[St. John's] The Steel-Toe Boot Squad

[Innsertnamehere]

I'm going to chip in as a torontoian here, I really cannot stress how important it is for new skyscrapers in St. John's to have street front retail. Going through st. johns on street view is depressing when you go near the newer skyscrapers as they are completely lifeless at street level.

[PoscStudent]

^^^ agreed, I just want to see infill developments that would have restaurants, shops and what not.

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I'm going to chip in as a torontoian here, I really cannot stress how important it is for new skyscrapers in St. John's to have street front retail. Going through st. johns on street view is depressing when you go near the newer skyscrapers as they are completely lifeless at street level.

True. Thankfully 351 will have street-level retail, and even Fortis will have a common lobby with a tiny coffee shop that will be open to the public. I think this is something council is really pushing for in new developments and is something we definitely want. It's important to have some infill business and recreation in the west downtown if it's going to be developed as a CBD. If not it'll be dead after 5pm.

[jeddy1989]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I'm going to chip in as a torontoian here, I really cannot stress how important it is for new skyscrapers in St. John's to have street front retail. Going through st. johns on street view is depressing when you go near the newer skyscrapers as they are completely lifeless at street level.

that's the one thing I wasn't pleased about with fortis place, however 351 will have street retail (even though it doesn't seem like it now)

I believe that that is very important as well, too many cabot places and scotia centres etc. have zero or almost zero street level interaction (although TD building does)

[Innsertnamehere]

Scotia bank looks like it has some half decent retail..

[Architype]

It depends on where they are located, anything in the Water or Duckworth retail areas should have some street level retail. However, that gets complicated when you can't put much of the parking below ground and above grade parking levels are needed. However, I think the street level could still contain retail space, while putting parking above and below it. The Marriott Extension is an example of where they could not afford the space to do this. One solution is to have street level space that is flexible and could be adapted to a number of uses as the market dictates.

I think Scotia Centre just has the bank on the street level, which I guess is similar to retail.
http://goo.gl/maps/Z5qDd

[Townie709]

Originally Posted by Architype

It depends on where they are located, anything in the Water or Duckworth retail areas should have some street level retail. However, that gets complicated when you can't put much of the parking below ground and above grade parking levels are needed. However, I think the street level could still contain retail space, while putting parking above and below it. The Marriott Extension is an example of where they could not afford the space to do this. One solution is to have street level space that is flexible and could be adapted to a number of uses as the market dictates.

I think Scotia Centre just has the bank on the street level, which I guess is similar to retail.
http://goo.gl/maps/Z5qDd

Scotia Centre also has the Tim Hortons

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by Architype

It depends on where they are located, anything in the Water or Duckworth retail areas should have some street level retail. However, that gets complicated when you can't put much of the parking below ground and above grade parking levels are needed. However, I think the street level could still contain retail space, while putting parking above and below it. The Marriott Extension is an example of where they could not afford the space to do this. One solution is to have street level space that is flexible and could be adapted to a number of uses as the market dictates.

I think Scotia Centre just has the bank on the street level, which I guess is similar to retail.
http://goo.gl/maps/Z5qDd

There's a street level Tim Hortons that I assume is mostly used by the office workers at scotia center.

And wow I just realized how old the streetview pictures are. The pasta plus building next to the credit union is still there.

[Architype]

I think the streetview is from 2008, and I haven't been around there much in the last few years. Not really since 2010.

[Innsertnamehere]

Any idea why so many people are gathered in front of the scotia bank building and the fortis building?

[Townie709]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

Any idea why so many people are gathered in front of the scotia bank building and the fortis building?

Probably during the busker festival, or someone had a heart attack

[Architype]

This is from the last time I took pics on Water St, there was quite a lot of pedestrian traffic then. Any developments in this area should definitely have street retail.

[PoscStudent]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

There's a street level Tim Hortons that I assume is mostly used by the office workers at scotia center.

I usually go there for an IceCap when I go for walks downtown, after going to the one on Duckworth.

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Innsertnamehere

I'm going to chip in as a torontoian here, I really cannot stress how important it is for new skyscrapers in St. John's to have street front retail. Going through st. johns on street view is depressing when you go near the newer skyscrapers as they are completely lifeless at street level.

Great point and suggestion.

The only times I've ever seen much pedestrian life in the Downtown West End are the moments immediately before and after an event at Mile One Centre.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the logic here is, "Well, no one walks around the Downtown West End, so we can't put anything on street level there..."

Obviously, the stuff needs to come first. The public isn't going to sit around a vacant lot waiting for a restaurant to open there in 6 months.

[jeddy1989]

look at La Defense in Paris .. we could have the same effect *different scale but same Idea



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:La...se-Skyline.jpg

[Marty_Mcfly]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Great point and suggestion.

The only times I've ever seen much pedestrian life in the Downtown West End are the moments immediately before and after an event at Mile One Centre.

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if the logic here is, "Well, no one walks around the Downtown West End, so we can't put anything on street level there..."

Obviously, the stuff needs to come first. The public isn't going to sit around a vacant lot waiting for a restaurant to open there in 6 months.

I walked the downtown west end after dark alone one night. It could really use more pedestrian traffic, it's a situation waiting to happen. Though there is a 24 hour tattoo place.....I suspect it may be a front for something else

[SignalHillHiker]

Originally Posted by Marty_Mcfly

I walked the downtown west end after dark alone one night. It could really use more pedestrian traffic, it's a situation waiting to happen. Though there is a 24 hour tattoo place.....I suspect it may be a front for something else

Like that party supply store on Water Street East. There's nothing in it.

[christopher_chafe]

Originally Posted by SignalHillHiker

Like that party supply store on Water Street East. There's nothing in it.

Exactly, that would be a prime area for a nice tower (since the Fed Government is directly across the street), no views would be blocked

[MrChills]

Good idea on the Facebook group, of course I just joined and shared it. Facebook Pages get a lot of notice from the press (well once you get a decent amount of likes).

I created one years ago to express my dislike for changing the last call hours in town, and within weeks it had over 3,000 members and got me an interview on CBC Radio and TV. Hopefully this page takes off.

[Townie709]

Signal, you should add a link to the Facebook page in the Original Post. Make it easier for casual visitors to find it