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Miscellaneous

Since Scotia and HSBC did their reclad , I was expecting more buildings to follow. I know the old Enbridge/IPL tower will be transformed. Are there any others that are planning to reclad or do a conversion soon? There's some serious ugly going on with a number of these old 70's structures in our core.
 
Ritchie school is being demolished today. How can that happen?! It's appalling..

Because, simply put, the old building was nigh unsalvageable.

When Ritchie was built in a mad rush in 1912 it appears as though the E.P.S.B. had improperly surveyed the site and it was soon found out the school had been built on a former slough. During the winter of 1913/14 the structure’s foundations began to noticeably sink and water flooded its basement for much of its first school year. While the basement was eventually pumped dry, the school had to be jacked up on three separate occasions over the subsequent decades to keep it from sinking any further. The land around the area was so bad that a fiftieth anniversary booklet produced by the school later said “the children arrived at school mud up to the knees” more-often-than-not during the spring months.

Since 1971 there had been plans to replace it (Journal articles below), as even back then it was realized it was more trouble than it was worth. The building had become so worn-out over its sixty year life and nearly everything from its classrooms to washrooms, music, drama and art rooms, to changing facilities, and staff offices needed to be modernized. The Ritchie Parent Teacher Association pleaded with the Board to allocate some modicum of money to at least temporarily aid these issues, but they kept pushing them off. Finally, by the early '70s it was realized that it would take upwards of $680,000 — approximately 3.7 million today — to fix the original wing alone and was decided instead to hermetically seal it from its later 1940s and '50s annexes, which had become a school onto themselves. That was only ever meant to be a temporary solution, with demolition always planned, but it kept getting pushed back to literally today due to a lack of funds, and costly abatement prices for asbestos, lead paint, etc.

Am I sad to see it go? Without a doubt! It's one of the biggest heritage buildings in the Southeast. But on the other hand, it was an inevitability. It also isn't that huge a loss architecturally either. It's a beautiful Edwardian era Collegiate Gothic building of course, but it was one of a series of quintuplets, with the McCauley, Parkdale, and Henry Allan Grey schools also sharing the same George E. Turner template.

/history lesson over.

Edmonton_Journal_Thu__Dec_23__1971_.jpg Edmonton_Journal_Wed__Jan_26__1972_.jpg
 
That being said, they could have salvaged the brick and stone even if only to use as a facade on some future project. The Alberta Hotel languished in storage for 30+ years before being rebuilt (a lifetime for many), but at least the feds had that sort of foresight and dedication. Edmonton isn't rich enough in history to dispose of these sorts of buildings so cavalierly, and every loss is felt.
 
Yesterday I noticed a rezoning sign posted outside this building

Screenshot_20200508-101652_Maps.jpg


Anyone know what's happening here? I don't mind another restaurant here, but it's also a great location for something tall & hopefully beautiful IMO
 
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@Grandinite Its actually weirdly tied to the current property and zoning as The Hive. Part of the proposed rezoning actually separates it out.

1588969623631.png


It sounds like this arrangement was just a way to provide accessory parking for the restaurant:
 
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Contact info on the sign was:
Dave deBruyn
780-259-1450
dave@eqres.ca

Address is 11506 106 Ave.
Builder is Alair Homes

EqRes are members of IDEA, but their website strangely redirects to http://inhausdevelopment.com/
Hi there - just came across this post and can add some info. The project at 11506 106th Ave NW is a brand new Built Green 7 Unit Townhouse development project called Tribeca7. It was designed by DIALOG and built for us by Alair Homes Edmonton. The townhomes will be completed and coming for sale by the end of May 2020. There is a website for the project at www.tribeca7.com - if anyone has questions I'd be happy to answer, the homes turned out fantastic.

~ Dave deBruyn
EQRES Development / Equity Residential Holdings
 
^ I'm shocked at just how fast that's gone up. When I walked by maybe 5 months ago there was still a dinky duplex sitting there
Sorry for the delayed reply, but we used ACQBuilt for the framing portion of the project, which means all of the walls, inside & out were built off-site in their climate controlled factory. Dramatically shortens the construction timeline as we were able to "frame" while excavation & foundation work was happening onsite. They computer cut all of the openings and pre-installed windows & doors. I found it to be a great process!
 
Hi there - just came across this post and can add some info. The project at 11506 106th Ave NW is a brand new Built Green 7 Unit Townhouse development project called Tribeca7. It was designed by DIALOG and built for us by Alair Homes Edmonton. The townhomes will be completed and coming for sale by the end of May 2020. There is a website for the project at www.tribeca7.com - if anyone has questions I'd be happy to answer, the homes turned out fantastic.

~ Dave deBruyn
EQRES Development / Equity Residential Holdings
Great looking project - reasonable size (not too big), well thought out floor plan. We need a bunch more just like this!
 
I was driving North on Gateway this afternoon and passed a few blocks of cars all trying to merge into the left lane, a few blocks south of Whitemud Drive that is. Spider-sense tingling, I drove on not knowing what mayhem lay ahead, riots, military blockade, tomato plants on sale at Superstore? Then I realized it was Peters', it's always about a Peter...​
Peter's Drive Inn 2020-05-09 043.JPG
Peter's Drive Inn 2020-05-09 055.JPG
Peter's Drive Inn 2020-05-09 047.JPG
Happy grand opening Peters'​
 
^It's always nice to see new brands venturing into Edmonton, but I'll be a total hipster and say I think Peter's is kinda overrated. Like it's a decent enough burger shack I guess, but is it really "wait in you car for an hour-and-a-half and clog up traffic for four blocks on end" good?
 

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