Avenue West End Calgary

[geotag277]

Meh, as much as Carlisle/Pointe of View and La Caille have had questionable designs, shady business practices, and sub standard quality - they are two examples of home grown Calgary based developers who made a major push towards urbanity when (nearly) no one else was willing to take a chance on it. It's great that we have international and outer-provincial interest in raising the bar on developments now, but I hope that the bar is raised for our local developers and they can grow along side the progress Calgary as a whole is making.

There is something to be said for a city to develop it's own style and approach to architecture and design. Personally I don't want Calgary to become a carbon copy of Vancouver, Toronto, or any other location that has it's own fair share of seasoned developers.

[Spring2008]

The problem with the West-End is it's mostly all 90's product. There's hardly been any growth down there these past couple cycles. Standing from Kensington closer to the river, The Avenue towers, Vogue, Mark, and the two Aura towers should be visible soon. Maybe even the west village towers. They'll add some much needed depth and modern design on that side of the skyline. It's a start anyways.

[Policy Wonk]

Originally Posted by MasterG

A bit of a road-diet from 5 to 3 lanes on 5th Ave Eastbound on that block would go a long way to make that area nicer.

Calgary Transit stages buses for rush hour there. Bumper-to-Bumper, both sides of the street, the entire block.

[flipstah]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

The problem with the West-End is it's mostly all 90's product. There's hardly been any growth down there these past couple cycles. Standing from Kensington closer to the river, The Avenue towers, Vogue, Mark, and the two Aura towers should be visible soon. Maybe even the west village towers. They'll add some much needed depth and modern design on that side of the skyline. It's a start anyways.

True that and majority of the nice venues are a bit further eastward in all streets.

I can't think of a place on the West End that's talk-worthy.

[*Stardust*]

Originally Posted by flipstah

True that and majority of the nice venues are a bit further eastward in all streets.

I can't think of a place on the West End that's talk-worthy.

I know when I have people visiting Calgary and I'm showing them around, I try and avoid the west end

[flipstah]

Originally Posted by *Stardust*

I know when I have people visiting Calgary and I'm showing them around, I try and avoid the west end

It'll get nice soon enough. At least, that's what I'm hoping.

[RyLucky]

Originally Posted by MasterG

A bit of a road-diet from 5 to 3 lanes on 5th Ave Eastbound on that block would go a long way to make that area nicer. West End suffers not only from bad design (see POV complaints) but from a lack of connection to key areas immediately nearby thanks to the major auto commuter routes of 9th, 6th, 5th, 4th bisecting things North to South along with the CPR railway and the ugliest, poorest quality crossing with an enormous amount of pedestrians.

Instead of being the logical keystone connecting areas like Kensignton, the River Pathway system, Millenium Park and the Beltline, the West End is quartered and divided so that it can't take advantage of its proximity to all these places. It is not the distance, but the time that it takes to get there do to auto-priority and excessive light signal length.

Try walking North from the Co-op to the site of the site of Avenue. You'll spend most of your travel time waiting at 10th Ave, 9th Ave and 6th Ave. God forbid CPR has a train, you're 800m walk might take 20 or 30 minutes.

Kensington is a bit better but still forces unusually long waits on 4th Ave and 10th Street, then the even longer one at Memorial and 10th Street. There are good reasons for all of these (timing required to handle counter-flow lanes etc.) but they actively serve to isolate the West End from areas of interest.

Perhaps if 10th Street forms a retail corridor or if the 8th Street improvements go through or Stephen Ave continues it's march westward with retail and better pedestrian infrastructure then some of these issues will be mitigated. Until then, West End will always be a dead-end for me.

Avenue is a nice building though, perhaps a few hundred more residents will help give the community a voice to stop being rolled over with all of these issues to the benefit of cut-through traffic

Totally. You should run for council.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by flipstah

True that and majority of the nice venues are a bit further eastward in all streets.

I can't think of a place on the West End that's talk-worthy.

All the retail in west end is just neighbourhood focused. No real regional draw. That's part of the problem. I'm sure this will change as more condos get built. I think this was one of the topics of discussions raised during the recent future planing talks for the area.

There's a fenced lot north of Avenue along the river, anybody know what's going on there?

[*Stardust*]

Originally Posted by Spring2008

All the retail in west end is just neighbourhood focused. No real regional draw. That's part of the problem. I'm sure this will change as more condos get built. I think this was one of the topics of discussions raised during the recent future planing talks for the area.

There's a fenced lot north of Avenue along the river, anybody know what's going on there?

When was this? What else was discussed?

West End needs so much work it's ridiculous. I thought the area was dense enough, yet it's still such a wasteland. The area between the West End station and Crack Mac's on 7th ave could have some nice retail? Almost like a nice gateway into West Village, and the new art gallery. I dunno though

[geotag277]

I don't have much hope for downtown west, there aren't enough lots left to inject vibrancy into the thick of it. The part that borders the beltline (9th and 10th ave) and the beltline itself are the areas with the most hope for the future. Here's hoping the pontiac and ford sites kick start that process.

[Spring2008]

Originally Posted by *Stardust*

When was this? What else was discussed?

West End needs so much work it's ridiculous. I thought the area was dense enough, yet it's still such a wasteland. The area between the West End station and Crack Mac's on 7th ave could have some nice retail? Almost like a nice gateway into West Village, and the new art gallery. I dunno though

Iirc last winter. Similar to the cultural district survey(east CBD/west East Village.

City engaged citizens asking for input on how they want to see the neighborhood improved. I think one of the main responses was for more retail/amenities. West Village towers should be a good start with 90,000 sf of podium level retail. Lots of the focus was on improving the public realm too. Don't recall the details though.

[Full Mountain]

The west end is a product of an era when condos were marketed as a vertical gated communities one which you drove in and out of (see Marina towers in Chicago). The design of tower in the last decades have changed from that to one where the primary entrance is the front door. That difference makes a world of change in design and what happens in the neighbourhood.

[hotwheels]

Construction Progresses on Grosvenor and Cressey's Avenue

Calgary's downtown west end hasn't seen the same level of development activity as some other bustling neighbourhoods in the city, but that's beginning to change with Avenue, a two-tower condominium by Grosvenor Americas and Cressey Development Group. The 24- and 18-storey development is starting to make an impact on the skyline as it sprouts from the intersection of 5th Avenue and 10th Street SW.