Downtown

[David A]

I mean, maybe. But I will say this: I've worked downtown for the better part of 20 years, in public and private sector jobs. During that time, only a tiny fraction of my coworkers lived downtown. In fact, in my current office, I don't have a single coworker who lives downtown. In my observation, the amount of people who want to live downtown just to be close to their office is not a particularly dramatic number.

Of course, in any city there will be many commuters. I used to work in an office downtown with someone who commuted to work daily from an acreage outside of the city. However, there is percentage of people who do want to be closer to work, so by increasing the jobs downtown that can increase the number of people downtown not just occasionally but 24/7. People who work in Windemere are even more unlikely to want to live downtown, yet this and places like this is where almost all the jobs are being added in Edmonton.

 

[Greenspace]

Alberta Health

10030 - 107 STREET NW Plan NB Blk 7 Lots 47-53 - Major Development Permit​

External ID
540869222-002
Job Type
Major Development Permit
Description
Alteration of (an) existing building(s), Interior Alteration
Applicant
PORSCON CONSTRUCTION 2012 LTD.
Status
Intake Review
Class of Permit

Create Date
November 15, 2024
Approval Date

Location
10030 - 107 STREET NW Plan NB Blk 7 Lots 47-53
Neighbourhood
DOWNTOWN

 

[Greenspace]

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton.

Here are the key takeaways:

- Downtown needs more residents
- Downtown retail is over-built
- 'Downtown' is too big
- Collaboration and sustained leadership are vital

You can read more in our recap story here: https://bit.ly/3YZ6NO4

Thank you Larisa Ortiz, David Downey, CAE, IOM and Trent Edwards for your incredible insight last month.

Also, a big thank you to our presenting sponsor Brookfield Properties for helping us make this event a huge success.

Now, it's up to us, #yeg, to keep the momentum going and build a resilient core.

Edmonton Downtown Business Association on LinkedIn: #yeg

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton. Here are the key takeaways: - Downtown needs more…

www.linkedin.com

 

[thommyjo]

I mean, maybe. But I will say this: I've worked downtown for the better part of 20 years, in public and private sector jobs. During that time, only a tiny fraction of my coworkers lived downtown. In fact, in my current office, I don't have a single coworker who lives downtown. In my observation, the amount of people who want to live downtown just to be close to their office is not a particularly dramatic number.

Might start to change as the city grows and traffic worsens, but yeah, I agree. The 20-30min commute from the henday in to DT makes it an easy choice to double your square footage for the same price to many.

 

[thommyjo]

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton.

Here are the key takeaways:

- Downtown needs more residents
- Downtown retail is over-built
- 'Downtown' is too big
- Collaboration and sustained leadership are vital

You can read more in our recap story here: https://bit.ly/3YZ6NO4

Thank you Larisa Ortiz, David Downey, CAE, IOM and Trent Edwards for your incredible insight last month.

Also, a big thank you to our presenting sponsor Brookfield Properties for helping us make this event a huge success.

Now, it's up to us, #yeg, to keep the momentum going and build a resilient core.

Edmonton Downtown Business Association on LinkedIn: #yeg

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton. Here are the key takeaways: - Downtown needs more…

www.linkedin.com

Do we need to abandon any pursuit of density over 6 stories in the quarters?

 

[Greenspace]

^pretty much.

 

[Kosy123]

Honestly the dream scenario for the Quarters (for me) would be that it somehow turns into something like Flushing’s Chinatown in Queens. I feel like that fits the area more than East Village 2.0 Edmonton edition.

 

[IanO]

All 6 storeys max, townhouse fronts, corner commercial, GO!

 

[Greenspace]

Honestly just fill up the land with anything at this point. 2 story townhouses are fine.

 

[Offworld]

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton.

Here are the key takeaways:

- Downtown needs more residents
- Downtown retail is over-built
- 'Downtown' is too big
- Collaboration and sustained leadership are vital

You can read more in our recap story here: https://bit.ly/3YZ6NO4

Thank you Larisa Ortiz, David Downey, CAE, IOM and Trent Edwards for your incredible insight last month.

Also, a big thank you to our presenting sponsor Brookfield Properties for helping us make this event a huge success.

Now, it's up to us, #yeg, to keep the momentum going and build a resilient core.

Edmonton Downtown Business Association on LinkedIn: #yeg

Imagining Downtown: A Global Comparison was an incredibly important conversation for downtown Edmonton. Here are the key takeaways: - Downtown needs more…

www.linkedin.com

Downtown too big? Too big for what? What do they consider the downtown area to be, and what benchmarks are they using to come to that conclusion?

 

[erudyk_29]

Downtown too big? Too big for what? What do they consider the downtown area to be, and what benchmarks are they using to come to that conclusion?

I think the issue is people keep saying "downtown is too big", when they actually mean "downtown has too low of a density of things to do relative to its size". They're technically not wrong because if downtown was smaller you'd have a higher density of "stuff", but they when people say this to my understanding they're mostly talking about density of stuff and not the actual physical size of the neighbourhood.

 

[David A]

Downtown too big? Too big for what? What do they consider the downtown area to be, and what benchmarks are they using to come to that conclusion?

This reminds me of when struggling companies that say they have to lay off people because they now have too many employees, when in reality they failed to maintain their sales at their previous levels.

Maybe you can sometimes shrink yourself to success, but really there was no explosion of growth of retail space downtown here over the last decade. I feel we are again trying to fix the symptoms and not address the more fundamental problems related to downtown. Tearing things down and likely creating more empty spaces will not make downtown more viable or attractive.

 

[Greenspace]

Yes that, but they were generally referring to the amount of vacant office and retail space, and how spread out it feels compared to other cities. If you put that all in a few blocks rather than spreading it out from 97 st to 111 street it would feel more vibrant.

One line that caught my attention that is used in other cities as well, "You're not overbuilt, you're under-demolished"

 

[northlands]

One line that caught my attention that is used in other cities as well, "You're not overbuilt, you're under-demolished"

Downtown probably is too large but this might be the least applicable phrase I've heard in regards to Edmonton's core since "I wish there was more parking"

 

[David A]

Downtown probably is too large but this might be the least applicable phrase I've heard in regards to Edmonton's core since "I wish there was more parking"

In a way, this is like going up to someone 6' 5" and saying you're too tall. It really does nothing to address or fix a problem and is merely observational.

I suppose if we could go back in a time machine, we could fix some of these things. For instance, MacEwan was developed on the old railway lands. If we kept instead kept the railway lines, downtown would have been more hemmed in. Maybe it would have been better instead if MacEwan was built on Jasper Ave (around where the Central Park is now being built). Could of, should of, would of ... but we have to work with what we have, not wish we were shorter or taller.