The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns - International ...

More documents

Recommendations

Info

STRATEGY Is the City Strategically Investing in Its Future? Approach to Downtown Investments The City of Edmonton has taken a remarkably long-term, strategic approach to investing in the downtown since at least the 1980s. The downtown’s rebound in terms of both economics and liveability can be credited, in no small part, to the public investments made by the City and its partners. As a general pattern, the City has been targeting its investments at a limited number of locations at a time, using “catalyst” projects to attract residents, street-level activity and private investment 11 . This has set in motion the renewal of a range of downtown neighbourhoods. The City continues to build on an engaged and growing residential population to achieve a self-sustaining downtown. In the mid-1980s, the first five catalyst projects were targeted by the City to encourage downtown reinvestment. All of these, including a new City Hall and the revitalization of Churchill Square, were eventually completed. A new downtown plan in 1997 identified residential growth as the next goal and led to a very successful incentive program for new residential construction downtown. The current Capital City Downtown Plan identifies an additional nine cityled projects. The City has been patient with its investments, understanding that the core will not transform over night following a signature investment or the implementation of a new policy or program, but rather through many smaller improvements over decades. The City has also shown willingness to invest in the downtown differently than the rest of the city; for example traditional greenfield investments usually follow population growth, while in the downtown the City has often invested in anticipation of growth. This bold approach shows the priority and confidence that has been given to the downtown. Data Collection Process The data collected for downtown Edmonton provides an excellent example of how powerful a detailed set of capital projects data can be in supporting decision making and the implementation of development plans. The data collected in the City of Edmonton is comprehensive, and was developed from a full list of capital investments made by the municipality over the past decade. A representative from the City of Edmonton then sorted through this list to separate out the municipal capital investments in the downtown. This level of detail provides many insights into the proportion of investment occurring in the downtown core and how this is changing overtime. It is the hope of the project team that in due course, this type of detailed data could be collected for all of the downtowns studied in this project. Summary of Capital Investments Capital projects in downtown Edmonton have declined in recent years, in both number and value. The number of capital projects funded in downtown Edmonton was relatively consistent between 2002 and 2008, but fell by half from 2008 to 2010. The value of capital projects downtown has varied, yet overall there has been a downward trend. For example in 2002, the City spent $17.4M of its capital budget in the downtown core; this number dropped by 39% to $10.6M in 2010. Comparatively, in 2002 the citywide investment in capital projects was $447.9M; this number grew by 227% to $1.5B in 2010. If Edmonton hopes to achieve the projects targeted in the Capital City Downtown Plan, it will be important that the City starts to understand and work at reversing this trend. 11 City of Edmonton. (2011). Capital City Downtown Plan. Retrieved from: https://www.idadowntown.org/eweb/docs/2011%20Awards/PPs/Planning/City%20of%20Edmonton%20Planning%20and%20Development,%20Capital%20City%20Downtown% 20Plan.pdf. Accessed 2012 May 14. 154
Municipal Project Amount Invested Century Place $4,941,000 Churchill Square $1,665,000 Citadel Theatre $761,000 Heritage Trail Promenade $298,000 Jasper Avenue $1,705,000 Louise McKinney Riverfront Park $36,685,000 Milner Library $20,170,000 Downtown has $144M in municipal capital Investments 11 major new investments Railtown $579,000 Rice Howard Way $579,000 Shaw Conference Centre $47,303,000 Art Gallery of Alberta ~$22,000,000 TOTAL ON MAP $ 136,686,000 OTHER (Unmapped) $177,000 TOTAL $144,427,000 Funded Capital Projects Downtown (Millions) Value of Downtown Capital Projects and % of Annual Capital Budget, 2002-2010 $40,000,000 $35,000,000 $30,000,000 $25,000,000 $20,000,000 $15,000,000 $10,000,000 $5,000,000 $- 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 6% 5% 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% % of Total Funded Capital Budget 155
Page 3 and 4:
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This project would
Page 5 and 6:
CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .........
Page 7 and 8:
Additionally this project aims to b
Page 9 and 10:
with the selected downtown study ar
Page 11 and 12:
KEY FINDINGS The project team devel
Page 13:
Downtowns are iconic and powerful s
Page 16 and 17:
Victoria have very sensitive downto
Page 18 and 19:
PROSPERITY Does the downtown have a
Page 20 and 21:
These are very promising signs, yet
Page 22 and 23:
Downtowns are making a major contri
Page 24 and 25:
The densest downtown is Vancouver a
Page 26 and 27:
Downtowns are important places for
Page 28 and 29:
Winnipeg Fredericton Edmonton Halif
Page 30 and 31:
Downtown Toronto and downtown Vanco
Page 32 and 33:
Municipal Investments (mapped inves
Page 34 and 35:
DOWNTOWN CASE STUDIES 32
Page 36 and 37:
Downtown Halifax Timeline 1749 - 20
Page 38 and 39:
VISIBILITY Does the downtown have a
Page 40 and 41:
VISIONARY Does the downtown have st
Page 42 and 43:
LIVEABILITY Is the downtown vibrant
Page 44 and 45:
sites for redevelopment that are cu
Page 46 and 47:
Summary of Municipal Investments Pr
Page 48 and 49:
Key Patterns of Investment: 1. Cent
Page 50 and 51:
Future Investments The proposed Con
Page 52 and 53:
Downtown Fredericton Timeline 1749
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
PROSPERITY: Is the downtown’s eco
Page 58 and 59:
Municipal Tax Base Since 1995, the
Page 60 and 61:
Public Realm Downtown Fredericton h
Page 62 and 63:
60 Municipal Investments in Downtow
Page 64 and 65:
2. Enhancing the waterfront Committ
Page 66 and 67:
Downtown Ottawa Timeline 1792 - 201
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
charges have recently been reinstat
Page 72 and 73:
Many of the federally occupied buil
Page 74 and 75:
Safety Downtown Ottawa is seen as a
Page 76 and 77:
transit service downtown and across
Page 78 and 79:
Summary of Public Investments Publi
Page 80 and 81:
Key Patterns of Investment: Convent
Page 82 and 83:
Downtown Toronto Timeline 1793 - 20
Page 84 and 85:
Context Map: Key Assets and Feature
Page 86 and 87:
The downtown study area differs sli
Page 88 and 89:
http://www.architravel.com/architra
Page 90 and 91:
Office Development Downtown Toronto
Page 92 and 93:
Municipal Tax Base The downtown mak
Page 94 and 95:
Safety Crime indicators for the Cit
Page 96 and 97:
STRATEGY Is the City Strategically
Page 98 and 99:
Public Investments in Downtown Toro
Page 100 and 101:
5. Strengthening Communities Invest
Page 102 and 103:
Downtown London Timeline 1840 - 201
Page 104 and 105:
VISIBILITY Does the Downtown have a
Page 106 and 107: PROSPERITY: Is the downtown’s eco
Page 108 and 109: LIVABILITY Is the downtown vibrant,
Page 110 and 111: picnic tables, cafe tables with umb
Page 112 and 113: Summary of Capital Projects: 1998-2
Page 114 and 115: Key Patterns of Investment: The Cit
Page 116 and 117: WINNIPEG Growing in strength and co
Page 118 and 119: Context Map: Key Assets and Feature
Page 120 and 121: VISIONARY Does the downtown have st
Page 122 and 123: PROSPERITY: Is the downtown’s eco
Page 126 and 127: STRATEGY Is the City Strategically
Page 128 and 129: 126 Major Public Investments in Dow
Page 130 and 131: Ship Street, Sky, and The Strand. T
Page 132 and 133: Downtown Saskatoon Timeline 1903 -
Page 134 and 135: VISIBILITY Does the downtown have a
Page 136 and 137: Leadership and Collaboration The Ci
Page 138 and 139: Office Development Private office s
Page 140 and 141: LIVEABILITY Is the downtown vibrant
Page 144 and 145: Key Patterns of Investment: 1. Conn
Page 146 and 147: EDMONTON a downtown filled with mom
Page 150 and 151: UNITY Does the downtown have strong
Page 152 and 153: Retail Development It has been obse
Page 158 and 159: 156 Municipal Investments in Downto
Page 160 and 161: downtown zoning bylaws ensure that
Page 162 and 163: Downtown Vancouver Timeline 1859 -
Page 166 and 167: PROSPERITY Is the downtown’s econ
Page 168 and 169: The downtown also generates a fifth
Page 170 and 171: Eastside community, which could pot
Page 172 and 173: uild freeways into downtown Vancouv
Page 174 and 175: 172 Downtown Vancouver Capital Proj
Page 176 and 177: 2. Building complete communities In
Page 182 and 183: The City has also taken strong lead
Page 184 and 185: downtown is striving to offer a uni
Page 186 and 187: Safety Downtown Victoria has faced
Page 190 and 191: Pattern of Investment: Investing in
Page 192 and 193: QUICK WINS FOR CANADIAN DOWNTOWNS O
Page 194 and 195: Connecting the Downtown with Natura
Page 196 and 197: comprehensive planning processes to
Page 198 and 199: uilding and reconnect it with surro
Page 200 and 201: 198 APPENDICES
Page 202 and 203: Yet, where the municipality had not
Page 204 and 205: Data Gaps From the outset of this p
Page 206 and 207:
The foundation of the five principl
Page 208 and 209:
was also collected that examines pr
Page 210 and 211:
APPENDIX 2 - PHOTO CREDITS Front Co
Page 212 and 213:
Context Map The Harbour: http://www
Page 214 and 215:
Toronto 212 Confederation Square: h
Page 216 and 217:
214 Rebuilt Covent Garden Market: h
Page 218 and 219:
Parking lots: The Alberta Legislatu
Page 220 and 221:
Victoria Cover Page Red Second post
Page 222 and 223:
APPENDIX 3 - REFERENCE LIST City of
Page 224 and 225:
City of Edmonton. (2010). Capital C
Page 226 and 227:
City of Vancouver. (2007). Downtown
Page 228 and 229:
Condos Victoria BC. (2011). The Atr
Page 230 and 231:
Harris Consulting (2007). City of V
Page 232:
The Star Phoenix Website. (2011). S
show all

The Value of Investing in Canadian Downtowns - International ...

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?