Iron Horse Line / Station Park | ?m | 6s | Beljan Development | Hodgson Schilf Evans

What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    45
Platinum107 said:
Not every building has to have it's podium full of retail uses as long as most others in the area do and as long as some effort is made to make the sidewalk nice and walkable. Also, I think the design of this building at least somewhat makes up for the deficiency, don't you think?
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I would agree, generally speaking, and certainly don't want to come down hard on Beljan. They've done some great things for the city, without a doubt. Nevertheless, that shouldn't stop us from taking a critical look at their developments as well. Yes, the overall design is fantastic and I love to see this go ahead. But correct me if I'm wrong here: is the main floor basically just screened in parking? I would be happy to be proven wrong, but if it is screened in parking then I think it does take away from the overall wow factor of this development.
 
itom987 said:
I like it except for the fact that there is nothing on the main floor that activates the street.
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^
Um... everyone seems to move past this pretty quick. What IS the main floor. It looks like exhaust grates lol....
I understand that gateway is not exactly the most inviting street to face out onto, but these renderings make it look like it’s just an entire block of nothing on the main floor? Hopefully some detail is missing from these new renders? Hopefully it’s not above grade parking?

*edit. Somehow I did not see the post directly before mine by @Didama that said basically the same thing lol. Oops. Must have been on the next page...
 
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You guys going on a lot of long, beautiful walks along the east side of Gateway Blvd? Lol. Not all streets are created equally, and therefore not all street activations are equal either.

This is a fantastic proposal replacing a giant eye-sore. I could care less if there was a screened parking component to this proposal. If I had all the money in the world to build the most utopian urban building, this would not be the location where I would be putting it, and I think it's fantastic what they are hoping to do despite the shortcomings of this specific spot.
 
So instead of addressing the issues that could make the street more hospitable, let’s just cover our eyes (and the main floor).

I’m not criticizing the building, overall its good for the location. I’m just curious what the main floor is. If residential starts pushing south along gateway, I’d hope it would have some walkable elements and not just be block after block of blank walls facing a de facto highway.
 
Mattyeg said:
So instead of addressing the issues that could make the street more hospitable, let’s just cover our eyes (and the main floor).

I’m not criticizing the building, overall its good for the location. I’m just curious what the main floor is. If residential starts pushing south along gateway, I’d hope it would have some walkable elements and not just be block after block of blank walls facing a de facto highway.
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The design of the main floor looks good. It's not amazing, it is not inspiring, but it is 100000x better than what is there now.

And yes, I do think the street interaction of a building is less important on a small parcel between a HWY & train tracks than a building directly on Whyte Ave. I also felt that a greater investment should have been made on the exterior architectural features of our downtown library compared to a police headquarters in the middle of nowhere and a recycling plant directly off the Yellowhead.

Not everything needs to be treated as equal, and that's okay. There is only so much ground floor retail that the market can absorb! I am very okay with it being concentrated in the right places.
 
^Although I agree that not everywhere needs commercial, a lot more could be done to make the podium actually interact with the street. Also, there's plenty of great businesses that survive on gateway, so a road like that doesn't automatically kill the street. Cars only take over the street if you let them.
 
Some thoughts on the lacking street interaction:
  • This site sits on adjacent to a four lane arterial that is almost always packed with cars whizzing by.
  • This site currently does not even have a sidewalk.
  • This site is quite narrow and any substantial setbacks would lose precious FAR.
  • More ground level parking means building less underground parking, which may help justify the economics of the project.
I can understand their decisions. But I'm no architect/planner/developer.
 
itom987 said:
There is a sidewalk with benches in the rendering. The rail yard will disappear sometime in the future.
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That is what interests me the most for this project. I hope there has been serious consideration to how this site in the future will interact with the old rail ROW behind it, and not just purely closed off to it.

So much potential there.
 
I just think we should give Beljan the benefit of the doubt. They've been one of the best (if not THE best) developers in the city, recently. No developer has done more for our historical buildings in recent years, with great quality and well thought projects. Also, @cmd uw is a regular of the forum and probably is reading this thread with attention.
 
At the end of the day, your products must speak to the people. Langham and Regency are automatically off my list if I was to purchased a condo right now, Beljan, Primavera, Westrich, are example of trusted builders as they have demonstrated the desire to built quality and creativity. That tells me $$$ is not their all-sum-game and the city' outlook is just as vital. When you tell me "world class" and serve me sloppy Joe's, or the rush to bomb lots down...
 
I'm ok with the main floor parking of the structure. There is no on-street parking on Gateway so retail would have a tough time here on a not-so-walkable stretch. Residential units would not sell or rent well here either with facing a very busy four-lane road. If Beljan can incorporate as much of the greenery as they have in their rendering, it will do a good job taking away from the blank wall.

Mattyeg said:
If residential starts pushing south along gateway
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I'm sure Beljan group thought long and hard about all possible scenarios and made decisions on the most realistic ones.
 
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