Calgarypuck Forums - The Unofficial Calgary Flames Fan Community - View Single Post - Real estate in Calgary

blankall · 01-07-2022, 10:28 AM

Do people actually think the library and the East Village was a bad investment. When I went back to Calgary last I walked from the library to my brother's home in Ramsay. It was a night and day difference from what it used to be. This was the area outside my boxing gym in the early 2000s, which was a place that if I parked my car 2 blocks away I felt was genuinely dangerous. Mostly decaying warehouses, railyards, and industrial buildings.

$400 million is peanuts. The area was full of people when I went through, which, unless you were on 17th, was very uncommon for a commercial district in Calgary up until recently. The taxes generated must be massive. You've got property taxes, the taxes from all the businesses, and even the parking.

Some of the infrastructure projects were great. The library itself was amazing. What's the point of having a city, if you aren't going to pull together and get projects like that built?

Calgary is a city of 1.5 million people now. Having a massive chunk of desirable real estate occupied by decaying warehouses is just not something you should have. It's not just an opportunity cost, after a certain point, you physically can't have it there without it causing some kind of major disaster.

As the city grows you're going to also see a more diverse set of housing wants beyond the typical 2500-3000 sq foot cookie cutter house in a planned outlying community. A significant portion of Canadians aren't even having children anymore.

Calgary should be looking towards a city like Montreal for what to do with their downtown and the surrounding area. They should be trying to avoid the mistakes that a city like Vancouver made, with overly restrictive zoning.

Calgary IMO seems to be on the right track. Once the East Village gets built up and the new stadium/entertainment district gets sorted out, Calgary will have a pretty solid foundation to build a top notch inner city around. As the city grows into the 2+ million population level, it simply needs to add a more diverse set of housing/entertainment options if it wants to attract businesses and not end up a Canadian Detroit.

01-07-2022, 10:28 AM	#814
blankall Ate 100 Treadmills Join Date: Mar 2006 Exp:	Do people actually think the library and the East Village was a bad investment. When I went back to Calgary last I walked from the library to my brother's home in Ramsay. It was a night and day difference from what it used to be. This was the area outside my boxing gym in the early 2000s, which was a place that if I parked my car 2 blocks away I felt was genuinely dangerous. Mostly decaying warehouses, railyards, and industrial buildings. $400 million is peanuts. The area was full of people when I went through, which, unless you were on 17th, was very uncommon for a commercial district in Calgary up until recently. The taxes generated must be massive. You've got property taxes, the taxes from all the businesses, and even the parking. Some of the infrastructure projects were great. The library itself was amazing. What's the point of having a city, if you aren't going to pull together and get projects like that built? Calgary is a city of 1.5 million people now. Having a massive chunk of desirable real estate occupied by decaying warehouses is just not something you should have. It's not just an opportunity cost, after a certain point, you physically can't have it there without it causing some kind of major disaster. As the city grows you're going to also see a more diverse set of housing wants beyond the typical 2500-3000 sq foot cookie cutter house in a planned outlying community. A significant portion of Canadians aren't even having children anymore. Calgary should be looking towards a city like Montreal for what to do with their downtown and the surrounding area. They should be trying to avoid the mistakes that a city like Vancouver made, with overly restrictive zoning. Calgary IMO seems to be on the right track. Once the East Village gets built up and the new stadium/entertainment district gets sorted out, Calgary will have a pretty solid foundation to build a top notch inner city around. As the city grows into the 2+ million population level, it simply needs to add a more diverse set of housing/entertainment options if it wants to attract businesses and not end up a Canadian Detroit.