While it no secret that the Edmonton skyline has been growing dramatically over the last few years, sometimes there is nothing like a direct photo comparison to tell the story of change over time. Thus, this week's Throwback Thursday, captured from the corner of 103 Avenue NW and 102 Street NW looking east in downtown Edmonton over a seven year span, speaks volumes about the rapid rate of growth the city has experienced in less than a decade.

Looking east on 103 Avenue NW in 2009, image via Google Maps

Visible in the above image from 2009, the Bell Tower and CN Tower are clear standouts, while the rest of the scene, captured just one or two blocks north of Jasper Avenue which runs through directly through the core, is dominated by an ocean-sized parking lot paired with a Staples. Today wholly out of place in such close proximity to downtown, the days of large surface lots and suburban-type big box stores in central Edmonton are numbered, as the city centre becomes ever denser, taller, and more urban.

Looking east on 103 Avenue NW in 2016, image by Forum contributor Daveography

By comparison, the image above, captured from the exact same vantage point in 2016, shows a startlingly different view, with the parking lot and big box stores replaced by a cacophony of cranes and construction sites. Instantly obvious in the second frame are two recent additions to the skyline, namely the 28-storey Epcor Tower completed in 2011 and seen to the left, along with the more recent 29-storey Edmonton Tower, left-centre, which is part of the larger ICE District. Currently under construction, the 66-storey Stantec Tower's podium level can be seen front and centre, joined to the immediate left by the first few floors of what will soon become the 54-storey JW Marriott and The Legends Private Residences. Last but not least, seen to the far left, the 20,000-capacity Rogers Place was completed earlier this year as the new home of the Edmonton Oilers.

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