The Buzz
LATITUDE
BETTER YEAR? MOST BUSINESSES THINK SO Alberta businesses are optimistic about their fortunes in 2018, suggests a recent survey by the Business Develop- ment Bank of Canada. Almost 70 per cent of respondents say they expect higher revenues in 2018 and plan to invest more money in their businesses. If this holds true, invest- ments by small and medium-sized businesses in Alberta should rise by 12 per cent this year—higher than in any other province in Canada. The survey also showed that 35 per cent of small and medium-sized businesses plan to hire in 2018.
The Buzz
BUILD A BETTER CAR PARK The ubiquitous, multilevel parking lot is getting a rethink in Calgary, coming to fruition through the design represented here. A major non-parking use and features that simplify conversion, someday down a less car-reliant road, are part of the plan. autonomous vehicles that drop you off downtown become the norm. What then? That’s where things get really interesting. Forward-thinking design features, such as increased ceiling heights and a central atrium, will simplify conversion into a residential, commercial, or mixed- use building. CMLC plans to break ground on the project in 2019.
THE HUMBLE CAR PARK GETS A RETHINK An $80-million, 250,000-square-foot structure in Calgary’s East Village could change how Albertans think of multi-storey car lots. The 9th Avenue Parkade, a project of the city-owned Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) , will initially function as both a large car park featuring 500 stalls on five levels and, on some of the first floor and all of the second floor, as a spacious home for a business incubator called Platform. But what if parking demand decreases? Perhaps public transit makes a huge dent in traffic, or
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