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

I can't help but think of the tricky situation this mall is in. It doesn't get the crowds and business it used to pre-covid and so many stores are shuttered and the mall feels so incredibly bleak to walk through. The social disorder in downtown in general is tough, the lack of people working in offices, and lack of local residential numbers. Some of these things feel outside of their control. They could take some bold steps; activate the street fronts particularly next to the LRT line, refresh the interior, etc. But that investment seems hard to justify since businesses likely aren't really attracted to the place.

What would actually help? It's such a depressing place to visit.
 
There was talk a few months ago in this thread about a partnership and looking into building towers on part of the mall. Can anyone say if that is still out there in the universe?
 
Calfaer said:
I can't help but think of the tricky situation this mall is in. It doesn't get the crowds and business it used to pre-covid and so many stores are shuttered and the mall feels so incredibly bleak to walk through. The social disorder in downtown in general is tough, the lack of people working in offices, and lack of local residential numbers. Some of these things feel outside of their control. They could take some bold steps; activate the street fronts particularly next to the LRT line, refresh the interior, etc. But that investment seems hard to justify since businesses likely aren't really attracted to the place.

What would actually help? It's such a depressing place to visit.
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Built a retirement village tower or 2. Massive need/demand. The inside connection to the mall is a huge sell for elderly people in winters. Parking needs are limited beyond visitors. Could add a few hundred more regular customers for businesses like coffee shops, clothing, shoppers, medical/personal care stores, and restaurants.

It’s not hip and urban, but there’s a few other dozen lots to make that flavour.
 
Building any sort of housing on/around mall property would help with the disorder, and provide customers. ECC won't become a destination type mall for years, so their options are quite limited to that.

This wouldn't be a troubled property if 50-80k people lived downtown. The Regency lot, and the 104th street ECC tower being developed would probably help considerably.

Having the theatre next door has been nice. There's nothing else at that mall for me.
 
Rumour has it - rumour but fairly well substantiated - that ECC will be hosting Douglas Cardinal’s UNCEDED exhibition starting in September. Although it won’t occupy a great deal of space, it is an international exhibit that is well worth seeing and should generate good traffic.

Project - UNCEDED: Voices of the Land

www.unceded.org www.unceded.org
 
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Calfaer said:
I can't help but think of the tricky situation this mall is in. It doesn't get the crowds and business it used to pre-covid and so many stores are shuttered and the mall feels so incredibly bleak to walk through.
Click to expand...
While in general I can't disagree, I happened to walk through City Centre Mall today on my lunch break and I was struck by how much foot traffic was in it. It really felt not far off 2019 levels to me. However, there's so little retail inside the mall to take advantage of that. Winners was packed with people, though.
 
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Barnaby said:
Building any sort of housing on/around mall property would help with the disorder, and provide customers. ECC won't become a destination type mall for years, so their options are quite limited to that.

This wouldn't be a troubled property if 50-80k people lived downtown. The Regency lot, and the 104th street ECC tower being developed would probably help considerably.

Having the theatre next door has been nice. There's nothing else at that mall for me.
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If the lot now empty for several years just south of City Centre still can't be developed, then I doubt there is the demand currently for housing on the mall property itself.

Maybe in 5 or 10 years that will be different and having more housing or a hotel adjacent could also be beneficial for the mall, but for now the only real option is to try make the best use of the existing retail space.
 
Gus Haynes said:
While in general I can't disagree, I happened to walk through City Centre Mall today on my lunch break and I was struck by how much foot traffic was in it. It really felt not far off 2019 levels to me. However, there's so little retail inside the mall to take advantage of that. Winners was packed with people, though.
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Yes, foot traffic has recovered very well especially this year, but the recovery is slower for retail space.

Several new small retail stores have opened over the last year which is good, but nothing larger yet, which is really needed to help get this mall back on track.
 
Coprolite said:
I'd kind of wondered how long it would last. I went there a few times to buy beans because they'd been my main supplier for years and I wanted to support them after the market closed in the old GWG building, but it's pretty desolate up there during the coffee times of day. You'd either have to be staying at the hotel to chance upon them when they're open, or you'd have to be someone familiar with them and deliberately go looking for them. They can't even rely upon the movie theatre to bring people in because they only run matinees on weekends, and On the Edge is closed weekends.

Meanwhile, the farmers markets seem to move a lot of beans for them.
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Update: I talked to one of the folks who owns/runs On the Edge, and it turns out that they'd negotiated the space as a "pop up" in the first place.
 
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