The_Cat said:
It's sad to see all of the commercial developments struggle downtown, save for the Ice District. ATB Place has less than half of the original retail outlets. Rice Howard Place is almost finished, and getting retailers may be difficult. Commerce Place is busy, but there are still some vacant spaces. Manulife/National Bank has pedestrian traffic, but sparse tenants.
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I wouldn't really call Ice District a success on the commercial side of things. It may be doing better than other dt locations though. But what was envisioned for people and what it is are two different things.
 
Not surprised. Hopefully someone with vision can come in a redevelop the Mall.

Anyone know vacancy rates in TD tower? Is it class A still mostly?
 
thommyjo said:
Not surprised. Hopefully someone with vision can come in a redevelop the Mall.

Anyone know vacancy rates in TD tower? Is it class A still mostly?
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Im hoping for redevelopment in the form of a wrecking ball. Sure it will probably turn into City Center Mall Gravel Parking lot for the next 20 years but maybe we can get a cool building there that looks less like Leonid Brezhnev personally designed it.
 
Barnaby said:
Downtown retail will be mostly driven by residential demand and hotel goers going forward.

The number one goal of downtown businesses shouldn't be "bringing people downtown" or making it a "destination", it needs to be housing starts in the CBD, especially near the offices which are currently a massive drag on vibrancy.
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The boulevards with mature trees makes some of the downtown streets very desirable for residential urban living but that alone isn't enough. Young people probably form the largest downtown demographic group and they want the cool vibe. Besides a good streetscape they want the coffee shops, the pubs, and the trendy restaurants. Downtown Calgary has maybe half a dozen basketball courts located right next to one of their downtown C-Train stops and when I was past there the other day, the place was packed with 20 year old's showing off their skills and creating a vibrant buzz.
 
Its crazy to think that a decade ago City Centre Mall was quite a happening place. I know its not productive to compare Calgary to Edmonton, but what was made ECC so different from TD Square that caused it to flounder so much? Maybe it was already struggling a decade ago and businesses were just holding on? 🤷‍♂️
 
JMatt88 said:
Its crazy to think that a decade ago City Centre Mall was quite a happening place. I know its not productive to compare Calgary to Edmonton, but what was made ECC so different from TD Square that caused it to flounder so much? Maybe it was already struggling a decade ago and businesses were just holding on? 🤷‍♂️
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The office crowd largely supports the Core in Calgary, something Edmonton does not compare to and struggling to recover.
 
Yeah that is true. When I used to live downtown and go to ECC on the weekends (say around 2016), stores were open but the mall was really not that busy. Think it ties back to the number of folks who live and work in downtown Calgary versus Edmonton. Plus a lot of luxury retailers are concentrated in the Core (e.g., Harry Rosen, Holt, Brooks Brothers, Simons), so people have no choice but to go the Core for these stores whereas WEM has luxury retailers and parking....It's always WEM's fault! haha
 
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JMatt88 said:
Its crazy to think that a decade ago City Centre Mall was quite a happening place. I know its not productive to compare Calgary to Edmonton, but what was made ECC so different from TD Square that caused it to flounder so much? Maybe it was already struggling a decade ago and businesses were just holding on? 🤷‍♂️
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In my opinion, Kingsway.
Kingsway is too close to downtown, has way more options, and free parking.

TD Square gets the office and local crowds, also the botanical gardens brings people in, weekends included. Calgary also doesn't have a quality mall near their downtown (sorry north hill).

Personally I'd like to see ECC go inside out. Downtown doesn't need a mall, at least not one in its current form. Retail, yes.
More programming and activities are needed to draw people, but the building needs to be overhauled to present that, especially street facing.
 
That is very true regarding Calgary - Chinook and Market Mall are quite far away from downtown, and Chinook can be atrocious finding parking on busy days (granted there is a c-train connection).
 
JaayJR said:
In my opinion, Kingsway.
Kingsway is too close to downtown, has way more options, and free parking.

TD Square gets the office and local crowds, also the botanical gardens brings people in, weekends included. Calgary also doesn't have a quality mall near their downtown (sorry north hill).

Personally I'd like to see ECC go inside out. Downtown doesn't need a mall, at least not one in its current form. Retail, yes.
More programming and activities are needed to draw people, but the building needs to be overhauled to present that, especially street facing.
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A botanical garden at ECC? Let's do it!
 
How many screens does Landmark at ECC have? Just a thought that maybe a future plan is trying to make the main movie theatre be downtown (i.e., expand Landmark,. who move a theatre to an entirely vacant space) similar to how the Galaxy Theatre (not sure if that is still the name) is in downtown Saskatoon. I presume there would be sufficient underground parking at ECC to accommodate this?
 
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