ICE District Phase 2 | 149.95m | ?s | ICE District Prop.

It's about supply but also demand. And, as it stands, there is no demand for downtown living. People don't want to live near social disorder, with their safety at risk. I want DT to thrive, but some tough decisions are going to have to be made by the next council. Yes, the province has not done its part. But, with that reality, the city will have to decide if it wants DT to continue to fall behind or if it will introduce to 'tough love' to the area in terms of loitering and enforcing a zero tolerance approach to disorder. If that doesn't happen, ICE District phase two won't develop. A thriving urban area CANNOT exist side by side to what we have now in the core. Plain and simple.
 
^^ not sure I agree? For all the warts downtown has, when my daughter and her roomie were living in the downtown core in a high rise on 104th street, they loved it there because they could literally walk to the office, the gym, the grocery store, and Roger’s Place for the Oilers games and concerts. 🤷🏻‍♂️
 
My girlfriend just moved downtown to one of the newer buildings. She is doing fine and the building is not having issues with leasing up. No one is denying that there are problems with downtown and the surrounding areas, but I can't help but feel as though the people who complain the loudest about it are the ones who spend the least time there and frankly aren't well-positioned to speak to those issues. The Switch is a good example that flies in the face of conventional wisdom of there being no demand to live near places with social disorder. I personally feel that the momentum is going in a positive direction, and downtown certainly feels better than it did 5 years ago.
 
The_Cat said:
I think downtown from 105 to 109 Street is seeing more residential development. The Parks, Lotus and other proposals will really help with vibrancy.
Click to expand...
I don't think that we can underestimate the impact of the new park, Lotus, Parks, Lilac, 106, Shift, new LRT line and upcoming Norquest along with 106st streetscape.... and Healy student housing for that matter.

In 3-5 this area will be THE spot to be.
 
And with more LRT in the core, mobility will be improved some more. I don't think it's a lack of demand, it's more so a lack of supply (as has been pointed out) is improving. The real problem in the core is certain properties, including ice district land north, former bmo property, former legion property, property south of Epcor tower have sat idle for way to long. If the last three properties that I mentioned had mixed use or residential buildings there, how do you think that area would feel?
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
And with more LRT in the core, mobility will be improved some more. I don't think it's a lack of demand, it's more so a lack of supply (as has been pointed out) is improving. The real problem in the core is certain properties, including ice district land north, former bmo property, former legion property, property south of Epcor tower have sat idle for way to long. If the last three properties that I mentioned had mixed use or residential buildings there, how do you think that area would feel?
Click to expand...

Yup. OEG not completing the residential tower in Connect Centre as proposed was a big missed opportunity to bring more people (#1 priority and need for dt) - and they even had a tax incentive provided by the city to do it.

Would have been 400 or more people perhaps using Loblaws food store, supporting a potential cafe, and other retail and just more people walking around the area daily.

Might have even been the difference for 1 or 2 less banks in the area as opposed to other commercial.
 
Last edited:
You make it sound like OEG is the bad guy here. Last I checked, they are a business. And the Connect Centre tower made no financial sense. It's clear there was no ROI, and potentially that banks would not finance the project.

It's easy to cheerlead from the sidelines. But the lack of private sector investment in the core is not a problem of the private sector.
 
For any Ice District resident, you’re within two blocks of LRT, and everything it reaches. What I’m not sure about is whether Legends and the Marriott are fully occupied. I’m sure if they were close to capacity, the third tower would go ahead.
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
And with more LRT in the core, mobility will be improved some more. I don't think it's a lack of demand, it's more so a lack of supply (as has been pointed out) is improving. The real problem in the core is certain properties, including ice district land north, former bmo property, former legion property, property south of Epcor tower have sat idle for way to long. If the last three properties that I mentioned had mixed use or residential buildings there, how do you think that area would feel?
Click to expand...
LRT is underrated in how much it’ll help downtown vibrancy imo. Yes, the construction will be done and that’s huge.

But the thing I love most about the LRT is how it creates pedestrians.

Cars are so direct that they rarely contribute to street activity. People park in underground parkades and walk straight up to their office. Or around the corner from a restaurant. But the train will lead to thousands of more people walking at least a couple of blocks each downtown. And that means a much busier feeling for everyone else that’s walking around.
 
What gets me is that four hours parking downtown is more expensive than three people taking transit.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top