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Edmonton City Centre Mall (Renovations) | ?m | 2s | LaSalle Investment Management

Banks are okay for streetlife, not perfect, but not the worst offender which has got to be office at streetlevel. You do get foot traffic in and out of the bank. This looks to be very street oriented, will help to clean up that corner a lot, so this is a win in my books.
I also disagree. Banks are horrible for street vibrancy. It's an improvement from what's there, but that's saying very little.
 
Downtown needs a variety of businesses operating at different times. This refresh uses bold and bright colours, and appears to have a new street-facing entrance.

This is a great development -- let's hope we start to see more businesses moving into the area/renovating their storefronts to correct past mistakes.
 
I know it is fashionable to say banks are bad for street vibrancy, and as far as I can tell this position mostly comes from New York City where banks were replacing some local businesses at higher rates of rent.

I would argue that this is quite a different environment - first there is already a bank in this location, and this is a major improvement to how it is interacting with the street, so nothing is being displaced, -second there aren't any other businesses banging down the doors to fill this space, this is at the base of the TD Bank tower...so there will naturally be a bank there. I don't see how you can really say this improvement is saying very little. Sounds like another imported perspective not based in reality in Edmonton.
 
I like it. It only took them what - 50 years to figure this out, ok so maybe they're slow learners. Or, maybe it was the previous owners of the mall stopping this, their focus wasn't Edmonton and they weren't much for ever going with good ideas.

Having a prominent street front entrance is a good idea and we want the mall to have more interaction with the street around it. The colour and glass really opens up the bunker and highlights that the bank branch is not just an after thought part of the office tower complex.

As for banks being killers of street life, this isn't New York of the 1970's with a bank branch on every corner. I think we have around only half dozen banks or so remaining throughout downtown and there is plenty of vacant space available in our downtown for anyone wanting to develop something more vibrant. Also, this isn't even a new branch, it is just an improvement to an existing one.
 
I know it is fashionable to say banks are bad for street vibrancy, and as far as I can tell this position mostly comes from New York City where banks were replacing some local businesses at higher rates of rent.

I would argue that this is quite a different environment - first there is already a bank in this location, and this is a major improvement to how it is interacting with the street, so nothing is being displaced, -second there aren't any other businesses banging down the doors to fill this space, this is at the base of the TD Bank tower...so there will naturally be a bank there. I don't see how you can really say this improvement is saying very little. Sounds like another imported perspective not based in reality in Edmonton.
I don't think it's some fashionable hipster thing to say that banks are no good for street vibrancy. It'll be slightly nicer to look at as you whiz past in your car, but that's about it. Plus I assume there will still be an entrance from the mall, so any increase in foot traffic on the street from this redesign will be minimal.

Again, I understand the context of this - it's on 101st, where any chance of street vibrancy has already been killed by the size of the road and the pedways, but I'm not going to give any praise at all to a bare minimum upgrade of a bank's street frontage in the core of our downtown.
 
I think we have to evaluate this as a comparison to what is there now and what is proposed, not against some ideal that does not exist and will probably never exist, so it is really not an alternative.

Frankly, if the bank wasn't there it would likely be another empty space, like so much elsewhere commercial and retail space currently in the area and that really would not be good. Bottom line - what is proposed is an improvement and that is good.
 
I think we have to evaluate this as a comparison to what is there now and what is proposed, not against some ideal that does not exist and will probably never exist, so it is really not an alternative.

Frankly, if the bank wasn't there it would likely be another empty space, like so much elsewhere commercial and retail space currently in the area and that really would not be good. Bottom line - what is proposed is an improvement and that is good.
Ground zero spot for public washrooms and with shower facility.
 
One benefit is that banks are stable and wealthy. So they give stability to the developers and property owners. Bars and local spots are great, but much riskier. So are banks great for Street life, nah. Are they good for enduring developments receive financing, probably?
 
One benefit is that banks are stable and wealthy. So they give stability to the developers and property owners. Bars and local spots are great, but much riskier. So are banks great for Street life, nah. Are they good for enduring developments receive financing, probably?

I generally agree with this although in the 6 years I have lived in Oliver, Scotia has closed two of its branches on Jasper Ave, TD has closed one, Cwb relocated but still has one on Jasper. There might be more, but that's what I'm aware of. I imagine those branches were located there for a long time prior though which speaks to your point.
 

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