Edmonton City Centre Mall (Renovations) | ?m | 2s | LaSalle Investment Management

[ChazYEG]

Oh, I have so many thoughts about Sobeys downtown here ... the grocery store whose business model faltered when a 7-11 opened across the street. To be fair, I suspect the head office people were probably quite preoccupied with the Safeway almost debacle at the time so didn't have the bandwidth to focus on fixing this one location. However, I am an optimist. City Centre could actually offer a space that could work much better with nearby parking and LRT access than the previous Jasper Ave space did.

Although the first thing Sobeys needs to start with is understanding downtown Edmonton is not quite the same as downtown Toronto. I hope its not an either/or with the Oliver and Downtown options though. I think both have merit.

I see where you're coming from with your concerns, and I agree that having a big grocery store that can't hold its own against the "competition" from a 7-11 doesn't inspire confidence, for sure. That said, you make another valid point with the Safeway issue and, also, we need to consider how many more residents the area has added since 2008, when they opened the store on Jasper Ave (or even 2014, when they closed) and the fact that 2014 was when the oil prices came crashing down and companies made a whole bunch of hasty decisions which could have been avoided if a little more though had been put (I can't say for sure that that was the case with Sobeys, but it is a possibility).

As for it being an either/or situation, my understanding of the information that was passed to me is that they're opening both, with FreshCo (Oliver) in the early summer and Sobeys later in the year. We shall see, though, but I hope it is true. Other than the consumer side of this story, I like to think about the positive impact in terms of job creation (both direct and indirect).

 

[IanO]

Sobeys failed because they totally misunderstood the market, hired five (5), yes five Red Seal chefs to cook us rich urbanites lobster and had an inefficient layout that did not maximize product availability or their intended cafe.

Add in the merger and fait accompli.

 

[IanO]

With a City Market forthcoming, ECC ain't getting another grocer.

For me:

Demo the west and parkade, keep the hotel, add a supportive/active senior housing tower, a market rental, a condo tower and create a walk-through from 102 to ICE N/S.

Go after lifestyle stores like Adidas, Lulu, Patagonia and an anchor restaurant or two.

 

[crisp]

I don't think this would be the right location for a senior's housing, but a rental or condo tower would be ok on the corner of 103 and 103.

At the Bay, I envision the entire first floor repurposed to street-facing retail, whether it be restaurants or small box retail each with their own street entrance. Put on the second floor (and only the second floor) a Saks off 5th and boom, Bay still has a downtown presence without direct competition with its Kingsway store.

One can dream..

 

[IanO]

Seniors tied to a large indoor mall/pedway for walking with transit, walkable amenities and groceries works well.

There are multiple seniors towers in our Downtown and an active seniors portion would be quite successful in my mind.

 

[David A]

I believe that it was a Woolworths (same difference in the technical realm, I suppose). In reminiscence mode Zellers (housed in an exceptionally beautiful building by the way) had an excellent diner counter that had indescribably tasty open faced beef sandwiches with rich, dark gravy. In a similar vein the downtown Hudson's Bay store on Jasper Ave. in the bargain basement had a malted milk kiosk that, by memory, outdid any liquid refreshment that I have tasted since those halcyon days of a complete downtown in the yesteryear. And, yes, we took the streetcar from Alberta Avenue to downtown and later, just for kicks, rode it across the high level bridge which was also shared with steam engine passenger trains of the CP ilk in that era. The ride was a treat, unhurried and time insensitive.

Yes, you are right, Woolworths. I was only there a few times before it was gone, so I think the distinction with Woolco faded in my mind. I came here after much of that era, but it sounds like a nice time.

 

[Platinum107]

And Woodward's and Eaton's prime years were waaaaaaaaaaay before my time

 

[archited]

^^^^Heck, Starbucks is before your time!

 

[Clearshades]

1971 was the first store....

 

[IanO]

Tada

https://adobeindd.com/view/publications/1bb150a2-3bbe-4840-b9ad-660f58475b24/a3bh/publication-web-resources/pdf/ECC-Redevelopment_Marketing_Package-Two_levels.pdf

Shared with permission.

 

[mcr]

Whoa! That's way more than I would have expected. Let's hope we see something this substantial move forward!

 

[Kosy123]

Wait wait wait. NATURAL LIGHT??

gtfo, this looks too good to be real.

I hope this actually happens.

 

[ChazYEG]

If this happens, in this shape, I'd be over the moon. Will give a whole different feel to Downtown and probably draw more people in (or at least stop the bleeding, for starters).

 

[ChazYEG]

One question, though: anything on ECC east, specifically the old Bay area and the parkade?

 

[_urbanite]

The last floor plan for option 2, would the hotel the NW corner be the existing Delta Hotel?