Calgary: 2006 Year in Review + 2007 Wishlist

[Wooster]

Well, as we thought at this time last year 2006 was a banner year for Calgary. Just way too much to even keep track of. Here is a (non-exhaustive) list of the things that happened of significance this year. Also, below 2007's wish list!

Office:
- EnCana released their design for the Bow
- We got a glimse of FCC2, currently in the design process
- Jamieson Place Office building
- New City Centre concept released
- Bankers Court design released, started construction
- Genco Place started construction following redesign
- Homburg-Harris I, II redesign and start of construction
- Centrium Place continued under construction
- Centennial Place started construction of first phase
- Livingston Place continued construction
- Palliser South design released
- Penny Lane was revived, got approval, then died again.
- Southland Park 4 under construction
- IBM campus phase II started construction
- 8 west design released, started construction
- Stampede Station started construction
- Quarry Park approved
- New Century Plaza design(s) released
- Acera Headquarters released.
- Cambrian office project design released
- Opus 8th and 5th under construction
- Glenmore professional office started construction
- Westmount Corporate campus phase 1 completed
- Citadel West under construction
- Ribtor II started construction
- Interplex offices under construction

Residential/mixed use:
- Princeton neared completion
- Chocolate was completed
- Sasso was completed
- Stella was completed
- Nova began construction
- Anthem's Greyhound project (990 units) got land use approval
- London at Heritage phase 1 started construction
- Colours started construction
- Skytower died
- L/M design released
- New Renoir Suites design released
- Exchange got land use approval, prelim concept released
- Centuria on the park design released
- Inglewood midrise proposed
- Hotel Germain/office/condo design approved
- Riverside Quays approved (inglewood)
- Marda Loop mixed use proposed
- Brava completed
- Encore started construction
- Castello started construction
- 5 West I completed
- 5 west II started construction
- Midtown towers started construction
- Montana started construction (kind of)
- Xenex started construction
- Arriva 1 under construction
- Arriva 42 approved
- Keynote introduced, started construction
- Kai Towers design released, approved
- Bridges phase 1 complete. phase II parcels sold
- Churchill estates under construction
- Astoria on 10th design released
- Oscar design released
- Vantage Pointe crawled to near completion
- Riverfront Pointe started construction
- Union Square I (finally) started construction
- Nuera Design released
- Grand Royal/Haras designs released
- Providence Kensington/Bankview under construction

Institutional/Other
- SAIT Residence Started construction
- SAIT announced Bing Thom as architect for expansion
- COP released expansion plans
- Sheldon Chumir started construction
- Zoo released expansion plans/ designs
- Heritage Park expansion under construction
- Eau Claire Plaza concepts released
- Courts Centre nearing completion
- Stampede expansion started with Casino
- Water Centre neared completion
- Child Development Centre under construction
- University Projects ISEEE and digital library chose architects
- U of C veterinary medicine building started construction
- U of C international house design released
- Bow Valley College Reno/Expansion under construction
- Various Hospital expansions (rockyview, foothills, peter laugheed) under construction
- Beltline ARP approved
- Centre City Plan released
- NE, NW LRT extenstions under construction

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With all that happening, can 2006 be topped? I think so. 2007 should bring a lot more. We will really start to see cranes dominate the skyline this year like in the early 80s. A lot of big projects are just starting construction or will be in the first half of 2007.

Things I am looking forward to most
- EnCana starting constuction
- Design of Central Library
- Continued progress on WLRT


Wish List:
- All the major office proposals to start (except PLT), plus 1000' Imperial design release
- Public Art Gallery project announced
- Dozens more major residential projects
- East Village to start
- Some TODs starting (Anderson)

Your turn.

[Bigtime]

Wow, great list Josh!

My wish list that I can think of right now:

-EnCana starting construction
-FCC2 being formally released and breaking ground
-Renderings for the Imperial site released(I'm a realist on this one)

-Phase II of the Bridges starts selling/construction(I really want to see floorplans!)
-Arriva 42 starts construction
-A realistic Skytower revival
-The Exchange is finalized/breaks ground
-Anthem starts to go ahead
-Lusanne/Montreux dies in a fire

Longshot wish:
-Flames win the Cup

That's all I got right now. More later perhaps!

Edited to reflect new stuff!

[Boris2k7]

Nice list Josh, let's see if I can add anything right now...

2006
- Municipal Development Plan (the Calgary Plan) amended to raise the minimum density to 7UPA and lift eh Density Cap.
- Ed Stelmach becomes Premier, promises to return money to municipalities
- Heritage Station TOD announced, charet held
- Haskayne's/Government announce provincial park outside of city limits
- Tsuu T'ina Casino started construction
- New Foothills Hospital Tower named in honour of Bud McCaig
- Science Centre Concepts released by Kasian
- SMART Technologies HQ starts construction
- Opus Campus redesigned

2007 Wish List
- decision from Glenbow Museum on where to go
- decision from ACAD on where to go
- Province to hand back $1.4 Billion
- City to move up schedule for WLRT Line as a result
- final renderings for Urban Campus, ISEEE, ELC, etc.
- approval of City Centre Plan
- proposals for revisions of Munipal Government Act to give Cities more power
- stronger recognition of Cities at Federal level as well

[Stephen Ave]

For me, I'd like to see all of these projects move forward in the new year,

Office
FCC II
City Centre
The Bow

Residential
Anthem
Exchange
Kai Mortensen
Gateway Midtown

General
Public Library
Science Centre


I'd like to some of the other projects move ahead as well, but those are the main ones.

Another wish as well would be to see Penny Lane re-done to a single tower (55 - 60 floors) and a different design.

[Stephen Ave]

What am I most happy about in 2006?

- Results of Citadel West
- Results of Chocolate
- Results of Brava
- Colors, Nova, Xenex, Castello and Union Square all getting started

- New proposals like The Bow, Nuera, Hotel Germain, and Anthem

[feepa]

I thought I read that encana (the bow) is likely to get cancelled in a newspaper article a few days ago?

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by feepa

I thought I read that encana (the bow) is likely to get cancelled in a newspaper article a few days ago?

I think it's best we keep that to the Calgary thread, this here is a wish list man!

[Claeren]

Originally Posted by feepa

I thought I read that encana (the bow) is likely to get cancelled in a newspaper article a few days ago?

Yep, you heard right! Definitely cancelled, just like everything else in Calgary. None of it will ever happen so you can rest assued Edmonton will remain THE city of Alberta.

Now you can go back to your Edmonton Thread and talk about Edmonton's 'of course it will get built' amazing list of developments instead of Calgary's 'no chance it ever gets built' list of developments...




Claeren.

[Rob D]

Originally Posted by Claeren

Yep, you heard right! Definitely cancelled, just like everything else in Calgary. None of it will ever happen so you can rest assued Edmonton will remain THE city of Alberta.

Now you can go back to your Edmonton Thread and talk about Edmonton's 'of course it will get built' amazing list of developments instead of Calgary's 'no chance it ever gets built' list of developments...




Claeren.

You almost had me going Claeren

I would like to see:
Encana start construction
City Centre
FCC2
Imperial Oil (watch for it to hit the 1000' mark)
Hotel Le Germain
The Exchange

[Bokimon]

I think 2007 will be good but now quite as good as 2006 for developments.
Honestly I see the office sector to really take off especially with projects being under way. But the condo market may slow down.

I like to see in 2007,
Construction and project release of all major office projects including PLT. (Top 3, Bow, FCC2, City Centre)
Construction of Nuera 1 and St Germain/Granville.
Imperial Oil Tower being released.
Constructino of Palliser South,
Completion of Centrium Place and more designs like this to take off.
Constructino of 999 building with redesign.
L/M being embarrassment to the city and die in shame.
A major project announcement and award to a big name architect like SOM, KPF, IM Pei, Renzo Piano, Peli etc. (Library)
Progress of East village,
Completion of GE5 to relieve migrains,
Asian carrier to announce service to YYC like Korean Air!
Another Cargo airline to announce service to YYC.
Condo prices dropping down enough so that I too can buy one of these so called sky homes
Revival of Skytower and resume construction.
Exchange 1, ll, lll, iV to release and one of them to go ahead.
Stampede Station parcel 4 releasing its design.
OPUS Heritage Station,
Flames Palace finally opening up.

[CorporateWhore]

I wish in 2007:
- People finally stop saying they like Encana but wish it was thinner.
- Penny Lane gets cancelled and the developers ask for forgiveness for trying to mask over mediocrity by trying to make the term "shifting plates" mean something.
- It's revealed that stucco was invented by an eastern Liberal, and therefore it's use is now reviled and outlawed in the province of Alberta.
- Even worse, the color tan was invented by the NDP! see above for consequences.

[Thinner6]

Wishlist for 07
Flames win the cup (good suggestion by a previous poster)
IOL releases a rendering for a supertall building
The Bow begins construction
City Center and FCC2 get approved
etc...yada yada

[mersar]

My wish list is to see the Bow, and all the U of C projects underway.

And that if PLT does get canceled, its done BEFORE they demolish the block and leave us with another empty lot (although it could be used temporarily as parking I suppose, which could be a good thing).

[poopysheep]

Wish list for 2007

less condo's and more exciting retail/commercial in the beltline.... e.g: Chapters/Indigo, movie theatre, really decent piano lounge....

The Mount Royal Block burns to the ground....

[jeffwhit]

Wish List for '07:

Other than what's been mentioned...

Something happens with Eau Claire Market
Batistella announces another project on 1st.
PLC gets the axe in favour of City Centre.

otherwise you guys covered most of it.

[Calgarian]

Good lists people.

My wish for 2007 is a 1000' tall Imperial Oil Tower.

Oh yeah and to see Jarome lift the Stanley cup while i sit in the super sweet Flames Entertainment Centre.

[Jay in Cowtown]

What an excellent year for Calgary... and to cap off the great year, a new Jumbotron for the Saddledome...

can life get any better?

[Surrealplaces]

2006 was a very good year, but 2007 looks to be even better. We will be seeing some major projects on the rise, Jamieson and Cenntenial, possibly The Bow, as well as a host of good looking residential projects like Colors, Union Square, Xenex, Encore and Nova, Castello.....just to name a few.

My high points for 2006, were Centrium turning out really well, Chocolate Arriva and Brava. Citadel West was the bonus surprise of the year for me.

2007 will be great no matter what happens with projects like the Bow and FCC 2, there are just too many things going on here...............

I forget about more of our projects than most cities have in total!

[Boris2k7]

ROFL @ the Alice Cooper reference...

[Surrealplaces]

One last thing on the wishlist. Probably won't happen in 2007 though....

I'd like to see something developed on the NW corner of 17th and 4th. Preferably a 3 or 4 storey mixed use building with brightly lit advertising, something along the lines of Time Square or Piccadilly Circus, obviously on a smaller scale.
Wouldn't that be a great intersection to have the buildings on all 4 corners have major lighting and signage?