It is a staggeringly ambitious plan. Given the situation, it had to be.
When the economy started slumping in 2015, office vacancies in downtown Calgary began to climb. By 2020, the vacancy rate was sitting at over 30 per cent — about 14 million square feet of office space sat empty.
The value of office buildings in the city’s core had plummeted by more than two-thirds over that period, gutting the city’s property tax base and creating a revenue crisis at city hall.
Something had to be done.
That something turned out to be the city’s Downtown Office Conversion Program, which set a goal of removing six million square feet of vacant office space by 2031 and increasing the downtown population by 20 per cent in the process.
With a start-up fund of $200 million — and a goal of investing $1 billion over the duration of the program — the city offered developers a sped-up approval process and, more importantly, $75 per square foot in incentives to convert empty office towers into residential apartment buildings.
To date, there are 17 conversion projects in the pipeline, 13 of which are active. These projects will result in the conversion of 2.3 million square feet of office space. Uptake of the program by developers has been so strong that the city announced a pause in October to secure additional funding to meet demand.
But without taking anything away from the grand ambitions of the Calgary plan, or the initial success it’s seen (it isn’t easy to convert one empty office block into apartments, let alone six million square feet worth), there are a few questions that need to be asked on behalf of the future residents of the 2,300-plus new homes about to be built. For example: What are they going to do there?
Where will they buy their groceries or meet friends for a coffee? Where will their children go to school?
When they step out the front door on a weekend morning, staring down the empty, cavernous expanse of Sixth Avenue, or Fifth Avenue, or Fourth Avenue, where will they direct their feet? (And if your answer was — like the line in the song — “to the sunny side of the street,” you haven’t spent much time in downtown Calgary.)
Beverly Sandalack is a professor at the University of Calgary’s School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape, and she’s a co-director of the university’s Urban Lab.
Sandalack says that, starting in the mid-1960s, a massive amount of effort, planning and money went into changing the form and function of Calgary’s downtown. Eventually, it lost its human scale, residential population, vitality, sense of safety, and most of its sunshine. An equal amount of effort, she says, will be required to turn it back into neighbourhoods once again.
“Improving the downtown will require radical strategies,” Sandalack said.
Saturday morning on Eighth Street S.W. Downtown resident Paul Fairie says sometimes the city core can feel like an ‘ambiguous, empty space.’ (Jim Brown/CBC)
So, what radical strategies are the city contemplating?
“Maybe radical is not the right word to use, but the public that’s moving into the downtown is different than the public that was there,” said Thom Mahler, the director of the city’s downtown strategy.
Mahler says the Greater Downtown Plan, approved by city council in 2021, provides a variety of options to turn the downtown back into more of a neighbourhood-focused place, removing some of the historical emphasis on the business function of the core.
That includes changes to everything from streets to public spaces and other civic amenities.
Making changes to downtown streets, particularly the wide, one-way avenues that bisect the city from east to west and essentially create an after-hours dead zone between Eighth Avenue in the south, and the Bow River to the north, will be a priority, said Mahler.
“What do you do long-term with Fourth, Fifth, Sixth Avenue? Ninth Avenue? Those are the four biggies,” he said.
“How do you reimagine what those can be in the future?”
Something that makes this easier, he says, is the realization that those streets no longer need to do the things they did in the past, when everyone came downtown at the same time, and left together, resulting in incredible peak-traffic volumes.
“With the change in the way people work, we typically now only have a peak on maybe Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. But even then, people don’t all arrive at the same time and leave at the same time as they used to,” said Mahler.
Flexible streets
The city is now assessing just how much of that extra-wide pavement is required to meet the new demands.
“Where that settles, you can start taking bits away and adding to the public spaces for those other types of mobility, like bicycles, better transit facilities, but also programming lanes of traffic that aren’t used during peak times,” he said.
One of the options being considered is flexible streets.
“So, maybe we use a lane of traffic during the day, or certain days of the week, but other days of the week it can actually be repurposed for temporary parks or for hospitality patios,” said Mahler.
Sandalack agrees that something needs to be done about the one-way, east-west avenues.
“They’ve completely screwed up the function of that part of the city as an urban area,” she said. “It transforms it into freeways, and there’s real difficulty trying to insert a neighbourhood back into that. So structurally and functionally, they’re really a problem.”
But she doesn’t believe reimagining uses for lanes of traffic goes nearly far enough. She calls it “tinkering.”
“All that tinkering, it’s like coming across somebody who’s got a few broken bones … you don’t just buy them new clothes,” she said.
“When I think about something really radical, an option has to be: do we tear down most of it and start again? To me, that has to be on the table as an extreme option.”
A massive amount of effort, planning and money went into changing the form and function of Calgary’s downtown. An equal amount of effort will be required to turn it back into neighbourhoods once again. (Jim Brown/CBC)
Paul Fairie, the principal co-ordinator of the Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association, also thinks something needs to be done about the big, empty east-west avenues, particularly on the weekends.
“You wind up walking one or two blocks in a row with literally nothing. You’re just walking in this ambiguous, empty space,” Fairie said.
But as a downtown resident for 14 years, he says the items at the top of his wish list are what he calls “the boring things.”
Things like grocery stores, inexpensive restaurants and coffee shops that stay open after 6 p.m.
“A big misconception is, they think, you live downtown, you’re living this sort of glamorous, exotic, party-oriented lifestyle. No. I’m just living in an apartment. It’s a relatively normal life and the more we can do to facilitate that, I think, the better,” he said.
“Normal places are the priorities for me.”
Mahler says most of the items on Paul Fairies’s list will be left to the private sector, but he adds that, while the city doesn’t require those kinds of commitments from the developers involved in the office building conversions, those developers understand the need for those amenities to convince someone to sign a lease. So the city is seeing developers planning for businesses like coffee shops, either on street level or on the second level of the buildings they are retrofitting.
Hotels and students
He says another important piece in creating amenities is that one of the office blocks in the west end of downtown is being converted into a hotel.
“The advantage of having hotels in the west end of downtown is hotels are active all the time and they typically have restaurants that are supported,” he said.
On top of that, Mahler says the city is seeing a lot of interest from post-secondary institutions to move some of their space downtown, and create student housing.
“That’s a whole demographic we’ve never had. And they will drive those public amenities. That’s the coffee shops. That’s the pubs. That’s the more-affordable restaurant options,” he said.
For Sandalack, the everyday urbanism that Paul Fairie talks about — the coffee shops, dry cleaners, daycare centres and so on — can’t happen if the interaction between buildings and streets is wrong, as it is in most of downtown Calgary.
“The buildings have blank walls and very few entries. The sidewalk — the public realm itself — is terrible, so that interface needs to be addressed, and not just in front of one building,” she said.
“So, if you have a residential conversion, and you make it nice in front of the residential conversion, that’s not enough because it needs to be a people-on-the-street kind of place with people walking around and going to different locations.”
Downtown Core Neighbourhood Association co-ordinator Paul Fairie says the new Century Gardens Sports Court has been ‘amazing.’ Thom Mahler, the director of the city’s downtown strategy, says the city is looking at diversified uses for vacant lots and for the many city-owned surface parking lots in the core. (Parks Foundation Calgary)
Another missing piece in the downtown puzzle is amenities geared toward children and teenagers, something that will only be more glaring when the office conversion projects begin to fill up.
According to the city, over 800 children under the age of 14 were living in the downtown core in 2021. Add in the older teens and Fairie says there is a real need for schools and places for young people to hang out.
Mahler acknowledges that elementary and high schools are an issue, since the existing schools surrounding the downtown are all overcapacity.
“It’s a conversation we will be having with schools … private schools, public schools … about additional school capacity within the downtown. I think there’s some interest starting to happen in doing that,” he said.
Fairie says he has high hopes for the office conversion program and the downtown revitalization plans generally. He says he’s already seeing improvements, and points to the new sports park next to Century Gardens as an example.
“That basketball court has been amazing,” he said. “It’s full a lot of the day. You see young people — meaning teenagers — in downtown doing stuff, and that’s great, that sort of activation of spaces like that.”
Rethinking parking lots
Mahler says the city is looking at diversified uses for other vacant lots, like the one next to Century Gardens, and for the many city-owned surface parking lots in the core.
Parking Lot 6, for example, in the west end near the Louise Bridge, has been used for festivals and events over the past couple of years.
“The more we pilot these different kinds of things, it lets us get a sense of which ones are the best ones, what’s really resonating with the local population. And then we can make more permanent plans for permanent investment in some of those spaces,” Mahler said.
Beverly Sandalack says she appreciates the work Thom Mahler and others at the city are doing.
“I think those are all really good ideas … necessary,” she said.
But, returning to her point about the difference between radical change and tinkering, she says it’s not enough.
“We’re trying to remediate what went wrong during that … dismal period. And it’s really, really hard to fix the things that have gone wrong because it costs so much money and the problems are so, so big.”
That doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try, she says.
“There are things that need to be undone, before you can get a city back.”
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — Three NASA astronauts whose prolonged space station mission ended with a trip to the hospital last month declined to say Friday which one of them was sick.
Astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt and Jeanette Epps publicly discussed their spaceflight for the first time since returning from the International Space Station on Oct. 25. They spent nearly eight months in orbit, longer than expected because of all the trouble with Boeing’s Starliner crew capsule and rough weather, including Hurricane Milton.
Soon after their SpaceX capsule splashed down in the Gulf of Mexico off the Florida coast, the three were taken to a hospital in nearby Pensacola along with Russian cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin, who launched with them back in March.
One of the Americans ended up spending the night there for an undisclosed “medical issue.” NASA declined to say who was hospitalized or why, citing medical privacy.
When asked at Friday’s news conference which one had been sick, the astronauts refused to comment. Barratt, a doctor who specializes in space medicine, declined to even describe the symptoms that the unidentified astronaut had.
“Spaceflight is still something we don’t fully understand. We’re finding things that we don’t expect sometimes. This was one of those times and we’re still piecing things together on this,” said Barratt, the only member of the crew who had flown in space before.
Epps said everyone is different in how they respond to space — and gravity.
“That’s the part that you can’t predict,” she said, adding, “Every day is better than the day before.”
Dominick said little things like sitting comfortably in a hard chair took several days to get used to once he returned. He said he didn’t use the treadmill at all during his time in space, as part of an experiment to see what equipment might be pared on a long trip to Mars. The first time he walked was when he got out of the capsule.
The two astronauts who served as test pilots for Boeing’s Starliner — Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams — will remain at the space station until February, flying back with SpaceX. Starliner returned empty in September.
___
The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — Forty-three monkeys bred for medical research that escaped a compound in South Carolina have been spotted in the woods near the site and workers are using food to try to recapture them, authorities said Friday.
The Rhesus macaques made a break for it Wednesday after an employee at the Alpha Genesis facility in Yemassee didn’t fully lock a door as she fed and checked on them, officials said.
“They are very social monkeys and they travel in groups, so when the first couple go out the door the others tend to just follow right along,” Alpha Genesis CEO Greg Westergaard told CBS News.
Westergaard said his main goal is to have the monkeys returned safely with no other problems. “I think they are having an adventure,” he said.
The monkeys on Friday were exploring the outer fence of the Alpha Genesis compound and are cooing at the monkeys inside, police said in a statement.
“The primates are exhibiting calm and playful behavior, which is a positive indication,” the police statement said, adding company workers are closely watching the monkeys while keeping their distance as they work to safely recapture them.
The monkeys are about the size of a cat. They are all females weighing about 7 pounds (3 kilograms).
Alpha Genesis, federal health officials and police all said the monkeys pose no risk to public health. The facility breeds the monkeys to sell to medical and other researchers.
“They are not infected with any disease whatsoever. They are harmless and a little skittish,” Yemassee Police Chief Gregory Alexander said Thursday.
Authorities still recommend that people who live near the compound about 1 mile (1.6 kilometers) from downtown Yemassee shut their windows and doors and call 911 if they see the monkeys. Approaching them could make them more skittish and harder to capture, officials said.
Eve Cooper, a biology professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who has studied rhesus macaques, said the animals have the potential to be dangerous and urged people to keep their distance.
Rhesus macaques monkeys can be aggressive. And some carry the herpes B virus, which can be fatal to humans, Cooper said.
However, Alpha Genesis states on its website that it specializes in pathogen-free primates. Cooper noted that there are pathogen-free populations of rhesus macaques that have been quarantined and tested.
“I would give them a wide berth,” Cooper said. “They’re unpredictable animals. And they can behave quite aggressively when they’re afraid.”
Alpha Genesis provides primates for research worldwide at its compound about 50 miles (80 kilometers) northeast of Savannah, Georgia, according to its website.
Locally, it is known as “the monkey farm.” And there is more amusement than panic around Yemassee and its population of about 1,100 just off Interstate 95 about 2 miles from Auldbrass Plantation, a Frank Lloyd Wright house designed in the 1930s.
There have been escapes before, but the monkeys haven’t caused problems, said William McCoy, who owns Lowcountry Horology, a clock and watch repair shop.
“They normally come home because that’s where the food is,” he said.
McCoy has lived in Yemassee for about two years and while he plans to stay away from the monkeys, he has his own light-hearted plan to get them back.
“I’m stocking up bananas, maybe they’ll show up,” McCoy said.
The Alpha Genesis compound is regularly inspected by federal officials.
In 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture fined Alpha Genesis $12,600 in part after officials said 26 primates escaped from the Yemassee facility in 2014 and an additional 19 got out in 2016.
The company’s fine was also issued because of individual monkey escapes as well as the killing of one monkey by others when it was placed in the wrong social group, according to a report from the USDA.
The group Stop Animal Exploitation Now sent a letter Thursday to the USDA asking the agency to immediately send an inspector to the Alpha Genesis facility, conduct a thorough investigation and treat them as a repeated violator. The group was involved in the 2018 fine against the company.
“The clear carelessness which allowed these 40 monkeys to escape endangered not only the safety of the animals, but also put the residents of South Carolina at risk,” wrote Michael Budkie, executive director of the group.
The USDA, which has inspected the compound 10 times since 2020, didn’t immediately respond to the letter.
The facility’s most recent federal inspection in May showed there were about 6,700 primates on site and no issues.
In a 2022 review, federal veterinarians reported two animals died when their fingers were trapped in structures and they were exposed to harsh weather. They also found cages weren’t adequately secure. Inspectors said criminal charges, civil penalties or other sanctions could follow if the problems weren’t fixed.
Since then, Alpha Genesis has undergone six inspections with minor problems reported only once.
In January 2023, the USDA said temperatures were out of the 45 to 85 degree Fahrenheit (7.2 to 29.5 degree Celsius) required range at some of the compound’s monkey cages. The inspection found moldy food in one bin, sharp edges on a gate that could cut an animal and sludge, food waste, used medical supplies, mechanical equipment, and general construction debris on the grounds.
Supporters of medical research involving nonhuman primates said they are critical to lifesaving medical advances like creating vaccines against COVID-19 because of their similarities to people. Keeping a domestic supply of the animals is critical to prevent shortages for U.S. researchers.
Humans have been using the rhesus macaque for scientific research since the late 1800s. Scientists believe that rhesus macaques and humans split from a common ancestor about 25 million years ago and share about 93% of the same DNA.
These monkeys have been launched into space on V2 rockets, used for AIDS research, had their genome mapped and made stars of their own reality television show. They were in such high demand in the early 2000s that a shortage led to scientists paying up to $10,000 per animal.
Outside of rats and mice, rhesus macaques are one of the most studied animals on the planet, said Dario Maestripieri, a behavioral scientist at the University of Chicago who wrote the 2007 book “Macachiavellian Intelligence: How Rhesus Macaques and Humans Have Conquered the World.”
The animals are very family oriented, siding with relatives when fights break out. And they’re adept at building political alliances in the face of threats from other monkeys. But they can be painful to watch. Monkeys with lower status in the hierarchy live in a constant state of fear and intimidation, Maestripieri said.
“In some ways, they kind of represent some of the worst aspects of human nature,” Maestripieri said.
___
Lovan reported from Louisville, Kentucky, and Finley reported from Norfolk, Virginia.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland speaks with reporters after chairing a special cabinet committee working on Canada’s plan to deal with the incoming Donald Trump administration. Freeland says she’s stood up for Canadian interests in the past and is ready to go another round. (Nov. 8, 2024)
