Quote:
Originally Posted by powderjunkie
Vic Park is massively improved from the crackhouse days.
Arriva
Guardian x2
Keynote x3
Vetro
Sasso
Alura
Nuero
= 10 big condo towers and a bunch of smaller buildings and street level commercial, etc. Of course, Stampede wasn't the developer, but it's hard to argue they didn't play a big role in cleaning up the area and making it more attractive for development.
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One of the Keynote towers is commercial, FYI.
I think your point here is actually quite far off the mark. I wouldn't say that Vic Park, or at least the parts of Vic Park close to the Stampede grounds, are significantly improved from "the crackhouse days". It's just a sea of parking lots, interrupted by a single, solitary block with three condo towers on it.
Being close to the Stampede grounds is no great benefit that spurred the development of Keynote, Vetro, Sasso, Alura and Nuera: it would have happened anyway. They don't interface whatsoever with the Stampede grounds. In fact those buildings have their backs turned to the Stampede grounds; everything about their design is oriented away from the Stampede grounds. The Stampede/Saddledome have had no positive influence on their development whatsoever.
Arriva and the Guardian towers I would credit more to the improvements CMLC made to the area by building the 4th St SE underpass, better tying the area into the East Village. If not for that project being on the books I doubt those three condos would have gone up.
The way Vic Park east of Macleod and north of 14th Ave was hollowed out into an urban wasteland of asphalt is proof positive that "event centres" do precisely jack #### to spur development. The idea that a new arena was going to magically make this the hip place to go and live is non-sense; the entire premise is bunk.