SECTION OF 14TH STREET GETTING A MAJOR UPGRADE
There has been little change to 14th Street N.W. since Chicken on the Way opened — and that was in the 1950s.
The city will embark on a study to improve the major northsouth corridor but, meanwhile, it has worked with the community and developer Harish Consul, president of Ocgrow Group of Companies, to allow construction of an attractive condominium block that will certainly enhance the west side of the street and help reinvigorate the vibrancy of the area.
SOLA in Kensington will be built just north of 2nd Ave. on land where a large and bright yellow former National Transmission building now stands.
It will offer 10,000 square feet of retail at street level above two levels of underground parking, then rise another seven storeys to accommodate 168 luxury smart homes. The building has been designed to hide the mechanical elements in a microclimate terrace on the cantilevered roof for the use of owners, with firepit and seating facing west and a fitness area looking out to the nearby downtown skyline.
The design is by Riddell Kurczaba Architecture. Brook Melchin, senior design architect in charge of the project, says part of the excitement in working on SOLA is being part of what will be such a big change to 14th Street, setting the standard that will hopefully be aligned with the pedestrian-active neighbouring 10th Street NW.
The plans include upgrading the sidewalk north from 2nd Avenue with landscaping, street furniture and a bus shelter, and allowing for parallel parking in front of the retail stores. Behind the building the laneway will also be upgraded, with dedicated surface parking lots available for shoppers.
Consul is expecting high-quality retail tenants, helping to make the corridor a more walkable, exciting, people-orientated streetscape.
SOLA in Kensington is a huge vote of confidence in the portion of 14th Street much travelled by vehicles but little used by pedestrian traffic.
Ocgrow is a privately held Calgary-based investment and development group with more than 30 years of experience across Western Canada. Consul says it has several more mixeduse projects in various stages of planning and development for Calgary and area.
Most recently, it successfully completed a 35,000-square-foot retail/commercial centre on the south side of the Bow River in Cochrane called River Heights Place that was quickly fully leased.
It has been almost 19 years
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since Brad Regier joined the Calgary office of Clark Builders, where he has served as senior vice-president of southern Alberta. Now his focus has been expanded to the entire business. Clark president Andrew Ross announced Regier has been appointed chief operating officer of the company, still working out of Calgary but travelling more with added responsibilities of working with other operational leaders in its Edmonton, Yellowknife, Saskatoon and Vancouver offices. Ted Inman and Kim Connell will jointly provide day-to-day leadership of southern Alberta operations out of the Calgary office. Clark Builders is one of the top-10 general contractors in Canada and part of the largest construction organization in North America through an ownership structure comprising its employees and its partner, Turner Construction, headquartered in New York.
Sorry to learn we are losing
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Laura Jo Gunter to Edmonton. The president and CEO of Bow Valley College for three years has accepted the position of president and CEO at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT). In her time in Calgary, she has become a great ambassador for the college as well as a nationally respected leader in post-secondary education.
Stan and Flo Price began
■ farming in Acme 50 years ago; wonder if at that time they thought the family would still be big into pigs and own such a successful retail operation as Sunterra Market. Another anniversary marks the opening of its first market in Bankers Hall 30 years ago, a Plus-15 location that earlier this year doubled in size to become Sunterra Market and Café. Exporters of grain-fed pork and with nine retail operations in Calgary and Edmonton, the Price family can be proud of their achievements.