Building with more than 100 floors in Calgary?

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

That rumour has been around since before the Bow was announced, Imperial owns vacant land right in the core (at 5th Ave & 4th St SW). But most of the info is that Imperial keeps the purse strings pretty tight, so it would be hard to see them go out and build an iconic tower that would be taller than the Bow (versus a big floorplate tower around the 600-700' height).

The option that makes the most sense is if Brookfield is courting them as a major tenant for a re-worked Herald Square proposal (7th Ave & 2nd St SW), and then it could be Brookfield that decides to go for it and built a major tower on their land.

That rumour also comes around every time their lease is up for renewal in their current space, ditto for the EAP2. It's a good bargining chip to have in your back pocket. "We own such and such and can just develop our own building". "We might move to EAP2". etc.

Additionally there's a couple landlords on that block that would kick up a fuss with respect to what Imperial needs to do in order to develop that site. Don't know that they'd win - but it wouldn't be that simple.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by ranchlandsselling

That rumour also comes around every time their lease is up for renewal in their current space, ditto for the EAP2. It's a good bargining chip to have in your back pocket. "We own such and such and can just develop our own building". "We might move to EAP2". etc.

Additionally there's a couple landlords on that block that would kick up a fuss with respect to what Imperial needs to do in order to develop that site. Don't know that they'd win - but it wouldn't be that simple.

Refresh my memory, something about the lane access right?

[ranchlandsselling]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

Refresh my memory, something about the lane access right?

Yup. They'd close the East Alley exit/entrance onto 4th street. Getting in and out of the 5th street alley would be a nightmare for anyone heading west (already is) and anyone heading east would have to take 8th or 9th. 5th street would be a mess.

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Bigtime

The option that makes the most sense is if Brookfield is courting them as a major tenant for a re-worked Herald Square proposal (7th Ave & 2nd St SW), and then it could be Brookfield that decides to go for it and built a major tower on their land.

http://www.calgaryherald.com/busines...458/story.html

In May, Brookfield Office Properties is set to own buildings of an entire city block in one of the most prominent sites in downtown Calgary.
The company has entered into an agreement to purchase the Bow Parkade, a seven-storey public parking facility located on a half city block, for $90 million.

The parkade is located on 2nd Street S.W. between 6th and 7th Avenues. When the contract closes on May 1, it will mean that Brookfield has secured control of the entire block. Brookfield already owns the eastern half of the block, known as the Herald site, on which it has an existing application to construct a 1.2-million-square-foot premier office tower.

It is along the 7th Avenue LRT line, between the Bay/ Scotia Centre and Bow Valley Square and kitty-corner to one of Brookfield's portfolio of classy downtown complexes, Suncor Energy Centre.

The total site is about 140,000 square feet in size which would allow for the construction of up to 2.8 million square feet, compared with the 2.6 million square feet of its Bankers Hall East/West and Royal Bank Building complex.

Jan Sucharda, president & CEO of Brookfield Office Properties - Canadian Commercial Operations, says he has already launched a competition with a select group of local and global architects to provide a site plan that may include a single or multiple buildings. Brookfield had looked at ideas for the east portion of the block but the new acquisition opens a totally new opportunity to build an iconic development worthy of the site.

[tenyardrambo]

how about make another downtown somewhere else...bloody traffic

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by tenyardrambo

how about make another downtown somewhere else...bloody traffic

This was actually one of several growth models the city was (is?) considering.
Rather than continuing to expand the suburbs further out, or growing the core density, they would establish several minor cores, in addition to the main downtown.
Think Quarry Park, but more commercial development.

[puffnstuff]

Originally Posted by hulkrogan

Completely Off topic but did anyone else see the little blurb down in the bottom corner? About how people are using the ER as a family doctor? Isnt that currently a complaint with out health system? That paper is from 1971!

[SebC]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

This was actually one of several growth models the city was (is?) considering.
Rather than continuing to expand the suburbs further out, or growing the core density, they would establish several minor cores, in addition to the main downtown.
Think Quarry Park, but more commercial development.

I know the city has an impact in zoning, but I think this will happen somewhat organically. (To some extent it already is.) Tokyo for instance has several "downtowns".

[Magnum PEI]

Originally Posted by carom

100 floors is weak, I hope they build this 500+ story building some day:



The Illinois

This is supposed to be the inspiration for the Kingdom Tower.



According to this article "work" started in January, but it wont be finished until 2016.

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article578390.ece

[Madman]

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

This was actually one of several growth models the city was (is?) considering.
Rather than continuing to expand the suburbs further out, or growing the core density, they would establish several minor cores, in addition to the main downtown.
Think Quarry Park, but more commercial development.

Seton has been designed as the South City Centre with major commercial and office space planned around the hospital.

[Mass_nerder]

Originally Posted by Madman

Seton has been designed as the South City Centre with major commercial and office space planned around the hospital.

Yeah, I had a chance to see plans for a lot of the future development around the hospital. If the train makes it out there some day, I can see it being a major hub.

[Red Ice Player]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

This is supposed to be the inspiration for the Kingdom Tower.



According to this article "work" started in January, but it wont be finished until 2016.

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article578390.ece

Lol at the comments section.

[Jacks]

Originally Posted by Magnum PEI

Amazing that the Empire State Building was built 80 years ago.

[Daradon]

One has to wonder about the business plan/strategy behind some of these new mega buildings. Isn't the one in Dubal less than 50% full? And knowing what I know about a lot of the ghost cities in China, I would imagine some of their super buildings are equally empty.

[Bigtime]

Dubai definitely has a lot of empty buildings, I remember watching that Al Jazeera report on the ghost cities in China. Crazy stuff.

[Daradon]

It's funny because China definitely has the population to fill the buildings, but no one with enough money to live in or own office space in them. A lot of the Arab states, have people (and businesses) with money, but correct me if I'm wrong, but their populations are fairly small.

I think the buildings are more monuments than solid business ideas. Which, I guess if you have the money and want to do it, go right ahead. Makes me wonder about what happens 25-50 years down the road though if they are still empty. They could fall into a state of disrepair no?

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by Madman

Seton has been designed as the South City Centre with major commercial and office space planned around the hospital.

Originally Posted by Mass_nerder

Yeah, I had a chance to see plans for a lot of the future development around the hospital. If the train makes it out there some day, I can see it being a major hub.

http://www.setonurbandistrict.com/

[JD]

Originally Posted by Daradon

It's funny because China definitely has the population to fill the buildings, but no one with enough money to live in or own office space in them. A lot of the Arab states, have people (and businesses) with money, but correct me if I'm wrong, but their populations are fairly small.

Yup, Dubai is no more populated than Vancouver and Abu Dhabi is only slightly larger than Calgary, yet both cities try so hard to punch above their weight in the hopes that it draws people in.

Dubai last decade had an outrageous cost of living that is now becoming reasonable yet still ridiculously high compared to countries in the region. To me, it just doesn't seem sustainable. The UAE has a very small national population so it completely relies on expats to populate their cities. I believe right now the UAE National population makes up around 30% of the total population?

But again, you can't bring tens of thousands of labourers from India and Pakistan and expect them to occupy these grandiose structures. Westerners can do it, but how many want to?

So many interesting projects in the UAE but so much uncertainty around it as well. At least Abu Dhabi has the cash to basically do what they want. The whole city is almost like a giant experiment.

[blankall]

Originally Posted by JD

Yup, Dubai is no more populated than Vancouver and Abu Dhabi is only slightly larger than Calgary, yet both cities try so hard to punch above their weight in the hopes that it draws people in.

Dubai last decade had an outrageous cost of living that is now becoming reasonable yet still ridiculously high compared to countries in the region. To me, it just doesn't seem sustainable. The UAE has a very small national population so it completely relies on expats to populate their cities. I believe right now the UAE National population makes up around 30% of the total population?

But again, you can't bring tens of thousands of labourers from India and Pakistan and expect them to occupy these grandiose structures. Westerners can do it, but how many want to?

So many interesting projects in the UAE but so much uncertainty around it as well. At least Abu Dhabi has the cash to basically do what they want. The whole city is almost like a giant experiment.

A major obstancle is that the UAE does not grant citizenship to new migrants. So you can move their as an ex-pat of another nation but you will never get equal rights. Unless I was forced to live their for economic reasons, I would see no reason to willingly subject myself to those conditions.

If the UAE wants to be reborn as a metropolitan international centre, they're going to have to fully open the doors at some point. Under the current regime, the best they can hope for is a population of transient visitors who will leave the second the oil money dries up.

[LOLZpersonok]

I had no idea how many results and replies this kind of thread would yield! Thanks all for your replies!