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Downtown

I think once we're back to some nice weather (esp come spring), downtown will be really seeing a resurgence. Kind of wonder if it has anything to do with net provincial migration stats--some folks moving here and wanting to either live or check out what downtown has to offer.
 
northlands said:
I think once we're back to some nice weather (esp come spring), downtown will be really seeing a resurgence. Kind of wonder if it has anything to do with net provincial migration stats--some folks moving here and wanting to either live or check out what downtown has to offer.
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Just you wait until the downtown farmer's market opens up again on the 4th St Promenade!
 
Yeah even nowadays there's a very noticeable pedestrian presence downtown that I haven't seen in years. I have a strong feeling this Spring we might see a level of activity that we haven't seen since maybe 2018 (when downtown was gaining a lot of momentum and things were on the upswing).
 
Munanyo said:
Yeah even nowadays there's a very noticeable pedestrian presence downtown that I haven't seen in years. I have a strong feeling this Spring we might see a level of activity that we haven't seen since maybe 2018 (when downtown was gaining a lot of momentum and things were on the upswing).
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Yes, its fairly busy during the day on week days most days now. I think there needs to be focus on more weekend events to get more people downtown on Saturdays and Sundays as the retail that used to draw some people downtown on these days is still really struggling.
 
IanO said:
Or Falcon and Parks to be fully occupied with a few hundred new residents wanting to explore!

It's a very good reminder that we need more residential Downtown to help support these places outside of peak hours.
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Bang for buck, more tourists would be vastly more beneficial than residents. Tourists are apt to eat out almost every meal and shop in person. Residential is good but impact is gradual and won't be enough.
 
David A said:
Yes, its fairly busy during the day on week days most days now. I think there needs to be focus on more weekend events to get more people downtown on Saturdays and Sundays as the retail that used to draw some people downtown on these days is still really struggling.
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I agree. That's why I pray for the day we see a big name retailer take a chance on downtown to kickstart the momentum, but who knows how far out we are from seeing that actually happening.

IanO said:
100% and Downtown desperately needs one more modern hotel given how poor the existing stock is, but those are harder to generate unless Rogers doubles down.
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That's why I wished a big hotel operator would have snapped up the former Enbridge tower and converted it into a hotel. I feel like that would have done well and activated an important section of Jasper. I think timing screwed that one up and if things were different and that building became vacant now I do wonder if things might have looked a bit different with it.
 
occidentalcapital said:
Bang for buck, more tourists would be vastly more beneficial than residents. Tourists are apt to eat out almost every meal and shop in person. Residential is good but impact is gradual and won't be enough.
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In theory more residential should help, but even though quite a few more towers have been added downtown over the years, the number of retail stores in the area has declined considerably.

In practice I feel a lot of of those residents have ended up just driving to areas further away where there is more retail. So perhaps getting more tourists is a better approach at least in the short term.
 
Munanyo said:
I agree. That's why I pray for the day we see a big name retailer take a chance on downtown to kickstart the momentum, but who knows how far out we are from seeing that actually happening.


That's why I wished a big hotel operator would have snapped up the former Enbridge tower and converted it into a hotel. I feel like that would have done well and activated an important section of Jasper. I think timing screwed that one up and if things were different and that building became vacant now I do wonder if things might have looked a bit different with it.
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Yes, the previous Enbridge tower made good sense for a hotel. However, there are some other buildings and sites in the area that would also work too.

I don't know if any big name retailer is ready yet to move ahead with a downtown location, but whoever is first could actually get a lot of customers as there is so little retail left right downtown. Over the last few decades we have gone from 3 to 4 decent sized department stores to zero.
 
IanO said:
100% and Downtown desperately needs one more modern hotel given how poor the existing stock is, but those are harder to generate unless Rogers doubles down.
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I still want to see an Alt Hotel or a Germain Hotel in our downtown core, preferably near Rogers Place (I'm thinking the SE corner of 101 St/104 Ave).
 
Alt continues to make the most sense, even if there is part of me that wants it as part of a Rossdale redevelopment.

Regardless, Downtown needs more modern capacity to help feed retail and food options/
 
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