Connect Centre | 56.3m | 16s | ONE Properties | DIALOG

What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    60
David A said:
Yes, the big expansion of the paid parking hours is at best inconsistent messaging. Parking in many areas of downtown also had a very low utilization in these times, so it really does not make sense.

Also the terrible new parking app seems to be messed up again and will not even allow the free 15 minute parking without putting in credit card info. There are a number of people who are not comfortable putting this info into a third party app and preferred paying cash or otherwise at the machines. So I am sure there has been some further decline in people coming downtown since the machines were removed.
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I agree, we have very counter intuitive policies in this city...
 
IanO said:
It's singlehandedly one of the stupidest decisions that was made.

You spend billions on infra and foundational items to bring people Downtown, upset people with parking outside of peak which pushes them to malls or Unity Square and all for what, a few hundred grand in parking revenue?

Bass Aackwards if you ask me.
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I did the math on my own experience. When we were in college we used to spend a lot of time at Hudson's, OTR, and a few other places. Cheap wing nights on Wednesdays and Friday nights just out and about crawling bars. I'd say we averages 1-2 nights per week and spent about 50-200 dollars per person in a group of 8-10 people.

I remember when that first ticket was had for parking outside my place and spending the night rather than drinking and driving home. It really pissed one person in our group off and the rest agreed it's probably just better to avoid downtown - myself included. So that was pretty much it for spending any night entertaining downtown for us.

If 1% of the downtown population experienced similar behavioral changes and had similar activities, assuming each person spends 100 dollars a night, once a week for half of the weeks in a year, in a group of 8, that's over 2 million dollars in economic activity lost in the local economy.

Anecdotal yes, but a good example that carries over to restaurant goers, shoppers, hikers, or even just people who wanna hang out in a park or Leg grounds.

The admin has shown though it cannot see the forest from the trees on financial matters however. I wouldn't be surprised if it's universally accepted at the city that these policies and rules are required and beneficial.
 
Stevey_G said:
I did the math on my own experience. When we were in college we used to spend a lot of time at Hudson's, OTR, and a few other places. Cheap wing nights on Wednesdays and Friday nights just out and about crawling bars. I'd say we averages 1-2 nights per week and spent about 50-200 dollars per person in a group of 8-10 people.

I remember when that first ticket was had for parking outside my place and spending the night rather than drinking and driving home. It really pissed one person in our group off and the rest agreed it's probably just better to avoid downtown - myself included. So that was pretty much it for spending any night entertaining downtown for us.

If 1% of the downtown population experienced similar behavioral changes and had similar activities, assuming each person spends 100 dollars a night, once a week for half of the weeks in a year, in a group of 8, that's over 2 million dollars in economic activity lost in the local economy.

Anecdotal yes, but a good example that carries over to restaurant goers, shoppers, hikers, or even just people who wanna hang out in a park or Leg grounds.

The admin has shown though it cannot see the forest from the trees on financial matters however. I wouldn't be surprised if it's universally accepted at the city that these policies and rules are required and beneficial.
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I also have a theory that there are no voices at the decision making table that can relate to going out until 3am.
 
^ agreed, but with the addenda: there are no voices at the decision making table that can relate to going out until 3 am, or living downtown, or spending any time downtown that isn't begrudgingly showing up to do their jobs. Specifically talking about council and admin senior mgmt on this one.
 
I had inquired about leasing space on the podium of Stantec and in the Connect Centre, and the lease rates were more than what WEM charges. I don't think there's necessarily a lack of interest, but there's a reason why they haven't been able to get any tenants committing to $70/sqft when foot traffic is poor, safety is and disorder is a concern, and competing quality spaces are available outside the core. The City and private industry need to begin working more cohesively towards a shared vision of our downtown because this patchwork of conflicting policies and ambitions is a disaster. There is no flow, no identity, no risk (sorry Melcor) to do anything other than the bare minimum. Murals on old buildings and new garbage cans aren't going to cut it.
 
jnolsen said:
I had inquired about leasing space on the podium of Stantec and in the Connect Centre, and the lease rates were more than what WEM charges. I don't think there's necessarily a lack of interest, but there's a reason why they haven't been able to get any tenants committing to $70/sqft when foot traffic is poor, safety is and disorder is a concern, and competing quality spaces are available outside the core. The City and private industry need to begin working more cohesively towards a shared vision of our downtown because this patchwork of conflicting policies and ambitions is a disaster. There is no flow, no identity, no risk (sorry Melcor) to do anything other than the bare minimum. Murals on old buildings and new garbage cans aren't going to cut it.
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Thanks for sharing this and the insight.

With those kinds of high lease rates, if the city was providing free street parking on evenings and weekends at its curbside parking, would that have been enough to have made Connect Centre manageable for you?

Were rates better at some nearby commercial spaces such as on 104st, or still not enough to make a difference based on other reasons you provided?
 
jnolsen said:
I had inquired about leasing space on the podium of Stantec and in the Connect Centre, and the lease rates were more than what WEM charges. I don't think there's necessarily a lack of interest, but there's a reason why they haven't been able to get any tenants committing to $70/sqft when foot traffic is poor, safety is and disorder is a concern, and competing quality spaces are available outside the core. The City and private industry need to begin working more cohesively towards a shared vision of our downtown because this patchwork of conflicting policies and ambitions is a disaster. There is no flow, no identity, no risk (sorry Melcor) to do anything other than the bare minimum. Murals on old buildings and new garbage cans aren't going to cut it.
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Thats wild.
 
How would it affect financing for projects if the city developed policies that either taxed vacant storefronts or had other “sticks” to try to get developers to fill empty CRUs?

Clearly it’s not supply/demand curves working as they should because the financial industry has to keep lease rates artificially high.

Would developers build less CRUs? Have to charge higher residential rates? Simply less proposals being approved cause they can’t secure financing for too low of expected commercial lease rates?
 
thommyjo said:
How would it affect financing for projects if the city developed policies that either taxed vacant storefronts or had other “sticks” to try to get developers to fill empty CRUs?

Clearly it’s not supply/demand curves working as they should because the financial industry has to keep lease rates artificially high.

Would developers build less CRUs? Have to charge higher residential rates? Simply less proposals being approved cause they can’t secure financing for too low of expected commercial lease rates?
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The carrot works better then a stick. For areas of the city where you actually want to bring life you need to incentivize. Offer X amount of tax incentives for businesses to fill an area. Worked in New York City, it can work here.

Oh and to beat a dead horse, maybe have some cops on foot patrolling these areas.
 
itom987 said:
They should be doing short term leases at lower rates to fill up the all the spaces and generate traffic. Then longer term leases at higher rates can be considered. Leaving retail bays empty is worse than having them filled.
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100%. Having some $$ coming in is better than no $$ coming in.

And exposure is good too.
 
thommyjo said:
How would it affect financing for projects if the city developed policies that either taxed vacant storefronts or had other “sticks” to try to get developers to fill empty CRUs?

Clearly it’s not supply/demand curves working as they should because the financial industry has to keep lease rates artificially high.

Would developers build less CRUs? Have to charge higher residential rates? Simply less proposals being approved cause they can’t secure financing for too low of expected commercial lease rates?
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We seem to be locked in this holding pattern with too much vacant space downtown for several years now, we need to jump start something to get out of it.

There probably should be some city tax relief for space retail vacant, say more than a year or some other set period of time, which only applies if the space is filled.
 
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