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Downtown Real Estate

Almost half of the building? I thought it was running a higher occupancy rate than that?
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bodsbods9090 said:
If Winnipeg can get an Alt Hotel, surely we can, right...RIGHT?!?!??!!
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I don't know anythign about Alt, but notice this hotel name has been brought up a number of times on various forums here over the last year or so.

However, at this point I wonder if the the people who run this hotel have noticed or pay any attention to this, or Edmonton. Someone should call them and let us know what they say, if anything.
 
David A said:
I suspect it probably also came down to money. I think they were a long term tenant, so I wonder if the building owners took them for granted, that is sometimes why long term tenants leave.

Yes, there are safety issues, but that is exacerbated by the situation that Edmonton has long had a very suburban culture, dismissive of downtown, as you can see from some of posts here and which I feel is related to being a branch plant city. Where as Calgary seems to take more pride in their downtonwn and having offices located downtown, we tend to ignore our downtown and treat it as our dump for social problems
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It's tough when your actual downtown land area is twice the size and only has 1/5 the office space of Calgary. It's even worse compared to cities like Toronto or Vancouver. Even if we took more pride in our downtown, filling the large footprint and empty lots will take a long-term concerted effort from private and public entities.
 
David A said:
I don't know anythign about Alt, but notice this hotel name has been brought up a number of times on various forums here over the last year or so.

However, at this point I wonder if the the people who run this hotel have noticed or pay any attention to this, or Edmonton. Someone should call them and let us know what they say, if anything.
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Even Halifax has an Alt hotel. It is the sub-brand of St. Germain hotels. https://www.germainhotels.com/en/le-germain-hotel

There is an Alt hotel in the following:
And a Germain hotel in the following:
You could argue that Vancouver isn't getting much love, either.
 
westcoastjos said:
It's tough when your actual downtown land area is twice the size and only has 1/5 the office space of Calgary. It's even worse compared to cities like Toronto or Vancouver. Even if we took more pride in our downtown, filling the large footprint and empty lots will take a long-term concerted effort from private and public entities.
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Yes, but neither Calgary or Vancouver are typical cities either. Vancouver's downtown is contrained as it is physically almost surrounded by water. Calgary has per capita, enough office space for two cities its size or almost enough for a whole province.

However, I do agree it is not an easy task for our local private and public entities to fill our larger footprint and empty lots. At times I wonder if they are up to that challenge.
 
www.hoteliermagazine.com

Germain Hotels is ready to get back to business - Hotelier Magazine

Over the last year, Germain Hotels has been re-establishing its focus on growth and development.
www.hoteliermagazine.com www.hoteliermagazine.com

Can’t remember what thread it was where we were belly aching about the lack of an “ALT” hotel. Well, it looks like we’re gonna continue not to have one for the foreseeable future
 
MacLac said:
Almost half of the building? I thought it was running a higher occupancy rate than that?View attachment 514201
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There were a number of vacant floors that were still being leased by Enbridge if I'm not mistaken. I believe the landlord did some shuffling around to accommodate CWB. This was the best decision for CWB imo as Manulife is still a fantastic asset despite the vacancy issue after Holts departure. I'm very excited to see this come together.
 
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urbanaffairs.ca

Downtown Needs More Residents, and Fast | Urban Affairs

The core of the city has been the focus of revitalization efforts, but many still view the core as undesirable.
urbanaffairs.ca urbanaffairs.ca

Speaking of Urban Affairs, I found them mentioning that residential vacancy rates to be 5.1% (down from 10 same time last year) to be interesting! I know we had a similar article posted a month or so ago about how apartment vacancy rates in the core were around double digits as well so it’s really an improvement to see this change. (Also probably an impetus for more rentals in the core?)
 

Jade Porter​

Age: 34 Occupation: Social Worker
Current Neighbourhood: Woodcroft Previous Neighbourhood: Oliver

Why she chose Woodcroft: “We didn’t want to live in the suburbs and couldn’t afford a house closer to downtown. We wanted to stay in the inner-city area and liked that Woodcroft was a smaller neighbourhood with green space close by,” she said of her and her husband’s decision to buy there.

Does she commute downtown: No, but her husband does three times per week.

Would she ever consider moving downtown: “I would never live downtown again. Too inconvenient with a dog — she would eat all the garbage which is a problem even in our neighbourhood, now — and just too busy and noisy.”

Gwen McCormick​

Age: 38 Occupation: Consultant
Current Neighbourhood: Mill Woods

Why she chose Mill Woods: “Housing prices are lower for comparable options. Homes have character. Best curry in the city. It’s a safe, quiet, relaxed and calm.”

Does she commute downtown: No.

Would she ever consider moving downtown: “No. It’s too far, the commute is long, traffic gets jammed and there’s nothing special downtown to visit. It’s loud and busy and doesn’t feel safe.”
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Reading these made me very confused, in a sense.

So, I'm getting the sense that these people want a quiet and relaxed experience, and hence wouldn't consider living Downtown... Well, these are not exactly the kind of people who would change their minds if any of the things mentioned in the article to improve downtown were done. The ideal Downtown is vibrant, bustling and busy, and it'll never appeal to people that want to live in quiet and peaceful suburbia, so why would you even put these comments in there?

If they wanted to justify their article (which has some solid insights, even if not super revolutionary) with people's opinions about what would make them consider Downtown, they should've tried to find people who would want to live there, but don't, for one reason or the other (like me, for example), and what would it take for them to consider moving there. Using opinions of people who clearly value characteristics that will never fit a healthy Downtown does not do anything.

The only valid points there are the perception of safety and cleanliness, that certainly HAVE to be improved, as soon as possible. But complaining about it being loud, noisy, busy and with heavy traffic are just your typical suburbanite Karen's complaints about anything that is not a sprawled out suburb.
 
ChazYEG said:
Reading these made me very confused, in a sense.

So, I'm getting the sense that these people want a quiet and relaxed experience, and hence wouldn't consider living Downtown... Well, these are not exactly the kind of people who would change their minds if any of the things mentioned in the article to improve downtown were done. The ideal Downtown is vibrant, bustling and busy, and it'll never appeal to people that want to live in quiet and peaceful suburbia, so why would you even put these comments in there?

If they wanted to justify their article (which has some solid insights, even if not super revolutionary) with people's opinions about what would make them consider Downtown, they should've tried to find people who would want to live there, but don't, for one reason or the other (like me, for example), and what would it take for them to consider moving there. Using opinions of people who clearly value characteristics that will never fit a healthy Downtown does not do anything.

The only valid points there are the perception of safety and cleanliness, that certainly HAVE to be improved, as soon as possible. But complaining about it being loud, noisy, busy and with heavy traffic are just your typical suburbanite Karen's complaints about anything that is not a sprawled out suburb.
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Yes, it is ridiculous muddled thinking that can be well illustrated by considering the opposite example. Imagine going around asking people currently downtown what it would take to change their minds about say living in Mill Woods. Many people select the environment they want or are comfortable with and are not looking to live elsewhere. I don't think the article does anything to enlighten or inform, it just reinforces preconceived notions, but perhaps that was deliberate or by design.
 
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