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The Quarters

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Edmonton Quarters project moving along
A long-awaited construction project meant to bring new life to the Quarters should open later this year.

The Armature, a section of 96 Street in the Quarters is set to open soon, but the city is waiting to ensure roadway pavers can live up to the city’s weather.

“We want to wait through a freeze thaw and our contractor will return after that point to make sure the pavers settle appropriately,” said Heather Chisholm, the area’s principal planner.

She said the street furniture and public art in the neighbourhood is all in place and the city is looking forward to opening it up.

“We’re really excited about it. This street it’s basically our spine of the Quarters,” she said.

Full Story (Metro Edmonton)
 
The Quarters is groomed for grand development plans
After tens of millions of dollars have been spent to beautify it, you would think a stretch of road – just east of downtown Edmonton – should be on easy street when it comes to bouncing back from years of neglect.

But a four-block stretch of 96 Street – between Jasper Avenue and 103 Avenue – needs much more work for the already significant investment funnelled into it to pay off.

“The work here actually started in 2006 in terms of planning,” Mary Ann Debrinski, with the City of Edmonton’s real estate and housing and sustainable development departments, said. “It will be the backbone for all the other streetscape improvements that we see.”

Full Story (Global Edmonton)
 
Mean streets makeover: The city's blueprint to reinvent Edmonton's gritty east-central core
Even top city planner Walter Trocenko sounds a bit nervous when he talks about The Quarters.

“We’re so close and yet so far,” says the man charged with sparking new life in Edmonton’s forgotten east downtown. “Until we actually see that soil being turned, that’s when we’ll take that deep sigh of relief and say, ‘Mission accomplished. We got one off the ground. Only a couple dozen more to go.’ “If we’re successful in getting these projects off the ground, there will be sufficient momentum to carry on after.”

Talking with urban planners, the cynics find it easy to list reasons why The Quarters plan won’t work – a stigma attached to the neighbourhood since the 1950s, fractured land ownership, competition from other civic redevelopment projects, and a conservative spirit in city hall.

On the other side of the scale is a planned 27-storey condo tower and a high-end hotel. With a promise to start construction by the fall, they would be the first major private developments in decades.

The city is trying to fast-track development permits for The Quarters, and is pioneering an idea to compel creative urban design. Almost the entire 18 blocks have been rezoned to allow a maximum building height of just three storeys. To earn the right to build a tower, developers must hide parking lots, use more than stucco on exterior walls, give preference to pedestrians over cars, and let sunshine reach the street.

“(The design plan) encourages all kinds of aspirational things,” says Trocenko. But, “it’s that street character that’s important.”

The existing level of development within the boundaries of The Quarters is dismal. Many of the buildings are boarded up, and roughly half of the building lots are empty, used as gravel parking lots where downtown office workers willing to walk pay $3 a day.

When city staff surveyed the area, they found more than 80 per cent of the people who live here rent their homes, compared with 40 per cent citywide. Average income levels were half that of the rest of the city. Property crime was five times the city average, and violent crime 15 times higher.

But it wasn’t always this way.

Full Story (Edmonton Journal)
 
Key street in the Quarters Downtown opens to traffic

December 21, 2016

The Quarters Downtown has reached a major milestone now that the Armature, a 4.5 block stretch along 96 Street from 103A Avenue to Jasper Avenue, is open to traffic.
“The Armature is a cornerstone of The Quarters Downtown revitalization and its completion signals great progress for this community,” Mary Ann Debrinski, Director Urban Renewal.

The Armature is a pedestrian-oriented street, and the core’s first “green street”. Special soil systems are being used to capture rainfall. The rain is used to help water trees and other vegetation along the street.

The Armature is expected to become the heart of the Quarters Downtown. Custom furniture, bike racks and lamp posts have been specifically created for the Armature to make it pedestrian-friendly. Work on the Armature also included updating the utilities and drainage along the street.

The street is one of the key pillars attracting development to the area, including the newly-opened Hyatt Place Hotel.

Funding for The Quarters Downtown project comes through The Quarters Community Revitalization Levy (CRL). The City received Council approval to invest $100 million into the revitalization of the area.

For more information:
edmonton.ca/TheQuartersDowntown

Media contact:
Lesley Vaage
Communications Advisor
Sustainable Development
780-495-0651

http://secure.campaigner.com/csb/Public/show/dx6sr--b9qaw-5kftw917
 
Edmonton opens first 'green street' to traffic
The city’s first “green street” is open to traffic, but cars will take a back seat.

The Armature, a 4.5-block stretch in the Quarters Downtown along 96 Street from 103A Avenue to Jasper Avenue, opened Wednesday after being closed for four years.

The new roadway features custom furniture, bike racks and lamp posts specifically designed to make the area pedestrian-friendly. Special soil systems will capture rainfall to help water trees and other vegetation along the street.

“(People) can expect to see really, really wide pedestrian sidewalks,” said Mary Ann Debrinski, the city’s director of urban renewal.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmonton/2016/12/21/edmonton-opens-first-green-street-to-traffic.html
 
New walkable street opens in downtown Edmonton
An important street in downtown Edmonton has officially opened.

“The Armature” is a four-and-a-half block stretch running along 96 Street from 103A Avenue to Jasper Avenue and is a cornerstone of the Quarters Downtown.

It caters to pedestrians and is the first “green street” in the core. Special soil systems are used to capture rain, which is then used to water trees and other vegetation on the street.

http://globalnews.ca/news/3143297/new-walkable-street-opens-in-downtown-edmonton/

Downtown Edmonton's first 'green street' opens to traffic
 
Most parking lots in Edmonton Quarters district illegal
Alf White would rather see buildings, not illegal surface parking.

And it's why one tidbit of information — that within the sea of surface parking in the Quarters, only one lot can has a permit to operate legally — upsets him so.

“Some buildings come down and then the space they were in is just sitting empty,” said White, president of the Boyle Street Community League (who wasn’t speaking on behalf of the board of directors).

“The parking lots that are there now have been there for some time. It’s frustrating.”

Mary Ann Debrinski, director of urban renewal with city administration, told Metro Thursday that of the 1,300 parking stalls in the Quarters, there’s only one lot that actually has the right to operate legally.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...ts-in-edmonton-quarters-district-illegal.html
 
Armature and Hyatt Place Downtown Edmonton to Officially Open

January 20, 2017

Members of the media are invited to join Mayor Don Iveson, City Manager Linda Cochrane, and Prem Singhmar, owner of the Hyatt Place Edmonton/Downtown for the official opening of the Armature and Hyatt Place Downtown/Edmonton. The Hyatt Place Hotel is the first major new downtown Edmonton hotel in a generation, and this opening marks a significant milestone in the redevelopment of the Quarters Downtown.

Media will be invited on a guided tour of the hotel followed by a short ribbon-cutting ceremony on the Armature.

Date: Monday, January 23
Time:
Media tours of Hyatt Place Hotel 3:15 p.m.
Ribbon-cutting: 4:15 p.m.
Location: Hyatt Place Downtown/Edmonton 9576 Jasper Avenue

Media contacts:

City of Edmonton
Lesley Vaage
587-594-1159

Hyatt Place Downtown/Edmonton
Sameh Khedr
587-525-1234
 
How Edmonton regulations put Quarters project at risk
The proponents of an assisted living complex for people with mental health and mobility challenges in The Quarters say it was all set to be built until it hit a snag—a city regulation designed, ironically, to increase diversity in the neighbourhood.

The project, dubbed Bridgeway Two, was the brainchild of the Edmonton People In Need Shelter Society, which saw it as much-needed new assisted living spaces.

But according to its executive director, Ron Allen, a city regulation — which requires new buildings to have 50 per cent of its space solely designated for residential use, like apartments — has actually slowed Bridgeway Two.

It’s a rule designed to encourage developers to construct buildings that ensure residents actually live in the historic neighbourhood, but in this case it only kept them out, Allen said.

"The city has been really good to us, but going through the bureaucratic steps was like a minefield.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...regulations-put-quarters-project-at-risk.html
 
I will be attending this!

Explore layers of art and history in The Quarters
July 5, 2017

Media are invited on a 45-minute guided tour of the newly-launched ArtTourYEG: The Quarters. This is the third in a series of self-guided art tours that explore the hiding-in-plain-sight art throughout the core. Hosted by the City of Edmonton, the tour includes insights from Susan Pointe, the curator of all three Art Tour YEGs.

Join us to get the backstory on the hidden graffiti walls, ghost signs, and heritage buildings of Edmonton's original downtown. The Quarters tour is a condensed version of the full tourwhich features 37 stops. As part of the tour, participants will see art along The Quarters’signature street, The Armature, which is part of the City’s $70 million investment to revitalize the area.

Date: Thursday, July 6, 2017
Time: 12:15 p.m.
Location: East side of Shaw Conference Centre Hall D (9797 Jasper Ave), beside the art piece, ‘Inukshuk’.

Please RSVP to confirm your attendance.

For more information:
arttouryeg.ca

Media contact:
Lesley Vaage
Communications Advisor
587-594-1159
 
Edmonton launches self-guided walking tour of the art and history of The Quarters
The city has launched the third of the ArtTourYEG series of self-guided walking tours in downtown Edmonton that combine art with history.

The latest tour winds through The Quarters, an area east of 97th Street, the city's oldest commercial district.

"There is an amazing amount of history," says Mary Ann Debrinski, director of urban renewal for the city. "Even I am surprised and delighted to learn about all of the things that have happened on this site, this location."

The tour is a combination of stories from the history of the area, background on some of the historic buildings and a listing of the art visible from the street.

"It just gives people a reason to come out for a walk," Debrinki said. "You can enjoy some cultural stories while doing that."

The Quarters tour map highlights 37 points of interest, many which will be new to even long-time Edmontonians, she said.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmon...ed-walking-art-tour-of-the-quarters-1.4194919
 
Hyatt Place Hotel owner disappointed by pace of development in The Quarters
The Hyatt Place Hotel still regularly sees empty rooms, in part due to the sluggish development of eastern downtown, the hotel’s owner said.

Nearly a year after it opened its doors, the 255-room hotel currently sits at a 50 per cent occupancy rate, lower than a healthy 65 per cent. And the retail space on the ground of the hotel lies empty.

Owner Prem Singhmar — who owns other establishments in the greater Edmonton area — said the hotel at 9576 Jasper Ave. was planned during a boom cycle in Alberta as a part of The Quarters plan to fix up a neglected part of the city’s core.

However, the province’s economic slump has hindered the continuation of The Quarters plan and the eventual end of construction in the region.

“We are hoping that more development will come in the area, but nothing has started, so far at least,” he said.

Singhmar blames low oil prices and a general economic slump for the slow development surrounding the hotel.

“What happens in one month now takes two months. There’s nothing we can do until things get better,” he said.

http://edmontonjournal.com/business...ointed-by-pace-of-development-in-the-quarters
 

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