Manulife Place Renovations | 145.99m | 36s | AIMCo | MdeAS

What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    27
Barnaby said:
I really don't see how businesses are the answer to downtown, it's residential first. You see this with 104th St and Ice District being the busiest areas, while the office areas are a virtual ghost town. The Loblaws didn't place itself facing Churchill Sq for a reason.

I'm gonna buy shoes at Foosh. I shop at The Helm and Henry Singer. I buy all my groceries at City Market.

Suburbanites aren't going to be the primary people supporting these businesses. That's not how this works besides the arena.
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It is more complicated than that and is a real chicken and egg problem - if there are not many jobs, a bunch of empty store fronts, with not much retail variety and you have to drive to get many basics, why would many people want to move downtown?

Cities that have thriving downtowns have many more businesses and employees working there than here and that in turn attracts residents. Residential can not support downtown business alone and putting it forth as a magic wand to solve our problems will not work.
 
thommyjo said:
Most of the bridge closures will be before the LRT opens sadly.
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Yes, but there is already LRT to the NE, SW and SE. I experienced bridge closures here in the past, when I lived on the south side and worked downtown at a time with fewer LRT options than now.

Yes there was some inconvenience, but we all managed and I don't think it actually hurt downtown that much. It certainly wasn't the end of the world, but that was also a time when catatrophizing wasn't as popular.
 
David A said:
Yes, but there is already LRT to the NE, SW and SE. I experienced bridge closures here in the past, when I lived on the south side and worked downtown at a time with fewer LRT options than now.

Yes there was some inconvenience, but we all managed and I don't think it actually hurt downtown that much. It certainly wasn't the end of the world, but that was also a time when catatrophizing wasn't as popular.
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SarcasticMarmot said:
Maybe they are taking their time so they don't get shut down by AHS again 🤣
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I realize its still not easy to get good retail tenants around here, but the temporary coffee shop for a few years is kind of beneath what I expect from a building like this.

I suppose they still do have a bit of time to still be opening in 2024, maybe they can just change the sign again or AHS will resolve things.
 
Foot traffic in the indoor retail areas won't drastically improve until there is a greater concentration of residents nearby. All of these DT retail RE owners that refuse to support their own spaces by adding residential are going to get killed. It's a disastrous business model.

The EDBA should advocating and encouraging residential development from their members.
 
Barnaby said:
Foot traffic in the indoor retail areas won't drastically improve until there is a greater concentration of residents nearby. All of these DT retail RE owners that refuse to support their own spaces by adding residential are going to get killed. It's a disastrous business model.

The EDBA should advocating and encouraging residential development from their members.
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This store has been here a long time, so I wonder if the owner is retiring. But Manulife and its upscale focus has been particularly hard hit and has had trouble adapting to the changing downtown environment.

Interestingly, there actually was more thriving retail here a couple decades ago, before more residential was added in the core or nearby, so I don't think that is real problem or adding more residential is a magic solution.
 
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