Gronk! said:
I didn't get a chance for a closer look, but the 101 St entrance to ECC East (near TD) appears to be now reopened.

There were a lot more people wandering through ECC during the noon hour, almost at pre-COVID levels if I dare say so.
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I echo that. Was there today for the first time in a while and it felt like "almost" normal. If only we were able to keep at least half of that level of traffic throughout the day, ECC would be an actually functional mall.

Overall, downtown is feeling a lot livelier than it has in quite some time, even with the still pretty chilly temperatures, there were quite some people out and about.
 
I think the entrance reopening will help the mall. One of the things that devastated this mall, was unlike other malls in the city, a number of entrances were closed during COVID.

At one point it was almost harder to get into than a high security facility. Even if you were downtown and wanted to get something, it was easier to just go elsewhere.
 
^During the initial few months of the pandemic, I worked in the mall and I had a hard time getting in.

I still find it pretty bad, to be honest -- i.e. trying to see a movie during an evening and not being able to access any entrances on 102 Ave or pedway connections at that time of day.
 
101 St entrance to ECC East and TD renovations

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I also had to go to TD Bank. I asked when their reno's would be done, the teller said sometime in May, so hopefully soon.
 
This will never see the light of day. If I'm not mistaken, pretty sure their "Bay" building re-develop plans have stalled out.
 
It seems like a good plan bringing together various public and private initiatives.

Unlike Alberta, Manitoba only has one major city, so in their upcoming election their government is not mainly focusing on one and ignoring the other.

Of course, we already have a downtown grocery store, but other aspects of this could work here. I think ultimately, a nice residential tower on the under utilized west or north west side of City Centre makes sense.
 
I spoke with a couple people in management at CCM last week at the real estate forum. 2 things:

1. They both came across in my opinion as almost exasperated with downtown, CCM, crime, etc. Both are very hardworking and dedicated to what they do but both seemed almost defeated
2. Both said effectively the same thing - redevelopment of CCM is maybe 5-10 years out with very little if anything moving behind the scenes right now and/or appetite to do any redevelopment work
 
I get the last few years have been tough, but I go through City Centre Mall several times a week. Over 95% of the people there are now are not criminals or trouble makers.

In some ways mall management has been and continues to be their own worst enemies. Starting by locking down everything during COVID and making it almost impossible for regular people to get in. At times, its like they just want to have an excuse to fail. Like every major city, there are various issues in downtown Edmonton, but regular people also want to live and shop there and by only focusing on the problems I think they are missing that.
 
CaptainBL said:
I spoke with a couple people in management at CCM last week at the real estate forum. 2 things:

1. They both came across in my opinion as almost exasperated with downtown, CCM, crime, etc. Both are very hardworking and dedicated to what they do but both seemed almost defeated
2. Both said effectively the same thing - redevelopment of CCM is maybe 5-10 years out with very little if anything moving behind the scenes right now and/or appetite to do any redevelopment work
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I'm really not surprised (if true). I think one of the biggest problems is that the owners have zero idea of where to start. Don't get me wrong, our DT is super high risk these days, but for them to just sit on their asses and bitch about the state of downtown and have no vision or plan in place is shortsighted.

Be part of the solution - they are sitting on a huge asset in the centre of the core. Get creative, work with partners, the city etc. and start up something to get DT going again.
 
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