Article content

The proposal to build a 16-storey tower just south of Whyte Avenue is unusual, unsettling even.

But the Mezzo project on 105 Street and 81 Avenue is also essential if Old Strathcona isn’t going to start going downhill in the face of stiff competition from suburban malls and power centres and, most of all, from an improving 124th Street and a downtown that is at last ready to roar.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or David Staples: Tower project is unsettling, unusual and essential to Whyte Avenue Back to video

City council will decide on the project Monday. To put it mildly, not everyone on council agrees with my positive take on The Mezzo, starting with Coun. Ben Henderson, who ably presents the concerns of Old Scona preservationists.

The Mezzo’s proposed height will harm the ambience of Whyte Avenue, Henderson says. “I have huge concerns that we will radically change the feel of Old Strathcona. We have been so lucky to hold on to that neighbourhood and it was sheer luck that it was considered a derelict neighbourhood so no one developed it at the time (the 1950s to 1970s) that we were trashing everything else. It has turned out, as a result, to be one of our most successful areas.”