thommyjo said:
My curiosity is if we shift the focus of density towards that market area and eastern LRT alignment, then allow the NW to have a developer come in to buy a huge section all together and develop it at a higher rate than the city is currently.
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If you find some way to do this over a decade ago and could find one specialized in large scale industrial brownfield redevelopment, maybe, because they would spend easily that long coming up with their new faster cheaper plan and finding builders and infrastructure contractors.

Also, a look out my window suggests that this land is actually being used to facilitate the movement of truly massive quantities of demolition debris, fill, and material that this project involves, and that this would have the knock-on effect of slowing work elsewhere in the project since this material exists and has to physically be somewhere.
 
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Coprolite said:
I have often thought the same thing, but yes that boat needed to be a thing well over a decade ago to play a role in this particular campaign ("naval strategy is built strategy" is seeming particularly apt to this metaphor).

But also boy howdy do private sector developers not have a universal competence edge over the city. If I had a nickel for every time I had unfuck some spatial data disaster for a developer to keep them from breaking the law because they're having trouble adjusting to the 21st Century, I would be a lot poorer than I am because in practice I usually get several thousand dollars for that and am probably undercharging them. Municipal projects are a delight by comparison, at least on my end of things.
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I agree: cowboy developers and 8-bit architects are recipes for adventure.

My suggestion: don't undercharge them and perhaps they'll then start to learn the lesson? :)
 
Offworld said:
I agree: cowboy developers and 8-bit architects are recipes for adventure.

My suggestion: don't undercharge them and perhaps they'll then start to learn the lesson? :)
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I have become duly educational in that regard after the second time encountering a subdivision scale developer who could not provide the project footprint that they had provided to Culture for their Historic Resource Impact Assessment application. Between them and pipeline companies, I have certainly learned to refine my fee structures.
 
Coprolite said:
If you find some way to do this over a decade ago and could find one specialized in large scale industrial brownfield redevelopment, maybe, because they would spend easily that long coming up with their new faster cheaper plan and finding builders and infrastructure contractors.

Also, a look out my window suggests that this land is actually being used to facilitate the movement of truly massive quantities of demolition debris, fill, and material that this project involves, and that this would have the knock-on effect of slowing work elsewhere in the project since this material exists and has to physically be somewhere.
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Still 20 years left in this project (assuming no delays in original plans, which there certainly are based on the delayed starting).

20 years isn’t enough time to get someone else in to tackle some of it? I guess Exhibition lands is doomed too then?

I’m basically just calling for what the city is doing there…
 
thommyjo said:
Still 20 years left in this project (assuming no delays in original plans, which there certainly are based on the delayed starting).

20 years isn’t enough time to get someone else in to tackle some of it? I guess Exhibition lands is doomed too then?

I’m basically just calling for what the city is doing there…
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If you want to make it 30 years, sure, there's plenty of time to mess with things and go back to the drawing board.

Nothing is doomed unless it's held to fundamentally unrealistic expectations. You're just being extremely overwrought about this because for whatever reason you refuse to comprehend that redeveloping large brownfield sites is actually a long-term project that can be significantly more challenging than developing a farmer's field, and you don't even comprehend how long-term greenfield development plans are.
 
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Coprolite said:
Also, a look out my window suggests that this land is actually being used to facilitate the movement of truly massive quantities of demolition debris, fill, and material that this project involves, and that this would have the knock-on effect of slowing work elsewhere in the project since this material exists and has to physically be somewhere.
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My goodness you weren't kidding; that is one heck of a dirt pile.
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On another note, they're starting to put siding on the Pilot townhomes.
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I also noticed another round of zoning changes being advertised.
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CplKlinger said:
My goodness you weren't kidding; that is one heck of a dirt pile.
View attachment 653458View attachment 653459

On another note, they're starting to put siding on the Pilot townhomes.
View attachment 653456

I also noticed another round of zoning changes being advertised.
View attachment 653457
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And that's just one of many.

People who think this job should be easier than it is are just duplicating the same mistakes the City did on the initial timeline. This is like if for some reason we just had to rebuild downtown in its entirety, and remove most of the rubble and the top several meters of soil and replace it. The idea that this should proceed anything like a greenfield project is bizarre, let alone the imagined and extremely optimistic impression of greenfield that folks get because they never see the planning phase or actually directly observe a project. The volume of concrete debris and soil that is being removed is challenging to comprehend, and they bring in a constant flow of fresh fill to replace everything that has to go.

Many of the projects I work with on the HRIA end are greenfield suburban developments, and I didn't really grasp just how much more work there was to do here and how much harder the job is until our house was actually ready and the other half moved in and I started spending a lot more time here.

Actually, one of the biggest advantages a private developer would have here is the luxury to just ignore unrealistic timeline expectations from city councillors with mayoral ambitions, along with all of the other armchair quarterbacks.
 
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This is really partly a timing issue, the first half of the last decade or more from 2015 to the early 2020's was not one for much growth here.

This development doesn't look impressive from the main road yet, but if you go into the area, like I did a week or so ago you will start to see a community being built up here now. It is progressing.

I doubt the speed of this development will be a key election issue for most people who do not live in the area regardless of what some politicians may say.
 
David A said:
This is really partly a timing issue, the first half of the last decade or more from 2015 to the early 2020's was not one for much growth here.

This development doesn't look impressive from the main road yet, but if you go into the area, like I did a week or so ago you will start to see a community being built up here now. It is progressing.

I doubt the speed of this development will be a key election issue for most people who do not live in the area regardless of what some politicians may say.
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Yeah, where Blatchford influences anyone's vote, it will more be the folks from the lead poisoning generation who are mad that it exists and you can't catch a 737-200 to the edge of Calgary. Even if the Blatchford Authority were somehow through miraculous advances in urban planning and nanotechnology 20 years ahead of schedule and the district fusion plant were supplying the whole city with clean, cheap energy they'd be grumbling about 15 minute ghettos and how closing the airport ruined Kingsway Garden Mall and don't you know Mayor Mandel got rich off of it because of his developer buddies. The concern trolling of a certain councillor about progress isn't about actually fixing anything so much as signalling to these "we never should have done this at all" types who won't actually be happy with any amount of progress and indeed will actually be angered by it. And even if many purport to want the project halted, in the event that it is, they will cry for the rest of their lives about how now it's a wasteland.

So we really can just let it cook, especially since applying literally any of the supposed "go faster" buttons at this stage won't actually make it go faster. Even the deeply overwrought concern that if we don't have all of the apartments built yesterday the city will sprawl doesn't hold up because lead times on greenfield development mean that the sprawl that is happening right now was committed to before the project even started and the next decade or more is also locked in. And, in a city that grew 65,000 people in 2024 alone, a development that was planned to have up to 30,000 living, working and studying in it actually will not significantly alter the rate of development anywhere else in the city.
 
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Updates on Blatchford-related projects from the Building Edmonton site.

1. Blatchford District Energy Sharing System - Energy Transfer Stations
Working with the builders to finalize design details , Energy Transfer Station configurations , Multi-Unit Lots District Energy Sharing System Design Guide and Energy Transfer Station construction inspections.

2. Blatchford Fire Station #8
Project construction is 48% complete and remains on budget and on schedule. Construction is anticipated to be completed in fall 2025, and the project is anticipated to be completed in winter 2025/2026. The majority of the building utilities have been installed. Like homes in the Blatchford neighbourhood, the fire station will receive its heating, cooling and hot water services through the district energy sharing system once the necessary mechanical systems are operational. The building structure, as well as the installation of the exterior cladding and glazing, is complete. The rooftop HVAC units and solar panels have been delivered and are ready for installation. Construction of the inside of the building continues. The ceiling ductwork is nearing completion, the drywall boarding of all interior walls and ceilings is complete and painting is underway. Around the project site, the removal of groundwater and preparation of the parking lot, landscape areas and driveways has started. The installation of the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services traffic signal on the public roadway is underway.

3. Blatchford Redevelopment Implementation
West Stage 6 underground was partially complete in 2024 with construction starting again after being paused for the winter. Builder activity is progressing in West Stage 2, 3 and 5. East Stage 5, the land serviced for NAIT, is substantially complete. The fire station has been serviced with the district energy piping.
 
CplKlinger said:
Updates on Blatchford-related projects from the Building Edmonton site.

1. Blatchford District Energy Sharing System - Energy Transfer Stations
Working with the builders to finalize design details , Energy Transfer Station configurations , Multi-Unit Lots District Energy Sharing System Design Guide and Energy Transfer Station construction inspections.

2. Blatchford Fire Station #8
Project construction is 48% complete and remains on budget and on schedule. Construction is anticipated to be completed in fall 2025, and the project is anticipated to be completed in winter 2025/2026. The majority of the building utilities have been installed. Like homes in the Blatchford neighbourhood, the fire station will receive its heating, cooling and hot water services through the district energy sharing system once the necessary mechanical systems are operational. The building structure, as well as the installation of the exterior cladding and glazing, is complete. The rooftop HVAC units and solar panels have been delivered and are ready for installation. Construction of the inside of the building continues. The ceiling ductwork is nearing completion, the drywall boarding of all interior walls and ceilings is complete and painting is underway. Around the project site, the removal of groundwater and preparation of the parking lot, landscape areas and driveways has started. The installation of the Edmonton Fire Rescue Services traffic signal on the public roadway is underway.

3. Blatchford Redevelopment Implementation
West Stage 6 underground was partially complete in 2024 with construction starting again after being paused for the winter. Builder activity is progressing in West Stage 2, 3 and 5. East Stage 5, the land serviced for NAIT, is substantially complete. The fire station has been serviced with the district energy piping.
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Any idea what's happening closest to the Yellowhead? Lots of activity there last I saw.
 
Is it the precursor to the recreational hill that someone mentioned in this thread? Because again, I would be super stoked for that in this location
 
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