Tower 101 | 175m | 50s | Regency Developments | DER + Associates

[Gronk!]

I was in Toronto last month and couldn't help but notice their BMO building almost looks identical to our old BMO building. Would've been nice to still have this building. View attachment 714835

Our old BMO building could have used some more LED lighting. But more importantly, I wish our old BMO building could have retained the BMO Bank as a primary tenant instead of letting it move next door to Enbridge Centre.

 

[ADob]

I was in Toronto last month and couldn't help but notice their BMO building almost looks identical to our old BMO building. Would've been nice to still have this building. View attachment 714835

Huh, I'd say ours was actually the nicer of the two!

 

[David A]

It's too bad Mr. Kjenner will not address the elephant in the room. Investors don't want to invest too significantly in DT Edmonton. Not with tall towers, anyways. What the author should b advocating for is for the city to address safety and cleanliness and social disorder.

Yes, some private-sector development is underway. But it's come woefully too late (and not befitting of a city of more than a million people) and there are still a myriad of issues that need to be tackled. But city hall doesn't have a spine. It's more interested in spending tax dollars on one-off events, where a few pictures will be taken showing how 'busy' the core is. But it's a facade.

Heck, (and I will die on this hill) the city does not even lead by example and bring its staff back to the office full time. Something that would help struggling businesses etc.

If Toronto's financial district looked faded and dirty and zombie-filled like Edmonton's, people would be - rightfully - demanding changes. Here, due to social justice warriors, we just let our DT turn into a big homeless shelter.

DT doesn't need more subsidies. It needs tough love. Then the private capital will (hopefully) return. It's basic economics 101.

Toronto's financial district is exactly that. It is area for the national headquarters for around a half dozen major banks. So the number of people that work there is way more than in downtown Edmonton and some of those people also live nearby to where they work.

If I fault our city for anything it is the so little effort made to attract corporate offices to our downtown, which has been a problem for decades and partly has led to its decline. After ICE District was completed the city became neglectful of downtown, mistakenly believing our problems had been solved and it is doing/has done a number of things that are at cross purposes or inconsistent with improving our downtown.

However, in the current economic climate there is very little commercial or high rise construction downtown in any Canadian city now, so this is not a unique Edmonton problem. In this case a solution could be the city taking a more active role to develop this site, because left to private developers not much or nothing could happen for a long time and that would continue to be negative for the nearby area.

 

[Mesopotamia]

Just get the city to develop a nice park there. There isn't really a park close by in that area

 

[mcr]

While we stare at the reality of this empty lot being around for many years more, all I can say aside from the disappointment of that is thank god the Enbridge Tower treated their alley elevations nicely. Imagine how much worse this would be with a blank / utilitarian wall facing the empty lot

 

[MattPT]

It's too bad Mr. Kjenner will not address the elephant in the room. Investors don't want to invest too significantly in DT Edmonton. Not with tall towers, anyways. What the author should b advocating for is for the city to address safety and cleanliness and social disorder.

Yes, some private-sector development is underway. But it's come woefully too late (and not befitting of a city of more than a million people) and there are still a myriad of issues that need to be tackled. But city hall doesn't have a spine. It's more interested in spending tax dollars on one-off events, where a few pictures will be taken showing how 'busy' the core is. But it's a facade.

Heck, (and I will die on this hill) the city does not even lead by example and bring its staff back to the office full time. Something that would help struggling businesses etc.

If Toronto's financial district looked faded and dirty and zombie-filled like Edmonton's, people would be - rightfully - demanding changes. Here, due to social justice warriors, we just let our DT turn into a big homeless shelter.

DT doesn't need more subsidies. It needs tough love. Then the private capital will (hopefully) return. It's basic economics 101.

Oh yes, the tired trope of the evil social justice warrior…. No blame to be placed on the shittiest provincial government we’ve ever had… bullshit.

 

[inclusion]

Huh, I'd say ours was actually the nicer of the two!

Good enough for Toronto, but not for Edmonton! Instead, we had to go back to our historical roots of having a parking lot.

 

[David A]

Good enough for Toronto, but not for Edmonton! Instead, we had to go back to our historical roots of having a parking lot.

And not only did we make the mistake of tearing down something nice/decent on this lot once, but twice!! Part of the problem is the tear down quickly mentality here.

I have criticisms of Toronto, but they seem generally more inclined to keep and thoughtfully reuse older buildings or at least not tear them down and leave empty lots for a long time.

 

[itom987]

How about reviving The Mite? That building could be built cheaply and moved around on a trailer if needed.

It would make the perfect condo sales office!

 

[whattheheck]

Oh yes, the tired trope of the evil social justice warrior…. No blame to be placed on the shittiest provincial government we’ve ever had… bullshit.

Yes, the UCP and would-be Empress Dani is shite. But that's the cards we have to deal with. It doesn't mean that city hall should neglect issues such enforcement related to social disorder and cleanliness. Tough love. Using the crux of 'trauma' and taking a kids-glove approach does nothing to help our struggling DT. Nothing.

It should be noted that in Vancouver with an NDP provincial government it's not all sunshine and rainbows. Vancouver council decided to bring in more police and enforcement.

 

[David A]

I don't agree there is still social disorder downtown here and it is a problem. Although it is not as bad as a few years ago, there is still a lot of room for improvement.

However, that does not explain why over almost the last decade nothing happened here, while projects moved ahead elsewhere downtown, some of them not that far away.

 

[kcantor]

^
I would argue that over the last decade much has happened "here"..

Within walking distance we have a renovated main library (despite what it looks like now but that's a different discussion; a new LRT line (and the start of another), the "almost ready to open" Winspear expansion; the completion of the Brighton Block and Pendennis Building renovations; the warehouse park; several sections of Jasper Avenue New Vision (despite what you might think of them); Kinistewah Park; O'daymin Park; Michael Phair and Beaverhills House Park; Kinisinaw Park; the opening of the Stantec Building; the opening of the JW Marriott; the completion of Sky, Legends], the Switch and numerous other residential projects, both strata and rental; the renovation of the Legislative Grounds (regardless of what you think of what was done)...

I'm pretty sure this isn't a comprehensive list as it's just off the top of my head.

What hasn't happened is better maintenance of our public realm, better security for our public realm, and extensive daily programming of our public realm other than during special events (which can detract as many as it attracts as the special events crowds are not the same as regular daily users).

 

[inclusion]

^
I would argue that over the last decade much has happened "here"..

Within walking distance we have a renovated main library (despite what it looks like now but that's a different discussion; a new LRT line (and the start of another), the "almost ready to open" Winspear expansion; the completion of the Brighton Block and Pendennis Building renovations; the warehouse park; several sections of Jasper Avenue New Vision (despite what you might think of them); Kinistewah Park; O'daymin Park; Michael Phair and Beaverhills House Park; Kinisinaw Park; the opening of the Stantec Building; the opening of the JW Marriott; the completion of Sky, Legends], the Switch and numerous other residential projects, both strata and rental; the renovation of the Legislative Grounds (regardless of what you think of what was done)...

I'm pretty sure this isn't a comprehensive list as it's just off the top of my head.

What hasn't happened is better maintenance of our public realm, better security for our public realm, and extensive daily programming of our public realm other than during special events (which can detract as many as it attracts as the special events crowds are not the same as regular daily users).

You should run for Mayor or Premier and fix the public service.

 

[David A]

^
I would argue that over the last decade much has happened "here"..

Within walking distance we have a renovated main library (despite what it looks like now but that's a different discussion; a new LRT line (and the start of another), the "almost ready to open" Winspear expansion; the completion of the Brighton Block and Pendennis Building renovations; the warehouse park; several sections of Jasper Avenue New Vision (despite what you might think of them); Kinistewah Park; O'daymin Park; Michael Phair and Beaverhills House Park; Kinisinaw Park; the opening of the Stantec Building; the opening of the JW Marriott; the completion of Sky, Legends], the Switch and numerous other residential projects, both strata and rental; the renovation of the Legislative Grounds (regardless of what you think of what was done)...

I'm pretty sure this isn't a comprehensive list as it's just off the top of my head.

What hasn't happened is better maintenance of our public realm, better security for our public realm, and extensive daily programming of our public realm other than during special events (which can detract as many as it attracts as the special events crowds are not the same as regular daily users).

The here I meant was this particular site, not elsewhere downtown. However, oddly all the nearby activity doesn't seem to have helped draw many more people downtown, at least so far.

Actually, I feel all the construction happening in the area may have been one of the reasons some people stayed away. Although, It will be interesting to see now that this burst of construction is mostly over if more people come downtown or come back.

I would particularly agree with your last point, politicians and governments seem to like to build shiny new things, fix or maintain things not so much.