MichaelS
Senior Member
Did the Westley Hotel office conversion pre-date this program? I think so. So, I suppose it doesn't count, even though it too was an office conversion.
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- Thread starter Surrealplaces
- Start date
UrbanWarrior
Senior Member
As was Cube. Either way, the conversion program has been a resounding success for sure. Looking forward to the bigger conversion projects like Palliser, and hopefully many others to come.
darwink
Senior Member
It has converted property yes. I still argue that the program had the wrong metric at the start, and that some more creativity could have led to similar results with more public benefit. Like the Post-Secondary conversion, that is a much better result imo.
I think this round of conversions will be a success over time. It accomplishes, getting an extra 3,000 people living in the commercial core, but it'll take a while to really see the true results of its effect on downtown overall. If it were up to me, I'd pause on doing another round of funding for conversions until we get the full results and for now spend money on some other improvements for downtown. Maybe a second round of conversion funding can be done later on to help keep the momentum once we see where that momentum is going.
One point I'm happy about with the conversions, is most seem to be at the west end, where we also have a hotel and a post secondary campus going in, couple that with improvements to 8th st and could very well see a renaissance of sorts in that part of downtown. If we could build off that momentum, we may be able to fully turn a section of downtown.
One point I'm happy about with the conversions, is most seem to be at the west end, where we also have a hotel and a post secondary campus going in, couple that with improvements to 8th st and could very well see a renaissance of sorts in that part of downtown. If we could build off that momentum, we may be able to fully turn a section of downtown.
darwink
Senior Member
At what? $75 million dollars? $25,000 each? I'm just supposing that the $75 million could have been spent in ways that attracted 3000 more residents and created a benefit for the rest of the city at the same time.
It's a lot of money, but once the residents are there it should be permanent going forward. I don't like the idea of conversions being the only way to solve downtown issues, but it's one part of it, and it's a one time cost. I feel the same about money to do a post secondary conversion.
Always_Biking
Senior Member
I agree, the thing is, downtown revitalization will never work unless people are part of the equation. We know having office workers as the people part of the equation doesn’t work, the people part of the equation needs to be residents.
Students and tourists also help, but there needs to be a primary base of residents.
outoftheice
Senior Member
The lawnchairs are some fun additions to the slowest moving urban renewal project in the city...
haltcatchfire
Senior Member
Surprised they weren’t occupied by the workers.
Nawads
Active Member
Is any of the Plaza/pathway planned to be opened this summer?
jmarchy
New Member
Their construction update from March says that it's planned to be re-opened in mid-2025:
Eau Claire Area Improvements construction and detours
www.calgary.ca
potatopizzafan
Active Member
Was cruising the cities development map and found these renderings for the building that was previously Free House in Kensington. Looks damn good!
Looks great. The nice thing is they are more or less replacing something good with something similar but nicer.
Here's some more looks at the renderings posted by Potatopizzafan, but a bit higher res, since it is a cool looking building.
Chowda7
Active Member
New co-working offices in Vancouver and Calgary to open with free space | Urbanized
Pavilion Cowork will open two premium co-working office expansion locations in downtown Vancouver and downtown Calgary in 2025.
dailyhive.com
Cowtown
Senior Member
What other things could the $75 million have been on that would draw 3,000 permanent residents?