of your fancy pants block have reason to drive on your street. Through traffic is an issue now, but it wasn't then because there was nothing at the end of the residential streets but bald-ass prairie.

Thanks for this. I didn't help my case with the focus on a major thoroughfare like Grant Ave given the presence of a row of shorter apartment buildings, a very Canadian phenomenon that you don't see in the US.

[FactaNV]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Thanks for this. I didn't help my case with the focus on a major thoroughfare like Grant Ave given the presence of a row of shorter apartment buildings, a very Canadian phenomenon that you don't see in the US.

Winnipeg will always be a somewhat unique city in terms of layout in Western Canada. This can be attributed to the amount of rivers and streams and the fact the Winnipeg area is so much older than the rest of Western Canada. You're bound to have some quirks like the Seigneurie system all over the banks of the Red, Assiniboine and Seine when there's been continual European presence since 1738.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Does it though? Not trying to be petty here, but it's a nearly Regina or Saskatoon-sized city with a much lesser skyline IMO. It's been developing fast, but looks about on par with a TOD development around a random Metro Vancouver transit station.

Kelowna was a small agricultural hamlet for most of its life. Kamloops was supposed to be the big city in the interior of BC. Kelowna, in comparison, was strip malls and suburbs.

The growth of Kelowna in the last 20 years has been very significant to put it lightly. It went from a city with virtually no downtown (hollowed out by Orchard Park Mall in the 1970s) to a vibrant section of the city that people actually go to. I can't stress enough how bad Kelowna's downtown was in the 1980s and 1990s. I would return from my summer visits to Victoria and Vancouver depressed at the place I called home.

I think when the dust settles in a few years, Kelowna will have an impressive downtown skyline for its size. There are a few more big projects going up right now, but they're still holes in the ground. The 150m UBCO Tower being the most impactful.

[Mr Tall Forehead]

Originally Posted by rousseau

Thanks for this. I didn't help my case with the focus on a major thoroughfare like Grant Ave given the presence of a row of shorter apartment buildings, a very Canadian phenomenon that you don't see in the US.

Yeah, Grant Ave is a bit of a weird one. As biguc noted, it's more of regional collector than it is major thoroughfare with its 50 km/h speed limit. That part of Grant in particular is unique in that it was actually a railway up until the late 50's or early 60's. The condos/apartments were mostly built at the same time as the road so it wasn't a case of multi-family being built next to an existing busy roadway, more a case of crappy 60's development.

The apartments/condos seem to work well. They are geared towards seniors or students who have access to mall, school, etc. on the south side of the road. Sadly though apparently a historic Metis/Indigenous settlement that had established next to the railway was destroyed to make way for the mall back in the day. Google 'Rooster Town' if interested.

[WhipperSnapper]

Originally Posted by J.OT13

Official and non-official student housing. Very similar situations.



That will happen with or without the new housing.



Not quite the same. Kelowna has more variety in height, more space between the towers. Regina and Saskatoon are largely big clumps of generic office buildings, though Saskatoon has seen some good improvements with Nutrien. And we can't compare any of these cities with the suburbs on steroids of Toronto and Vancouver.

More space between towers is a product of few towers and older resort complexes apply named Dolphin and Lagoons. Give it another 50 years. It'll all be towers on oversized, primarily parkade podiums; same for Ontario cities in site of the GTA.

Regina has some pretty awesome office buildings and Saskatoon has a residential to office tower ratio around 8 to 1. Big clumps of generic office building is not the case.

[905er]

[QUOTE=GeneralLeeTPHLS;10278303]Yeah, some of these suburban nodes in the GTA and GVA are quite massive. I'm always gobsmacked looking at images of Surrey and Metrotown/Burnaby posted here.

But Mississauga (Or Missingsausage as it's sometimes called) is really becoming quite notable. I took this a few days ago (Note, this is still missing some of the skyline)


Looks like this pic was taken from the Crate & Barrel Parking lot. Yeah, whole half of the skyline is missing off to the left, plus a handful of towers missing to the right of the image.
Mississauga's new soon to be tallest is peaking just behind the Canadian flag... it'll be a good 20 floors clear of M1 and M2 (zig zags)

Plus the dead space to the left of the exchange tower all being built up in the near future.

The skyline has really bulked up... it's quite impressive driving down hurontario as you approach the 403.

[Repthe250]

Originally Posted by MonkeyRonin

Does it though? Not trying to be petty here, but it's a nearly Regina or Saskatoon-sized city with a much lesser skyline IMO. It's been developing fast, but looks about on par with a TOD development around a random Metro Vancouver transit station.

Saskatoon is more comparable to Victoria/Halifax for its size. Not necessarily Kelowna.
Regina on the other hand is closer in population, but is a provincial capital. I think Kelowna punches well above its weight. (City 160,000/Metro 235,000). Still smaller than Regina but its skyline has improved vastly in 10 years. Regina hasn’t shown any growth.

[craner]

Originally Posted by MolsonExport;1027804

Urban Prairie:
[IMG

https://bootstrap-analysis.com/boot-images/gilboandleander2.jpg[/IMG]





https://www.google.com/maps/place/De...oASAFQAw%3D%3D

Those are horrific images of Detroit - doesn’t seem real.

[north 42]

That second last photo of Detroit is very old, that whole area in front of downtown (Brush Park) is now filled with condos, Little Caesar’s Arena and new office and university medical buildings. It looks totally different now, and is a very desirable part of the city that is growing and filling in fast.

https://metropolismag.com/projects/i...lso-listening/

[Martin Mtl]

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/jo_fitandtravel/

[LaTour]

Originally Posted by Martin Mtl

Photo: https://www.instagram.com/jo_fitandtravel/

Montreal's getting bulkier. Love to see the new towers emerging from the east side.

[koops65]

Wow, what a flat top!

[G.S MTL]

Originally Posted by koops65

Wow, what a flat top!

lol … maybe you need to get your eyes checked.

[Martin Mtl]

Originally Posted by koops65

Wow, what a flat top!

You already made that same comment on my last skyline post. The second time around is just pettiness and it depreciates my contribution gratuitously. You don’t like Montreal’s skyline, we get it.

[Rico Rommheim]

The CIBC tower is looking tiny now. I'll bet that it will be the first of the major office towers to be converted into non-office use within a decade.