Recently moved to Calgary from Edmonton

[mr.steevo]

Hi,

My wife and I recently moved back to Calgary after being away for almost 10 years. Calgary looks very different and feels different from what I remember, and I am wondering where all my secret parking spots downtown went(!). We were living in a warehouse loft in downtown Edmonton and are looking to buy a house that is somewhat close to downtown. I'm just wondering what areas of the city you all would recommend we take a look at once our loft sells. We are looking in the $500,000 range.

Also, in Edmonton there is a website called Connect 2 Edmonton that has a similar feel to this site but is all about the city (rather than skyscrapers around the world). Is this the best online forum to discuss Calgary topics or is there somewhere more appropriate?

Finally, we were both involved somewhat in the live music scene and had some success with holding concerts in our loft ( www.loftconcerts.ca ) . I am wondering if that sort of thing goes on here in Calgary and if there is an interest in it.

Nice to meet you all.

s.

[Bigtime]

Hi there Mr. Steevo, welcome to the forum!

I would say that the Calgary threads on here are probably the best source of information for everything. To my knowledge we don't have anything like C2E set up.

I'm thinking our resident musicians JeffWhit and Sean.Perrin can probably fill you in on some of the music scene questions you have.

[Calgarian]

I would reccomend Garrison Woods / Marda Loop, you should be able to get a decent place for $500 000 there.

[Ramsayfarian]

Welcome back to Calgary. I sent you a private message about a loft.

[mr.steevo]

Originally Posted by johnnyc

I would reccomend Garrison Woods / Marda Loop, you should be able to get a decent place for $500 000 there.

Hi,

That is exactly where we are at the moment. It is a great area, but we already knew that as this is where my wife grew up.

Thanks!

s.

[idl]

I'd recommend taking a look at Bridgeland. Walking distance to downtown, but in a historic residential neighborhood.

[Bigtime]

Originally Posted by idl

I'd recommend taking a look at Bridgeland. Walking distance to downtown, but in a historic residential neighborhood.

Great access to the LRT station as well. With The Bridges phase 1 fully built out the area has already taken a turn for the better, and it wasn't exactly a bad place before that either!

[Surrealplaces]

Agreed. Bridgeland is a great little area. Really evolving nicely. The next round of construction activity will bring even more changes.

[mr.steevo]

Hi,

Thank you for your input so far. It is appreciated and I encourage anyone else with opinions to please chime in.

I am wondering what "The Bridges phase 1" is and how it has (and will) impacted Bridgeland.

Also, Inglewood vs Bridgeland vs Kensington. Any thoughts? Ramsayfarian suggested Ramsay, which I suppose could be clumped in with Inglewood.

Thank you again. It is good to get some opinions from people on this board and get a sense of the pulse in the city.

s.

[canlefty]

Originally Posted by mr.steevo

Hi,

Thank you for your input so far. It is appreciated and I encourage anyone else with opinions to please chime in.

I am wondering what "The Bridges phase 1" is and how it has (and will) impacted Bridgeland.

Also, Inglewood vs Bridgeland vs Kensington. Any thoughts? Ramsayfarian suggested Ramsay, which I suppose could be clumped in with Inglewood.

Thank you again. It is good to get some opinions from people on this board and get a sense of the pulse in the city.

s.

"Kensington" aka(actually known as). Hillhurst / Sunnyside, gets my vote, and more so to the prior. But perhaps I'm a tad biased what having lived all 23 years of my life there.

[Sean.Perrin]

Originally Posted by mr.steevo

Finally, we were both involved somewhat in the live music scene and had some success with holding concerts in our loft ( www.loftconcerts.ca ) . I am wondering if that sort of thing goes on here in Calgary and if there is an interest in it.

There are several smaller venues that hold music shows such as Broken City (rock), Beat Niq (jazz), The Soda (electro/ambient) and Cantos (classical/other).

That being said, your loft idea is intriguing and I'm sure there would be a lot of interest. I, for one, would be interested in putting on a contemporary music night once a month in such a venue with local musicians. That would be really fun.

Welcome to Calgary!

[rapid_business]

Steevo. Off topic, but I saw your loft on a Springwise e-newsletter a little over a year ago. I really liked the idea!

As per location: Inglewood, Bridgeland and Kensington are all winners in my mind. They all are relatively the same distance from downtown, and from LRT access. If you can find something decent, Inglewood wouldn't be bad, but housing stock isn't the same there as you'll find in Kensington and Bridgeland.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by onishenko

Steevo. Off topic, but I saw your loft on a Springwise e-newsletter a little over a year ago. I really liked the idea!

As per location: Inglewood, Bridgeland and Kensington are all winners in my mind. They all are relatively the same distance from downtown, and from LRT access. If you can find something decent, Inglewood wouldn't be bad, but housing stock isn't the same there as you'll find in Kensington and Bridgeland.

Inglewood isn't on the LRT- not even close.

[frinkprof]

Originally Posted by furrycanuck

Inglewood isn't on the LRT- not even close.

Yet.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by frinkprof

Yet.

[Wooster]

Mission, Cliff Bungalow, Lower Mount Royal, Bankview, South Calgary also deserve some consideration beyond Kensington, Bridgeland and Inglewood etc that were already mentioned.

Basically draw a 2-3 km radius around the downtown core and you can't really go too wrong.

[rapid_business]

Originally Posted by furrycanuck

Inglewood isn't on the LRT- not even close.

Sure it is. A 10 min walk to the 3rd St. station.

Ok... so it was a little further then I thought.

[mr.steevo]

Originally Posted by onishenko

Steevo. Off topic, but I saw your loft on a Springwise e-newsletter a little over a year ago. I really liked the idea!

Hi,

Oh, you mean this Springwise article? We were pretty surprised when we found out about that.

You may be interested in knowing we made the front page of the Edmonton Journal for one of our shows. That was a shock too!

They are a lot of fun to do and not hard to make happen. I just wish we could have brought the place to Calgary with us (and the friends we made) but unfortunately we have to sell it. We fully intend to continue with concerts once we sell and buy a place in Calgary. If anyone knows someone who is looking for a loft they can check out www.buythisloft.ca

Thanks again to everyone for piping in about area's to look at. I am intrigued with what is happening in Inglewood and will probably check that out first.

s.

[Rusty van Reddick]

Originally Posted by onishenko

Sure it is. A 10 min walk to the 3rd St. station.

Ok... so it was a little further then I thought.

Okay, if you walk FAST and depending on where you are in Inglewood. But the walk is a very unpleasant one.

If you want a 10-min walk to the LRT, you have to consider the Beltline, too.

[Big Sky]

South Calgary/Bankview is my favorite, but it sounds like you are already in the vicinity (Marda Loop). Bridgeland is really up and coming.