| Calgary has a lot of things going for it. Even in | | | | housing, architectural style, and a renewed sense of |
| post-recession Canada Calgary is still the heart of the | | | | vitality to Calgary's downtown core. The plan was put |
| country's most powerful economy. It's still easier to get | | | | forward in 2005, but it won't be until 2013 that it is put |
| a job, and open a new business, in Calgary than it is | | | | into action. |
| anywhere else in the country. While these are | | | | In response to this, the area just south of the East |
| fantastic attributes for a city to have, they come at a | | | | Village has seen the construction of a number of |
| cost. I was at a dinner party a few weeks ago and I | | | | high-end apartment buildings. Two that have already |
| met a young woman from Vancouver who | | | | been completed are the Arriva and the Vetro. Both of |
| complained that she 'hated going to parties in Calgary | | | | these developments are worth checking out online |
| because everyone spends the whole night handing out | | | | respectively (Arriva and Vetro) so I won't go into too |
| business cards'. The sad thing is that she was right. | | | | much detail, except to say that they are both |
| The whole night long the guests were passing around | | | | magnificently appointed. The neighbourhood where |
| business cards like they were party favours. This, in a | | | | they have been built is a little bare at present, but |
| nutshell, is the problem with people's perception of | | | | these are both forward thinking development projects. |
| Calgary. It's all about business all the time. These | | | | Once construction begins on the East Village these |
| values are what makes Calgary a great business | | | | two towers will have front row seats to the |
| centre, but leaves it lacking as a cultural center. | | | | revitalisation of Calgary's downtown core. This type of |
| Calgary's downtown core is a product of this practical | | | | development is an excellent step forward for the |
| mindset, at present it is mostly composed of office | | | | development of Calgary both as a city and as a |
| towers and shops that usually close at sunset. In | | | | cultural centre for the province. The fact that |
| essence it is a place where people work and do | | | | independent developers are catching on and building |
| business, but where few people actually live. This is | | | | huge, elegant apartment buildings is helping to give the |
| where the East Village comes in. The area from 3rd | | | | project momentum. It's very strange and exciting to try |
| St. SE, along 9th Ave to the Elbow river is being | | | | to imagine what downtown Calgary is going to be like |
| radically redeveloped in order to bring sustainable | | | | in the next five years. |