Inner-city communities offering residents plenty to get excited about

From the historic streets of Inglewood to the shopping district along 17th Avenue, Calgary's inner city represents an eclectic and ever-changing mix of stories, style and substance. After all, these are areas where 100-year-old brick buildings seamlessly interchange with high-rise construction cranes.

Yet for those who live in Calgary`s inner city, it isn't just their surroundings and amenities that make it special. It's the people.

"Sure we have our night markets, Christmas celebrations and kitschy shops, but what makes Ramsay and Inglewood an exceptional place to live are the people," said local resident Natalia Jezierska.

Calgary's aging sandwich communities seek their place in shifting housing landscape

What's old is new again. It's an apt description of homebuyers' newfound interest in Calgary's sandwich communities – those not-quite-inner-city neighbourhoods that long outgrown their suburban roots.

Built along what was then the city's outskirts starting in the late 1950s, these detached-heavy communities such as Thorncliffe, Huntington Hills, Ogden, Winston Heights, Albert Park, Fairview and Kingsland represented optimism and prosperity synonymous with the post-Second World War era.

Fast-forward several generations later and upwardly mobile generation-Xers and millennials are returning to their birth places, attracted by location, ample amenities and familiarity.

Facade to respect original design

Trading one of Calgary's historic landmarks for another, Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (CMLC) – the organization responsible for transforming East Village into one one of the city's most sought-after neighbourhoods – has relocated its offices from the Hillier Building at 429 Eighth Avenue S.E. to the historic St. Louis Hotel right across the street.

In anticipation of the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway's arrival at Fort Calgary, Colonel James Walker developed the St. Louis Hotel in 1914. It underwent a major renovation in 1959, and in 2008 the City of Calgary designated the building as a Municipal Historic Resource.

Livingston to eventually house 30,000 people

Calgary's newest community came online this week as Brookfield Residential lifted the veil on its new Livingston development in the city's north that, when completed, will house as many as 30,000 people.

Covering more than 500 hectares straddling Centre Street north of Stoney Trail, Livingston is the first master-planned community in north Calgary within the past 20 years. It will include an estimated 10,000 homes, and will be anchored by a major activity centre that will include an estimated one million square feet of retail and institutional space,

Ward 3 Coun. Jim Stevenson, who attended the official construction launch June 28, calls Livingston "a new city north of the ring road."

New site opens at Cannaught Park

The City of Calgary has opened its first fenced inner-city off-leash area at Connaught Park.

"There are almost 650 dogs licensed in the Beltline, and during public engagement we identified a need for a safe and dedicated off-leash space in the area," says Doug Marter, development manager for Calgary Parks.

Connaught Park, located at 11th Street and 14 Avenue S.W., was selected for its central location and because it was originally designed as a multi-use park, said the City.

Startup aims to improve accessibility for all Calgarians

A new company founded by a familiar face is developing a game plan on how to improve accessibility of all city-owned buildings.

Darby Lee Young sat on the City of Calgary's advisory committee on accessibility for nearly five years – more than two of those years as the chair – before launching, earlier this year, the universal design consulting company Level Playing Field.

The Calgary-based firm will be auditing about 1,000 city-owned structures, including the Municipal Building, to determine improvements that need to be made to make the facilities accessible to people of all abilities.

Development of Currie continues; developer undeterred by economy

The developer behind southwest Calgary's massive Currie project says it is not fazed by current fluctuations in the local economy and will continue to push forward.

Canada Lands Company (CLC) senior director of real estate Chris Elkey said the corporation will continue to service land over the summer, and the Flanders Avenue interchange is on schedule and set to open at the end of this year.

"CLC continues to assess and monitor the Alberta economy and impacts on the serviced lot inventory," he added.

Calgary to look at popular alternative to street parking

Nobody likes paying for street parking, but imagine if the money collected went directly into improvements for the community where you parked.

That's the idea behind Parking Benefit Districts (PBD), a concept gaining traction in a number of U.S. cities and may be on its way to Calgary.

"Parking Benefit Districts provide a solution to that political problem (of charging for street parking) as it creates a mechanism where the revenue generated stays in that local area," explains Greg Morrow, who sits on the CalgaryPlanning Commission and holds the Parker Professorship in Metropolitan Growth and Change with the faculty of environmental design and Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary. "You can direct parking revenue into local improvements like sidewalks, or installing new themed street lights."

How social media is bringing Calgarians together

When the Green Line is complete, it will add 40 kilometres of track to the city's 59-kilometre LRT system and link North Pointe and Seton to downtown. Eventually, it will serve 41 million passengers annually and link Calgary's neighbourhoods like never before.

As with any large development project, the City of Calgary has been consulting with the community during the design process. And to that end, they've been relying heavily on social media to get the word out.

"We've been using a number of social media channels, primarily Facebook and Twitter," said Julie Yepishina-Geller, Green Line communications co-ordinator for the City.

Evolution of Beltline area only the beginning, say advocates

True urban living: that's how Beltline Communities president Rob Taylor describes the resident experience just south of downtown.

Taylor has seen Calgary's Beltline district – bounded by the CPR tracks on the north, 17th Avenue to the south, 14th Street to the west and the Elbow River in the east – evolve extensively since he first moved into West Connaught in 1983. (The Beltline is made up of four neighbourhoods: West Connaught, Connaught Centre, Victoria Centre and East Victoria.)

"There has been a tremendous amount of development in the Beltline. We're very much focused on creating a vibrant community with high-density, urban living."