What do you think of this project?

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I am not either an unbridled optimist or a total pessimist when it comes to this project, but given the company's lack of experience with projects like this, the fact nothing has happened for a long time and that is would be a major undertaking (size and issues related to the location), leads me believe at this point it is unlikely it will actually go ahead.

It is quite an impressive proposal and undertaking, so I would actually be glad for my reservations to be proven wrong, but they haven't been so far.
 
"the long time" that you reference could also mean that it is a difficult site and it is a large, nay humungous, concept that requires a long time to verify, re-verify, and detail-out before jumping in with both feet. By the agreement sussed out with the City Alldritt still has time to pull the rabbit out of the hat. Again, COVID probably ate up 3-years of that time-frame.
 
This tower was proposed when the city had a lot of momentum. There was a lot of optimism around the city at this time, the new arena was just finished, Stantec and JW were rising and beginning to dominate the skyline and it seemed like the city was well on its way to becoming a truly big city. The city was seeing new towers popping up left and right so it was logical that a big ambitious proposal like Alldritt would come along. I remember this was the time I became interested in planning and is probably the main reason I chose it as my career path. The time between 2015-2019 was a golden age for Edmonton tall building construction and hype around the city was at an all time high. I don't want to say that it's completely gone now but it's definitely significantly reduced, COVID definitely paused the building boom, but it seems like things are finally starting to pick back up again with Falcon, The Parks, MacLab and others under construction. Who knows maybe we see this project brought back to life but if it is, it will probably be significantly reduced in scale and impact. I doubt it though, it seemed like this one died when they found the abandoned coal mine right below it.
 
archited said:
Alldritt went through the machinations, cost, and deliberate focus of developing a separate entity -- Alldritt Land -- including staffing up, to jump into the major development game. They must have spent a ton of money and sincere effort to get to the point at which they are at present. The project started with Architect Brad Kennedy (the vision that you see posted on this thread); when Brad died they took the project over to Dub Architects and Gene took a very different approach to design and had the whole re-engineered and the design, while maintaining the height profile modified to more of an angular "Deco" style of building, was intently engaged to help make the building the legacy project that it was intended to be. I, too, remain skeptical that it will get built but I don't think that it is out-of-the-question. It is so easy to pooh-pooh the idea without understanding the road travelled by Alldritt much less the road ahead. Certainly, it has become a running laugh-generator on this website by (my guess) over half the know-it-alls; wouldn't it be exceedingly funny if they were all served up a plate of crow.
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My recollection (please correct me if I am wrong) is that they shifted away from Kennedy Architecture while he was still alive and basically gave it to his old buddy Gene, which led to significant friction and frustration...
 
erudyk_29 said:
This tower was proposed when the city had a lot of momentum. There was a lot of optimism around the city at this time, the new arena was just finished, Stantec and JW were rising and beginning to dominate the skyline and it seemed like the city was well on its way to becoming a truly big city. The city was seeing new towers popping up left and right so it was logical that a big ambitious proposal like Alldritt would come along. I remember this was the time I became interested in planning and is probably the main reason I chose it as my career path. The time between 2015-2019 was a golden age for Edmonton tall building construction and hype around the city was at an all time high. I don't want to say that it's completely gone now but it's definitely significantly reduced, COVID definitely paused the building boom, but it seems like things are finally starting to pick back up again with Falcon, The Parks, MacLab and others under construction. Who knows maybe we see this project brought back to life but if it is, it will probably be significantly reduced in scale and impact. I doubt it though, it seemed like this one died when they found the abandoned coal mine right below it.
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When the city had a lot of momentum… Have you seen our growth numbers….

Don't mistake a lack of building due to inflation, interest rates and supply chain issues for that of city stagnation. Your assessment would be false.
 
Yeggy said:
When the city had a lot of momentum… Have you seen our growth numbers….

Don't mistake a lack of building due to inflation, interest rates and supply chain issues for that of city stagnation. Your assessment would be false.
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If you read my comment it's pretty clear I'm talking about the building boom that happened in that period and not general growth. The building of tall buildings downtown was booming at that time and had a lot of momentum compared to post 2019 as we entered the COVID and Post-COVID years. I don't think the city itself is stagnating, quite the contrary, but to say that the amount of large downtown projects reduced during that period is not a stretch at all. Look at all the projects that got cancelled or put on hold during that time, including the Alldritt Tower / Quarters Hotel and Residence. Even physically looking at the skyline in 2018 vs. 2021 the difference is staggering, there were cranes everywhere before and scarcely anything during the COVID years. But it's starting to come back again with all the new towers going up that I listed before.
 
archited said:
I remember in 2018/2019 counting cranes was a favorite pastime.
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erudyk_29 said:
If you read my comment it's pretty clear I'm talking about the building boom that happened in that period and not general growth. The building of tall buildings downtown was booming at that time and had a lot of momentum compared to post 2019 as we entered the COVID and Post-COVID years. I don't think the city itself is stagnating, quite the contrary, but to say that the amount of large downtown projects reduced during that period is not a stretch at all. Look at all the projects that got cancelled or put on hold during that time, including the Alldritt Tower / Quarters Hotel and Residence. Even physically looking at the skyline in 2018 vs. 2021 the difference is staggering, there were cranes everywhere before and scarcely anything during the COVID years. But it's starting to come back again with all the new towers going up that I listed before.
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Again I point out supply chain and financing issues. So I guess what you are missing about what I am saying is that the energy is still there, only I see the forces that see that energy stored as potential energy where it seems you a lamenting a lack of kinetic energy .
It just needs to be pointed out that there is a clear pressure building where your post could leave the impression there is no force whatsoever be it kinetic or potential.
 
dunno said:
I'm guessing if we get anything big it'll either be around the Ice District, the old BMO Tegler site, or something tall fronting the new Warehouse Park.
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The Tegler site makes a lot of sense, but the dog in the manger developers who don't seem to know what they are doing and don't have the resources to do it would have to sell it, but they seem to want to sit on it.

That over hyped guy from Toronto who was going to build that fabulous building just north of the park (confusingly with the same name as another older building further down Jasper Ave), seems to have not been heard of from years - probably now has a glut of condos to deal with in TO, but the Parks is proceeding quite nicely, if you count that.

Also sounds like a couple of towers just west of Ice District on 104 St may be happening soon too.

I'd say for now two out of three is not bad.
 
Aldritt has always been quite conservative. But I felt this was a bold and welcome move by the younger Aldritt members. However deep down this particular projects will not get built, At least as we see it. a much smaller project may come. Is there is some politics at play probably. The supply chain is not a factor as much anymore. We factor in long lead time for products. And the big lead times seem to be on the electrical side now. Financing will hold some projects up but not this one. If it didn't happen earlier it will not happen. What may kick this further down the road is the labour issues. This last few months has shown me that that is the number one concern.

Looking at next year there is a phenomenal amount of RFPs. So the will to build is there. JUST maybe not this one.
 
archited said:
(Hey Psst -- can you keep a secret) Alldritt owns the land north of the Russian Orthodox Cathedral abutting the south side of Jasper Avenue on 96th Street. Here they will be building their "presentation center" for the 80-storey tower; they also own the parking lot south of of the ROC which will provide parking for those checking out the "presentation center". I'll stake my reputation on this happening soon...
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archited said:
^^^^ You will be proved wrong over the next two years. (But then, again, you won't admit that you were wrong you will just change your opinion and say something like "oh I was referring to condos that allow pets" or something equally as baseless). You keep looking at present conditions -- you seem to have no capacity to look into the future.
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archited said:
I, too, remain skeptical that it will get built but I don't think that it is out-of-the-question. It is so easy to pooh-pooh the idea without understanding the road travelled by Alldritt much less the road ahead. Certainly, it has become a running laugh-generator on this website by (my guess) over half the know-it-alls; wouldn't it be exceedingly funny if they were all served up a plate of crow.
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The know-it-alls never pass up the opportunity to insult the know-nothings whenever the latter get it wrong (or, I suppose, when they get it right?). Hopefully they will eat crow, and not just change their opinion without admitting they were wrong. For now it's up to the skeptics like us to show what honor is, to admit when we're wrong, to demonstrate the rebuilding of a new reputation when the old one was squandered. Or the other option, just to generate some laughs.
 
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