While Edmonton has benefited from a deep NHL playoff run that has boosted downtown retail, consistency remains an issue
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Edmonton and Calgary’s efforts to revitalize their respective downtowns have more in common than it might seem, according to Calgary Downtown Association executive director Mark Garner.
Despite the inherent competition between Edmonton and Calgary, both major Alberta cities are in a similar push to revitalize their downtown core. Among Edmontonians, some have anecdotally given Calgary the upper hand in progress thus far, but Garner says there’s plenty each city can learn from each other.
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“Stop looking over the fence,” said Garner, speaking at a NAIOP breakfast at Edmonton’s Westin Hotel on Wednesday morning.
NAIOP, a commercial real estate development association, hosted the breakfast on Wednesday morning where Cory Wosnack, principal and managing director at Avison Young, and Garner spoke about Edmonton and Calgary’s revitalization efforts.
Calgary’s office-to-residential conversion efforts have attracted significant attention in North American markets. As the province’s population continues to rise, the city began transforming offices to accommodate the growing demand for housing.
“It’s not a panacea,” said Garner, meaning that the office-to-residential conversions are a good start, but that it can’t solve the whole problem.
“The office-to-residential is working, but it’s still not where it needs to be.”
Garner said that as the redeveloped spaces are occupied, residents are left with limited amenities. He also said once the redevelopments started, they quickly realized there was a backlog of demand.
Wosnack is no stranger to office-to-residential redevelopment. Recently, he worked with Josan Properties on the acquisition and upcoming conversion of the Phipps-McKinnon building in Downtown Edmonton. He felt there was a lesson on co-operation to be learned from Calgary.
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“That partnership approach Calgary established with the industry, private sector, and the City of Calgary, to create a playbook that they co-authored together — to me that’s a very admirable approach that we can learn a lot from,” said Wosnack.
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Wosnack praised Calgary’s approach to addressing office vacancy by increasing residential opportunities in the downtown region, and was reassured by Garner’s comments about education’s role in fostering vibrancy.
“Edmonton is way ahead of Calgary in post-secondary education. We’re trying to catch up,” said Garner of the importance of education in attracting people to the downtown core.
Wosnack said Edmonton’s Downtown sees roughly 35,000 students and nearly 5,000 staff attending institutions in the core, and expects those numbers to increase over the next five years.
Another element that both Wosnack and Garner said was missing from the core was retail. While Edmonton has benefited from a deep NHL playoff run that has boosted Downtown retail, consistency remains an issue.
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Garner commented on the need for both cities to look at each other for inspiration on how to solve different problems.
“You just need to find what’s working in a city that you like and just bring it back.”
zdelaney@postmedia.com
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