103 Avenue Civic Precinct Renewal

[David A]

I feel quite strongly what is really needed to activate this street is a building on the northwest side where the surface parking lot is.

Preferably a large residential one with some street facing retail. Without this, the sidewalk improvements just make what is a dead zone, a nicer looking dead zone.

 

[trevorhayden]

Or we turn back time and stop demolition of that great mid century modern legion hall, and turn it into a concert hall.

 

[David A]

Well that's the thing about demolition, you can't un-demolish it I don't know if the legion could have been readily used for something else, but perhaps more thought should have been put into it at the time.

We often seem so quick to demolish things but are not are not always so good at replacing them with something better.

 

[Gronk!]

Plenty of usage on a Saturday summer night

 

[archited]

So unimaginative -- compare this City effort to the one on Columbia Avenue.

 

[Tbone84]

Plenty of usage on a Saturday summer night

View attachment 494262

View attachment 494263

Now, it just needs some restaurants, cafes, shops, boutiques

 

[IanO]

Patios!

Anyone have the very initial 'concept' images with about 10x of things going on, built and included?

 

[Edmcowboy11]

Problem is, the exact area where the pictures illustrate have completely the wrong business to need patios. If these businesses moved and allowed a couple of restaurants to move in then I'm sure we'd see the patios there.

 

[IanO]

Even a few seasonal planters in barrels or the like would add a lot to that spot.

 

[kcantor]

Even a few seasonal planters in barrels or the like would add a lot to that spot.

the seasonal planters on river valley road are really great looking planters this year, probably because that stretch of road with a golf course on one side and the multi-use path and the river bank on the other doesn't have enough greenery [insert sarcasm emoticon of choice here].

maybe in 20 years if the new boulevard trees and landscaping on this stretch of 103 avenue live long enough to acquire some decent size and massing it will get some complementary planters too.

 

[Avenuer]

So unimaginative -- compare this City effort to the one on Columbia Avenue.

The only thing different with this stretch is the lack of bike lanes, other than that both streetscapes incorporate the same tree/bench/planter theme. 105 Avenue has the added benefit of being much longer with newer residential around it.

 

[archited]

@Avenuer, it's not the individual fixtures nor for that matter the materials that make a place exciting it is the spatial relationship to its surroundings -- Columbia solved that in spades,.. this stretch on the other hand is blindly ignorant of its surroundings and the way pedestrians (in particular) might interact -- it has similar conditions to Columbia in the need to access parking. One would hope to take stock of what is there presently and use a little imagination as to what might be there in addition or alternatively. Too much focus here on the street as a thoroughfare without thinking about how to add substance and life into the result. Other than parking access the street is a dead thoroughfare for vehicles -- that fact should have been forefront in the Planning. There is probably little need for bike lanes here.

 

[EdmTrekker]

Now, it just needs some restaurants, cafes, shops, boutiques

Farmers Market shut the street down for it.

 

[IanO]

Very little secondary spend and a few parkades to deal with = no go.

 

[IanO]

Old proposal on that 103-104/101st corner.