EnCana Building Released

[Barnes]

Originally Posted by Table 5

I doubt it. Most of the delays that have happened so far where already because of changes (apart from the in-company changes, the city has had people specially working on this project to make sure it coalesces with calgary guidelines from the get-go), so one would have to assume that most of those have already been taken care of.

This what I have heard as well. Permits will be a breeze. The city wants this to go smoothly just as much as the devlopers do. Can't wait to to this thing get out of the ground.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

1400 parking spots. Sounds like a lot, but how does that equate with the number of people working in a building that size?

Does anyone have the rough guidlines for # parking spots / sq foot?

1 stall for every 1500 sq ft of space I think. I remember reading a few months back that Vancouver and Seattle are 1 for every 1000 sq ft.

Either way, the city only lets you actually build half of them. Then you get to pay city hall for the other half.

[Flames_Gimp]

aw man, only 59 stories?

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by Hack&Lube

But Calgary's downtown will still be dead quiet and dead boring after 5PM every day

I don't know about that. Lately I've been hanging out at 7th Ave and 7th Street and there are a lot of people around. Lotsa chicks.

[Resolute 14]

Originally Posted by Bend it like Bourgeois

1 stall for every 1500 sq ft of space I think. I remember reading a few months back that Vancouver and Seattle are 1 for every 1000 sq ft.

Either way, the city only lets you actually build half of them. Then you get to pay city hall for the other half.

Isnt that deliberate though? I thought the city does this to encourage more people to take transit.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Flames_Gimp

aw man, only 59 stories?

this project is a classic case of quality over quantity. It will set a new architectural standard for the city....that's much more important than a superficial ****ing contest.

Besides, let Imperial be the one to worry about height!

[Lanny_MacDonald]

Originally Posted by Table 5

Well considering they said the shape and orientation are directly because of local wind and sun conditions, I dont think your assumption is right, Lanny.

Well, I stand corrected. I would think that thing would catch the wind pretty good and make it a good test bench for Gravol.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Isnt that deliberate though? I thought the city does this to encourage more people to take transit.

If that is the case (promote transit) than they better make transit better. My wife takes it downtown every morning and evening and hates it. She gets on at Whitehorn and even at the first stop she won't get a seat sometimes, and the trains are packed to the gills before it gets to Franklin. Let alone parking at the station - the lots are full by 7:45am. We're more than happy to take the train, if only they would solve the rush hour capacity issues.

[SpitFire40]

Wow! That's amazing! Way better than I'd ever think this city to have built.

[FurnaceFace]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

I wonder how its going to do when the first good series of Chinook Winds blow directly into that big collection dish? I think the design is interesting, but I don't think its a very smart one for Calgary's environment.

I thought the same and then found the fact sheet (http://www.encana.com/pdfs/media/building/factsheet.pdf) which says:

The shape and position of the tower also helps deal effectively with summer and winter wind patterns.

It's also southwest facing so that should help.

Originally Posted by STeeLy

It does look pretty cool... although I have no clue where in Calgary downtown it will be.

See the shaded blocks. Note, I am assuming since the fact sheet makes reference to a plus 15 across 6th avenue "to connect the north and south blocks" the building will span them somehow.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Snakeeye

Isnt that deliberate though? I thought the city does this to encourage more people to take transit.

Deliberate for sure, though in theory the city uses the money to build another parking lot somwhere else in downtown. They want to control which roads have access points etc etc.

Central planning at it's finest. I'm not a fan, though I at least see the appeal in this case.

[Table 5]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

If that is the case (promote transit) than they better make transit better. My wife takes it downtown every morning and evening and hates it. She gets on at Whitehorn and even at the first stop she won't get a seat sometimes, and the trains are packed to the gills before it gets to Franklin. Let alone parking at the station - the lots are full by 7:45am. We're more than happy to take the train, if only they would solve the rush hour capacity issues.

Yep, thats the biggest issue at the moment. Calgarians have shown they are more than willing to forego cars for trains, but the city/province hasn't kept up to speed with the demand. However in the long run it's still better to promote a transit-oriented downtown, even if in the short-term the trains are jam packed.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

If that is the case (promote transit) than they better make transit better. My wife takes it downtown every morning and evening and hates it. She gets on at Whitehorn and even at the first stop she won't get a seat sometimes, and the trains are packed to the gills before it gets to Franklin. Let alone parking at the station - the lots are full by 7:45am. We're more than happy to take the train, if only they would solve the rush hour capacity issues.

It really bothers me how common and persistent of a complaint this is. No offense to you or your wife, but the solution is pretty simple.

Don't live in the boondocks if you don't want transit problems. Move closer to downtown and walk to work... there's a million condos coming up for sale within the next two years. Or maybe find a job that doesn't take you downtown if you like where you live.

95% of Calgary's population acts like a gaggle of reatrds by moving out to the friggen edge of the city because they "have to have a yard" and then bitch about every single thing wrong with their decision as if it was not their fault.

One hour commutes into work. Crappy transit. Crappy traffic. Not enough schools. Not enough Police. Not enough firefighters. BLAH BLAH BLAH! What do you expect when a community of thousands gets plonked out in the middle of nowhere in the matter of two years? Services and infrastructure just don't magically appear!

Wait, I know, tax the whole city equally to pay for the things you need, that's a good plan. Because I chose to live downtown to avoid the very things you are complaining about I need to be penalized in order to support your lifestyle anyway. Take my taxes to build your school and while you're at it, tear down the police station in my district so you can make it the new Airdrie HQ... I don't mind when the park down the street from me gets overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes, really. The cops really need to be patrolling the suburbs to keep those speeding teenagers in line.

[SpitFire40]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

It really bothers me how common and persistent of a complaint this is. No offense to you or your wife, but the solution is pretty simple.

Don't live in the boondocks if you don't want transit problems. Move closer to downtown and walk to work... there's a million condos coming up for sale within the next two years. Or maybe find a job that doesn't take you downtown if you like where you live.

95% of Calgary's population acts like a gaggle of reatrds by moving out to the friggen edge of the city because they "have to have a yard" and then bitch about every single thing wrong with their decision as if it was not their fault.

One hour commutes into work. Crappy transit. Crappy traffic. Not enough schools. Not enough Police. Not enough firefighters. BLAH BLAH BLAH! What do you expect when a community of thousands gets plonked out in the middle of nowhere in the matter of two years? Services and infrastructure just don't magically appear!

Wait, I know, tax the whole city equally to pay for the things you need, that's a good plan. Because I chose to live downtown to avoid the very things you are complaining about I need to be penalized in order to support your lifestyle anyway. Take my taxes to build your school and while you're at it, tear down the police station in my district so you can make it the new Airdrie HQ... I don't mind when the park down the street from me gets overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes, really. The cops really need to be patrolling the suburbs to keep those speeding teenagers in line.

No offense bub, but i'd trade sitting in a yard in the summer for close access to downtown in a shoebox condo when you can have a full sized house any day of the week.

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by SpitFire40

No offense bub, but i'd trade sitting in a yard in the summer for close access to downtown in a shoebox condo when you can have a full sized house any day of the week.

There's nothing wrong with that, but with the way you hear people complaining about their decision around this city you'd think that there were no upsides to living the 'typical' Calgary lifestyle.

[RougeUnderoos]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Don't live in the boondocks if you don't want transit problems. Move closer to downtown and walk to work... there's a million condos coming up for sale within the next two years. Or maybe find a job that doesn't take you downtown if you like where you live.

It takes 45 minutes of bus/train at rush hour to get from the old Children's Hospital to one block north of the Saddledome. If you have bad luck (ie the bus is full) it takes even longer to get back. That's pretty slow.

[SeeGeeWhy]

To add to that Spitfire, how do you feel about people in those specific communities being taxed directly to help pay for the construction of new roads, schools, train lines, etc?

[SeeGeeWhy]

Originally Posted by RougeUnderoos

It takes 45 minutes of bus/train at rush hour to get from the old Children's Hospital to one block north of the Saddledome. If you have bad luck (ie the bus is full) it takes even longer to get back. That's pretty slow.

Yep. The mass exodus towards the three major ways into and out of downtown (5th Ave to Deerfoot, 4th&6th Ave to Crowchild/Bow and McLeod South) pretty much cripples any sort of movement within the inner city.

[ken0042]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

Don't live in the boondocks if you don't want transit problems. Move closer to downtown and walk to work... there's a million condos coming up for sale within the next two years. Or maybe find a job that doesn't take you downtown if you like where you live.

Wow, that is quite a wide brush you are using there. Has it ever occurred to you that some people don't live in condos because they don't like living in condos? For example, some don't allow satellite dishes, some don't allow me to work on my car, some don't allow me to have friends drop by my house (ie lock the front doors at 10:00), some regulate what I can have for plants on my balcony, etc.

Plus, if you move everybody into the inner city you run into a whole new host of problems. One I can think of- I walk back to the 39th ave station after work. Some days the sidewalks are pretty crowded; to the point of almost causing traffic jams of people. What happens when you add that many more people?

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by SeeGeeWhy

It really bothers me how common and persistent of a complaint this is. No offense to you or your wife, but the solution is pretty simple.

Don't live in the boondocks if you don't want transit problems. Move closer to downtown and walk to work... there's a million condos coming up for sale within the next two years. Or maybe find a job that doesn't take you downtown if you like where you live.

95% of Calgary's population acts like a gaggle of reatrds by moving out to the friggen edge of the city because they "have to have a yard" and then bitch about every single thing wrong with their decision as if it was not their fault.

One hour commutes into work. Crappy transit. Crappy traffic. Not enough schools. Not enough Police. Not enough firefighters. BLAH BLAH BLAH! What do you expect when a community of thousands gets plonked out in the middle of nowhere in the matter of two years? Services and infrastructure just don't magically appear!

Wait, I know, tax the whole city equally to pay for the things you need, that's a good plan. Because I chose to live downtown to avoid the very things you are complaining about I need to be penalized in order to support your lifestyle anyway. Take my taxes to build your school and while you're at it, tear down the police station in my district so you can make it the new Airdrie HQ... I don't mind when the park down the street from me gets overrun with drug dealers and prostitutes, really. The cops really need to be patrolling the suburbs to keep those speeding teenagers in line.

Hmm, this started with the statement that the city is trying to promote the use of public transit.

The response was Public transit can't handle current peak loads, it doesn't need promotion.

Your answer - everyone should live downtown. What an stupid response.

You go into a rant about your taxes and services for the suburbs. My taxes pay for theses too. My neighbourhood has been around for 20 years. You want to live near a police station - following your logic why don't you move near them and cut your whining?

FYI - I happen to work 20 minutes from where I live. So did my wife until 6 months ago. Now she has a job and has to put up with the C-Train BS. Not everyone can afford to live downtown. And I'm sorry if we don't want to move downtown to make YOUR life more convenient; doesn't sound like we could stomach some of the neighbours.