[David A]

Well unfortunately there very little reason to go shopping in the downtown core. If I stay on the south side I can go to either southgate or millwood's town center or South Edmonton Common and have more options than in the downtown area.

Downtown has to continue to grow its residential population that needs retail and services which in turn hopefully can attract more businesses of all sorts for those residents.

One thing that astounds me is the complete absence of on of the biggest restaurant chains in the entire world from the downtown, McDonalds. I'm not a fan and admittedly I am trying to avoid that restaurant for health reasons, but it's amazing there isn't a McDonald's either on Jasper Ave, or in or near Ice District. In every city around the world I've been to there is a McDonald's in the core of the city. What does that say about our downtown core?

Oh it says quite a bit. If you go to other cities, you will see some empty spaces due to COVID and the closure of department stores, but Edmonton is far the worst. It is embarrassing and we don't seem to have enough will to fix it.

 

[Garceyues]

Oh it says quite a bit. If you go to other cities, you will see some empty spaces due to COVID and the closure of department stores, but Edmonton is far the worst. It is embarrassing and we don't seem to have enough will to fix it.

Unless something changed since January, Calgary has a higher office vacancy rate. More specific to malls, its not as through the Core Shopping Centre hasn't had its struggles or some closures either - Brooks Brothers comes to mind. They also lost Eau Claire Market. Empty spaces and the closure of stores is a problem in downtowns across Canada. I have not seen anything that says Edmonton is far and above worse than other major Canadian cities in this regard. To be honest, this just feels like catastrophizing the state of our downtown.

 

[kcantor]

Well unfortunately there very little reason to go shopping in the downtown core. If I stay on the south side I can go to either southgate or millwood's town center or South Edmonton Common and have more options than in the downtown area.

Downtown has to continue to grow its residential population that needs retail and services which in turn hopefully can attract more businesses of all sorts for those residents.

One thing that astounds me is the complete absence of on of the biggest restaurant chains in the entire world from the downtown, McDonalds. I'm not a fan and admittedly I am trying to avoid that restaurant for health reasons, but it's amazing there isn't a McDonald's either on Jasper Ave, or in or near Ice District. In every city around the world I've been to there is a McDonald's in the core of the city. What does that say about our downtown core?

There used to be McDonald's in a prime location in Commerce Place across from Sunterra as you entered the food court. They also closed a Jasper Avenue location in Wihkwentowin while keeping and now renovating the one in Unity Square so it's more than just residential or lack of residential.

 

[TAS]

FWIW - I asked a former executive leader of a large dt company in Edmonton I know - an innovative company with primarily WFH (1500+ employees) and currently leasing office space - about his thoughts of dt, WFH etc.

"Every major city needs to reinvent the core. Everyone wants to hold on to the only model they know. It's gone. Let’s figure out the future model."

 

[The_Cat]

Why are some developments (e.g., Stationlands) seeing success while City Centre has stagnated?

 

[Barnaby]

Why are some developments (e.g., Stationlands) seeing success while City Centre has stagnated?

Because the City Centre owners are bad asset allocators.

 

[johnnyboy]

There used to be McDonald's in a prime location in Commerce Place across from Sunterra as you entered the food court. They also closed a Jasper Avenue location in Wihkwentowin while keeping and now renovating the one in Unity Square so it's more than just residential or lack of residential.

I had to look up the McDonald's on Jasper Ave because I couldn't recall it during my time here (2005 - ); looks like it was at 11765 Jasper Ave? Any idea when it closed?

 

[thommyjo]

FWIW - I asked a former executive leader of a large dt company in Edmonton I know - an innovative company with primarily WFH (1500+ employees) and currently leasing office space - about his thoughts of dt, WFH etc.

"Every major city needs to reinvent the core. Everyone wants to hold on to the only model they know. It's gone. Let’s figure out the future model."

Us having post secondary downtown is a HUGE win. If we think we’re struggling… imagine us being like most downtown which could only dream of 30,000 students downtown and another 50,000 within 1-2 LRT stops.

But our unis are more of a commuter culture. More student housing will help though. And ironically, more sprawl will make commutes to these schools harder and harder, likely drawing some of those people to move. My aunt and uncle just bought a downtown condo cause their 2nd of 4 boys is now in uni and they suspect all 4 boys will use it over the next decade. Cheaper than student housing for all of them.

Getting Macewan better integrated to downtown, improving 104ave. Making 105-107ave less sketchy. Getting the warehouse district fillled in. All of those will help students not just get in and out asap, but will encourage them to linger and explore more.

 

[Kosy123]

The future of our downtown is slapping down as many residents and especially students to create a captive consumer base and unique retail/CRU offerings that'll draw out of downtown visitors to come. Making that captive consumer base larger should be the biggest priority imo.

If I was the city, I'd probably focus on offering more student housing incentives, combined with market housing, like they've already done.