It may have been the best thing that happened to Inglewood since the CPR went through without stopping.
When the Main Street Program winds down in June, it will leave a refurbished 9th Avenue S.E.
After the program ends, the Inglewood Business Revitalization Zone will continue to grow the commercial prospects of Calgary’s original neighborhood and business street.
“From an urban planning point of view, it’s been a wonderful project,” says Main Street project manager Jennifer Hyde.
Frances Elson, president of the Inglewood Community Association, says Main Street and the BRZ have had a positive effect on the surrounding residential areas.
They have spruced up the neighbourhood’s commercial centre and helped remove a prostitution and drug problem.
The prostitutes come back from time to time and the residents say no again, she says.
This will be the ninth year that the Inglewood Community Association raises money for the cause of getting girls off the streets.
Hyde recalls the neighbourhood walks by community residents and the BRZ in 1994, reclaiming the streets from the prostitution and drug problems.
“First and foremost, Inglewood is to be a residential community, and it had to be safe for the residents who are here 24 hours a day, and their children,” she says.
Inglewood’s other problems included decayed commercial properties, stagnant residential population and planning issues. The planning issues included parking restrictions, floodplain restrictions and a seven-foot setback requirement for new construction on 9th Avenue, which was to be an access to downtown, she adds.
The downtown access plan was finally scrapped a couple of years ago, she says. The commercial road and the neighbourhood have been turned around. The goals listed in the 1992 strategic plan have all been accomplished.
“At the time, we saw them as potentially achievable but lofty goals,” adds Hyde.
Inglewood was Calgary’s original townsite, just east of the junction of the Elbow and Bow Rivers.
Land speculation caused the Canadian Pacific Railway to build the station west of the Elbow when it arrived. And cities tend to grow west, says Hyde.
That left Inglewood bounded on three sides by water, the Elbow to the west and the Bow to the north and east. The CPR tracks form the southern boundary.
Inglewood had the railway tracks and the brewery. Ninth Avenue stayed relatively intact over the years, with building changes such as new siding over brick. “The renovations weren’t intrusive and the buildings could be restored back,” she says.
The BRZ was established in 1988, became a Heritage Canada Main Street Program in 1992 and later an Alberta Main Street Program.
The BRZ is 9th Avenue from the Deane House to the Blackfoot Truck Stop, 10th Avenue between 11th and 12th Streets and the Cross House on 8th Avenue.
The program has spent $1.4 million in public and private money since 1992.
Funding has been $4 in private and other public money for every $1 from Alberta Main Street, says Hyde.
Labour grant and job-creation programs were used in the early ’90s when the economy was less healthy. In recent years, construction companies have been hired in the usual way, she says.
Street improvements have included lights and bike racks, and 17 buildings have been restored.
The last and biggest restoration is the National Hotel at 11th Street and 10th Avenue S.E.
The neighbourhood has seen 17 new businesses spring up, creating more than 140 jobs.
Inglewood is now a safe community, says Hyde, with one of the lowest crime rates in the city.
The crisis that hit high-tech stocks in the capital markets might not affect Calgary too badly, says one commercial real estate executive.
There is a lot of momentum in the Calgary marketplace and good oil and gas prices, says Alex Brough, vice-president and general sales manager at Royal LePage Commercial Inc.
The dot-com crunch might have some effect, “but I don’t know that it will impact our market to the extent some people might think,” says Brough.
Royal LePage’s forecast for 2001 shows downtown office vacancies rising in the first half of the year and declining to less than five per cent by year end.
Rents will rise there, as well as in the Beltline, where LePage sees a 3.7-per-cent vacancy rate.
The firm sees positive signs in all sectors of commercial real estate, from industrial to retail leasing.
Lack of construction downtown and growth in some industries mean office vacancies will decline this year, says CB Richard Ellis.
Energy services, pipeline and software companies are expected to keep absorbing the most space downtown, and high-tech and health care in the suburbs.
The company’s forecast calls for 500,000 sq. ft. of new construction, all in the suburbs.
The land deal for a power plant in northeast Calgary big enough to supply 250,000 households was to close this week.
Toole Peet and Co. completed the agency work for a $250-million, 250 megawatt plant to be built for Calpine Canada Ltd., said Tim Crough, real estate manager for Toole Peet.
The plant was one of two announced last fall for the northeast area. Construction is expected to start in April on the site at 144th Avenue and 68th Street N.E.
Where do you look for inspiration when the ideas won’t quite click? Some go to the video game console, some look at the view out the window and others look at the office art.
The office art could be more accessible as one office furnishing shop adds art sales to its repertoire.
Ducky’s Office Furniture has started a new service, Perimeter Art. Ducky’s says it provides a platform on which local artists can promote their work to Calgary and area businesses. Companies can buy art produced by Southern Alberta artists for display in offices and reception areas.
Web Watch:
www.toolepeet.com
www.royallepage.com
www.cbrichardellis.com
