Red Deer Construction

[TheGreatestX]

Red Deer’s $207 million justice centre will be downtown landmark

Contractor Clark Builders has completed shoring up the site and site servicing and is working on the building’s foundations.

https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news...town-landmark/

[the.tru.albertan]

Looks pretty good!

[YYCguys]

Indeed it does! Will it be the tallest building in downtown upon completion?

[Willmsma]

No, the Stantec building will still be taller. Still, a nice addition to the skyline.

Nice work, GreatestX!

[Willmsma]

I took this picture two weeks ago. It shows the new presentation centre at Capstone. I'd assumed with the economy in the pits Capstone was going to be a boondoggle and - of course - it might still turn out that way. Still, it has made it further along than I was expecting and I'm a little excited at how it might turn out.

[Willmsma]

Here is a news blurb on the project:



$36M condo project on its way to Capstone development
Calgary developer plans to create 180 housing units to open in 2022

[Willmsma]

And, here are some photos of Capstone I took back in October of last year. I'm not sure if the photos convey the work that has been done there, but the area is lovely.

[the.tru.albertan]

Lots of e-scooters in RD now thanks to the scooter pilot project. Here's an interesting article from the Red Deer Advocate.

E-scooters are bringing more Red Deerians downtown, say business owners

E-Scooters have been an “incredible” boost for Red Deer’s downtown, say local business owners.

“The effect on the foot traffic and businesses downtown has been astounding,” said Brandon Bouchard, Tribe restaurant manager and operator of Red Deer Adventure walking tours.

Tribe went from operating Wednesdays through Saturdays at the beginning of the season to being open seven days a weeks because of rising high customer demand, Bouchard added.

Electric scooters were introduced to Red Deer last month when five companies brought about 1,000 e-scooters to the city, with plans to boost the number to 1,500.

Since the scooters arrived, Bouchard has noticed them parked in front of restaurants and stores on Ross Street: “Our neighbouring businesses have seen a tremendous increase in revenues.”

Some customers have told Bouchard they’ve never really explored the downtown before hopping on an e-scooter. “I’m already booking scooter tours… It’s amazing,” he added.

The Ross Street Patio, with its live music scene, is attracting bigger crowds this summer than last. And another emerging draw is mural project in downtown alleyways: 15 murals are being created by a variety of artists, local and from across Canada.

E-scooters are showing that people are regularly cruising into the city centre, said Kyle Key, owner of The Velvet Olive and Capitol Package Store.

“People are using them to get to and from our business. You also see more people coming in groups” — and as the evening goes on, Key will notice a line up of scooters parked by his bar entrance in the alley.

Taco Loft co-owner Mike Ubbing, believes the e-scooters have enhanced what’s already a sociable scene. Between his new Ross Street Ice Cream Co., the music and the murals, “we’re seeing more customers, more families, and just more diverse people…”

Ubbing said it’s particularly nice to see people riding e-scooters through downtown parks — including City Hall Park, Veteran’s Park and Coronation Park.

The increase in downtown traffic later in the day was noticed by Catherine Robb, owner of Housewarmings gift store, across from the Ross Street Patio.

It used to be that hardly anyone would be around after business hours, she said, but now people are riding e-scooters into the downtown to spend the evening.

As a result, Robb is considering pushing back her store hours to stay open later and take advantage of the evening bustle.

https://www.reddeeradvocate.com/news...siness-owners/

[DKaz]

That's great for downtown Red Deer. Seemed like a lovely area with some great potential that's finally being realized.

[Willmsma]

The scooters are fun. We live close to downtown and it has been fun to see families and groups of young people zoom past our house, through the parks system and downtown. On cooler days Ross Street is still pretty dead, but when the weather is nice you can see people come downtown on scooters and then spend the evening. I think it's made a difference to the liveliness of downtown.

[Willmsma]

It's nice to see this forum still getting some love. Heading home after work today I took some pictures of downtown on my way past the Recreation Centre, and I thought it would be fun to share. These lands are a mix of old residential lands west of Parkvale and former rail lands (where the Rec Centre, Golden Circle and the spray park sit). There is some new medium density residential construction in the area, which - in my view - is exactly what the downtown needs.

A picture of the cranes for the new Justice Centre. You can't see it from the photo, but construction is now above grades and looks like it is coming along nicely.


The Alexander Place apartments have been finished now for about 2 years. I still really like how these have turned out.


The Golden Circle Seniors Centre is largely unused now due to Covid-19, but is still a handsome building.


The MAG (The Red Deer Museum and Art Gallery) received an exterior reno about 2 years ago as well. I haven't been inside to see if the interior received any love...?


The Recreation Centre, which - to my mind - counts as one of the most handsome buildings in the downtown. There was a plan a decade ago to add an Olympic sized swimming pool and dive tower to - not exactly to this facility, but to the Rec Centre site. Recently this was revised and the plan is to build in northeast Red Deer, even at a $7 million extra cost.


A 3 story new build across from the Rec Centre, with the Three Robins behind it. Other than the fact it is obviously residential, I'd be delighted to know what it is.


This building was completed about 6 months ago, but the landscaping was just completed this weekend. Also residential, I think it looks pretty sharp. What is is? No idea. I used to think it was low income housing, but then I've seen some middle class looking folks going in and out.


A view of the Three Robins from the back.


And finally, a view of the Three Robins from the side with a view of the Justice Centre cranes in the distance.

[The Great Scaper]

Cool photos of Red Deer. It's cool to see the city. I've only driven through Red Deer but years ago.

[Willmsma]

Originally Posted by The Great Scaper

Cool photos of Red Deer. It's cool to see the city. I've only driven through Red Deer but years ago.

Thanks for feedback, Great Scaper.

Here is another photo of the new Justice Centre, a $200 million development going ahead in downtown Red Deer.

There's not much to see at this point, at least not from my photo. However, from renderings it looks like it will be a smart addition to the downtown. Red Deer's downtown has suffered from the recent recession in Alberta, from crime and from competition from suburban development. However, development like this - as well as some small scale residential development -holds some promise for better days.

[Willmsma]

No sure this photo captures the progress on the Justice Centre, but this was taken last week. It's faces the corner of 48th Avenue and 48th Street, with the concrete of the first story of the street facing front - ?? - largely poured. In the background I think there are two stories poured.

[Willmsma]

Two weeks ago I was on the 6th story of the Three Robins complex, which also fronts onto 48th Avenue. It was a cool view of the downtown that I'd never experienced before. Facing east is beautiful, looking down onto the parkland behind it, then Parkvale and the far bowl of the downtown. Looking west isn't as nice, but the view is better than I expected, with the downtown more filled in and featuring fewer surface parking lots than I expected to see.

The complex itself is handsome, and made me a little bit hopeful for the downtown. If these are the types of buildings we can put up after 6 or more years of depressed housing - without any sort of tax-breaks and minimal public investment in improving the downtown - I wonder what could be done as things pick up.

[The Great Scaper]

Thanks for the photo and updates. I'd love to see more photos. I would also love to go back to Red Deer one day again.

[Willmsma]

You're very welcome, Great. I don't know the last time you've been here but - according to the old-timers - Red Deer has changed a lot in the last 10 years.

[Willmsma]

An odd little cube of a building on 47A Avenue downtown, almost finished:

[The Great Scaper]

That's a cool looking building. Thanks again for the Red Deer photos. I enjoy seeing the photos of the city.

[Willmsma]

Originally Posted by The Great Scaper

That's a cool looking building. Thanks again for the Red Deer photos. I enjoy seeing the photos of the city.

You're very welcome, Great Scraper. Here's another Red Deer oddity - a rendering of Nestera, a reuse/conversion of the tower portion of the Baymont Inn into tiny rental units - half furnished and half unfurnished.



This is from the Realty Store's facebook page and more renderings of the thing are available at the Nestera website itself.

I don't know what to think. Prior to this they'd - I think briefly - used the hotel for Covid-19 isolation/treatment for Red Deer homeless. From the rendering the rest of the building and the parking lot appear unchanged, which gives the building as a whole kind of a dogs breakfast kind of appearance.

That said? Maybe it's ok. Having the tower sit empty isn't great and the family that owns the hotel at least has been creative in trying to upgrade the site to bring in more business. A few years back they built a very shiny ballroom/conference room for the hotel. And having more residential in the south of downtown can't hurt.