'A really awesome place': El Mirador demolition underway, making room for highrise towers
Crews were demolishing the historic El Mirador apartments in downtown Edmonton Wednesday.
“It was a really awesome place, the community here was really great,” former resident Daniel Snow said as he watched heavy equipment tear the buildings down.
Built in 1935, the building became known for its distinctive, Spanish style, reminiscent of southern California, with its red roof and spiral staircases.
The lots, just north of Jasper Avenue on 108 Street, will be part of a new residential complex by Pangman Developments.
“The Parks” will see new 35 and 45-storey towers for a total of at least 1,000 new condo and apartment units.
The main floor will also have retail bays, the company’s website said.
Snow said he and his fellow residents were given 90 days to leave the building, and many were sad to go.
“I understand the march of progress, they’re going to build a big new condo tower, but we are losing something that was really special,” he said.
The best part of El Mirador was the large courtyard, Snow said. A resident was married there, and all of the residents were invited to the party.
“There’s not a lot of buildings that have shared space where you can connect with your neighbours. I met more people here than I ever did living in your standard walk-up apartments,” he recalled.
The new development will also have greenspace on a rooftop.
It’s expected to be built in the fall of 2022, Pangman’s website said.
With files from CTV News Edmonton’s Touria Izri
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.
Toronto family doctor who called patient's body 'perfect' suspended for 3 months: tribunal
A family doctor in Toronto has been suspended for three months after a disciplinary tribunal found that he failed to follow proper protocols while examining a patient's breasts and made inappropriate comments about her body.
Freddie Mercury's home is on the market for first time since 1980 minus his 'exquisite clutter'
Freddie Mercury's sanctuary in London, where he lived the last decade of his life, is on sale for the first time in nearly half a century -- minus his "exquisite clutter."