Bateman Lands Mid-Rise | 34m | 8s | Bateman Properties | Next Architecture

What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    23
David A said:
What is particularly bad is that the community and nearby area has lost a convenient, functional (although older and smaller) grocery store and now has an empty lot.

It was an area where you could walk to get groceries or coffee and now it is not. Once again the city is working at cross purposes of trying to make older areas liveable and attractive.
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Another amateur wanna-be developer strikes again! (again)
 
It's not that really either though and really somewhere in the middle. Policy, bylaws, requirements, dynamic market conditions, shifting fundamentals and reacting to all of these is complex.
 
Does any other City demolish and leave vacant as many lots as Edmononton? It almost feels like for every good development that happens, there's a building that gets knocked down resulting in nothing. I don't keep up as closely with other City's, but I don't think this is nearly as big an issue in Calgary, which is closely comparable in "market conditions".
 
archited said:
I think that it was more of a "family trust" situation than a "wanna-be" developer... probably started with some bad advice (Dialog?) and then COVID hit. I feel sorry for the Batemans.
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I disagree, as I mentioned everything was doomed from the beginning of this project. Their demand for condo prices was insane along with the insane marketing strategy.
 
EtoV said:
Does any other City demolish and leave vacant as many lots as Edmononton? It almost feels like for every good development that happens, there's a building that gets knocked down resulting in nothing. I don't keep up as closely with other City's, but I don't think this is nearly as big an issue in Calgary, which is closely comparable in "market conditions".
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It happens everywhere, but seems to be more pronounced here.

The Parks and this project are good examples.
 
IanO said:
It happens everywhere, but seems to be more pronounced here.

The Parks and this project are good examples.
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that's what I mean, I know it happens everywhere, but it seems so much worse here even compared to comparable markets.
 
archited said:
I think that it was more of a "family trust" situation than a "wanna-be" developer... probably started with some bad advice (Dialog?) and then COVID hit. I feel sorry for the Batemans.
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I suppose the argument could be made they were amateurs not knowing what they were doing, but I feel worse for the people living in the neighbourhood without a grocery store/previous amenities and an unsightly empty lot.
 
EtoV said:
Does any other City demolish and leave vacant as many lots as Edmononton? It almost feels like for every good development that happens, there's a building that gets knocked down resulting in nothing. I don't keep up as closely with other City's, but I don't think this is nearly as big an issue in Calgary, which is closely comparable in "market conditions".
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In the end there has to be some responsibility by those that issue demolition permits. If it is just an automatic thing or almost so, then that is a flaw in the process and it needs to be fixed.

City councillors get a lot of campaign money from property developers, so they are not inclined to say no to developments, so this is a conflict or potential conflict of interest. This is also a flaw in the process.

I would agree the Batemans are partly responsible, but perhaps their fault is naivete, which is more defensible than the others involved in this process. You don't create a great city by tearing things down willy nilly and leaving a bunch of empty lots so our some of our previously vibrant inner city neighbourhoods start to resemble Detroit's. We really are working at cross purposes here (and this isn't the first time) and denial is part of the problem.
 
You ask me, they should have just left things the way they are. What were they thinking?

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This is sort of a poor example of a developer recklessly tearing down a building just to not build.

The Bateman family had a vision to do a legacy development of the property that they operated a grocer on for 82 years, and we all know that development in Edmonton is a challenging business that can be slow moving to get off the ground for the most experienced developers (plus the recent events of COVID, inflation, big Alberta economic swings, etc). The building was alleged by the family to be at the end of its economic life and the small independent grocery business was only getting more difficult to survive, so the grocer regardless. Note that they closed Sept 2017 but didn't demo until July 2019, and if they didn't demo then, all we'd still have is a dilapidating vacant boarded up building. The empty land is probably more preferable tbh.

Is it frustrating and sad? No doubt. But this is just the slow moving wheels of progress.
 
northlands said:
This is sort of a poor example of a developer recklessly tearing down a building just to not build.

The Bateman family had a vision to do a legacy development of the property that they operated a grocer on for 82 years, and we all know that development in Edmonton is a challenging business that can be slow moving to get off the ground for the most experienced developers (plus the recent events of COVID, inflation, big Alberta economic swings, etc). The building was alleged by the family to be at the end of its economic life and the small independent grocery business was only getting more difficult to survive, so the grocer regardless. Note that they closed Sept 2017 but didn't demo until July 2019, and if they didn't demo then, all we'd still have is a dilapidating vacant boarded up building. The empty land is probably more preferable tbh.

Is it frustrating and sad? No doubt. But this is just the slow moving wheels of progress.
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When the driving force behind a development is a family wanting to leave a legacy, it never seems to work out well.
 
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