White: Glenmore Touchdown in for a serious makeover

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Large plans are within the works for the Glenmore Touchdown Procuring Centre on the nook of 14th Avenue and ninetieth Avenue S.W.

I bear in mind when it opened in 1985 as I used to be dwelling close by in Kelvin Grove (undecided who Kelvin is and by no means did discover the grove). Glenmore Touchdown Safeway was my go-to grocery retailer with its vegetables and fruit then displayed in orchard-like bins, an in-store bakery, skylights and imitation wooden flooring, all giving it a farmer’s market-like appear and feel. And the then-new J. Webb Wine Service provider was my go-to wine store (on the time, it was certainly one of solely two non-public liquor shops in Calgary). Within the early Nineteen Nineties, Good Earth Cafe opened its third location, which has change into a well-liked spot for locals and weekend cyclers and runners alongside the pathways. General, Glenmore Touchdown had a little bit of a European aptitude with its largely impartial boutiques and retailers.

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I’ve all the time thought the location was under-utilized given its proximity to the Glenmore Reservoir and Rocky Mountain vista. It might and will have integrated a number of mixed-use, mid-rise buildings with retail at floor degree and residential above. However again within the Eighties, no person in North America was pondering mixed-use, increased density, walkable communities or 15-minute neighbourhoods.

Excellent Timing

I’m joyful to report RioCan, house owners of the Glenmore Touchdown web site, is working with the Metropolis and neighborhood to transform the location right into a mini city village with a dramatic change within the mixture of makes use of and the heights of the buildings. Their timing is ideal because the Metropolis has accomplished the Southwest BRT (Bus Fast Transit) with a station on 14th Avenue S.W. at Glenmore Touchdown, making transit a viable choice for a few of the future Glenmore Touchdown residents.

It is a perfect residential web site — the Glenmore Reservoir and pathway subsequent door, the Paperny Household JCC recreation centre throughout the road and the Southland Leisure Centre not far-off. It has nice transit entry by way of BRT to Rockyview Hospital, Mount Royal College and downtown — three main employment hubs.

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That is precisely the type of infill growth Metropolis planners and council envisioned when it authorised the Municipal Growth Plan in 2009 that known as for 50 per cent of all new houses to be inbuilt current communities from 2009 to 2069. The rise in property tax income from the added density is the dividend the Metropolis hoped for when it designed the Metropolis’s new BRT routes.

Glenmore Touchdown Revisited

The present proposed idea will develop the periphery of the location in three phases. Two phases, each alongside ninetieth Avenue S.W., would every have two residential towers (variety of flooring but to be decided) linked by two storeys of economic house (retail, restaurant, skilled companies places of work) at floor degree and the second flooring. Alongside 14th Avenue N.W., subsequent to the BRT station, could be one other section consisting of two residential towers (variety of flooring to be decided) above two flooring of economic areas (retail, residential, workplace) at floor degree and second flooring.

The proposed inside of the location would proceed to be anchored by a grocery retailer together with a number of smaller mixed-use buildings (residential, retail, industrial). There could be small park within the center and a three-block lengthy excessive road (assume College District’s principal road) with steady pedestrian-oriented retailers going through the sidewalk from the BRT station to the Reservoir.

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In whole, the brand new Glenmore Touchdown is proposed to have about 1,250 new houses and will accommodate roughly 2,500 individuals. The retail and industrial house would enhance barely from the present 147,000 sq. toes, however with a special configuration to create a brand new public house and improve pedestrian exercise.

Group Considerations

For some neighbours, the density being proposed is an excessive amount of and can considerably enhance visitors to and from an already congested web site with restricted entry factors. Nevertheless, the brand new Ring Street with interchanges at Southland and ninetieth avenues S.W. ought to take a few of the visitors off 14th Avenue S.W. and its hyperlink to Glenmore Path.

Whereas the plan continues to be conceptual, a few of the residential towers might be 20-plus flooring, however given the location is an extended distance from any single-family houses, there needs to be no shade points. The creation of fewer and taller buildings will permit extra mild into the inside of the location, in addition to extra houses with spectacular reservoir, mountain and downtown views.

Final Phrase

The Calgary places of work of NORR and City Methods, two very skilled city design companies, have been engaged by RioCan to develop the proposed Glenmore Touchdown makeover. I count on the brand new Glenmore Touchdown will change into a well-liked place notably for empty nesters within the neighbouring communities of Eagle Ridge, Palliser, Bayview, Pumphill, Haysboro, Chinook Park and Kelvin Grove trying to downsize.

Actually, I see the brand new Glenmore Touchdown functioning in some ways just like the very profitable Westman Village subsequent to Lake Mahogany. However don’t count on to see any development quickly because the venture continues to be within the early phases of design.

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