[atlas_inc]

Life of luxury
Sustainable features in high-end project in Eau Claire area
Kathy McCormick, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, April 19, 2008

Solaire, a luxury tower that will shine a light on sustainable design principles in downtown Calgary's west end, will add another dimension to the "urbanization of Calgary," says a company involved in the project.

"A lot more people are living in the downtown core today," says Chris Norton of the Vancouver-based Maverick Real Estate Corp. "The urbanization is already happening -- and LaCaille plays a big role in that."

Solaire is the latest project by the LaCaille Group, which began the process with the LaCaille on the Bow restaurant. It became a developer when it built a luxury tower attached to the restaurant.

Since then, it has constructed, or plans to build, several other towers in the inner-city communities, and it is expanding to other areas of Calgary.

Besides luxurious, high-end standards, plans for Solaire include such eco-friendly aspects as green roofs on the lower roofs of the building, says Gary Mundy, an associate with GEC Architecture.

The roofs will have soil planted with natural grasses, he says.

Two points on the east facing wall will also be "living walls," says Mundy. "A very light wire mesh will be placed on top of the exterior at grade and on the third floor of the building facing east, then vines will be planted to grow up the walls. That helps keep water hitting the building from running directly into the storm drains. It's a way to address stormwater management."

Inside the buildings, each unit will be equipped with heat recovery ventilators, reducing energy needed for cooling and heating individual suites by as much as 35 per cent. Low-flow plumbing fixtures will also be used.

The building, itself, will have ample bicycle storage in place to encourage less use of vehicles. "In addition, the building is just a five minute walk from trains and buses," says Mundy.

Norton likens the Eau Claire area to Vancouver's Coal Harbour.

"The Beltline is like Yaletown in Vancouver, with another seven to 10 years before all the sites are built out," he says.

"The Eau Claire area will be much faster, with a significant number of residential units planned or being built, such as the redevelopment of Eau Claire Market, the next phase of the Princeton, and others along the waterfront -- and retail and restaurants are included in that."

Eau Claire is a small area in the heart of downtown.

It's bounded by 10th Street S.W. to the west, 2nd Street S.W. to the east, 3rd Avenue to the south and the Bow River to the north. Development has been high-end, luxury condos with river views.

"The whole area is already being developed from Louise Bridge (at 10th Street) to Eau Claire," says Norton. "It's established, it's within walking distance of the social scene and downtown office space, and it's near the water."

That, alone, has been one of the top reasons the latest condo project to grace the area's west end has already garnered so much interest, says Norton.

Anyone interested should register at www.solaireliving.ca soon to get on the priority list before sales start.

"We have an interesting mix of potential buyers, from young professionals from (ages) 25 to 35 who want to be close to the downtown core for work and the nightlife, as well as Kensington, to empty nesters who want to relocate closer to the city centre in an area that's being re-developed, to business people who are buying to use it as a pied-a-terre."

A pied-a-terre is lodging for occasional or secondary use.

Solaire will be located at 4th Avenue and 8th Street S.W., and it's already under construction.

The 22-storey tower will have 132 suites, with one- and two-bedroom plans, including four two-bedroom, two-level penthouses -- and of course, because of the location, outstanding views.

One-bedroom units are 711 to 765 square feet, two-bedroom models are 1,143 square feet, and the penthouses are 2,012 to 2,105 square feet.

"These are the highest level of specifications we've ever done," says La Caille president Peter Livaditis. "The outside will be very sleek and contemporary, and inside, standards will include such things as hardwood floors, finishings like granite countertops, and high-end appliances by Dacor."

Dacor is a stylish California brand that is usually found only in high-end, single-family homes.

Such attention to detail is a hallmark of the LaCaille Group -- and that's another reason people have been so receptive to the latest project, says Norton.

"When people heard another LaCaille building was under construction, it generated a lot of interest," he says.

"They've built a number of sophisticated buildings in the west Eau Claire area, so a number of investors have come on board. As well, the company has an unusual amount of loyalty and following from people who have bought in the past."

Sales will start once the sales centre opens in another LaCaille project, Five West, at 924 5 Ave. S.W. Scheduled to open later this spring, hours will be noon to 5 p.m. every day except Fridays.

The project is unique in other ways, says LaCaille vice-president Al Schmidt.

"We're building an affordable housing project next door under contract with Calgary Housing Co," he says. "It's important to establish a new benchmark for affordable housing in the city to give people living there a sense of pride."

The building, to be known as Louise Station, will have 88 units in it and it will be built to complement the exterior of Solaire. It, too, is already under construction.

"It shouldn't be any different," says Livaditis, adding that diversity of housing is what makes a neighbourhood.

Norton agrees: "That's what adds a sense of neighbourhood. Nobody wants it to become a gated community. The diversity is part of the vibrancy of a community."

The project marks "a nice transition for people to move out of social housing to market," says Schmidt.

Solaire has another unique feature. A much-needed fire hall and EMS station will be tucked under the tower.

"It will be synchronized to traffic lights, so the vehicles won't need to use sirens until they're well away from the building," says Schmidt. "They'll use their lights only. As well, residential units don't start until the fourth floor, and there will be soundproof glass on bedroom windows" as an acoustical barrier, he says.

The proximity of fire trucks means insurance premiums for units should be lower as well, says Norton.


In Short:

BUILDER/DEVELOPER: LaCaille Group.

PROJECT: Solaire, on the corner of 4th Avenue and 8th Street S.W. It will consist of a 22-storey tower with one- and two-bedroom units, as well as four penthouses. The mixed-use development will have homes starting on the fourth floor. The first floor will include a fire hall and EMS station. Next door to the project, LaCaille is developing Louise Station, an 88-unit affordable housing project to complement the tower.

PRICES: Have yet to be released.

INFORMATION: Check the website at www.lacaille.ca. Register at www.solaireliving.ca. A sales centre will open later this spring on the site of another LaCaille project, Five West, at 924 5 Ave. S.W. in the near future.

HOURS: Once open, the sales centre hours will be noon to 5 p.m. daily except Fridays.


© The Calgary Herald 2008



Bold actions needed for sustainable growth
Calgary initiative must join regional planning efforts
Jim Dewald and Bev Sandalack, For the Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, April 19, 2008

Our recent series of articles focused on the inherent opportunities available to land developers who embrace the City of Calgary's Plan It initiative.

Plan It is a comprehensive study of Calgary's future, aimed at finding ways to minimize our city's ecological footprint, while maximizing the vitality and social attributes of living in a cosmopolitan centre.

While we had many thoughts for developers, we would be remiss if we didn't mention two critical actions that need to be taken by the City of Calgary political and administrative leaders.

Without the proper support from within and throughout city hall, Plan It runs the real risk of being another pretty book on a shelf.

The first priority is a total commitment, at all levels of city hall, to exploring and adopting more sustainable patterns of growth -- sustainability when measured on the basis of social, ecological, and fiscal impact.

Unfortunately, we hear all too often that developers receive support from one corner, but resistance in others fiefdoms within city hall.

The first supporters of higher density mixed-use patterns of growth were the city planners (although there are some hold-outs even within this group).

City planners have over the past few years successfully educated the majority of aldermen, but even though the politicians are onside, resistance in other departments continues to severely undermine some tremendously positive initiatives.

Our research indicates that the primary culprits are roads and parks staff.

For whatever reason, they seem to have power to argue that "the way we've always done it" takes precedence over specific council directives (side-note; if that is how it was "always" done, how did the inner-city neighbourhoods achieve narrower streets, smaller curb radii, narrower lanes, street trees in boulevards, more trees in parks and so on?)

How can this nonsense be permitted? Why is it supported?

What can be done to reverse the trend of threats, whether it is arguments that the snowplows will damage the curb, the fire trucks can't make the corner, the garbage trucks are too large for the lanes, or the tractor-based lawn mowers can't work around trees and benches?

To build a great city, we desperately need an attitude of "we can do it" over "we're stuck and refuse to change."

Support of bold developer initiatives, including those in line with the objectives of Plan It, could be a very positive and inspiring shift for city staff.

But it would require more support, encouragement, incentives and direction than what currently occurs in the city.

Unfortunately, city hall has been famous for rewarding those who are the best at maintaining the status quo and who resist change over those who champion change.

It's time for a fresh new approach, and we would target senior administrators as being most responsible for ensuring that their teams are 100% on side.

The second priority is at a much different level --regional planning.

There is a very real danger that goals to achieve greater vitality and sustainability championed in Plan It will be threatened by surrounding municipalities if they continue to permit sprawl patterns of growth, transferring much of the downstream impacts (such as transportation needs) onto the shoulders of the region's primary employment districts, all of which are within Calgary's boundaries.

Recent stories in the Rocky View Weekly (the newspaper of the rural Municipal District of Rocky View) indicate that Calgary Mayor Dave Bronconnier had taken bold steps toward finding solutions for regional planning and utility servicing in early 2004.

Without pointing fingers, this important initiative did not come to fruition.

But it was a great start and we encourage continuation of these efforts.

This past week, the provincial government introduced the notion of once again formalizing regional planning, and Bronconnier has indicated his support.

Without more details, it is premature for us to throw our support behind this plan, but we certainly like the concept of returning to institutionalized regional planning.

Still, as a provincial initiative, one would expect to see more say given to rural municipalities than would be preferred by city hall.

This will demand full engagement of Bronconnier's collaborative leadership skills, and council's intestinal fortitude to support a collaborative regional approach that would recognize that we live, work and play within a regional context.

We will all suffer the economic, social and environment costs of another failure in establishing a regional planning framework.

We are long overdue for the Calgary region to follow a new paradigm in co-operation that recognizes the omnipresent nature of regional issues, and the desperate need for regional solutions.

Jim Dewald, PhD, is Assistant Professor, Strategy and Global Management at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, and a partner with Peters-Dewald Land Co.

Bev Sandalack, PhD, is co-ordinator of the Urban Design program in the Faculty of Environmental Design at the University of Calgary, member of the Calgary Urban Design Review Panel, and co-author of The Calgary Project, a book about Calgary's urban development.


© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

More suite dreams for Calgary condos
UPDATED: 2008-04-25 03:17:52 MST


Luxury condominium project may see prices hit new heights

By SHAWN LOGAN, SUN MEDIA

The sky could be the limit for the soaring cost of Calgary luxury condos.

Plans for a new 15-storey condominium project in Eau Claire along the Bow River could see its units eclipse the high water mark for pricey downtown dwellings, said Ed Jensen, president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Concord Pacific Inc. is building a high-end residential dwelling at 1 Ave. and 6 St. S.W. after snapping up the parcel last December.

Jensen said Calgary has seen more condos surpassing the seven-figure mark in recent years and with the new project seeing 185 suites starting at the $1-million mark, the large terraces and townhouse units could easily climb past the city's previous high.

"Certainly we're seeing a lot of confidence by the money men in Calgary's economy to see projects like this," he said.


"Calgary's been slow to catch on to the luxury condo market -- compared to other international cities, we're a bargain."

Since 2000, there have been 80 condos worth more than $1 million in Calgary in the downtown core, 47 of those in the prime Eau Claire area.

Currently, there are 39 condos for sale in Eau Claire ranging from a one-bedroom suite for $204,000 to a luxury condo priced at $3.25 million.

The most expensive condo in Calgary's core to date, also sold in Eau Claire, rang in at $4 million when it changed hands last October and Jensen said he expects that mark to fall when new units come up for sale.

Concord spokesman Peter Udzenija said it's too early to determine a price point.

"We're so far away from that right now but they will definitely be on the high end," he said, noting they will sell for a minimum of $1 million.

"We wanted to create something for some of the old money in Calgary."

[240glt]

Calgary vacancy rate jumps amid sluggish condo sales
Last Updated: Monday, April 28, 2008

Calgary's rental vacancy rate is heading back up after hitting an all-time low of 0.5 per cent in 2006. (CBC)Calgary's rental vacancy rate has climbed to almost four per cent, in part due to the slow sales of both new and converted condos, says a group that represents landlords.

Almost 40 per cent of new condominium units built last year, as well as condo conversions that did not sell, are now being rented out, said Gerry Baxter, executive director of the Calgary Apartment Association.

"The market is really restabilized and you know, right now it's like a balanced market," said Baxter. "It's good for both the landlord and very good for the tenant as well."

In a report earlier this month, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation projected the rental vacancy rate would rise to two per cent this year, up from last year's 1.5 per cent. But based on information from members, Baxter said his group believes the rate is closer to about 3.8 per cent.

Another reason for the cooling rate is that fewer renters are moving to Calgary. This year, the apartment association is expecting only half of the 36,000 new renters who relocated to the city in 2007.

'We're able to bring more supply on and that means we are able to help more families.'

http://www.cbc.ca/canada/calgary/story/2008/04/28/vacancy-up.html

[Jimby]

:previous: This article is wrong. There were not 36,000 new renters here last year, that was the entire population increase in 2006, of which some of them were renters and some were babies and some were home owners and maybe some were homeless.

[atlas_inc]

It's no way to build a neighbourhood, never mind a city

Kevin Brooker
For The Calgary Herald


Monday, May 12, 2008


The headline said it all when a recent national newspaper's survey of Canada's often broken downtowns visited Calgary: "When shiny offices conceal a wasteland."

Unlike most of the people now floating design solutions to our dysfunctional core, I have considerable experience living in that wasteland. I spent about a dozen years in the '80s and '90s residing either on or within 50 metres of the Stephen Avenue Mall.

Since it doesn't really seem to have changed all that much, I'll tell you how it is to live there: very difficult. For starters, our efforts to establish lofts in unused downtown spaces were routinely rebuffed by everyone from the fire department to City Hall.

Those ratholes we could rent were fraught with logistical problems. When they took the grocery store out of the Bay basement, for example, to replace it with a much more expensive deli, I came to a crucial realization: I need a sack of potatoes, not a croissandwich.

Next, they closed the Co-op No. 1 on 11th Avenue. I had little choice but to walk or ride to Chinatown to buy food. Then, as now, this involved negotiating a stop light at every corner. If, when traffic was light, you didn't jaywalk, or on a bike, simply blow off the signal, you'd take forever getting there.

I guarantee that anyone who now lives in Eau Claire, if they do their own cooking at all, probably stocks up by driving to the Costco in the suburbs.

There was no laundromat downtown in those days either. I had to stuff my clothes in a backpack and take a bus to Mission or Sunnyside. As far as I know, downtown dwellers lacking washer-dryers in 2008 still have to do the same thing. Except the Sunnysides of the world have gone through their own devolution, and now feature relatively little in essential services.

Despite now living near the so-called Kensington shopping district, I can honestly say I do virtually no business there, having little need for giftware and pottery. It has become scarcely more than a destination market for upscale, usually suburban visitors seeking a hint of charm with their tschochkes.

A long-extinct business used to have a sign on 10th Street: Uneeda Bakery. Damn right I do. And a butcher and greengrocer of the non-yuppie variety and, I don't know, somewhere I could put air in my tires.

But back to downtown, those windy glass canyons where you don't want to walk unless you absolutely have to. As much as I welcome efforts like Creating Calgary and City Hall's own Centre City Plan, I can't see any way to make most of downtown more livable short of imploding block after block of Class B office buildings. The Plus-15 system killed street life forever, of course, but even if it were eliminated, there is no conceivable way to retrofit those boxes in a people-friendly way.

It wasn't as if any of this sneaked up on us. Thirty years ago I was among many Calgarians who watched in horror as our feckless leaders allowed the wrecking ball to drop on almost every single heritage building worth keeping.

Instead, we threw in our lot with windows that don't open, acoustic tile ceilings, fluorescent lighting, and any number of other traits that are inimical to human health and happiness.

And believe me: if Calgary developers don't wind up building a whole lot more of those, I owe you all a steak dinner.

As part of that still-considerable population sector which gains no direct benefit from a $120 barrel of oil, I simply do not trust the commercial imperatives, which will inevitably seize the day. It's as simple as this: the kind of places I want to visit will never afford the rents charged by newly constructed buildings. Period.

Thus, I fear that my development preferences will always be secondary to those of the tower-builders.

Kevin Brooker's column appears every Monday.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Vacancy rate down, parking costs up for downtown Calgary office space

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Tuesday, May 13, 2008
CALGARY - There continues to be a "strong appetite" for premium office space in downtown Calgary and that is being reflected in a decreasing vacancy rate and steady net lease rates, says a local commercial real estate report.

CB Richard Ellis says the vacancy rate for downtown class AA office space has declined from 1.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year. Of the 31.7 million square feet of net rentable area in the downtown core, AA space accounts for a 21.8 per cent share.

Average asking net lease rates for premium office space remained virtually unchanged, declining 0.1 per cent from $51.64 per square foot to $51.37 per square foot.

The CBRE downtown office market report says the overall vacancy rate climbed from 3.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to four per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

"The 0.6 per cent increase in vacancy this quarter is modest in comparison to the increase realized in the fourth quarter of 2007, when downtown vacancy climbed from a 10-year low of 0.5 per cent to 3.4 per cent as the downtown market grew by 1.5 million square feet due to the completion of five new office towers," said the report.

At a four per cent vacancy rate, the Calgary downtown office market is "still strong and continues to be a landlord's market," said CBRE. "In general, asking rates in downtown Calgary have stalled this quarter, pulling back slightly to $37.38 per square foot from $37.92 per square foot in the last quarter of 2007," said the report.

CBRE said that as net asking rates for office space in downtown Calgary level off, underground parking rates are on the rise.

"Less than a year ago, monthly parking rates over $500 were reserved for premium buildings in the most central of downtown locations," said the report. "However, with the ever increasing scarcity of parking spaces in the downtown area, parking rates well over $500 per month for underground reserved stalls located in the core are becoming commonplace."

In 2007, 1.5 million square feet of new office space was added to the downtown market inventory, but so far this year, there have been no new projects completed. CBRE said the only building in the pipeline for completion this year is 8 West (146,300 square feet), which is expected to be ready for occupancy in the third quarter.

Over 5.6 million square feet of office space construction is currently underway.

The Germaine (85,000 square feet), Bankers Court (256,000 square feet) and the redevelopment of the Barron Building (112,578 square feet) will provide more product in 2009.

By 2010, "significant" square footage will be added to the existing inventory with the completion of Jamieson Place (817,000 square feet), Centennial Place (776,750 square feet) and Centennial Place West (434,350 square feet).

CBRE said that in 2011, 2.7 million square feet of space is expected to arrive on the market with the completion of the Bow (1.7 million square feet) and 8th Avenue Place East (one million square feet).

Five other office developments totaling 3.4 million square feet are being proposed for the downtown core but have yet to be actively marketed, said the commercial real estate firm. The proposed buildings include Calgary City Centre (900,000 square feet), First Canadian Centre (900,000 square feet), Palliser West (400,000 square feet), Palliser East (400,000 square feet) and 8th Avenue Place West (750,000 square feet).

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

[atlas_inc]

Corporate Calgary lusts for top offices
Downtown 'continues to be a landlord's market'

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Wednesday, May 14, 2008
There continues to be a "strong appetite" for premium office space in downtown Calgary and that is being reflected in a decreasing vacancy rate and steady net lease rates, says a local commercial real estate report.

CB Richard Ellis says the vacancy rate for downtown class AA office space has declined from 1.5 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to 0.2 per cent in the first quarter of this year.

Of the 31.7 million square feet of net rentable area in the downtown core, AA space accounts for a 21.8 per cent share.

Average asking net lease rates for premium office space remained virtually unchanged, declining 0.1 per cent from $51.64 per square foot to $51.27 per square foot.

The CBRE downtown office market report says the overall vacancy rate climbed from 3.4 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2007 to four per cent in the first quarter of 2008.

"The 0.6 per cent increase in vacancy this quarter is modest in comparison to the increase realized in the fourth quarter of 2007, when downtown vacancy climbed from a 10-year low of 0.5 per cent to 3.4 per cent as the downtown market grew by 1.5 million square feet due to the completion of five new office towers," said the report.

At a four per cent vacancy rate, the Calgary downtown office market is "still strong and continues to be a landlord's market," said CBRE.

"In general, asking rates in downtown Calgary have stalled this quarter, pulling back slightly to $37.38 per square foot from $37.92 per square foot in the last quarter of 2007," said the report.

Greg Kwong, regional managing director for CBRE, said the tight market has been influenced by a lack of supply.

"Traditionally, over the last 20 years you've seen a separation between A quality space, B quality space and C quality space and the price differential is the difference," said Kwong.

"Over the last little while because of the lack of supply, there's been compression. So tenants have said 'listen, if I'm going to pay $30 to $40 a square foot for either a B or an A building, I might as well take the A building.'

"So you've seen a flight to quality."

Karen Barry, president of K.J. Barry Commercial Real Estate Corp., said there is strong demand, especially in the energy sector, for quality downtown space.

"As far as getting premium space, there's still a shortage of larger contiguous space available," said Barry. "As an example, if you're a 200,000- or 300,000-square-foot tenant, your options are fairly limited."

And the result of limited options, she said, is lease rates remaining very strong.

Bruce Irvine, vice-president for business development and retention at Calgary Economic Development, said in terms of the development pipeline, bringing on AA space in Calgary is starting to catch up. Assembling the parcels of land in the right locations can also take some time.

"AA needs to be in the highest and most desirable places in terms of your location. So that took a little longer and it's still catching up a little bit," said Irvine, adding employers are thinking about staff retention and AA space has a greater array of amenities.

"In this market, that building becomes part of the physical manifestation of not only the company but also it's starting to be the physical manifestation of our city. And as the confidence in Calgary continues the kind of building we're going to see with more and more key architects, with more and more of these kinds of buildings that are really quite an attractive and (a) competitive thing worldwide is going to continue," Irvine said.

CBRE said that as net asking rates for office space in downtown Calgary level off, underground parking rates are on the rise.

Less than a year ago, monthly parking rates over $500 were reserved for premium buildings in the most central of downtown locations," said the report.

"However, with the ever increasing scarcity of parking spaces in the downtown area, parking rates well over $500 per month for underground reserved stalls located in the core are becoming commonplace."

In 2007, 1.5 million square feet of new office space was added to the downtown market inventory, but so far this year, there have been no new projects completed. CBRE said the only building in the pipeline for completion this year is 8 West (146,300 square feet), which is expected to be ready for occupancy in the third quarter.

Over 5.6 million square feet of office space construction is currently underway.

The Germaine (85,000 square feet), Bankers Court (256,000 square feet) and the redevelopment of the Barron Building (112,578 square feet) will provide more product in 2009.

By 2010, "significant" square footage will be added to the existing inventory with the completion of Jamieson Place (817,000 square feet), Centennial Place (776,750 square feet) and Centennial Place West (434,350 square feet).

CBRE said that in 2011, 2.7 million square feet of space is expected to arrive on the market with the completion of the Bow (1.7 million square feet) and 8th Avenue Place East (one million square feet).

Five other office developments totalling 3.4 million square feet are being proposed for the downtown core but have yet to be actively marketed, said the commercial real estate firm.

The proposed buildings include Calgary City Centre (900,000 square feet), First Canadian Centre (900,000 square feet), Palliser West (400,000 square feet), Palliser East (400,000 square feet) and 8th Avenue Place West (750,000 square feet).

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

- - -

Downtown Office Market First Quarter

(Average net lease rates)

Office category Price Per Square Foot

AA* $51.27

A $42.71

B $37.62

C $32.15

D $24.60

Source: CB Richard Ellis

*AA being the premium, top-class office space, based on industry standards including building amenities, age of building and location.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...f6191dcfd7&p=1

[atlas_inc]

Housing market a mixed bag



calgary.ctv.ca

cba

POSTED AT 6:24 PM Monday, June 9


There is good news and bad news in Calgary's housing market for the month of May.

Single-family home starts are at their lowest level since the mid-1990's and have dropped 41 per cent since last year.

But while home starts are down, condo and townhome starts are up 108 per cent from May 2007.

Industry officials say that by the end of the month, the total number of condo and townhome starts could surpass the total for all of last year.

But the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation says most of the building is being done in a few neighbourhoods.

"A high level of high-rise condos are being built in Calgary and those tend to be location driven. In the Victoria Park area, you can see a whole new community being developed there," says Lai Sing Louie, CMHC analyst.

The CMHC says the downturn in home starts is likely only temporary and things should rebound in 2009.

The Calgary Real Estate Board says senior executives looking for low-maintenance condominiums are driving the market.

The CREB says buyers should take advantage of availability now before it dries up.

Sellers will have a more difficult time, officials predict. They will have to wait on the market for longer periods to get the price they were quoted last year.

[atlas_inc]

Holy Cross pitching condo project
Michelle Lang, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, July 11, 2008

The owners of Calgary's Holy Cross Centre are considering a major residential development on the former public hospital property in trendy Mission and have applied to the city to redesignate land use at the site.

Enterprise Universal, the company that owns the old hospital where a private surgical facility and other businesses now operate, has asked the city to redesignate the land to accommodate a mixed commercial and residential development.

Holy Cross representatives said they will work with city administrators to come up with a plan for the site after the Calgary Planning Commission recommended city council turn down the proposed change.

"We're looking at some kind of residential development," said Stephen Carter, a spokesman for Holy Cross, who said some medical services would probably remain on the site. "We're trying to get it rezoned for (potential) future uses."

Holy Cross has been at the centre of several controversies since the government sold the facility, once a major public hospital, to private interests during the public sector cuts of the 1990s.

Ald. John Mar said the site offers a "huge potential for redevelopment" because it encompasses several hectares of land in the city core. He said it isn't clear if the proposed project would involve tearing down parts of the old hospital.

"It's one of the most exciting areas of downtown," said Mar.

"I expect to see some medical component, some residential, some retail."

The Calgary Planning Commission, however, has recommended against approving the redesignation because Holy Cross did not submit a concept plan for what would be built at the site or an assessment of the impact on transportation in the area.

The Holy Cross's application was expected to go before city council Monday, but Mar said it will likely be tabled so the owners can work with the city on a plan for the site.

[atlas_inc]

Barriers prevent city from innovative development

Richard White
For The Calgary Herald


Saturday, July 19, 2008


The following is the first of a two-part series on innovative development.

Recently, a second delegation of Calgary developers, city officials and the mayor went to Dubai -- a city state in the United Arab Emirates -- to see the innovative developments happening there that are receiving worldwide attention.

John Torode perhaps summarizes it best when he tells me we are too caught up in our "Little House on the Prairie" thinking to be truly innovative.

Ald. Druh Farrell, arguably the biggest champion for innovation at city hall often says: "We are a city built by engineers," when we are chatting about how can we encourage more innovation at Calgary Planning Commission meetings. The same frustration is also expressed by members of the Urban Development Institute's Urban Densification Committee (of which I am a member) where it seems concerns are more about providing access for garbage and fire trucks, than about green design, place-making or timeless architecture.

Of the many barriers to innovation in Calgary, probably the biggest is our lack of a majestic vision.

One of the things I came away with after my visit to Dubai in 2007, was that there exists an incredible, comprehensive vision for every development.

Where we would build a hospital or maybe a hospital complex, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, prime minister and vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, and the ruler of Dubai, cultivated a vision to create a new Healthcare City in Dubai -- a city within a city.

The vision currently under construction includes a Mayo Clinic, Harvard Medical School, numerous private clinics, pharmaceutical labs and offices, condos, homes, shopping, spas, restaurants, entertainment and other amenities for students and employees, as well as accommodations and amenities for the patients and their families.

A second barrier to innovative development is that Calgary appears to be "risk adverse." This includes everyone from investors and developers to city bureaucrats and politicians.

Pension funds, the investors behind most of the new office buildings in Calgary's downtown, are focused not on creating great architecture and monuments to themselves like the power brokers in Dubai, but are very conservative, looking for the most cost-effective building to maximize their short- and long-term returns.

The corporations moving into the offices are also very conservative, more focused on maximizing the number of people per square foot than anything else.

It used to be 250 square feet was designated per employee; it is now 180 square feet.

I was told that office buildings in Dubai are about 70 per cent efficient from a gross to net leaseable area; in Calgary the benchmark is 88 per cent or higher.

If you create less efficient floor plates, you can create buildings that have more interesting shapes and angles, rather than the big box
architecture of Calgary.

New office buildings in Calgary's are not designed to create great architecture and monuments to those behind them.

Instead, the architecture is conservative, as are the corporations moving into the offices which are more focused on maximizing the number of people per square foot.

A prime example of Calgary's "risk adverse" view is the new court house complex.

If this were Dubai, or even Europe a 100 years ago, it would be a grand building with a grand entrance created as a monument to former premier Ralph Klein (a long standing premier of the province and mayor of the city).

Instead, this post-911 building is designed more for security than street esthetics, resulting in an edifice that looks more like an office building, than a major public building.

Lack of a sophisticated marketplace is a third barrier to innovation, according to condo developers, meaning most Calgarians are not very adventurous when it comes to what they are looking for in a place to live.

And most condo developers feel handcuffed by the Calgary market to continue to create the same product as that which has sold in the past. They have no evidence there is a market for smaller, more functional and funkier spaces. In Calgary, the homebuyers' mindset still is "bigger is better."

Consensus-based planning is a fourth factor in the lack of innovation here. Calgary's "community engagement" policy means every project has to go through an exhaustive community consultation process, which in turn fosters "NIMBYism."

Every time a developer wants and tries to do something different or add more density to a site, some community members object because of four issues -- more traffic, more noise, safety concerns and shading issues.

I don't understand why we allow a system whereby a handful of people can object to a project (often based on their own self-interests) and result in delaying a project for months to allow for more studies and more consultation.

We say we want more density, and more work/live/play communities, but when a developer proposes one they get nothing but delays, which costs them -- not the community and not the city -- significant dollars.

While I respect the need to have community and individual input, I also question if they are really willing and able to see the big picture and what is best for the city-at-large.

The current need to build consensus among all of the various departments at the city for each project also impacts innovation. I have seen projects delayed for months while one department debates with another how to interpret and apply policy to a particular project.

I know of one proposed mixed-use development next to an existing LRT station that has been waiting for two years to get a decision from the city if it can proceed, because the city needs to update its thinking on Transit-Oriented Development.

We know high density, mixed-use (office, residential and retail) development at LRT stations is a good idea. Shouldn't we know by now how to evaluate a project and determine if it right for the site?

"Paralysis by analysis" is yet another barrier to innovation. If a developer proposes something that is outside the box, it will often result in months, even up to a year of delays as the city asks for studies or time to study the ramification of the project.

The net result is developers build what can get approved quickly (for example, that which fits with current policy) as it is too costly and time consuming to propose something different.

Calgary's "boom/bust" economy is also not conducive to innovation.

During a boom, developers can't build it fast enough; this results in them building the same thing over and over again.

"Whatever will get approved the quickest" is the mantra of developers during a boom. On the other hand, during a "bust," very little development is happening and what development is happening tends to be very conservative as there is even less willingness to take risks. Necessity is the mother of innovation is another reason why Calgary developers don't innovate -- in other words, they don't have to.

Calgary has lots of land available to develop -- a 20-year supply or more, which means we can continue to build and grow the same way we have for the past 100 years. Even the City Centre still has lots of empty parking lots to develop (e.g. all along 9th and 10th Avenues S.W.).

Innovation often comes when a city runs out of land and has to rethink how to use it in new ways or when pollution or other environmental factors become critical.

Despite the barriers, we do have some innovative projects underway, which I will discuss next week.

Richard White is a Calgary-based writer who has written on art, architecture and urban culture for more than 20 years. He is also an Associate at Riddell Kurczaba Architecture and can be reached at richardw@riddell.ca.

IN SHORT

BARRIERS TO INNOVATION:

- Lack of vision.

- Risk-adverse mentality.

- Lack of sophisticated buyers.

- Consensus-building.

- Community consultation.

- Paralysis of analysis.

- Necessity is the mother of invention.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Energy prices fuelling downtown demand

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald


Tuesday, July 22, 2008


A shift in the demand side of the downtown office real estate market has taken place over the last six months, says a new report by CB Richard Ellis.

After four consecutive quarters of negative absorption -- the change in occupied square footage from one period to the next -- the downtown market is beginning to see some positive numbers with 31,564 square feet of absorption in the second quarter of 2008, according to the commercial real estate firm's latest market overview.

"Rising natural gas and oil prices, inherent since late 2007, are now significantly affecting downtown office demand," said the second quarter report. "Many companies are looking for additional space for expansion. Newly available capital is also allowing new start up companies to seek office space.

"In the sublease market, larger blocks of space are being absorbed by the larger oil and gas companies. The continued tight supply means tenants still have limited options, especially when requiring a large block of contiguous office space in the core."

There's no doubt the downtown office market is contingent on what happens in the oil and gas industry, said Greg Kwong, the real estate firm's regional managing director for Alberta.

"It's contingent on the oil and gas industry and how the real estate community reacts by adding new supply," said Kwong. "You can have strong growth in the oil and gas industry and equal growth in the office development industry and the vacancy rate stays the same. There's no pressure. It's just equilibrium.

"The last three years, the oil and gas industry obviously has gone through probably the biggest growth expansion that I've seen in 20 years and it really took the real estate community two or three years to catch up because it takes three or four years to build office buildings."

He said the demand going forward will continue to remain high as long as oil is above $90 a barrel.

There is clearly a correlation between downtown office space demand and the oil and gas industry, said Richard Pootmans, business development manager of real estate for Calgary Economic Development.

"The energy sector, and the related services to it, are the prime drivers of office space demand in the downtown core without question," he said, adding that the sector has by far the majority of office space in Calgary's central business district.

"We're also seeing growth in the financial services sector as well. And we're seeing a lot of interest as the capital budgets continue to increase for not only conventional, but also oilsands related development, and the staggering budgets for those projects. The financial services sector is also increasingly looking, from frankly around the world, (to locate) branches here and increasing the size of the offices they have here."

CBRE said the downtown office market currently has 5.6 million square feet of space under construction. Nine office developments are underway, four of which are 100 per cent pre-leased. The majority of those projects are expected to be completed in 2010 and 2011, adding two million square feet and 2.7 million square feet respectively to a downtown office market which currently has an inventory of 32.7 million square feet.

Four additional office developments have been proposed for downtown, but not yet confirmed, said the report.

CBRE said the downtown office market saw a marginal drop in overall vacancy from four per cent in the first quarter to 3.9 per cent in the second.

Overall, average asking rates continued to decrease again this quarter from $37.38 per square foot to $35.34 per square foot.

New construction coming online over the next three years will likely increase the vacancy rate, which will depress rental rates, said the report.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Inner-city project postponed
Permit delay affects timetable plans for The Bridges

Chuck Chiang
Calgary Herald


Saturday, August 09, 2008


Construction on the second phase of The Bridges -- one of the largest redevelopment projects in Calgary's history -- will likely begin next spring, says a city official.

The second phase, originally scheduled to start sometime this year, is waiting for the three builders involved to secure the necessary permits, says Colleen Roberts, project manager at The Bridges.

The project is a city-owned development located in Bridgeland on the site of the demolished Calgary General Hospital, just northeast of downtown across the Bow River.

The City of Calgary will wait until construction starts on the second phase before releasing Phase 3 of the project, something that was originally scheduled for late this year.

"We want the Phase 2 builders to be successful," says Roberts. "The more successful the Phase 2 builders are, the more successful the phase three release will be."

Sandlewood Developments, one of the three builders slated to construct parts of Phase 2, says there is currently no timeline on when digging will begin at its site.

The completed Phase 1 of the project adds 425 residential units to the neighbourhood, along with street-level retail commercial properties.

The project is intended to create a pedestrian-friendly community in the inner city, which coincides with city planners increasingly promoting densification in Calgary.

Officials say the location of the site -- within walking distance of downtown and adjacent to an LRT station -- makes the project conducive to sustainable urban living.

The second phase, when completed, will add another 707 residential units to the neighbourhood in the form of apartment condos and townhomes.

In the meantime, city officials say they will be making a major announcement relating to a Phase 2 land parcel in upcoming weeks.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Builder refuses to use 'cattle call'

Richard White
Calgary Herald


Saturday, August 16, 2008


The following is part of an ongoing series on Calgary's condo developers, published each month.

A decade ago, I often heard Calgarians ask: "Why don't we have more contemporary glass condos like they have in Vancouver?"

Well, it didn't take long for Vancouver's condo developers to move into the Calgary market, including Bosa, Qualex-Landmark, Anthem and most recently, Grosvenor.

Chris Colbeck, now the vice-president of sales and marketing for Qualex-Landmark, has a unique perspective on the evolution of Calgary's downtown condo market.

He held a similar position with developer Nat Bosa in the late '90s, during which Bosa built several projects in downtown Calgary's west end -- Axxis, Marquis and River West.

I recently chatted with Colbeck, who now has 18 years of condo development experience in B.C., Washington and Calgary.

I asked him about how Calgary's condo market has changed over the past 10 years, as well as about Qualex-Landmark's unique approach to development.

"In the mid '80s to '90s, Calgarians generally only considered buying a condo if they couldn't afford a single-family home, or they were downsizing, but that isn't true anymore," says Colbeck.

Today, more Calgarians are choosing the inner-city condo lifestyle, which means more time to play and less time stuck in traffic, cutting the grass, painting the deck and other homeowner chores.

The early part of this decade was a perfect storm for City Centre condo developers -- aging baby boomers moving out of single-family homes and into condos; the migration of 100,000 new workers to Calgary (many of whom were young downtown urban professionals wanting to enjoy the inner-city lifestyle); and a lack of residential housing downtown.

"This resulted in a rapid increase in prices as the supply couldn't meet the demand. The condo boom lasted for a few years, but we are now returning to a normalization period where we will probably see a five- to six-per-cent annual appreciation in the longer term.

"This is a much more healthy and balanced environment."

Colbeck reminds purchasers that "history has shown us that homebuying has always been a long-term investment and not a quick flip. If one looks at the long-term fundamentals for Calgary, it is still very positive for buyers who do their homework.

"Those who buy in a good location and from a good developer/builder will do well investing in real estate here. Buyers need to get back to the basics -- make an educated and disciplined buying decision."

His comments are supported by the recent net migration numbers for Calgary announced by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. Net migration refers to the inflow of people minus the outflow.

After negative migration from June to December 2007, Calgary experienced positive migration from January to March 2008.

The net migration to Calgary between this April and the same month last year was 12,441, down from 17,673 between April 2006 and April 2007.

Indeed, Calgary continues to be an attractive place for young professionals from across Canada to relocate and kick-start their careers.

During the past few years, Qualex-Landmark has quietly built two new condos on the 1100 block of 12th Avenue -- Stella in 2006 and Nova in 2008. It is now preparing to start construction of Luna, the third and final phase of this ambitious project.

In addition, the company purchased the Alberta Boot site on 10th Avenue S.W. It is working on a plan that could result in a mixed-use hotel/residential project -- one that could include two landmark highrises of 41 storeys and 51 storeys.

The company also bought the block further west on 10th Avenue immediately to the north of the Co-op Midtown Market where the Luna Discovery Centre is now located.

Qualex-Landmark's commitment to Calgary is significant.

It is a 20-year-old condo development company that has been quite active in the Vancouver market.

Its Pomaria condo project won the Urban Development Institute's Award for the best residential highrise in Vancouver in 2007.

Pomaria is Latin for "apple garden" and refers to the two treed oases located on the 16th and 19th floors. This feature, along with many others, allowed the project to achieve silver LEED status.

LEED stands for Leadership in Environment and Energy Design, an international set of standards for sustainable buildings.

In chatting with Colbeck, one of the things that struck me most was the attention Qualex-Landmark gives to cultivating buyers for its condo units.

While he takes much pride in the company's commitment to delivering quality homes on time, it was his obvious passion for engaging and educating purchasers that struck me as unique.

Qualex-Landmark has a group of 4,500 prospective purchasers, keeping in constant touch with them about upcoming projects -- as well as updates on the progress of construction, approvals and the development of new projects.

The company doesn't do "cattle call" purchasing -- lining up prospective buyers like cattle and trying to get them to make a quick decision to buy before the next person gets it, which is what some call "fear of loss" sales.

With the new Luna condos, Qualex-Landmark will not be having a grand open house for its sales center.

Colbeck's sales team will instead meet with prospective purchasers individually to tour them through the show suites and answer their questions in a relaxed manner.

The sales centre is to open today after all loyal Qualex-Landmark purchasers, investors and registrants have had a chance to look at what is available and determine if they want to buy in.

For them, coming to the sales centre is the last step in purchasing a condo, not the first step.

The result of this approach has been few purchasers backing out after the 10-day recession period. This is a testimonial to the company's commitment to quality, delivery and the individual.

One of the contributions Qualex-Landmark has made to Calgary's condo industry is the introduction of Intertech Construction (ITC) -- an experienced condo construction company from Vancouver -- to build Stella, Qualex-Landmark's first Calgary condo project.

It ensured the quality of workmanship and on-time delivery Qualex-Landmark needed to meet expectations.

As a result, ITC opened a Calgary office and is now used by several other Calgary condo developers.

Colbeck is proud of Qualex-Landmark's "product and process." He believes its team of Rafii Architects from Vancouver, BKDI architects from Calgary, ITC construction and the company's sales team make up the Qualex-Landmark advantage.

For more information on the new Luna condo project, go to www.livatluna.com, call 403-244-2428, or drop by the Luna Discovery Centre at 1120 10th Ave. S.W.

Richard White is a Calgary-based writer who has written on art, architecture and urban culture for more than 20 years. He is also an associate at Riddell Kurczaba Architecture and can be reached at richardw@riddell.ca.

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Is Calgary suffering a 'failure of heart'?
PETER MENZIES

From Friday's Globe and Mail

August 8, 2008 at 7:56 AM EDT

CALGARY — Calgary may rank only 66th on the recently released 2008 Mercer List of the world's 143 most expensive cities, but it has soared 26 spots in the past year and is closing in on Vancouver in the race to be Canada's second-priciest domicile behind Toronto.

This is not good news. While Vancouverites always seem comfortable paying for their own sense of being Eden and Torontonians assume only fools would be incapable of grasping the cost of class, the same cannot be said for Calgarians. Yes, summer is wonderful, but while winter is not terribly harsh, it is long (the leaves will be gone in a mere 60 days), the roads are clogged and we wedge nervously into commuter trains that are either too packed or sparse for physical and psychological comfort.

The streets may be paved with gold for some; for others, they are merely lining the pockets of civic and private parking authorities in this, Canada's most expensive city in which to drive. Office rent is the country's highest and while jobs are plentiful and wages high, real incomes are nowhere near as competitive as they were 10 years ago. Efforts by Christian charities such as the Mustard Seed and Inn From the Cold to establish shelter and housing for the homeless have been rebuffed as inappropriate for a downtown that prefers gentrification. In a city where labour is in great demand, none of these are helpful trends; Saskatchewan offers better real incomes.

Little wonder the city is cranky. Honking and angry fingers are more frequent, happy howdies fewer. Police not only battle road rage, they recently had to deal with "golf rage" after a man was allegedly beaten following an errant shot.

This is a city increasingly in need of, yes, a really good transportation system, but more than anything it needs calm; happy and inspirational spaces and places that ease and enliven the soul and allow for a step sideways off the treadmill that we all know will hit like a hurricane again after Labour Day. Its downtown core, to which city planners are urgently trying to direct new homeowners, contains an imbalance between commercial and cultural influences.

Calgary is at risk of what is described by Pier Giorgio Di Cicco, in his book Municipal Mind: Manifestos for the Creative City, as a "failure of heart" or becoming merely "a place of business, or indentured servitude." It's not likely that Calgary could lose its soul, although it is quite possible it could sell it by mistake. One would expect that if nothing else, its long-standing sense of chauvinism is bristling in response to the very idea that the self-styled "heart of the New West" would beat in anything other than a passionate and prideful fashion.

A city this well-resourced should be able to respond to even these nuanced challenges by releasing its creative minds to give liberty to, as Mr. Di Cicco calls it, "the desire of the citizen for elements one no longer dares to ask for - conviviality, joy, delight in wonder, the shared forum of imagining and play, of unreserved laughter and serenity ... all the playful and ecstatic registers that justify city life." Everywhere there is talk of cultural renovation and innovation, whether it is any of the many successful theatre companies creating or building new homes, completion of the Stampede grounds expansion, a new arena for the Calgary Flames, development of the East Village, a massively redesigned arts centre and district, new condo towers and even an imposing Opera Centre that would replace aging and oh-so-20th-century structures such as the Jubilee Auditorium as the home for things of great beauty; of things that can make people swoon.

All great stuff, but whether Calgary succeeds in using its commercial muscle for cultural flourishing will depend on how fully it can embrace the truth that gentrification is not the answer. It is the spirit of values such as empathy and mercy that fuels the construction of these and other dreams; that stained glass is better than tinted glass and preventing a city with depth of soul from transforming into just a city with lots of stuff depends on understanding that creativity is the path to civic grace.

That is a big ask, perhaps too much. We shall see. In the meantime, we might have to settle for a few more cars on the C-train.

[atlas_inc]

Plan for $1-billion tower goes to city for approval
Five-star hotel part of project in Eau Claire
Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Thursday, August 21, 2008

A proposal for a "state-of-the-art" 30-storey office tower with a commercial podium in the downtown Eau Claire district goes before the Calgary Planning Commission for approval today.

The office tower is the first phase of the $1-billion development plans by Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. for the entire block, named Calgary City Centre, which would eventually include Calgary's first five-star luxury hotel and spa, private residential condominiums and retail space, the Herald has learned.

Cadillac Fairview has lined up a hotel for the site, but that isn't being announced at this time.


It has been rumoured for some time in Calgary's commercial real estate sector that it could be the Ritz-Carlton. Cadillac Fairview has a project under construction in Toronto called The Residences at the Ritz-Carlton, which is a 53-storey condominium-hotel scheduled for completion in 2010.

"Calgary City Centre is about city building," said Wayne Barwise, senior vice-president of office development for Cadillac Fairview. "It will significantly revitalize a key area in the downtown core. . . . The site is strategically located in the middle of three major office blocks, and across from the historic Eau Claire Market."

He said the project will be the focal point in the area and will stitch together three disconnected city blocks through the Plus 15. At street level, he said, the project will bring new life to the area with numerous restaurants, cafes and shops.

Barwise said the company believes in Calgary's long-term economic future, as evidenced by the fact it is investing about $1.3 billion in the community, which includes Calgary City Centre and a $275-million expansion of Chinook Centre.

In May 2007, Cadillac Fairview purchased the 50 per cent interest Calgary-based Aspen Properties had in the block, located between 2nd and 3rd Street S.W. and 2nd and 3rd Avenues. The two companies previously had joint ownership of the block, known as the City Centre project.

The office tower, which would be about 875,000 square feet of office space, is planned for the location where the French Maid now exists on the southeast part of the city block, said Greg Kwong, regional managing director, Alberta, for CB Richard Ellis Ltd., which will be handling the leasing for the new building.

Total density for the entire project will be in the range of 1.6 million square feet.

The project "indicates the optimism that these developers from out of town have for Calgary on a long-term basis," said Kwong.

"It's not a one- or two-year phenomena. We're going to go through over the next 10 years some ups and downs but long-term the curve is pointed up," he said.

The tower proposal is the "first portion of the development -- the eastern portion -- of the entire site," said Barwise.

"The western portion is the subject of a land-use re-designation which has been applied for at the city and which we are in the process of working our way through with the planning department."

It's anticipated that the approvals on the land-use re-designation will be completed in the fall, he said, adding the land-use re-designation incorporates the five-star hotel and condominium residences.

Assuming approval of the development permit and land-use re-designation, construction is expected to start on the project in the second quarter of 2009, said Barwise.

Completion on the site would be in 2013.

The project is planning one tower with 200 hotel rooms and about 400 condominium units.

"It's a stepped tower. It has a podium base that includes a five-star luxury hotel . . . retail and a glass atrium," he said. "And on top of that is a point tower condominium."

Barwise said a hotel is in place. Cadillac Fairview will be holding a press conference in about 30 days to announce and unveil the plans for the hotel and who it will be, he said.

The office tower podium will house retail space.

In a letter to the city's development and building approvals department, Maggie Schofield, executive director of the Calgary Downtown Association, wrote: "The CDA is extremely pleased with the entire proposed development and believe it will positively impact the area."

She also wrote that the "landmark entry proposed for the north side of the building is spectacular."

A letter to the city by Roger Brundrit, president of the Eau Claire Community Association, states: "The architectural design elements of the proposed office building, especially the retail level, are outstanding."

Plus-15 connections will connect the office tower with developments to the east and south. Provisions have also been made in the proposal for future Plus-15 connection to the west half of the site to accommodate future redevelopment of that portion.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

[atlas_inc]

Builder halts Beltline condominium project

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald

Friday, August 22, 2008

CALGARY - Construction of a high-profile multi-million dollar Beltline residential condominium project, which included two towers at 26 and 30 storeys, has ground to a halt due to elevated costs, the Herald has learned.

The news regarding the Gateway Midtown development at the corner of 10th Avenue and 4th Street S.W. comes at a time when the number of new condos under construction in Calgary is at a near record level while the number of condos for sale on the MLS market remains high as well.

A recording on an information line for the Gateway Midtown project says: "You have reached the Gateway Midtown purchaser information line. At this time, we regret to inform you that Resiance Corporation will not be proceeding with construction of Gateway Midtown as insurmountable construction costs have made this project financially unfeasible."

"If you have purchased a suite at Gateway Midtown and you are calling about your deposit, rest assured that your deposit will continue to be held in lawyer's trust or covered under the provisions of the Alberta New Home Warranty Program and therefore protected under the terms of these two provisions. We are unable at this time to answer further questions about your deposit as all contracts associated with the project, including your purchase agreement, have been assigned to the senior lender. You will be contacted by an administrator acting on behalf of this lender to advise you of the status of your contract to purchase. As any questions regarding your contract can only be answered by this administrator, we ask for your patience and understanding while this unavoidable process transpires."

In a statement to the Herald, Resiance Corporation said the Gateway Midtown project is "suspended, at least temporarily, pending the decision of the senior financial lender whether to resume construction." The decision was made because of "dramatic escalations in construction costs, unabated since the project launched in 2005."

There are more than 500 purchasers of units in the 650-unit project.
The company said this decision has also resulted in the downsizing of 41 Resiance salaried and hourly employees.
The number of condos currently under construction in Calgary is 10,643 - 102 units shy of the record established in May, and 44 per cent higher than a year ago, said Richard Corriveau, regional economist for the Prairies and Territories for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

"I have heard rumblings that this might occur," said Corriveau, of the general condo market in the city and projects not proceeding. In the condominium resale market, the Calgary Real Estate Board at the end of July was reporting the month-end inventory of condos for sale in Calgary at 2,888. There were 1,183 new listings added in the month, up 5.91 per cent from July 2007, and sales for the month showed an 11. 28 per cent decrease (535 units) compared with a year ago while the average days on the market to sell a property rose to 52 from 33.

Those numbers had an impact on MLS sales prices. The average sale price in July for a condo in the city was $296,338 which was 6.98 per cent less than a year ago ($318,582) while the median sale price dropped by 8.19 per cent to $273,500 from $297,900 in July 2007.

"What's occurred in 2008 is we've seen a sharp pullback in resale demand. We're seeing a weakening in rental demand and the single-detached new home market has also pulled back in their production quite strongly," said Corriveau. "Now the (new) condominium market stands out as anomaly. It's bucking the trend of what's occurring in every other housing market within the Calgary CMA.

"That poses some concern as you consider the indicators that have fuelled weaker activity elsewhere, it's surprising that the multi-family market hasn't responded."

Those indicators include weaker net migration here, employment growth softening, income growth moderating, rapid price escalation in all markets leading to weaker demand.

But Corriveau said one of the factors acting in the new condo market's favour is the time horizon to construct condo projects and eventhough we are currently faced with weaker demand, the vast majority of these projects aren't scheduled for completion for another year to three years or more.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

© Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Layoffs strike Calgary's once-booming homebuilders
Mario Toneguzzi , Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, August 22, 2008
CALGARY - Plunging housing starts in Calgary this year compared with a year ago has led some Calgary homebuilders to lay off staff.

On Monday, Jayman MasterBuilt laid off 50 employees in Calgary and Edmonton - 30 in Calgary, said Jay Westman, president of the company. The layoffs were in the office and in the field.

"We've spent a lot of time over the last few months in rightsizing our various operations to what we believe is the long-term sustainable housing market for Calgary and Edmonton," he said.

"We spent months in deliberation and sort of held off as long as we could."
Westman said the company has close to 400 employees. It has come close to doubling its staff complement over the last three years. He said the layoff number is about 13 per cent.

"But you have to understand over the last 36 months we had a 100 per cent hiring and growth," said Westman. "We're not just reacting to the slower market of today but we just don't expect the pace to be continued that it's been at from 2005 to say 2007. What we're really doing is gearing for the long-term."

A recent report by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, the third-quarter Housing Market Outlook, forecast housing starts in the Calgary CMA to drop from 13,505 units in 2007 to 12,200 this year and 8,400 in 2009.

In the single-detached market, from January to July housing starts have actually plunged by 41 per cent compared with the same period a year ago.

"Homebuilders are just like any other business. When the market conditions change, we have to re-evaluate our manpower, our processes, our structures and act accordingly," said Norm Mross, president of Canadian Home Builders' Association - Calgary Region.

"Downsizing or rightsizing is something that most builders are currently looking at and it's just a good business decision as in any other industry."

Al Morrison, president of Morrison Homes in Calgary, said the company went through some restructuring several months ago where 19 people were let go - two people moved to a different company it operates. Staff were both in the field and in the office.

"As builders we all came off of a couple of huge years trying to keep up and of course we had to staff up as best we could to keep up with it and now volumes are down so that's an unfortunate thing but we have to adjust our businesses to stay healthy," he said.

Morrison said he knows of a few other homebuilders that have gone through a similar adjustment.

"It just depends how big a rush, how big years you had, when things were going crazy compared to now. We as a company happened to have some great opportunities in front of us at that time and we went with them and our volumes were substantially higher than they are now," he added.

Westman said the past few years was a "frantic market" and today's housing market has slowed "but it's still good."

[atlas_inc]

Home prices skid nearly 10 per cent
Average single-family home now $440,625 amid sales drop

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald


Wednesday, September 03, 2008


The average MLS sale price for a single-family home in Calgary fell by more than nine per cent in August compared with a year ago, while the average condo price dropped by just over 10 per cent, says the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Sales in both markets also declined -- by nearly 11 per cent for single-family homes and more than 17 per cent for condos.

Data released by the board Tuesday showed the average MLS sale price of a single-family home in the Calgary metro area in August was $440,625, down 9.32 per cent from August 2007 when it was $485,914. The average price of a condo in Calgary metro was $287,832, a drop of 10.27 per cent from August 2007 when it was $320,790.

Realtor Lana Wright, with Re/Max Professionals, said August is typically quiet for herself and husband, Steve, but this past month has been busy for her despite what the CREB numbers indicate.

"We're getting a lot more buyers coming in and, in our experience, they're not as pessimistic as other buyers have been," she said. "They're very well-educated. They know what's going on. I think that they're realizing that the market has stabilized and waiting any longer may not do them any justice. So most will take advantage of what's out there in the market."

Wright added typical buying patterns have been thrown out of whack.

"Historically, (the market) picks up in the fall but I would say the last two years we've not been able to count on anything historically because it's been so odd."

Wright said she's also seeing a little bit of a "surge" in her business because of mortgage changes coming this fall. The federal government announced changes taking effect Oct. 15 which include the requirement for buyers to put down at least five per cent for a down payment.

It is also implementing a reduction of government-backed mortgages from maximum amortization periods of 40 years to 35 years.

"People who are in that situation right now -- those are their options for qualifying -- are out there in the market right now looking," said Wright.

In August, according to the real estate board, single-family home sales were 1,170, a 10.96 per cent decrease from the 1,314 sales in August 2007. In July, it was 1,313 sales.

Condo sales in August were 495, a 17.22 per cent drop from August 2007 when they were 598. Condo sales in July were 535.

As for new listings, in the single-family market, there were 2,270 for August, down 19.99 per cent from a year ago (2,837). In July, there were 2,559 new listings.

Last month, the condo market saw 1,054 new listings, a drop of 11.13 per cent from a year ago (1,186) and down from July's 1,183.

Median sale prices also dropped in August. For single-family homes, it was $398,000, down 7.4 per cent from a year ago ($430,000) and down 2.6 per cent from July ($408,500). For condos, it was $268,500 -- off 10.8 per cent from $301,000 a year ago.

Real estate board president Ed Jensen, in a news release, said the median price for single-family homes is under $400,000 for the first time since January 2007, "which may indicate that properties are being reduced in price and that some sellers have waited too long."

Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said declining sales in the Calgary market combined with still high listing levels (5,541 for single-family homes and 2,699 for condos at the end of August) are putting downward pressure on prices.

"Right now it's a matter of consumer confidence," he said. "Pricing uncertainty is impacting consumer confidence. People are taking a wait-and-see position. The actual levels of supply are starting to come down, but it's still going to take awhile."

In July, the average sale price for a single-family home was $456,380 while the median price was $408,500. For condos, the average price was $296,338 and the median price was $273,500.

The average price of a single-family home in Calgary peaked at $505,920 in July 2008 while the condo peak was $332,237 in May 2007.

Year-to-date until the end of August, single-family home sales are down 27.57 per cent and the average sale price ($466,677) is off by two per cent compared with the same period a year ago. Meanwhile, condo sales are off by 32 per cent and the average sale price ($307,640) is off by 2.6 per cent.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

- - -

Calgary Metro MLS Sales

(August 2008)

2008 2007 % Change

Single-family homes

New listings 2,270 2,837 - 19.99 %

Sales 1,170 1,314 - 10.96 %

Average days on market 52 39 33.33 %

Average sale price $440,625 $485,914 - 9.32 %

Median price $398,000 $430,000 - 7.44 %

Condominiums

New listings 1,054 1,186 - 11.13 %

Sales 495 598 - 17.22 %

Average days on market 58 35 65.71 %

Average sale price $287,832 $320,790 - 10.27 %

Median sale price $268,500 $301,000 - 10.80 %

Source: Calgary Real Estate Board

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Bridgeland developer bullish despite slowdown
11-storey project to rise near C-Train station
Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Friday, September 05, 2008

Despite recent warning signs about Calgary's residential condominium market, a developer is proceeding with plans to build an 11-storey project in Bridgeland.

"The Calgary economy is still very strong," said Alex Ferguson, development manager for Apex Cityhomes, of the Crossings at the Bridges project, which will include 142 units -- one and two bedrooms, terrace homes and penthouses.

"We've seen great response. This project itself we think is very different than the downtown condo highrise market."

Ferguson said registrations on the company's website indicate a strong interest in the midrise project, which will be built at 38 9th St. N.E., on the north side of Memorial Drive near the Bridgeland C-Train Station.

The preview centre for the project opens Saturday in Bridgeland at 824 1st Ave. N.E. Construction is expected to begin late this year with completion in 21 months to two years. Prices will range from the mid-$300,000s to mid-$600,000s.

Condo starts in the Calgary Census Metropolitan Area have more than doubled this year compared with last year, said Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

For the year to July, there have been 5,383 condo units started as compared with 2,592 units last year. At the end of July, there were 10,643 units under construction, a rise of 44 per cent from the 7,387 units under construction last July, added Louie. The current number of condos under construction is just below the 10,746 record level reached in May.

"We are in buyer's market conditions. This has been going on basically for the whole year," he said.

Resiance Corp. recently announced that its Gateway Midtown condo project -- 26- and 30-storey towers at the corner of 10th Avenue and 4th Street S.W. -- was suspended due to "dramatic escalations in construction costs."

In the MLS resale market at the end of August there were 2,699 condominiums for sale in Calgary. So far this year, sales in the resale condo market have dropped by more than 32 per cent compared with a year ago, and the average MLS sale price has dropped by 2.58 per cent for the first eight months of this year, to $307,640.

"Relative to demand, there are a lot of listings and that is causing people to take longer to sell, and that means that people re-price and that overhang of supply is putting downward pressure on prices. That's the resale market," said Louie.

In the new condo market, he said, the timeline to build a highrise condo is a few years.

"It's a tough time to be putting more product on the marketplace in buyer's market conditions."

Crossings is the first of two inner-city, mid-rise residential buildings to be constructed by Apex. The Bridges is a City of Calgary master-planned project designed to revitalize Bridgeland on the site of the old General Hospital. There are a total of 17 development sites with a maximum of 1,575 residential units and a population projected to be between 2,000 and 2,500.

"Crossings is really something special," said Ferguson.

"It's an easy walk to the hustle and bustle of downtown Calgary but across the river in the charming and historical community of Bridgeland."

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

[atlas_inc]

Growing pains
Builders taking stock as construction boom meets buyer decline
Kathy McCormick and Marty Hope, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, September 06, 2008

A look across the Calgary skyline shows a steadily growing number of glass-and-steel highrises climbing out of the ground.

Huge numbers of multi-family units are completed, under construction or approved. The level of construction starts has already set an annual record -- and there are still nearly four months to go.

But at ground level and below, there are issues within this volatile housing sector. Most of the construction starts are highrises that were sold during the boom -- highrises in which many speculators bought units in a bid to make some fast money, turning them over as soon as they were built.

Many of those units are now part of the resale MLS inventory, where record levels of homes are for sale, glutting the market.

Prices have dropped, yet fewer people are buying.

Concern has recently been voiced about the number of highrise units approved and/or under construction.

In the wake of that growing concern, fuelled in part by rising costs, Resiance Corp. has announced it has halted work on its twin-tower Gateway Midtown project on the edge of the Beltline area.

Through a spokesperson, Resiance says the 26- and 30-storey condo towers at the corner of 10th Avenue and 4th Street S.W. have been suspended due to "dramatic escalations in construction costs."

Officials with other development companies say the Resiance situation is a concern.

"An unfortunate part of the natural cycle," says Paul Battistella of Battistella Developments, which is active in condo development in the Beltline. "Midtown was a project that was very large and therefore subject to the significant risk of time -- in which costs continued to rise while sales and revenues weren't keeping up."

The length of time required on a project the size of Midtown leaves it open to many potential problems.

A recording on an information line for the Gateway Midtown project said "insurmountable construction costs have made this project financially unfeasible."

This is the second time Resiance has had cost concerns with the 650-unit complex.

In June 2006, Resiance executive vice-president Barry Chow said severe construction cost increases forced the company to increase prices of units already sold by 30 per cent.

The increases were necessary to "allow the project to move forward on a proper financial footing," Chow said at the time.

Plans for Gateway Midtown had been announced a year earlier, and by the time the company went ahead with the price increases, 490 units had been sold.

Chow said that costs had become "very unpredictable," adding that on average costs had gone up 30 per cent year-over-year.

"It's not good news for the industry, but it is part of an overall cleansing process that happens in any industry when the customer is no longer willing to pay ever-rising costs," says Brad Milne, vice-president and general counsel for Statesman Corp.

Construction costs have been rising for several years now, primarily because of increasing commodity prices, he says.

That was fine while condo prices were rising and consumer demand was strong. But in the last year or so, that has not been the case.

"Builders have been absorbing these rising construction costs, not being able to pass them on to the consumer -- and there comes a point when the builder can no longer build for the price the consumer is willing to pay," says Milne.

But Resiance may not be alone in dealing with costing issues, suggests another developer.

"I know of other projects that have been put on hold not only because of the current sluggish market but because costs have risen too high," says Brian McIntyre, vice-president with Assured Developments. "The market will correct itself as it always does, but it could take some time."

Even so, many more condos are planned for the inner city -- many sold when times were a lot headier than they are today.

"Condo starts will reach a record high in 2008," says Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. in Calgary.

He's calling for 7,000 construction starts of multi-family housing by the end of the year -- up more than 22 per cent compared to last year.

"The one surprise this year is the elevated level of multi-family construction, given the buyers' market conditions," says Louie.

Even so, the high number of units will work their way through the system, says Naum Shteinbah, general manager of Streetside Development Corp. in Calgary.

"They always do," he says.

" But for those who have started expensive projects downtown where there are many condos either under construction or planned, they will need strength to pull them through and finish construction.

"Prices are approaching the level where it not feasible to build if it goes down more. Builders who are not financially strong will have a tough decision on whether to sell inventory at a discount and lose money, or whether to hold off on starting projects to generate a lower supply of housing in two to three years."

There are inventory issues involving speculators who are dumping product onto the market, as well as with new construction, says Don R. Campbell, author of 97 Tips for Canadian Real Estate Investors, and president of the Real Estate Investment Network.

Before the market settles down, that excess inventory will have to be dealt with, he says. "It will take a few years to be absorbed, but the good news is that they will be absorbed."

Overall, Campbell is positive about the outlook for Calgary.

"It is slated to be the best in Canada in 2009 and 2010, and while the migration is not at the same level as it was in the "Tiger Woods years" of 2005, 2006, and 2007, it's still one of the strongest in the country -- and housing activity will be up," he says.

In Edmonton, the situation is not as severe -- at least this year, says Avi Amir, president of Homes by Avi, which is building in Edmonton as well as Calgary.

"They didn't build as many high-rises, so their inventory on the multi-family side isn't as high," he says.

Jay Westman, president and CEO of Jayman MasterBuilt, a large-volume builder in both cities, agrees. "The multi-family market in Edmonton seems to be more in balance than in Calgary presently."

However, Edmonton's condo market "is still playing out, so that could change," says Richard Goatcher, senior market analyst for CMHC in Edmonton.

There are a number of new projects out of the ground in Edmonton, with builders saying they have pre-sales, but who are they selling to?

Investors are now walking, prices are falling and deposits are disappearing.

"The new condo inventory is starting to heat up, and that's a strong signal to everyone that it's time to back off on new construction," says Goatcher.

For the first seven months of this year, multi-family housing construction in and around Edmonton has reached nearly 3,000 units -- down 22 per cent from 3,834 starts a year ago, says CMHC .

It could take "a little over a year" until inventory normalizes, says Reza Nasseri, CEO of Landmark Group of Builders.

"Some of the apartment projects in Edmonton that have not been started will most likely be put on ice until the market improves," says Nasseri.

"However, they will be built later. It takes an awful amount of work and time to get a condo project to development stage."

With that, it also takes the multi-family -- particularly highrise -- builder longer to be able to react to the market once it changes.

It takes three to four years to bring a multi-family project from acquisition to construction -- and it takes a highrise building some two years or more to be completed.

The market could change dramatically by then.

"I predict there will be a shortage of multi-family product in three years," says Shteinbah.


© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

International conference to look at city
Billion-dollar makeovers outlined
Richard White, For The Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, September 06, 2008

It's only fitting that an international conference called Metro Makeover will be held as Calgary continues one of the biggest makeovers of its downtown in the city's history.

Hosted by the Calgary Downtown Association, the event by the International Downtown Association is slated for this coming Thursday through Sept. 14.

It's quite timely, given that the ongoing redevelopment of Calgary's downtown could -- if done correctly -- put Calgary on the list of emerging global cities.

The ability of Calgary to impress more than 700 delegates attending the event from around the world will be just one step in elevating the city's status as a progressive centre for urban development.

In thinking about what these delegates will see, I identified five different "billion-dollar makeovers" currently underway:

- At Eau Claire, delegates will learn about the amazing Waterfront condo development by Anthem, plans for the new Eau Claire Market by Harvard, Oxford's Centennial Place office development, and perhaps even Concord Pacific's new condo project.

They will see first-hand that Prince's Island is one of the world's best urban festival sites, and how we have developed a wonderful, natural river walk along the Bow River.

They will also learn about the importance of recreation facilities as a catalyst for residential development.

In my opinion, it was the opening of the Eau Claire YMCA in 1988 that was the catalyst for transforming Eau Claire from a hookers' stroll to a billionaires' row.

- Delegates will also discover Stephen Avenue Walk, a national historic district that has evolved into one of Canada's best restaurant districts (if you don't believe me, just ask John Gilchrist, food critic for the Calgary Herald and the CBC).

I hope they will get a chance to experience the Stephen Avenue "power hour" when more than 30,000 downtown workers pour out of the office buildings at noon on weekdays to stroll the walk for lunch, shopping or just people watching.

Delegates will also learn about the more than $250 million makeover of the downtown core along Stephen Avenue -- TD Square, Calgary Eaton Centre and the old Sears Building -- into a wonderful galleria with a new glass roof, new shops and a new Devonian Gardens.

If that isn't enough, they will also find out about the billion-dollar 8th Avenue Place office/retail development on the old Penny Lane site.

Phase one of this project is a 49-storey office building above a mega 1,143-stall parkade, an outdoor public plaza along 9th Avenue, a four-storey winter garden inside, and retail along Stephen Avenue and at the 15 level, with phase two being a 39-storey office tower.

When completed, the project will be as big and striking as EnCana's Bow project. ( ummm....no)

It is also the first highrise office building in Canada to be pre-certified LEED Gold as part of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Core and Shell program.

In a few years, Stephen Avenue West (west of the big white sculptures), will become as popular a people place as the street's historic district to the east.

- Of course, delegates will hear plenty about Sir Norman Foster's The Bow office tower, which is sure to become Calgary's signature office building (another billion-dollar baby).

But I think they will be more intrigued by what Calgary Municipal Land Corp. has planned for East Village.

Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus -- and this year, he is going to bring us some East Village projects for Christmas.

The first new building will be Enmax's Direct Energy Plant, with the first major infrastructure improvement being the 4th Avenue underpass linking Stampede Park with East Village.

Delegates will also find out about plans for the southeast leg of the LRT, and maybe even some conceptual plans for a high-speed train terminal.

Back in 1995, when I first got involved with the International Downtown Association, the biggest issue facing downtowns across North America was how to get more people to live in the urban core.

During the past 10 years, there has been a dramatic shift not only in Calgary, but in many downtowns, as urban living has become trendy again.

- The transformation of Eau Claire into a trendy downtown residential community was easy to predict given its proximity to the Bow River, Prince's Island and downtown offices.

However, the transformation of Victoria Park into a funky urban village was much harder to pull off, given it had become the "back-of-house" area -- low-rent offices and warehouses, rooming houses for transients, and ugly surface parking lots for downtown and Stampede Park.

It was literally on the wrong side of the tracks.

Fortunately, developers like Cove Properties and Torode not only had the foresight to see the potential of Victoria Park, they were prepared to take the risks to build large condo projects like Sasso, Vetro and arriVa.

Every city centre needs its pioneer developers and the IDA delegates will learn that Calgary has several.

The Calgary Exhibition and Stampede's image as "the greatest outdoor show on earth" has waned during the past few years.

Stampede Park has been left behind by the development of numerous theme parks and other mega attractions around the world.

It is doubtful anyone driving by Stampede Park today would think this is home to the greatest outdoor show on earth."

However, plans for a billion-dollar, mega makeover are now in the works -- and if done right, Stampede Park will compete with Eau Claire and Stephen Avenue as the heart and soul of Calgary.

Delegates will learn about the Stampede's plans for a new Agricultural Building, expanded Roundup Centre, Stampede Trail retail street and Olds College campus.

If this was New York, the new Victoria Park and Stampede Park would probably be branded by a funky acronym like VPSP or STEER (Stampede Entertainment Exhibition Ranch).

- Last but not least, delegates will learn how Calgary's Beltline will become one of the most dense urban villages in North America during the next 10 years.

There are currently more than a dozen condos under construction in the area, with a similar number approved and waiting for the market to improve before construction begins.

The Beltline's Central Memorial Park is currently undergoing a major restoration that will transform it into a gathering place for the community.

First Street will become a hip strip due to the new Arts Hotel retail/office complex, Union Square, Colours and Chocolate condos and two signature Calgary fashion retailers -- O'Connors and Formans Fashion Group.

On the west side of the Beltline, the Design District is evolving nicely due to its furniture stores, galleries and Calgary Co-op's Midtown Market.

New condo projects like Astoria on 10th, Luna and Kai Towers on 11th will soon add a new dimension to living here.

The new Calgary Board of Education building will also add to the live/work scenario for the area -- and with it comes the Family of Man public art group of sculptures.

However, not everything that delegates see will be positive.

They will also learn about the negative side of Calgary's multi-billion dollar boom -- drugs, crime, panhandling, vagrancy and poverty.

They will learn about the successes and failures of city policies like the plus-15 system, its bonus density program, and how parking policies to encourage transit ridership have resulted in

Calgary having some of the highest parking rates in North America.

If you are interested in learning more about the conference and perhaps attending, visit the website at www.ida-downtown.org.

Richard White is a Calgary-based writer who has written on art, architecture and urban culture for more than 20 years. He is also an associate at Riddell Kurczaba Architecture and can be reached at richardw@riddell.ca.

http://www.canada.com/calgaryherald/...fc723317ee&p=1

[atlas_inc]

Calgary office market continent's tightest
Vacancy rate for top space lowest among big cities

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, September 13, 2008

Calgary has the lowest vacancy rate and fifth-highest gross rental rate for Class A office space in a survey of central business districts for major metropolitan markets in North America in the second quarter of this year.

"The outlook for the Calgary market remains tremendously positive," says the National Mid-Year Office Report by Avison Young Commercial Real Estate. "Oil and gas continues to drive the local economy and is bringing all the affiliated service and professional industries along for the ride.

"While vacancy has continued its rise, which began in the latter portion of 2007, the rush of sublease space recently coming into the market is slowly being consumed. . . .

"Breathing room is being found in the Calgary office leasing market."

The report says Calgary, Vancouver and Winnipeg had the lowest central business district vacancy rates for major metropolitan markets in North America at 2.2 per cent, 2.5 per cent and 5.2 per cent, respectively.

New York City ranked fourth at 5.6 per cent; followed by Montreal's 5.9 per cent; Bakersfield, Calif., at 6.3 per cent; Raleigh/Durham, N.C., at 6.3 per cent; Toronto's 6.4 per cent; Boise, Idaho's seven per cent; and Bozeman. Mont., at seven per cent round out the top 10.

While not included in the North American study, five additional Canadian cities had vacancy rates as low or even lower than those reported on -- Quebec City, 1.6 per cent; Regina, 3.1 per cent; Ottawa, 3.3 per cent; Halifax, 3.9 per cent; and Edmonton, 4.5 per cent.

A survey of gross rental rates on Class A space across North America placed Toronto third overall and Calgary fifth at $50.20 US per square foot and $46.76 US per square foot, respectively. New York City led the top five ranking at $90.14. San Mateo, Calif., was second at $52.68 and San Francisco was fourth at $48.76.

Calgary has benefited from the oil and gas industry and that has had an impact on the downtown office vacancy rate, said Todd Throndson, managing partner in the Calgary office of Avison Young.

"Companies that have been in the oil and gas industry, particularly in the oil industry, have expanded significantly their space requirements over the last several years and there are continuing to be new players coming into the market," he said.

And because the vacancy is low, the rental rates are high, added Throndson.

"You also have companies that are doing, in theory, better than other organizations so they can afford to pay the higher rents," he said. "Rental rates where they are at are predominantly dictated by where the vacancy was."

Calgary has supply challenges in the downtown market, said Richard Pootmans, business development manager of real estate for Calgary Economic Development. It's a symptom of the recent high-growth rates in our city, he said.

"A significant factor contributing to the low downtown vacancy is the long lead times required for major office construction projects," added Pootmans.

In Calgary, the overall office vacancy rose for the fourth consecutive quarter to 2.8 per cent, from 2.4 per cent in the first quarter and 0.9 per cent a year ago. The downtown market had a vacancy rate of 2.2 per cent, up from 1.7 per cent in the first quarter and 0.6 per cent a year ago. The suburban office market has a vacancy rate of 4.5 per cent, up from 2.5 per cent in the first quarter and 1.9 per cent a year ago.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com


© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Duke's trust here to Stay
Aristocrat feels confident Calgary will be 'good for us'

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, October 12, 2008

As economic turmoil continued to grip worldwide markets, Gerald Cavendish Grosvenor, the Duke of Westminster, one of England's biggest landowners and chairman of Grosvenor Trusts, visited Calgary this week to tour the company's commercial real estate properties here.

Grosvenor is an international group of property businesses with regional investment and development businesses in Britain, Ireland, the Americas, Europe, Australia and Asia Pacific. Grosvenor had a presence in Calgary for 11 years before consolidating its operations in Vancouver in 2002, but it re-established its office here in June 2007.

The company is currently concentrating on residential and retail properties, which include Crowfoot Corner, Crowfoot Village, Coventry Hills Shopping Centre, the downtown Venator Building and two proposed inner-city highrise condo developments.

The duke sat down with the Herald for an exclusive interview.

Question: Why is the company investing in Calgary again?

Answer: We've been investing in Calgary really for almost 11 years now. We've now taken a view that we have great confidence in Calgary. We've got great confidence in Alberta as a province.

I suppose we are cautious in our approach, which we are conservative with a small 'C' and when we make a move, we make it very deliberately . . . because we have one underlying philosophy and that is: once we make a move, we're there to stay.

Q: Why do you have that confidence in Calgary and Alberta?

A: It's your commodity-based economy . . . which we've got great faith in for the future. We think that your province turning in a surplus this year of some $12 billion is a well-run province. So it doesn't take a huge brain to see that really, with that sort of surplus, with that sort of administration, we feel very confident that Alberta, Calgary, specifically, will be good for us.

Q: Why have you concentrated now on the residential and retail commercial sector, and do you foresee any office involvement for the company?

A: There's some six million square feet of offices either being built or in the planning pipeline.

The annual take up of offices in Calgary is just nearly 600,000 square feet.

So with those sort of mathematics, we perhaps feel that residential and retail will be the best to go for at the moment.

But we never close our minds when the time is right. Perhaps we just don't feel the time is right.

Q: In light of what we're seeing globally, where do you see the future for commercial real estate development in the city?

A: If anybody was able to tell us where we would be this time next year, they'd be a greater man than I.

This is my fourth recession. And the dynamics of this recession are very different to the other three.

I think it's fair to say the other three recessions in the properties sector were made by the property sector. This one is not.

I've never encountered a recession where the shortage of liquidity in the banking system has been so severe. However, we invest not for today. We invest for tomorrow. We obviously take a view on the short-term economic situation, but in the final analysis we've been running London for 320 years now and we're not a public company, so we don't have the pressures that public companies have. We can take the long view. We believe that property is a long-term business.

Q: Do Calgary and Alberta have the economic fundamentals to weather this economic storm better than most other places?

A: Yes, I believe you do. I've just heard that your latest forecast to the year-end you're looking at 1.9 per cent growth. Well, in the 17 other countries that we operate in, I'd like to have that luxury of having growth of 1.9 per cent, or growth at all.

Your commodity-based economy and, of course, the accessibility of your commodities, especially your oil, makes Alberta an exceedingly attractive place.

There will always be a challenge to attract a skilled workforce into Alberta in order to be able to exploit those opportunities. But the opportunities are there.

You have a well-educated population and the combination of that is about as irresistible as one could find anywhere in the world at the moment.

Q: When looking at the commercial real estate industry, is there one sector that faces more challenges today?

A: Probably offices is certainly my experience. Probably more price sensitive in terms of what is happening to the economy.

The thing about retail is that people still have to keep buying. As long as retailers are offering goods at the right price, people will buy. But of course, businesses are open to different dynamics, so we often find that it is the office market that is the most price sensitive, and certainly over the last four recessions I've been through, that's been very much a feature.

Q: How long will this economic crisis last?

A: We haven't reached the bottom. There are still some fairly uncomfortable shocks to come, specifically in Europe.

The actions of government have been pretty bold, much bolder than the last three recessions I've been through. But of course, this is by far the most serious one.

How long will it go on for? I think we're going to have a very uncomfortable time until next spring. We will then probably flatten out for a while at marginal growth, but very marginal. Probably under one per cent. Towards the end of next year, we'll begin to see the seeds of recovery.

Q: What is it going to take to get us out of this?

A: Confidence. Simple as that. That sort of thing you can't buy. There is undoubtedly a large sum of money stacked up ready and waiting to go into various different markets. In fact, I heard the other day that there is more money now backed up ready to go than any time since records began.

But as soon as the confidence factor is unlocked and as soon as people feel able, they will then make the jump and go into the market. On that basis, I think recovery will be quicker than maybe some people realize.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com


© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

New developments bring needed space
U.S. crisis expected to hit smaller firms

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald


Saturday, October 18, 2008


Downtown Calgary's office vacancy rate of 3.49 per cent will soar over the next few years, says a report issued Friday.

The vacancy rate for downtown office space will balloon to nearly 12 per cent by 2012 as millions of square feet of new development are completed, says a new report by commercial real estate firm Colliers International in Calgary.

And the current economic malaise gripping our neighbours south of the border, with its ripple effects around the world, will impact Calgary's downtown office market in the future.

"What we're seeing now is a little bit on the catastrophic side given what's going on in the U.S. right now. Not to mention volatility in energy commodity prices," said Randy Fennessey, president of Colliers International in Calgary.

The Colliers report is forecasting a 3.49 per cent vacancy rate by the end of the year and absorption to be zero. Absorption is a term used in the commercial real estate industry to indicate the positive or negative change in occupied square footage from one period to the next.

Fennessey said the company is projecting absorption next year to be less than the historical average -- about 400,000 square feet in 2009 with the historical average over 600,000 square feet.

"We believe there's going to be some fallout in the Calgary market resulting from the financial crisis south of the border," he said.

"I think what you're going to see is that the larger energy companies will carry on and they'll do just fine, but you're likely going to see a situation where it's very difficult for the junior sector to raise capital. If that prevails, then we would anticipate seeing some consolidation within the junior sector of the energy market."

According to Colliers, the current downtown office vacancy rate is 3.49 per cent with an overall inventory of almost 33.7 million square feet. The report said more than 5.8 million square feet of new office development will be completed by 2012 -- 355,000 square feet this year; 339,939 square feet in 2009; 2.4 million square feet in 2010; 1.0 million square feet in 2011; and 1.7 million square feet in 2012.

"What we've had . . . is about 600,000 square feet of tenants move out of the downtown core this year -- either have already or will by the end of the year," said Fennessey. "That's negative absorption. In other words, a reduction in the amount of occupied space.

"If you look at who left the downtown core, a lot of those companies are engineering firms like Bantrel and Golder and others," said Fennessey.

"Bell is another good example, and a number of insurance companies -- non-energy companies that don't need to be in the downtown core nor can afford to pay the kind of downtown rates that they're faced with these days."

In the coming years, a significant increase in the supply of space will push the vacancy rate up over time, added Fennessey.

"Who knows what's going to happen in 2010, let alone 2011 and 2012, but in those three years we're simply going to have our 15-year average of absorption, which is 632,000 square feet and change," he said.

A recent economic outlook by Calgary Economic Development said 2009 will not likely bring much relief in terms of the downtown vacancy rate as most of the major projects that will leave space on the market will not be completed until the 2010-11 time frame.

It is only then that the Calgary downtown office market will likely achieve a more balanced status of between eight and 10 per cent vacancy depending upon absorption performance, said the 2009 Calgary Economic outlook, authored by Adam Legge, vice-president and chief economist for the CED.

"Fears of overbuilding in Calgary's office market are unfounded, for developers are doing far more due diligence than has been done in previous building cycles," said the report.

"Additionally, a balanced market is generally accepted to be between eight and 12 per cent vacancy. . . . That level of vacancy -- eight to 12 per cent -- provides tenants choice, sufficient blocks of contiguous space and still enables landlords to operate successfully."

The report said the one per cent vacancy rates experienced a few years ago are not the norm, "and any deviation from those historic or record lows is not indicative of a faltering economy."

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

CALGARY DOWNTOWN OFFICE VACANCY RATES FORECAST 2007 3.21 % 2008 3.49 % 2009 3.47 % 2010 8.56 % 2011 9.41 % 2012 11.94 %

Source: Colliers International in Calgary

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servl...ory/RealEstate


ROOM FOR KIDS
A condo rare as diamonds
With three-bedroom units just not available, how family-friendly is our building stock?

From Friday's Globe and Mail

October 24, 2008 at 12:00 AM EDT

By mid-century, the lack of family-sized condominiums in the Toronto area may prove as effective a birth control measure as China's one-child policy.

Granted, the dramatic shortage of affordable three-bedroom suites may not replace the pill, but it is certain to make people think twice about where they are going to raise more than a single child.

The simple fact is that since 1981, the number of three-bedroom condominiums built has been negligible. Ones, one-and-dens, twos and two-and-dens, yes, and in great numbers, but three-bedroom units? Forget it.

"The number of three-bedroom units built since we started tracking condos in 1981 has been much less than 1 per cent of the 166,273 total suites built," says Jane Renwick, executive vice-president of Urbanation Inc. "It has represented a ridiculously small percentage. In some submarkets, it is as low as 0.3 per cent and I don't think it ever goes much higher than 0.8 per cent."

The reason is simple, say market watchers and builders alike: Little or no demand.

"The simple fact is that couples still think the best place to raise children is the way they were probably raised — in a single-family home or a townhouse with a backyard and maybe a basketball hoop in the driveway," says Barry Lyon of N. Barry Lyon Consulting Ltd. "It is a distinctly North American point of view on life and it has yet to change."

But change it will, for change it must, Ms. Renwick says.

"Concrete lasts 200 years, so how will this situation change the face of the city 50 or 100 years down the road?"

It is a rhetorical question. The boom in condos and the shrinking availability of land for detached houses in suburban areas means the Toronto area will have a huge stock of homes suited for singles, couples or families with just one child. Any family unit larger than that will have to double up on bedrooms.

And that is only one face of Toronto's future. Today's condo projects are geared to providing ultimate lifestyles for grown-ups; kid-friendly buildings are nearly non-existent.

"If families of the future are going to live in high-rise condo projects then they will need places on each floor to play; they will need outdoor recreation areas and they will need all those important small touches like light switches children can reach and elevator-floor buttons that are within range of short arms," Mr. Lyon says.

While the city of Toronto is pressuring developers to include family-suitable suites in their projects — as much as 10 per cent of total numbers — the builders are very reluctant to do anything larger than two-bedrooms and a den.

"If you offer three-bedroom suites, they are always the last ones to sell," says Mazyar Mortazavi of TAS DesignBuild. "They eventually find a buyer but the price you have to charge puts them nearly in the same market as luxury suites."

In short, if you build three-bedroom units, look for people with deep pockets. Prices are almost certain to start at $500,000 for anything bigger than 1,100 square feet.

TAS has included three-bedroom units in past projects such as DIA in the Yonge Street and Finch Avenue area and at M5V just south of King Street, east of Spadina Avenue. It is currently offering an as yet undecided number at Giraffe, where Bloor and Dundas streets meet in the west end.

"They are definitely not starter homes," he says. "They appeal mainly to those from Europe and the Middle East where apartment living is the norm."

Aspen Ridge Homes has taken a leap of faith at its new Scenic project on the south side of Eglinton Avenue just west of Leslie Street. Scenic will include a pair of high-rise towers with a total of 360 suites. Of that total, 15 will be three-bedroom suites starting at $536,000.

"It is the first time we have tried them," says Christene DeGasperis, the company's director of sales and marketing. "Our consultants say there is a market in the neighbourhood, mainly among new Canadians.

"Green Park did a project nearby and offered three-bedroom suites; they did well so we have reason to believe these will sell also."

The Eglinton and Leslie and Dundas and Bloor neighbourhoods are anomalies, says Jim Ritchie, senior vice-president sales and marketing at Tridel Corp.

"There are areas of the city where you can justify building a limited number of three-bedroom suites, but by and large the demand is just not there," he says.

"Because you need at least 1,100 square feet for a three bedroom, you have to charge something in excess of half a million dollars and the sweet spot in the market is between $250,000 and $400,000. Anything above that means a much greater risk."

Can developers ever hope to meet the city's goal of at least 10 per cent family suites in new buildings in today's market climate and with today's costs?

"If they are talking three-bedroom suites, then no way," Mr. Ritchie says. "The market is just not there right now."

[atlas_inc]

Eau Claire project could face delays
Downturn creates climate of uncertainty

Kim Guttormson
Calgary Herald


Monday, October 27, 2008


The first phase of plans to redevelop Eau Claire Market will go before the city's planning commission this week, with the developer hoping to break ground next spring.

But given the softening of residential sales and the economic turmoil in the markets, a Harvard Development executive says the start of construction could be delayed.

"The credit market has tightened, the residential market has slowed," said Blair Forster, the Regina company's vice-president of development.

"It's more about picking the right time to enter this market, as opposed to whether you're going or not going."

The bumpy economy and plunging value of oil has everyone re-evaluating projects and plans, from households to the city itself.

"It's not as rosy as it once was," said David Watson, the city's general manager of planning, development and assessment.

"But the sky's not falling."

Calgary, the scene of frenzied building over the past few years, is now in wait-and-see mode with dozens of major projects either about to break ground or with applications pending.

There have already been signs of a cooling market. The value of building permits issued by the city is down 23 per cent in the first nine months of this year.

And the city's annual socio-economic outlook released last month predicted a "healthy slow-down."

With one Beltline condo project already put on hold -- work actually halted before the markets started to melt last month -- city staff and aldermen are keeping a watchful eye on the state of development.

"There's a lot of uncertainty out there, people are watching the market," Ald. Druh Farrell said.

Many share Forster's view that Calgary and the province are well positioned to weather the economic storm, and Harvard had already planned to build the $750-million reinvention of Eau Claire in phases.

"Sixty-five per cent of this project is residential in nature," Forster said of the development, which includes 700 housing units, several restaurants, a grocery store and hotel.

"You want the best opportunity to generate pre-sales that will meet your funding requirements and get going.

"But obviously if you can't sell any condos, then you can't get debt and you can't build it. I think if you came out with a pre-sale today, it would be the wrong time to do it.

"We have to let some of the negativity move out of the market."

Plans to be in the ground next spring make sense, he said, although that could be pushed back to summer.

"Hopefully the credit markets are freed up and the housing market has started showing signs of recovery," Forster added.

The building market tends to be cyclical, with industry catching up to demand, as it has been over the past few years, and then slowing down as that demand lessens.

Watson said developers overbuilt in Calgary over the past couple of years and that even without the global factors there would have been a cooling off. The unknown factor is how the international economic uncertainty will affect the local market.

At the same time, the city is re-evaluating its own projects, including whether the economic climate could lead to more competitive bids on large projects like the west leg of the LRT or if private-public partnerships still make sense.

Ald. Gord Lowe, chairman of the finance committee, said the city needs to be on the lookout for any opportunities that may arise from the turmoil.

Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial, said municipalities have been competing with the for-profit sector and paying the price.

But if those companies now defer projects waiting for the economy to settle, cities such as Calgary could take advantage of freed-up labour and less demand for building materials.

At the same time, tighter restrictions on credit could mean municipalities and the provincial government will have to take another look at using public-private partnerships.

Trevor Broadbent, manager of the city's corporate project management centre, noted an Alberta Infrastructure economist suggested it may be more difficult for private partners to obtain the financing to participate.

"If those private-sector partners aren't able to access capital and credit, it could leave them in the lurch," Hirsch added. "I wouldn't want to be ringing any alarm bells, but I do think it's something they need to be aware of if they're looking at a P3 model."

Calgary is just starting to develop a policy that would determine what projects might be eligible for a P3.

Broadbent's department next reports to the city's finance committee on construction trends, cost escalation estimates and ways to try to mitigate those costs in January. He believes they may have to re-evaluate the cost escalation estimates they've issued, including 15 per cent for next year. That's the amount the city builds into projects to accommodate the anticipated rising costs.

Lowe said he's interested to see the next update.

"Even by January the picture may not be clear enough," he said. "But it's prudent to keep an eye on it."

kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Calgary real estate still a safe haven
Housing values enjoy steady increase

Mario Toneguzzi
Calgary Herald


Tuesday, October 28, 2008


With all the volatility in the stock market, people are forgetting another investment vehicle -- real estate, says the president of the Calgary Real Estate Board.

Ed Jensen said Monday that appreciation values in Calgary's housing market have risen dramatically since 1990 when single-family home MLS sales averaged $136,842 and condominiums averaged $98,142.

"A residential home is the greatest long-term investment vehicle. The cost of land, materials and labour are not going down over the long term . . . The Calgary real estate market has weathered the current economic slowdown well. We've been working towards a normalized market since the first of the year. And slowly our inventory has been coming down and our market sales remain steady from January forward. I believe we'll continue to do so and we're perfectly positioned for long-term investment opportunities right now in this market if someone's looking to buy," said Jensen.

According to realtor Mike Fotiou, of First Place Realty, so far this month up to Oct. 26 the average MLS sale price for a single-family home was $446,698 while for a condo it was $291,458. Both are slightly up from the sale price average in September.

However, the month-to-date sale prices are down from last year, when they were $452,254 for single-family homes and $331,617 for condos.

Fotiou's website also shows single-family home sales so far this month were 675 (1,152 for September) and 329 for condos (465 in September). For all of October 2007, there were 1,113 single-family home sales and 501 condo sales.

The average MLS sale price for single-family homes peaked at $505,920 in July 2007 while for condos it peaked at $332,237 in May 2007.

Jensen agreed that some potential homebuyers might be fence-sitting waiting to see where prices are going in the local real estate market, but he added there is a selection of property for sale today which allows a potential buyer the ability to negotiate the price.

"We may be in for some continued slower times for this quarter, but I believe this is the kind of market where real estate bargain hunters can find those great deals, but if you're not out there looking you can't find the best deal. And it's hard to negotiate the best deal when the market has turned the corner and everybody's buying," said Jensen. "I believe there are people out there just trying to time the market like the stock market."

There is definitely some fence-sitting taking place now in Calgary's real estate market, said Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

"Once you're in buyer's market conditions when there's some price weakness it tends to affect people's confidence. So, similar to a stock market where people were buying at a certain price and then prices start falling, they don't know if they should sell or when they want to come back into the market . . . at some point they will. But usually as prices stabilize and tend to start to drift up, people get the sense that we're in balanced conditions again," he said.

Two major things have happened in October, but it's uncertain how that has impacted MLS sales in the Calgary market, said Louie.

Mortgage changes took effect Oct. 15, which include the requirement for buyers to put down at least five per cent for a down payment. The federal government also implemented a reduction of government-backed mortgages from maximum amortization periods of 40 years to 35 years.

Another factor in the current MLS sales is the "tremendous erosion" in equity values on the stock market. So people who were saving for a down payment will likely have to wait for those equities to rebound, said Louie.

"So that wealth effect in terms of people potentially having that money as a down payment may be delaying some purchases," said Louie.

He said Calgary is also in a seasonal period where sales slow down in the fourth quarter.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

- - -

MLS Fall Prices for City of Calgary

Single family average price $446,698 $444,048

Single family median price $386,000 $395,000

Total single family sold 675 1,152

Total active single family listings 5,766 5,387

Condo average price $291,458 $287,426

Condo median price $268,000 $265,000

Total condos sold 329 465

Total active condo listings 2,766 2,659

Source: Mike Fotiou, First Place Realty

© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Ray of hope for development
Marty Hope, Calgary Herald
Published: Saturday, November 01, 2008

Gateway Midtown may well rise again.

There are reports circulating that an eastern Canadian financial institution is considering buying the twin-tower condominium project that was shut down by Resiance Corp. in September.

"I've heard there is a potential buyer group and that they are now doing their due diligence on the project," says a veteran industry player who preferred to remain anonymous. "But there's still a ways to go before anything is definite, though."

Gateway Midtown was envisioned by Resiance Corp. partners Wallace and Barry Chow as a complex made up of two towers -- 26 and 30 storeys -- at the corner of 10th Avenue and 4th Street S.W. on the edge of the Beltline district.

But a recording on an information line for the Gateway Midtown project early in September said "insurmountable construction costs have made this project financially unfeasible."

Only a gaping, fenced-off, partially completed foundation is all that's left of the Chows' vision.

This was the second time Resiance had cost concerns with the 650-unit complex.

In June 2006, Resiance executive vice-president Barry Chow said severe construction cost increases forced the company to boost prices of already-sold units by 30 per cent.

The increases were necessary to "allow the project to move forward on a proper financial footing," Chow said at the time.

Plans for Gateway Midtown had been announced a year earlier, and by the time the company went ahead with the price increases, 490 units had been sold.

Chow said that costs had become "very unpredictable," adding that on average they had gone up 30 per cent year-over-year.

Anyone who takes over the Midtown Gateway project must first conduct due diligence -- an important step in making any business decision.

It means someone is not only interested in acquiring a site, but has also put some refundable money with the vendor -- and is calculating such things as all the costs, the strength of the market, the full details of the construction plans, and all the planning documents and approvals required by city officials.

"This takes time, but it is more positive than nothing happening," says the industry source.


© The Calgary Herald 2008

[atlas_inc]

Planning for the future city with a vision
Calgary has expanded outward for decades, but a new plan is designing a 'compact city.' In the next 50 years, can we find the right fix?
Jason Markusoff, Calgary Herald
Published: Sunday, November 16, 2008

Utopia for some Calgarians means an affordable home with a transit stop and beloved coffeehouse a few steps away. For many, many others, it's a new spread on a tranquil cul-de-sac, far from the city racket.

City officials say a Calgary that may reach a population of two million people in 50 years can't keep spreading out like it has, but know developers and consumers still want varying lifestyle choices.

They're trying to craft that perfect city with Plan It, a comprehensive document for long-term development in Calgary -- proposing walkable neighbourhoods, mid-priced inner-city housing, new suburbs within a vast transit network and pockets of office and condo towers.
Sustainability experts hail Garrison Woods as a model for growth


"Right now, we are stuck in a freeway superstructure-based network of segregated land uses that keeps all the houses away from many shops and employment and really forces everybody to own and operate a vehicle," says former real estate developer Jim Dewald, now an expert in global management at the Haskayne School of Business.

It may seem a stretch, but you must aim for the stars if you want to hit the moon, says David Watson, a veteran city planning manager who is determined not to let this plan be shelved.

When it's complete in February, Plan It will put stricter limits on the next 30 years of growth and include incentives to build more densely in existing neighbourhoods. It will also demand that future budgets contribute to making this vision a reality. Earlier this month, council approved the plan's key directions and will vote again next year on the full version.

Some aldermen and business groups worry the plan's hard targets and definition of a "compact city" will overly favour urban density over the new suburbs that welcomed 92 per cent of Calgary's population gain between 2002 and 2006.

Many people like what the outer suburbs have to offer as opposed to dense inner-city neighbourhoods.

"There's a great view here, with the rolling hills," Narmin Vasanji said, explaining her and her husband Farid's decision to buy their first home in Kincora, on the northern outskirts.

"My friends in other cities, they're used to it being more dense, more really high condos . . . they're surprised we have so much space in Calgary."

For Jennifer and Tarl D'Haene, Kincora offered an affordable three-bedroom house, close to family and friends in Airdrie, with a nice-sized yard for their 41/2-year-old daughter and 21/2-year-old son. "Actually, we'd prefer an acreage, but there's nothing out here for us like that," she says.

Both women say they're frustrated with perpetual construction around them and other growing pains of a fledgling suburb. Residents will have to wait years for a school to be built or even approved, so elementary students are bused nearly 15 kilometres to Cambrian Heights. D'Haene predicts that when her daughter reaches school age, she may either request to send her to a closer school or they will move.

The lack of schools might delay the Vasanjis' decision to have children, says Narmin, who grew up walking to school in northeast Calgary. But a more pressing issue for her is the distance to any of the overcrowded LRT lines that can get her downtown.

"I know it's better for the environment, and the traffic is quite a headache," the accountant says. "It's one of the things I find challenging here -- it's not like Toronto, with a great and quick subway system."

The nearest library to Kincora is four kilometres away, and the fire station in a temporary house is five kilometres away (although a permanent station closer by is proposed for 2012, at a cost of $15.8 million). City Hall counts more than two dozen neighbourhoods as "incomplete communities" which still lack basic amenities and services.

Garrison Woods, by contrast, is hailed by sustainability advocates as a model for urban growth. Ian Darnley, whose family moved there from Toronto three years ago, is thrilled to be able to walk to his local Safeway, and have easy access to downtown.

"We've never been ones for being miles out of the city in cooke-cutter suburbs," says Darnley, a business director for a charter aircraft company.

But there are far fewer Garrison Woods than Kincoras in the city, and the suburbs are the only affordable option for most homebuyers. Plan It will seek ways to encourage more choices like it throughout the city.

Targets for growth

With Plan It, the first document to combine the city's transportation plan and municipal development plan, Calgary will set a target for how much growth occurs within existing districts, rather than in ever-expanding suburbs which requires annexing farmland.

Earlier this year, city planners suggested that only 35 per cent of growth in the next 50 years should happen along the edges, with gradual targets for each decade, says Plan It manager Patricia Gordon. Developers and homebuilders, mounting a joint lobbying effort, propose the city work its way down to a more modest 70 per cent over a half-century.

The building industry is warning that if Calgary overly restricts the suburban housing that sales show people want, the development, and its tax base, will move to other municipalities.

"If you press on the accelerator pedal too hard without a clear destination of where you want to be, you may have to undo a whole bunch of stuff," says Dennis Little, representative for the Calgary branches of the Urban Development Institute and the Canadian Home Builders Association.

Developers are already responding to demand with more diverse neighbourhoods, Little says -- such as Mahogany in the deep southeast, which is twice as densely packed as subdivisions of a decade ago.

Watson, who piloted the city's Go Plan of 1995, which in many respects failed to curb sprawl, says the city won't disallow new communities. But Plan It intends to concentrate the growth in transit-ready corridors and offer more lowrises and townhouse-style choices. He muses about adding to development charges for things like roads, sewers and parks for new neighbourhoods, which developers already complain add onerous costs for homebuyers. But expansion still strains city coffers. While the city's latest budget proposes dramatic tax hikes, Mayor Dave Bronconnier admits Calgary had to scale back transit improvements and other services to keep property taxes from going even higher.

"I'm quite prepared to let the market decide, as long as the market is pricing the costs to the city in total," Watson says of levies for new development.

The look of the future

Signs of what a Plan It future would look like in existing communities have already been springing up as redevelopment proposals around several C-Train stations. But residents are fighting against it -- worried about how the proposed highrises, thousands of new workers and urban boulevards will make their communities unrecognizable.

Last week, a crowd gathered at a town hall to berate a new Brentwood-area plan. Noland Krush said he just bought a house there to enjoy tranquility away from the "noisy, dirty, busy" downtown.

Already, he finds the LRT station too busy in the morning and drives to work instead. Although the city stresses the proposed Brentwood highrises and lowrises will come gradually over two or three decades, he sees a mess brewing right now.

"It's clear that the people will come before infrastructure that will service them," Krush says. "We were looking at living here for the next 30 years. But do we want to raise a family in this? I don't know."

Already underway

The first new transit-oriented development plan passed easily in June -- next to Chinook station, far from residents. Brentwood's proposal goes before council next month. But another resistance movement has focused on the Anderson station, where the park-and-ride would be replaced by a more dense array of office and condo towers.

Ald. Ric McIver, whose ward borders Anderson station, says the city should prepare more modest, five-year growth proposals instead of the radical change of 30-year plans.

"If you take a 4,000-person community and you say to them we're going to put 4,000 more people in, you scare people that their quality of life is going to be ruined, and I can't blame them," he says.

Developers face no such neighbourhood resistance as they expand on the periphery.

"You're still building the city for people," Little says. "But now Plan It Calgary says we're building the city to save infrastructure, we're building the city to do this, we're building the city to do that. And we use that lens to choose our solutions and sometimes we're forgetting what people really want."

Gordon, the Plan It manager, admits the city needs to sell its message better, which it's starting to do through talks with community associations, the Plan It design summit this past weekend, as well as a city-wide open house later this month.

"There's a (connection between) more people living in a community with a better level of services -- better retail, better commercial, all sorts of things," Gordon says.

"Would you be happy as a citizen to have (Calgary) all growing on the edges, or can we balance that? People get, that because all that growth happens on the edges, all those cars still come through their communities."

At Chinook station, Brentwood and elsewhere, the strip mall will give way to walkable "urban boulevards" with sidewalk-level businesses and offices or homes above them.

"We can no longer afford to squander land on single-floor retail developments," says Ald. Druh Farrell, who supports the Brentwood development in her ward.

The city has proposed one such makeover for International Avenue in Forest Lawn. At present, people must drive to the Vietnamese noodle house, then to the bank and the Mediterranean deli and back home. Walking is an unsavoury option, "on choppy sidewalks along the street where trucks zoom by," says Carlos Santos, chairman of the International Avenue Business Revitalization Zone.

In the redesign, slower traffic and rapid-transit buses pass wide sidewalks and street-level shops, with lowrise apartments above them and rowhouses nearby.

"For businesses to have five stories above with residences, that would be great," says Santos, who runs a 17th Avenue photography studio.

But that's Plan It's concept for 2050. Santos acknowledges it will take "baby steps" to get there, with work beginning now with small grants for beautification.

That vision also takes heaps of taxpayer investment, builders' interest and neighbourhood co-operation -- and, Gordon says, determination to see Plan it come to fruition.

"If you don't look that far out, you'll never get where you want to go," Gordon says.

jmarkusoff@theherald.canwest.com

Plan It Calgary will be presented to council in mid-2009.

It will be based on eight key directions which council approved this month:

1 Balance growth between established and new communities

2 Provide more choices of housing in "complete communities" that include shopping, jobs and public amenities

3 Create a web of major city corridors and mixed-use districts

4 Link land-use decisions to existing and proposed transit networks

5 Improve mobility choices -- walking, transit, cycling -- to move more people without generating more traffic

6 Develop a city-wide rapid transit network

7 Ensure enough diverse road types for pedestrians, transit-users, cyclists and drivers

8 Get the most out of the city's infrastructure dollars

[atlas_inc]

Alberta housing more affordable, remains overvalued: Report

By Mario Toneguzzi
December 8, 2008 9:32 AM

Alberta's housing conditions have softened since prices peaked in 2007, with declining prices restoring some of the affordability lost during the boom, according to the latest housing report released today by RBC Economics.

The RBC Affordability measure for Alberta, which captures the proportion of pre-tax household income needed to service the costs of owning a home, improved across all home segments with the benchmark detached bungalow dropping to 43 per cent, the standard townhouse to 32.1 per cent, the standard condo to 28.2 per cent, and the standard two-storey home to 46.4 per cent.

The report said peak prices led to a rush of new sellers and a move to the sidelines by would-be buyers, loosening Alberta's market conditions considerably since the summer of 2007. Sales-to-new listings ratios are lower, demonstrating a better balance between buyers and sellers. In the third quarter, further price declines in most housing segments contributed to affordability conditions improving between 0.8 and 2.2 percentage points. However, affordability measures still remain high, suggesting the province's housing markets remain overvalued, at least relative to household income, said the RBC report.

The report said housing markets have "retreated significantly" since the start of the year. In the first 10 months of 2008, sales of existing homes have plummeted 26 per cent in Calgary and 14 per cent in Edmonton. Compared to the third quarter last year, the market value of all four housing types RBC tracks has dropped between six and 11 per cent in Calgary and nine and 17 per cent in Edmonton. "Sellers are no longer in the driver's seat."

In Alberta, "as stiff headwinds blow on the provincial economy and erode consumer confidence, homebuyers will be reluctant to step into play until affordability improves more significantly," said Robert Hogue, senior economist at RBC. "The province's housing affordability conditions still have a fair way to go before returning to long-term averages."

"As concerns mount about the economy, spurred by the sharp drop in energy prices that sent shivers down homeowners' spines, the housing markets in both Calgary and Edmonton are expected to retreat even further in 2009."

RBC's Affordability measure for a detached bungalow for Canada's largest cities is as follows: Vancouver 74.8 per cent, Toronto 53.3 per cent, Calgary 47.3 per cent, Ottawa 43.3 per cent and Montreal 40.4 per cent.

The Housing Affordability measure, which RBC has compiled since 1985, is based on the costs of owning a home. The higher the reading, the more costly it is to afford a home. For example, an reading of 50 per cent means that homeownership costs, including mortgage payments, utilities and property taxes, take up 50 per cent of a typical household's monthly pre-tax income.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Increase in Calgary's available office space a bad omen: CBRE

By Mario Toneguzzi
December 16, 2008 11:00 AM

A marked increase in downtown Class A sublet office space in two key Canadian office markets - Calgary and Vancouver - is a harbinger of what to expect in most other leading Canadian office markets in 2009 and beyond, says commercial real estate firm CB Richard Ellis in its 2008 year-end report, released today.

"We know that the fundamentals of the office market are going to decline, the real questions are where, when and how much?," said John O'Bryan, vice chairman of CBRE.

Calgary and Vancouver each showed sizeable increases in the amount of available downtown Class A sublet space on the market, said the report. Calgary's figure increased to 33.1 per cent from 26.6 per cent from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. Vancouver saw an increase to 43.7 per cent from 15.2 per cent in the previous quarter.

"A larger than normal increase in the amount of sublet space on the market, particularly in a short time, is a warning that the economy is under stress," said O'Bryan. "In times of sharp economic downturns or anticipated economic difficulties, companies cut back on the amount of space they use in order to reduce costs. Often they may have leased more space than they required in anticipation of future growth, but as the economy turns down, they see their growth curtailed or shrink. As a result, they put their space or some part of it on the sublet market."

The report said the "deteriorating economy" will impact each region of the country differently, but Calgary and Toronto likely will see the largest increases in available space because of substantial office building construction which will be completed between 2009 and 2012.

O'Bryan said an overhang of space will require a "revitalized economy" to bring the markets back into balance.

At a national level, CBRE said the fourth quarter marked the first time in 22 quarters that the absorption rate for downtown office space fell.

Downtown office space vacancy rates rose in six markets in the fourth quarter from the previous quarter: Vancouver to 3.1 per cent from 2.3 per cent; Calgary to 5.2 per cent from 4.1 per cent; Edmonton to 5.5 per cent from 5.3 per cent; Winnipeg to 5.9 per cent from 5.5 per cent; Toronto to 4.9 per cent from 4.7 per cent; and London to 14.8 per cent from 14.5 per cent.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

January 21, 2009
SQUARE FEET
A Boom in Office Towers in Calgary

By LINDA BAKER
CALGARY, Alberta — When the Bow, an office tower under construction in downtown Calgary, is completed in 2011, the 58-story building will be the tallest structure in Canada west of Toronto.

Designed by the London architecture firm Foster & Partners, the Bow is to have a crescent-shaped exterior, three floors of indoor green spaces for employees to enjoy and passive solar orientation to reduce energy use. Its cost is about 1 billion Canadian dollars, equal to about $800 million.

“It’s a fascinating building,” said Alan Boras, a spokesman for the Bow’s future tenant, EnCana, one of Canada’s largest oil and gas corporations. “We hope it will be a place Calgarians can be proud of.”

The Bow is one of eight office towers under construction in downtown Calgary, a city of one million people and the headquarters for Canada’s fossil fuel industry. Prompted by a rise in oil prices in recent years as well as expanded production from Alberta’s enormous oil sands reserves, the office boom also reflects this city’s growing attention to bold architecture and environmentally friendly construction.

But even as the Calgary skyline is being transformed, the global credit crisis and the implosion in oil prices are beginning to take a toll. Mr. Boras said that EnCana would drill about 40 percent fewer wells this year but that the cutbacks would not affect its plans to move into the Bow, which is named after the river bordering downtown.

The project is not without problems, however. In November, the Bow’s owner, H & R REIT, said it was having trouble securing construction financing, although work had not been halted.

None of the office projects have been put on hold, said Greg Kwong, regional managing director for the Calgary office of CB Richard Ellis. Nevertheless, the pace of leasing is down, and developers are worried about a glut in the marketplace as the new crop of towers is completed. Vacancy rates in existing buildings are up, although only to 5.2 percent, a rate that most other cities would envy, but still considerably higher than the level of about two years ago.

Fossil fuel companies and concerns that do business with them occupy 75 percent of the office space downtown, said R. Scott Hutcheson, chief executive of Aspen Properties, a local real estate company. “When that industry tanks, it has a domino effect,” he said.

Aspen is developing Palliser South, a 300,000-square-foot cantilevered office complex due to open next summer. So far, it is only 33 percent leased, Mr. Hutcheson said. “We are crossing our fingers in this environment,” he said.

A couple of years ago, the mood in this city, about 80 miles east of the Rocky Mountains, was almost giddy. From 2003 to 2007, as oil prices escalated, downtown office rents rose by two and a half times, to 39.60 Canadian dollars a square foot, from 15.25. In 2008, rates dipped to 38.20 Canadian dollars, about $30.56 at current exchange rates. Office vacancy rates went from just under 12 percent in 2005 to less than 1 percent in 2007, Mr. Kwong said. “The market absolutely rocked,” he said.

Developers paid attention. “We looked at oil prices, saw them going up and had lived in Calgary long enough to realize that means we are going to need space,” said Randy Magnussen, senior vice president for Bentall Real Estate Services.

Bentall recently completed the Livingston Place development, the first building in Calgary to be built on speculation in 20 years, at a cost of about $115 million. The project, which has twin towers covering about 800,000 square feet, is leased to Pengrowth Energy Trust, Marsh Canada Ltd. and Mercer Human Resource Consulting Ltd.

The expanded output of Alberta’s oil sands reserves, considered second in capacity only to Saudi Arabian reserves although harder to extract, also fed the surge in construction, Mr. Kwong said. From 1998 to 2008, oil sands production doubled, to about one million barrels a year, said David McColl, an economist with the Canadian Energy Research Institute.

The eight new office towers, covering 5.5 million square feet and representing an increase of almost 15 percent in downtown capacity, suggest a new design sensibility for this city, often described as a “cow town” because of the Calgary Stampede, considered the world’s largest annual rodeo.

Existing buildings are boxy and conventional, said Richard White, an architect and former official of the Downtown Association. Now developers are creating structures that “express the synthesis of the angularity of the mountains and ice fields with the flatness of the big blue prairie sky,” he said.

In an effort to upgrade city architecture, the City Council voted in December to hire the renowned Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava to design two pedestrian bridges over the Bow.

Green construction is another distinguishing feature of the office towers. Environmental consciousness began here a few years ago, when Calgary became the first major Canadian city to adopt a requirement that public buildings meet the standards established by Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design.

These measures are administered by the Canadian Green Building Council, a sister organization of the United States Green Building Council, which created LEED ratings. The city’s sustainable building efforts are being imitated in the private sector.

Bentall Real Estate Services is developing Jamieson Place, a 38-story tower aiming for LEED silver certification. Future tenants include ARC Resources, a fossil fuel trust. “Environmental stewardship is critical to our employees,” said Terry Gill, vice president of corporate resources for ARC Resources.

Early leasing for Jamieson Place took a year and was completed in December 2007, Mr. Magnussen said. Today, landlords are not quite so lucky. Eighth Avenue Place, a blocklong landmark development still under construction, has no tenants at all. The LEED gold-rated building, featuring a roof that resembles a “sculptured mountain peak,” with plantings that collect and filter rainwater, is being built on speculation, said John Smith, vice president of 20Vic, the managing developer. “It was a question of anticipation of demand in the marketplace,” he said.

Then there is the Bow, which is fully leased to EnCana but does not have all of its financing. Larry Froom, H & R’s chief financial officer, said the company hoped to resolve the issue by the end of March. If that does not happen, H & R may sell assets, Mr. Froom said.

In the energy industry, there are indications of a slowdown. In contrast to previous years, oil sands growth will be “practically zero” from 2009 to 2013, Mr. McColl said. The end of the industry’s frantic growth is a factor as office rents have been reduced and sublease space has increased to 33 percent of all vacancies in 2008, up from 20 percent in 2007, Mr. Kwong said.

Still, the impact of the downturn is not expected to be as severe as others in city history, he said. After oil prices collapsed in 1991, vacancy rates in Calgary increased from about 7 percent to more than 20 percent in a single year.

Today, oil sands plants, which take much longer to build than conventional oil operations, help stabilize the market, even though new projects have been delayed, Mr. Kwong said.

By 2011, Calgary’s downtown footprint may be big, bold and green. One thing will not have changed. “There has been a certain amount of diversification in Calgary over the past 10 years,” Mr. Hutcheson said. But the city, he said, still runs on oil and gas.


http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/21/bu...calgary&st=cse

[atlas_inc]

Changing the face of the inner city

Kathy McCormick - Calgary Herald January 24, 2009

It's no surprise that Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. is calling for a drastic drop in construction starts of multi-family housing this year.

Slightly more than 7,000 units were started in the city last year, up 23 per cent from 2007, the highest level since the boom in the early '80s just before the crash--only back then, almost all of those starts were for rental apartments.

This year, CMHC is forecasting just 1,700 starts for multi-family housing.

"Building permits in The City of Calgary for apartments have amounted to only 12 units in the past six months and this indicates a lower level of activity," says Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst with CMHC. "Much of the construction activity in 2009 will be from foundations poured in 2007 and 2008."

A large part of that new growth happened in the inner city, especially the area south of the downtown core known as the Beltline.

The area is north of 17th Avenue South, and south of the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks. It's bounded by 14th St. S. W. on the west and the Elbow River on the east.

"In 2008, there was a high level of condominium construction in the Beltline, especially in the neighbourhoods of Victoria Park and Connaught," says Louie. "These two areas combined experienced 2,183 condominium starts in 2008 (to the end of November)as compared to the annual total of 545 units in that area in 2007."

And 2,000 more units have been approved and are "pending," says Louie.

The ones already built will need to be absorbed before anything new starts--"in a market place that favours buyers," says Louie.

That could mean some projects may never be built, says Paul Battistella, president of Battistella Developments. The company is in the final stages of Colours by Battistella, its latest highrise development in the Beltline.

"Rumours are running up and down 10th Avenue (south),"says Battistella. "There are a number of units that are under construction, but my guess is that there is going to be a correction and some are not going to continue to completion."

Some highrise developments where under-ground parking garages are now being built could just have them capped off at that point and construction halted. "That makes a whole bunch of sense at this time," says Battistella. "Being in the hole gives them a head start when the climate for sales comes back."

He predicts that "if the project is not out of the ground right now, it's not going to come out of the ground"--at least in the near future.

One of the largest multi-family developers in the area--and indeed, one of the largest developers, period--is Torode, which also has commercial and office construction.

It began the massive rejuvenation of the Victoria Park area with arriVa, a huge condo tower project that has changed Calgary's skyline.

Torode is changing some of its plans, says president John Torode.

"We have decided to turn our third proposed condo tower of 42 storeys into a 10-storey boutique hotel instead," he says. "It opens up the north side of the project to downtown views and makes sense connected to the condo--and then it's not as large a project that we have to complete."

The second tower is now under construction, but another Torode project just down the street, Viva, has been cancelled, says Torode.

The company's plans to add a residential component to its popular Hotel Arts location just down the street on 12th Avenue will remain on the drawing boards--at least for now.

"A number of projects have been cancelled in the Beltline," says Torode.

"That's both good news and bad news, but it does reduce the number of projects coming to market and that should bode well for those projects that will go ahead. In 2009 and 2010, we won't see the magnitude of new units coming on the market that was originally thought."

Calvin Buss, president of Buss Marketing, agrees. His company specializes in helping people find investments in the inner-city condo market, as well as some recreation and investment properties.

"Some who can hold on will do that with their developments," he says, adding that such companies will "probably find the market (coming) back sometime this year--but the prices won't come back this year."

With the amount of speculator units for sale in the area, and resale competing with the new, prices may decline even further to keep new units competitive, he says.

"And you're also competing with any buildings that do go under, where another developer can pick up the building for a lot less and sell for a lot less," says Buss. "Developers either drop prices or give the development back to the bank."

Another factor is the huge supply of condos on the market, says Louie.

"There is downward pressure on condo prices as demand is lower relative to supply and this is challenging developers to get their cost and revenues right to make a project viable," he says.

Construction starts of multi-family housing have remained strong since 2000. That year saw 4,344 starts, the best level since 1982.

Since then, the numbers have been just as high: 3,790 in 2001, 4,926 in 2002, 5,116 in 2003, 5,775 in 2004 (a new record), 4,938 in 2005, 6,564 in 2006, 5,728 in 2007 and 7,051 in 2008, the highest number since 1981.

Such a large amount of condo projects is helping change the face of the inner city, says Louie.

"The Victoria Park neighbourhood is being rejuvenated and transformed into a higher-end condominium neighbourhood within walking distance to the central business district," he says.

"A visitor to the area can visibly see the transformation as construction workers continue to build the highrise apartment condominiums.

"The Connaught neighbourhood is dominated by highrise rental apartments and condominiums."

The Beltline is teaming with amenities and close-by services, attracting a growing number of professionals who work downtown, as well as retirees and empty-nesters alike.

As more mixed-use developments are added, more services, shops and amenities come into the area. Renters who like the neighbourhood can become homeowners in a similar location by buying a condo.

The arts and culture scene in the city is centred around downtown, as are many restaurants, clubs, and entertainment venues.

Stampede Park and the Pengrowth Saddle-dome are nearby, and the Talisman Centre is within walking distance.

Things weren't all easy for the area in 2008, despite its attractions. At least one development, Midtown Gateway at 10th Avenue and 5th Street S. W., was closed down last year when its developer, Resiance Corp., declared bankruptcy.

The project was slated to have as many as 500 housing units in two towers. Construction had been started on the underground parkade.

"There has been some activity around that site lately," says Battistella, although no sale of the site has yet been announced.

With some projects on hold and others almost finished, "I don't see a huge number of units flooding the market," he says. "I don't think that will materialize."

Battistella's Colours, for example, is nearing completion. Located at First Street and First Avenue S. W., the 22-storey building has 208 units in total, of which 15 to 20 per cent are left to sell.

"We're close to moving people into that building and have a good selection of units left-- more than I'd like, but not unwieldy--at prices from the high $200,000s," says Battistella. "Prices aren't down from what they started selling at, but they are off a bit from the peak boom."

Although he won't build another highrise in the near future--he has a smaller, four-storey woodframe condo apartment in Renfrew planned for his next project--Battistella is still confident in the future.

"If the product is in a good location and it's a good product that's priced appropriately, something will change that will allow for a normal market again in future," he says.

"The amount of traffic we are seeing, and the interest we are getting, has been a surprise with all of this going on. We're getting lots of people and I think there's a bit of pent-up demand because everything has been on hold for so long.

"People are super cautious, but it is going to be fine and values are going to hold."

However, the crystal ball remains fogged on when that might turn around--and it won't be before things change in the world economy, says Buss.

"Until consumer confidence turns, we're not going anywhere, and that won't happen until the job losses in North America cease and job creation is positive. You also need stability in the stock market--some resurgence in oil prices."

"We will see what psychological currency Obama will bring to the presidency, and the effect the financial global stimulus packages have. We need that altogether to create a positive climate for the buyer.

"Once we have that, it's psychological and it can turn quickly, but we need solid evidence that it is happening. Meanwhile, we have a huge number of investors just waiting for the bottom and when they sense it's there, they'll start buying quickly."

[atlas_inc]

Market stalls condo project
Inner-city revival efiort delayed
By Joel Kom, Calgary HeraldJanuary 31, 2009 8:07 AMBe the first to post a


Work on Crossings at the Bridges, seen in this model, was halted Friday until the real estate market turns around. A Bridgeland condo project, once hailed as a shining example of inner-city development, is being put on hold because of the falling real estate market.

The first condos in the Crossings at the Bridges, a 142-unit project that's part of the landmark Bridges development, were due to start being sold in February, with construction to follow shortly after.

But then the global financial crisis and Calgary's dropping real estate market arrived, leading developer Apex Cityhomes to send out notices on Friday to hundreds of potential buyers that plans were being postponed until the market rebounded.

"We would have had 45 to 55 sales (right away), which is fantastic for a launch," said Bryan Logel, the Crossings' project sales consultant, "but then what?"

Logel said the company risked not getting a second wave of buyers, crucial to any developer.

"Were we going to be at the stage where some builders are second-guessing their developments and returning deposits?" he said. "It's a tough decision to make, but I think it's the right decision."

Logel said the delay is not the equivalent of the project's death knell. "In no way are we going to walk away from this," he said. "We've worked too hard on this. Our investment is still there."

The Crossings' condos, which were priced between $300,000 and $900,000, were due to be the latest addition to an environmentally friendly project that the city held up as a model of inner-city development.

Located near the Bridgeland C-Train station and the site of the demolished General Hospital, it was the second phase of the 15-hectare Bridges project that's slated to house up to 2,500 people by the time it's done.

Ald. Joe Ceci said Friday's news was a letdown.

"Hearing that there's a delay is probably something that's going to be a disappointment to those folks (in Bridgeland)," he said.

That's exactly the word used by Jacqueline Arling, director of planning for the Bridgeland Community Association.

"It's very disappointing from our perspective because we want and encourage good development in our community," she said, adding many in the community were looking forward to seeing the Crossings materialize.

She wasn't worried Apex would abandon the project, but was concerned about the safety issues poised by the vacant lot, particularly as the area has noticed more crime since the Cecil Hotel closed.

Logel said Apex has secured the lot and will maintain it throughout the delay.

Richard Corriveau, a regional economist for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said Friday's news isn't surprising.

CMHC forecasted 2,500 multifamily housing starts for 2009, far below the 7,000 Calgary accrued last year. And he suspects the forecast will drop again.

"It's a tremendous decline, but it comes as no surprise to the industry," he said.

Ceci, for his part, wasn't worried the Crossings would never happen.

"God's not making any more land," he said.

jkom@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Council approves growth in Hillhurst Sunnyside
Last Updated: Tuesday, February 10, 2009 | 11:15 AM MT
CBC News

Calgary city council has approved a rule change that will allow higher density housing in the northwest neighbourhood of Hillhurst Sunnyside.

The neighbourhood will likely see several apartment buildings no more than 10 stories high built along Kensington Road, 10th Street and 14th Street. Smaller apartments and secondary suites will be allowed on other streets.

"We can build it in a sensitive way where it can fit in without destroying a neighbourhood that I think most of us truly value," said Ald. Druh Farrell, who lives in Hillhurst Sunnyside.

The changes, approved Monday, reflect the city's desire to have more people live around C-Train stations, an idea termed "transit oriented development" (TOD).

While many residents in other neighbourhoods have opposed the idea, there is widespread approval for it in Hillhurst Sunnyside.

The neighbourhood, just north of downtown, is no stranger to the impacts of the C-Train. When the Light Rapid Transit (LRT) line was first built in the 1980s, it cut the neighbourhood in half.

Barbara Gosling, a longtime resident of Hillhurst Sunnyside and a member of the community association, said the neighbourhood has come to realize the benefits of the C-Train.

"For our neighbourhood the initiative to look at ways to increase density was as much about us being an inner city neighbourhood that knows the cost of urban sprawl, as about the TOD focus on the proximity to the LRT station," she said. [Emphasis added]

The redevelopment rules, which could mean an additional 2,000 to 3,000 people living in Hillhurst Sunnyside, may have been approved by council, but it might be several years before any construction begins.

The debate over transit-oriented development cropped up first in the northwest community of Brentwood, where despite the controversy over the project, the city has given tentative approval for enough high-density housing to add 6,000 people to the neighbourhood.

The city is also looking at high-density development around Banff Trail, Lions Park and the future station of Canyon Meadows. A plan for Chinook station was approved in June.

[atlas_inc]

Vacant condos create unease in Calgary market

Going Ahead; 'Very few' projects have been cancelled
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary HeraldFebruary 11, 2009 9:01 AM

Condominium towers and other developments under construction in the Beltline.
Photograph by: Dean Bicknell, Calgary Herald, Calgary HeraldA national housing report says new unsold condominiums are becoming a concern in the Calgary market.

The Altus Group Housing Report said most of the unsold units in Calgary are already completed or under construction and the expected decline in new condo apartment sales this year could lead to a "sizable" increase in the number of completed and vacant units.

"Many buildings in Calgary began construction with less than 50 per cent of the units pre-sold," said the Altus Group Economic Consulting report.

There are indicators of a"much more serious problem for Calgary," said the Altus Group.Those indicators include a high level of condominium starts in 2008 (5,335 units) and a high level of condos under construction. The pace of condo starts has also declined "dramatically" since the end of July, but "very few projects in Calgary have been formally cancelled so far."

The biggest cancellation was the two-tower downtown project known as Gateway Midtown.

"Excessive investor activity has also been a concern in Calgary," said the Altus Group report. "While the percentage of condominium apartment units offered for rent declined in Calgary be-tween 2007 and 2008, the vacancy rate rose significantly from 0.7 per cent to 3.5 per cent."

The report said there is"clearly a large oversupply of product" in Calgary and "more project cancellations would help move the market back into balance more quickly."

One of the reasons overbuilding tends to happen in a number of markets is due to the difference in construction times between single-family homes and condos, said Robert Feldgaier, senior director with Altus Group.

"With ground-related housing, it's a lot easier to adjust construction to changing market conditions, whereas with the lead time for apartment construction and the actual time to build a building, depending on the market, there's a significantly longer lag in adjusting to the market conditions," said Feldgaier.

In Calgary, most of the projects that have been on the market have proceeded to construction even if they haven't achieved even half of the units being sold, he said, adding "there's not likely to be too many new projects starting this year."

The lower level of multi-family starts in Calgary has been a trend since the middle part of last year, said Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.The number of condos under construction hit a peak, and record, of 10,746 units in Calgary in May 2008, he said. Last month, that number had dropped to 7,351 units.

Louie said the percentage of condos absorbed, or moved into, at completion in January was 82.5 per cent. In September, the percentage was 100 per cent.

Also, in the resale market the CMHC tracks new and vacant listings. In January, 8.1 per cent of condos on the resale market were new and vacant. In November, it was 9.5 per cent, said Louie.

He said there were only nine condominium starts in January and for the City of Calgary there were zero apartment building permit applications for the month.

The Altus Group report said that with mortgage rates already near historic lows, unlike the last recession, "developers need to ensure that their product is priced appropriately since affordability will be key to attracting buyers."

"Developers should look for opportunities to target younger owner-occupant buyers seeking attractively priced product as well as empty nesters in neighbourhoods where there may still be relatively few projects from which to choose," said the report.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Condo market correction underway
Updated: Fri Feb. 13 2009 18:49:43

ctvcalgary.ca

Seven thousand condo units are under construction in Calgary right now and as the economy slips, many buyers are trying to get out of their contracts.

In British Columbia, one developer is suing buyers who have walked away from their deposits and some people are worried that could happen in Calgary too.

In some new condo buildings, buyers are trying to sell their units as soon as they take possession, even if it means taking a substantial loss on the property.

Officials say there is currently more than six months of oversupply in the condo market right now and more than 200 empty units.

But the Canada Housing and Mortgage Corporation says there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

The CMHC says in the long-term, the condo market will regain its value as demand returns to normal.

In Alberta, developers have two years to sue for Breach of Contract. Experts recommend talking to a real estate lawyer before making any decisions on terminating their contract.

[atlas_inc]

Wave Of The Future

Marty Hope
Calgary Herald


Saturday, February 14, 2009


A proposed multi-million-dollar redevelopment of part of a northwest Calgary shopping mall has been called a "proving ground" for future mixed-use projects that will hug LRT lines.

Ald. Druh Farrell says the vision being proposed for the Brentwood community will be carried on to other transit-oriented developments (TODs) being considered by city officials.

"This area will be a proving ground for future, similar developments," says Farrell. "The city is looking at it as a model for others to come."

Meetings have already been held with residents in Hillhurst/Sunnyside regarding an area redevelopment plan, she says, adding talks are scheduled for this spring to discuss a TOD planning strategy for the Banff Trail/Motel Village area.

"We will be closely scrutinized as Brentwood will be the first TOD and we look forward to the opportunities this will allow," says Joe Starkman, an ownership partner in Knightsbridge Homes, who has partnered with Toronto-based developer Metropia to undertake the development.

The joint-venture partnership putting together the Brentwood Village plan has received land-use approval from the city on the first phase of a much larger TOD that could see as many as 8,500 more people living and working in the area on the east side of Crowchild Trail across from the University of Calgary Research Park.

First-phase work, which could last as long as seven years, isn't likely to start on the Brentwood retail/residential complex until either 2010 or 2011. Total build-out is estimated to be 25 years.

Despite controversy swirling around the planned reconstruction at Brentwood Village shopping centre, the joint-venture partners undertaking the project are confident they can win over their future neighbours.

Meetings with the city and community will continue, including their involvement in a design charrette--a brainstorming session--for Blakiston Park scheduled this spring.

"I can understand the fear of the unknown, but once they see what we have planned and we get more involved with them, they will better understand the vision and how it will all work. Then, I think, most opposition will subside," says Metropia president Howard Sokolowski, who is also president of the CFL's Toronto Argonauts and Toronto-based house builder Tribute Communities.

Starkman says the proposal for the 568,000-square-foot first phase calls for the construction of five residential buildings with between 500 and 600 units and with underground parking. Four of the buildings will have street-level retail components.

Renderings provided by the development partners show two high-rises close to Crowchild that could be between 20 and 24 storeys high.

Behind them, and across an internal street that will be built, is a pair pair of shorter towers planned to be 12 to 16 floors high. The building closest to the existing community and Blakiston Park would only be three to four storeys high.

Starkman, whose company is well known in Calgary for its innovative approach to designing and building high-end homes, says the vision for Brentwood is in keeping with the city's plan --the creation of an urban village.

"This would solidify Brentwood as a key employment hub in the northwest as well as giving multiple housing choices in the area for existing and new residents," he says, adding that the employment aspect has been created over the years by the university, its research park, Foothills Medical Centre, the new Alberta Children's Hospital and the existing Brentwood Village Mall.

While land use approval has been received, Sokolowski says he doesn't expect to get a development permit for a year.

Farrell says, though, that with the number of permit applications declining, the Brentwood approval could come in six months.

But, she says, because the proposed development is in a community that hasn't seen much in the way of new development in several years there are obstacles and challenges that have to be dealt with.

"For Calgary and for the Brentwood area, this is a major shift in planning," she says. "It's a way of creating density, employment and walkable communities around public transit while respecting the character of the surrounding communities."

Sokolowski says that while this is an innovative development for everyone involved, care will be taken to ensure it is done properly.

"Because it is in an established community that hasn't seen much in the way of new development for quite a while, we are aware and sensitive to the issues being raised by our surrounding neighbours," he says. "After all those years, they are now facing some intense high-rise redevelopment."

What makes Brentwood so appealing for this type of development is the nearby rapid transit, existing retail amenities, and access to hospitals, the university and the research park, adds Starkman. It also provides the developers with an opportunity to blend various housing styles.

"We anticipate a mix of housing to include apartment condominiums, townhomes, live/ work residences, seniors' housing, and perhaps some affordable housing opportunities," says the Knightsbridge partner.

"The mix will not be unlike what is currently found in Bridgeland and The Bridges--a project that has been redeveloped by the city in partnership with local builders and architects. There is also the opportunity for a 100 or so room suites-type hotel."

As for the buyer pool, Starkman sees existing community residents as possible purchasers, along with newcomers to the area working at the hospitals or at the research centre, and some investors.

"Perhaps there will be some looking at the small group of townhomes fronting on Blakiston Park that will have retail on main level with living quarters above," says Starkman. "In our opinion, this live/work aspect assists safety at Blakiston Park with, essentially, eyes on the park on a 24-hour basis, and will further enhance the urban village concept."

---------

In Short

PROJECT: Brentwood Village Transit-oriented Development (TOD). This is the first TOD to be done by the city as it attempts to increase density and provide employment centres along LRT lines. The first phase of the Brentwood project will consist of five residential buildings, four with street-level retail. They will range from as high as 24 storeys down to three or four storeys.

DEVELOPERS: Knightsbridge Homes of Calgary and Metropia of Toronto. AREA: Brentwood, in northwest Calgary.

TIMELINES: The first phase is expected to get under way in 2010 or 2011 and take five to seven years to complete. The total project has an estimated build-out time of 25 years.

© The Calgary Herald 2009

[atlas_inc]

Businesses snap up Beltline office space
Downtown Alternative Proves Popular; 92 per cent of new space pre-leased

By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary Herald February 19, 2009 9:01 AM

The Beltline office market continues to be an attractive one for Calgary businesses.

Of the four office buildings under construction in the area neighbouring the downtown core, 92 per cent of the total 655,000 square feet is pre-leased and three of those buildings will be completed this year, says a Calgary Office Market Report by Avison Young Commercial Real Estate.

The popularity of the Beltline is evident in the office absorption rate in 2008.Absorption is a term used in the industry to indicate the positive or negative change in occupied square footage from one period to the next.

Total absorption for 2008 was 321,500 square feet. Only 147,000 square feet were absorbed in 2007 and the only other year in the past 10 to have exceeded the amount of absorption taking place in 2008 was 347,600 square feet in 2004.

Last year, there were available blocks of space or new buildings coming onto the market, said Larry Gurtler, principal with Avison Young in Calgary.

The peak of the market was the beginning of 2008, he said.

"The rental rates in the downtown were such that you could look at a Beltline building and feel pretty comfortable about saving some money by getting into a new building in the Beltline rather than paying some of the rates in the downtown," said Gurtler. "And I think that's been a shift.

"Calgary always works in its wave effects. So as the downtown tightens, everything sort of filters out into the Beltline and then out to the suburbs thereafter, and sort of falls back the same way when we decrease."

Commercial real estate activity in December and January slowed down because of economic uncertainty, said Gurtler.

"But it seemed like the end of January -- I don't know about everybody else --but we got really busy and it started to pick up again. Everybody that needs to do something is doing something,"he said. "So there's still leases expiring and there's been a few acquisitions where guys need to make some adjustments to their space."

The Beltline is close to downtown and has all the benefits of the core, "but more access points, easier parking and less density,"said Richard Pootmans, business development manager of real estate for Calgary Economic Development, adding companies continue to look at that area for office space.

The fact 92 per cent of office space under construction is already pre-leased is a "really remarkable and exciting statistic" and an indication of how popular the area remains, said Pootmans.

"That's a high proportion of space under construction given the size of the market compared to the proportion of construction in the downtown. It is an exciting indicator for the Beltline."

The downtown core, with an inventory of just over 36 million square feet, has nine office buildings under construction, representing six million square feet of new space. The vacancy rate in the fourth quarter of 2008 was 2.7 per cent for the downtown market, up from 2.3 per cent in the third quarter and 1.4 per cent the previous year. There is also 1.3 per cent of sublease space available for a combined vacancy of 4.1 per cent.

The Avison Young market report said the vacancy rate for the Beltline for the fourth quarter of 2008 was five per cent, up from 2.7 per cent in the third quarter and up from 1.5 per cent a year ago.

There is an additional 2.3 per cent of sublease space available for a combined vacancy of 7.2 per cent.

Total inventory in the Beltline market is 5.2 million square feet in 82 buildings.

The four office buildings under construction in the area are Stampede Station I, The Office Gallery at Hotel Arts, Keynote and the Calgary Board of Education Centre.

Avison Young said another six buildings consisting of 973,000 square feet are in the pre-leasing stage.

"With pre-leasing complete or nearly completed on all of the buildings currently under construction, we expect the market to remain steady through the coming year," said Avison Young. "Assuming a reduced level of absorption as a result of slower economic conditions, we will see vacancy remain below eight per cent until spring 2010 when vacancy will increase to around 10 per cent as a result of the buildings under construction being completed."

In the fourth quarter of 2008, the overall Calgary office average net rental rate was$30.12 per square foot. Broken down into the different markets, the average was: $34.54 for the downtown, $24.27 for the Beltline, $20.87 for suburban north, and $22.30 for suburban south.

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Developer TEES OFF

By Kathy McCormick, Calgary Herald
February 21, 2009

The developers who purchased the Shaw-Nee Slopes Golf Course are hoping for a hole-in-one when the controversial 58-hectare site goes to the city for rezoning to transform it into a unique inner-city community -- but they'll have to use some mulligans first.

Residents of the surrounding neigbhourhoods are adamantly opposed to any re-development.

"We don't want to see this development and we'll counter every step," says Gloria Dingwall, president of the Shawnee/Evergreen community association.

The large-scale development, which would create about 600 multi-family and 460 single-family homes, will destroy the surrounding neighbourhood, she says. But the developers say the golf course land is perfect for the city's goals of rejuvenating and densifying inner-city neighbourhoods -- one of the prime objectives of the city's Plan-It Calgary strategy, which is now in its draft form and will guide the growth of the city in the future.

The project would be done in a sustainable way, says Will Hoes, who heads up the redevelopment plan for Geo-Energy Enterprises.

"We believe this is responsible development, if you take into account what the environment is here and what the city has in mind with Plan-It, and you build within that environment," he says.

The existing use was not sustainable from a financial standpoint for the previous owners of the land, and it is not a viable option for the future, says Hoes.

But the controversial project could affect the whole city, says Dingwall.

"This development would be precedent setting if city council agrees to rezone the land from its current designation of special purpose-recreation district," she says.

"The primary goal of the community association is to see these lands maintained for the purpose they were intended. Loss of this green space in our community would set a precedent for the removal of green space from any Calgary community."

The preliminary plans for Shawnee Park were unveiled Jan. 22 at an open house, when developer Geo-Energy Enterprises told a crowd of about 300 people that Shawnee Park, still in its preliminary stages, would be another inner-city redevelopment not unlike the successful Garrison Woods, if approved.

Plan-It Calgary embraces concepts such as transit-oriented development (TOD), which promotes multi-family growth around transit hubs, creating more density in the inner city and reducing sprawl.

In turn, that higher-density housing will be more attractive to first-time buyers and those on limited incomes who need easy access to transit, thus addressing yet another issue within the city -- creating more affordable housing.

Shawnee Park fits that bill, says the project's developer.

The eastern edge of the land is within 600 metres of the Fish Creek C-train station, which is one of the criteria for the TOD housing.

But the location alone--and the detailed plans by Geo-Energy to retain as much green space as possible--means the community will be higher end, says Hoes.

"These will be different types of condos closer to the C-Train station," he says. "There will be no highrises and the condos will buffer the rest of the housing further west."

The proposal calls for some condominium apartments that Hoes says will be four or five storeys at the highest--"not the highest density, but acting as a transition to the single-family homes."

Almost the whole community will be in a bareland condominium, even though many of the dwellings will be single-family homes.

People will still own their own homes, whether single-family, townhouse, or duplex, but the land around the homes will become common property owned by the condominium corporation.

It will allow the developers to come up with creative solutions to bring more green space to the area, says Les Humphrey, a senior planner with AECOM, which is working with Geo-Energy on the plan.

"This will be the place where people will want to live with homes having immediate park environments in their backyards."

Cluster housing is a concept that has been used previously with success in other communities and will be adapted to parts of Shawnee Park, says Humphrey.

"It's highly successful in Seattle and California presently, and it is a proven concept that allows builders to build within the green environment," he says.

"Wildwood Park in Winnipeg is another example--and it's 50 years old. Homes there rarely go up for sale; people just remodel them."

The concept involves clustering some of the homes closer together in a group with minimal front yards, allowing large, open areas at the back that continue to a green space --all with mature vegetation and trees from the original site.

"A real social element comes into play," says Humphrey. "With clusters, there's much greater interaction with neighbours."

Even with other housing, the mature trees and landscaping will be preserved wherever possible, and the bareland condominium will mean the grounds will be looked after and snow removed.

"We think that's what people are looking for today," says Humphrey.

"This concept allows you to not have to go into a traditional condo. You still have your own separate living space, but you have no maintenance to take up your time."

The plans call for a large buffer of 20 to 30 metres between new development and the existing homes around the golf course, and the mature landscaping will be preserved there.

The heart of the community will be the large green space, mature trees and an existing pond in the middle of the development.

"We want to open this up to the community to enjoy," says Hoes.

"Residents say that the golf course is the heart of the community, but it's not accessible unless you are a golfer. We plan to leave this large substantial element as a park with the water feature--and we're proposing to build a community centre on the pond that will be open to all the other communities surrounding the area."

But that worries the community association, says Dingwall.

"If it's a condominium, there will be a condo board--and do you really think that board will want all of the neighbours surrounding the community wandering through all the time?," she says. "We have huge concerns there."

Some existing pedestrian paths and bike trails will be expanded and go through the whole community, connecting it to the outside neighbourhoods and Fish Creek Park.

Leading into that central core is the primary entrance into Shawnee Park from James McKevitt Road S. E.

The main road--called a "grand boulevard"-- will be as wide as 50 feet or more, with mature trees and a median that's big enough to have a bike path down the middle.

On the north side of the development, a separate street that sits closest to the hill leading down to Fish Creek Park will likely contain 64 more traditional estate, single-family homes.

Overall, the community will have strict architectural guidelines that will be "upper end," says Hoes. says

"We recognize the importance of the natural environment and it's rare to be able to build in an environment like this," he says. "We'll develop in a sensitive fashion--our mandate is to build within that environment."

Humphrey agrees: "The commitment of the developer is to ensure the quality standards and character of the community are high and the building is done with an adherence to what's to there."

He says the award-winning community of Garrison Woods "is a starting point."

The process of obtaining approval for the project could take upwards of three years, says Hoes, before land could even be readied for development.

Before that, several steps, including more public meetings, will be undertaken.

Right now, the developer is doing a traffic study of the area.

That, too, concerns Dingwall. wall.

"Projects currently underway way in our community but not yet fully completed or occupied will add to the existing traffic congestion," she says. "This is an established community with road systems that were neither planned nor built to accommodate accommodate the additional 1,100-plus units on the golf course that Geo-Energy is planning to build."

The complexes now under construction or selling include include 240 units at Highbury on the eastern edge of the proposed new development.

Others in the vicinity include 300-plus units at Canvas Can-vas at Millrise, 193 units at Evergreen Grove and 354 units at Sanderson Ridge.

Meanwhile, Geo-Energy is continuing to meet with city administration on the concept plan.

"We will be putting in an application for rezoning to the city within the next one-and-a-half to two months," says Hoes.

As for the community association's part, it has hired a lawyer, says Dingwall. "We have a plan that we will execute to fight any change to the rezoning."

IN SHORT

PROJECT: Redesignation of Shaw-Nee Slopes Golf Course land to allow for a redevelopment of the 58-hectare site to Shawnee Park, a master-planned community with approximately 600 multi-family and 460 single-family homes. It would take the shape of sustainable development, says the developer, Will Hoes of Geo-Energy Enterprises. It would have a large component of bareland condominium lots of both multi-family and single-family homes to allow unique development parcels such as cluster housing. Some estate single-family homes would be closer to Fish Creek Park, and some low-rise condominiums nearer the Fish Creek C-train station, adhering to the City's Plan-It Calgary growth strategy, which includes transit-oriented development. The neighbourhood would have a large component of green space, keeping as many of the mature trees and original landscaping as possible, and would include a community building at the core adjacent to the pond already in place on the site.

LOCATION: South of Fish Creek Park and north of James McKevitt Boulevard S. W.

DEVELOPER: Geo-Energy Enterprises.

WHERE IT'S AT TODAY: The developer has a concept plan in place and will be applying for land redesignation at city hall within the next six weeks to two months.

[Coldrsx]

^
"Geo-Energy Enterprises."

reminds me of when lisa simpson is the face of the slurry company

[atlas_inc]

Calgary, as the dreamers saw it
A guide to Utopia, alta. (a highway runs through it)

Calgary Herald February 28, 2009


Close your eyes and lean forward. You're on the 66th and top floor of McIntyre Plaza in downtown Calgary.

To the west, tombstones at Shaganappi cemetery look like grey pebbles, and the monorail zooms above both Louise Bridges.

To the north, there's the Prince's Island Museum, just beyond the downtown penetrator freeway. East of City Hall, a canal traverses Mount Royal College.

Welcome to the Calgary that Could Have Been.

In a city with a mythology of risk-takers, dusty shelves are full of proposals and blueprints promising a Calgary that's either more car-dominated or transit-friendly, and with snazzier and bigger buildings to rival (or mimic) New York or Paris.

Today, the Herald explores the Calgary that never was--examining bold civic ideas that never turned into reality. But we're not the only organization looking back.

As city hall planners prepare to release a draft next month of their own ideas for a better Calgary --dubbed Plan It--they are wary of the past's failures and vow to learn from them.

"The only sure thing in planning is that it will never be followed exactly as planned," says David Watson, Calgary's general manager of planning.

Here is a look at the Calgary that could have been, but only exists today in the pages of history books or in pictures on a wall.

MAWSON PLAN

He was the father of Calgary idealism, the planner who dreamed of central parks, boating bays and grand civic plazas.

Thomas Mawson was never actually a Calgarian, but his 1914 plan got locals excited about a "Vienna on the Bow."

Still does, in a way.

"It's inspiring. It was a grand vision for what the city could have been,"Watson says. In his City Hall office is a framed copy of the Mawson Plan's watercolour of an unrecognizably neoclassical Calgary.

The image of 4th Street West resembles great cities of Europe and Mawson's native Britain. A bridge leads to Prince's Island Park, where Mawson wanted a museum. The span is flanked by two artificial docking bays for leisure boating.

On mainland is his baroque civic centre, a wide commons surrounded by majestic buildings--a city hall, post office, auditorium and perhaps a university.

Mawson, who was also commissioned to plan Vancouver's Stanley Park, envisioned large circle roads for Calgary, offering more fluidity than the grid system. To shield pedestrians from weather extremes, he proposed replacing sidewalks with arcades like the ones along the Bay building.

And parks, parks everywhere.

"City planning is not the attempt to pull down your city and rebuild it at ruinous expense," Mawson said in a 1912 Calgary lecture. "It is merely deciding what you would like to have done when you get the chance, so that when the chance does come, little by little you may make the city plan conform to your ideals."

The grand vision had a shocking price tag: up to $10 million in 1914, or about $4 billion in today's dollars.

It also suffered from terrible timing: the First World War broke out months later, worsening a sharp economic decline. The city struggled even to pay Maw-son, let alone implement his designs.

Another of them was a Centre Street bridge ending on the Bow River's north shore, with an elevator carrying people and cars up the bluffs.

Elements of the planner's vision exist in today's Calgary, from the riverbank parks to the Olympic Plaza/ City Hall area, initially meant to recreate Mawson's civic centre.

GOLFER'S GRAVEYARD

Feel an eerie breeze on the eighth fairway at Shaganappi Point Golf Course? It was supposed to be Calgary's first cemetery, and actually was in 1884. Eight years later, the city deemed the soil too rocky and moved 75 corpses to Union Cemetery.

If 1970s-era mayor Rod Sykes had his way, nine holes would now be social housing.

THE DOWNTOWN PENETRATOR

The postwar oil boom drew hordes of head offices to Calgary. In turn, a 1950s and 1960s concrete renaissance reshaped the downtown skyline.

But 50 years ago, civic leaders felt their core was hemmed in by the Bow River to the north and the Canadian Pacific Railway tracks to the south. They pitched a bold solution to CPR: move your tracks to the river, so downtown can spread out--and we'll throw in a superhighway along the rails.

Businessmen, politicians and the press hailed the rerouting in 1963. But a year later, council killed the plan amid bickering and cost issues, says historian Max Foran, who is researching a book on the CPR-city saga.

"It was the biggest thing not to happen to Calgary," he says. "This one would have changed the downtown face of the city --and now the railway is still a big barrier." (yeah and a giant freeway wouldn't have?)

But part of the plan remained.

In 1968, the Calgary Transportation Study called for highways all over: Crowchild Trail, Blackfoot Trail, a 14th Street West freeway, Anderson Trail, and a mighty Bow Trail. A bigger Bow freeway would have sliced between 2nd and 3rd avenues downtown, linking the sprawling west and east neighbourhoods to a core that was expected to face double the traffic by 1986.

The downtown "penetrator" (in unironic planner-speak) was six to 10 lanes. If built, swooping exit and on-ramps would spill Mustangs and Skylarks onto downtown streets and parkades built right into the system.

The city would demolish some 400 homes, many in low-income areas. A decade before Calgary's heritage movement, the Centre Street, Louise and Langevin bridges would be replaced with more modern, utilitarian spans.

Chinatown would be relocated--it was unclear where--to its leaders' horror.

"This was a time when Calgary seemed to be run by onward and upward type of people who didn't have much time for the poor," former mayor Sykes says. In 1971, he helped spike the project in favour of transit spending.

Part of the freeway scheme was rebranded the East Calgary Downtown Penetrator. It survived until the mid-1970s, opposed by the Inglewood and Ramsay communities it would have imperilled.

Yet, the plan did give Calgary the Bow Trail leading to down-town, and its one-way feeders on 4th and 5th Avenues.

BIG AND BIGGER

EnCana's 58-storey Bow would be a dwarf in a world where the 1980s bust never happened.

Among things the energy crash rendered nearly worthless were blueprints for skyline-toppers downtown: a second Bank of Montreal tower (64 storeys), the Bay Park Plaza (63-storey twins), and McIntyre Plaza (66) --all in a row along 7th Ave SW. Those sites now host a parkade, park and the smaller Barclay Centre, respectively.

EAST VILLAGE

The penetrator and rail plans would have destroyed much of what's now the East Village, but in 1960s era thinking that wasn't so terrible.

The area was called Churchill Park, an industrial neighbourhood that even city literature called "skid row." Leaders deemed it a prime spot for urban renewal.

Redevelopment over the years took on many shapes that never took form.

The University of Calgary may have recently pushed for an East Village campus, but in the 1960s, it was seen as the natural expansion site for Mount Royal Junior College.

The school ultimately decided on Lincoln Park in the south after the Stampede decided not to relocate there.

As Calgary brass were trying to nail the 1988 Olympics bid in 1981, then-mayor Ralph Klein proposed to International Olympic Committee delegates twin pyramidlike towers for the media village.

"Proposal" was a very loose term, however. "We just told the architect: draw us up something that looks good," says Rod Love, Klein's former aide.

"It's never gonna happen, but we just need it to show something to the IOC."

In 2000, a private consortium tapped by City Hall presented a $10-billion East Village makeover with vibrant streetside cafes, thousands of condo units and highrises along the river's edge.

Developers mesmerized the city with a streak of Venice--a canal running through the project along a 5th Street East renamed Canal Street.

The scenic canal wouldn't use Bow River water, they explained. A pump system would recirculate filtered water through it.

Aldermen canned the development group in 2002. Rather than Canal Street, the city-run developer is now building a destination walkway on the Bow.

UNSPOILED NATURE

Some see Calgary's parkland as natural beauty amid urban sprawl. Others see it as a barrier.

Civic resistance over the years has kept Nose Hill Park undeveloped, forced Deerfoot Trail to run around--not through --Fish Creek Park, and last decade kept freeway bridges out of Weaselhead Flats, Sandy Beach and Edworthy Park.

Lingering concerns still hamper ever-shrinking plans for a new community on Paskapoo Slopes by Canada Olympic Park.

UNDERGROUND OR OVERHEAD

Monorail!

It's a Jetsons-style fantasy, Disneyland ride and a fantastic premise for a Simpsons episode all in one.

For a few years, it was a what-if for a city devising its rapid-transit system.

The 1968 transportation study concluded Calgary needed a train network --either a subway or an elevated train.

A Philadelphia-based engineering firm pitched various options, including monorails.

One intriguing type was the Safege Monorail, with cars suspended beneath the track. At the 1964-1965 New York World's Fair, it reached speeds of under eight miles per hour, or 67 mph less than its stated top speed.

As proposed, stations would link to the proposed Plus-15 system, but the city would have to construct massive storage and maintenance bays for the monorail.

Early estimates pegged the first 16 kilometres of any sky-train at $52 million.

Even the consultants cautioned that the public love of monorails was based on their novelty.

City planners gave the subterranean option more credence, having mulled it since the late 1950s, recalls former transit manager Bill Kuyt.

But a tunnel 10 metres beneath 8th Avenue might further damage basement walls of the Ave's old buildings, a feasibility study warned. Construction crews could work totally underground, or briefly turn the street into a giant open pit.

"I said we just plainly cannot afford it. It was about 11 times more costly than (above ground)," Kuyt says.

But Kuyt knew the city would eventually need trains too long and fast for street-level downtown.

He ensured no major utilities were laid under 8th Avenue.

And when the new City Hall went up in the 1980s, a 150-metre-long tunnel and transit station were constructed beneath it.

"Sooner or later, some-body will want to do it: let's make sure they can," Kuyt recalls thinking. A subway remains in Calgary's long-range LRT plans.

The tunnel's entrance can be spotted if you look right as the southbound C-Train passes City Hall. The underground station remains off-limits, though it's been pondered as an art gallery while it awaits its proper use.

THE OTHER LAKEVIEW

In Canada's Centennial year, Lake Bonavista was hailed as Canada's first community built around a man-made lake.

Years earlier, there was a luxury suburb named Lakeview Heights planned around a water body near 33rd Avenue N. E., but it was never built.

Would those well-heeled Calgarians tolerate a major airport becoming their neighbour?

The slough and prairie around it ultimately became McCall Lake Golf Course.

The Ballad of Fire Park

Calgary boasts another tunnel that, for now, goes nowhere. You can spot its entrance along Memorial Drive's eastbound exit ramp to Barlow Trail.

That tunnel stretches underneath Memorial and leads to a spread that boasts a warehouse, a bus stop and a lonely looking Firestone tower.

It also leads to a remarkable story involving a German entrepreneur, a failed country-music festival, an environmental controversy and the sudden death of a former mayor.

When Firestone's tire plant closed in 1978, its courtiers included an American movie studio that wanted it for production facilities.

But the winner was Bavarian Lion Co., led by Werner Ehret, a man one report says introduced gumball machines to West Germany.

The following February, he unveiled his $150-million vision for Ehret Centre--a complex with a trade centre, aquarium, hotel, mall and a 20,000-seat coliseum to attract an NHL team.

Ehret soon pledged to name it Don MacKay coliseum, days after the 1950sera Calgary mayor suffered a fatal heart attack while touring the Barlow-at-Memorial site.

By March, arena plans were shelved. Then, Ehret converted the tire plant to an 8,000-seat auditorium for the inaugural Stampede Festival.

Sparse crowds came for the first shows with Buck Owens and Loretta Lynn, before organizers cancelled the rest of the week's concerts, including Carl Perkins.

By August, the whole plan was dead.

Ehret returned in 1980, pitching a "second downtown" of apartment towers, retail and office space linked to the coming C-Train station. The city rejected, approved, then delayed it, as Bavarian Lion paid for the access tunnel to serve the community. This plan, too, died by 1984 amid deep recession.

The Wheat Pool and Amoco oil company also flirted with "Fire Park" for their offices.

But before a flea market registered its interest, environmental officials discovered a toxic PCB leak from the former plant's transformers, triggering a drawn-out battle.

The company sold the site in 1996 to Montreal-based Yale Properties.

Now fully clean, Fire Park is zoned for suburban offices, and Yale has had talks with several companies over the years, says senior vice-president Gordon Parker.

"We're waiting for all the numbers to line up," he says.

"But one day this will be a beautiful development."

NEW YORK, EAU CLAIRE

In 1999, a taste of the Big Apple was destined for 3rd Avenue S. W.--a 16-storey office building modelled after the Empire State Building.

"Timeless architecture," the developer called it.Hahahahaha! Timeless!

Economics killed plans for this near-replica.

Today, the block containing the Old Spaghetti Factory and the French Maid strip club is touted to become a five-star hotel.

EPILOGUE: BACK TO THE FUTURE

Depending on if your glass is half-full or half-empty, Calgary's map is either pocked with a slew of exciting future projects or a bunch of dreams that will form the 2059 edition of the Calgary that Could Have Been.

Since a few condo projects have already fallen victim to the current recession, will all these big plans happen?: - new footbridges and transit crossings over the Bow and Elbow Rivers? - an Olds College campus at Stampede Park? - the transit-oriented projects at several LRT stations? - the subway, again? - the ambitions of next month's draft release of Plan It Calgary, termed a "megamap" to guide future development?

Patricia Gordon, leader of the sprawl-limiting and sustainability-loving Plan It project, says the document proposes continuous targets over 60 years to help city hall to stay on course toward a more livable Calgary.

"And it depends on when it's all viable," Gordon says. "Market activity remains the engine, but we've got to start being the pilot."

Jason Markusoff
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[mooky]

Bridging the gap in pedestrian transit (http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/comment/article/189582)
In Transit by Chris Phalen
March 02, 2009 05:43



If high-end design can uplift Calgary’s spectre of architecture, and include measures of transit infrastructure, I am all for it, especially the Santiago Calatarva-commissioned foot bridges to gap the Bow.

You’ve got to love Coun. Druh Farell, stout and pushing the perceptibly gaudy investment of $25 million to bring these bridges to fruition, even in the midst of a global recession.

But architects agree that thoughtful urban design can improve quality of life, a sure investment with greater returns than the most-obvious functions of design.

It’s about the poetics of space, or in this case, the meaning and effects of what a pedestrian bridge represents.

“The bridge is one of the most potent structures man creates,” said David Fortin, a local architect now teaching architectural design and history at Montana State University.

“The connection between two things has not just structural implications, but philosophical and poetic ones as well.”

Fortin explained pedestrian bridges “stitch the fragments of our cities together in a unique way, by heightening our experience of what it means to ‘connect.’”

And while less visionary citizens and leaders will forever be linked more to their bottom lines, philosophies of cost reduction and a focus on simple function, I suspect it’s just as important to recognize wealth in daily relationships with our community, including structures.

Bringing in a globally renowned architect like Calatrava to design the bridges also sends the right message to the greater Calgary public.

With this investment, council is saying, “we care about Calgary’s image as a major international city, and we are ready to move away from the primarily banal personality lingering amidst the urban landscape.”

“A couple of fresh and visually compelling additions along the Bow do make sense for the city by contributing to its evolving global identity,” said Fortin.

When you think of the greatest cities in the world it is no accident that some are identified by their bridges, but Calgary’s proposed pedestrian bridges signify an “urban maturity” and desire to exist in a well-designed city.

A sign perhaps that people like it here and, despite the get-rich-quick, get-out-of-town attitude prevalent in our city, people want to stay.

© Metro News 2009

[atlas_inc]

REAL ESTATE 101:

Plan for a long-term investment

Myke Thomas, Editor Calgary Sun.

Time for some Real Estate 101 and a quote from Don Campbell that ran in a story by Nicole McLaws in the sun last week.
Campbell authored Real Estate Investing In Canada 2.0 and said “People need to be realistic, the last 3 years in Alberta have been Tiger Woods years of real estate. No matter what you did, you won, but that can’t sustain forever.”
No it can’t, but like Woods, the market will bounce back and, said Campbell, Alberta will be at the top of the leader board.
“Alberta still has the 3 things the world is going to need once the recovery hits, and it will. It has food, fuel and fertilizer and those are the things the world needs and needs in abundance.
“The next 18 months will feel like an emotional and economic roller coaster, but if you’re realistic, you’ll find you can make money in an up market, a down market or a flat market.”
Real estate is a long-term investment – at least five years, says Campbell – so, lets go back five years in Calgary’s real estate history.
In January 2005 – and before the math experts jump on me and say that’s four years ago, I’m comparing 2005 to 2009 and that’s five Januarys – figures from the Calgary Real Estate Board showed that the median price of a single-family home was $237,000.
The condo median was $160,000.
In January 2009, the median price of a single-family home was $374,000, while condos came in at a median of $243,000.
In the single-family category, that’s a 58% increase for people who bought at that price and still own the home.
By comparison, if those same people had put $237,000 in the stock market in 2005 and let it ride to January 2009, they would have lost about 58% - if not more – of their investment.
And 2005 is a good year for comparison, other than just Campbell’s suggested five-year window.
Back then, the real estate market in Calgary was in a more balanced state – one year later is had switched entirely to a sellers’ market – there were bidding wars, builders had waiting lists and prices skyrocketed at an unsustainable rate.
As prices rose, a lot of amateur investors got into the market, thinking prices would continue to escalate, but prices peaked in July 2007.
By the time these investors figured out the market had topped, prices were already in a six of seven month decline, but they flooded the market with houses regardless, leading to a glut and further price decreases.
Obviously, if you bought at the height of the frenzy, your house may have lost some value, but being realistic, only if you’re selling now.
If your plan is long term, the value will return and speaking of value, there is plenty of it in the market today, but it would appear a lot of people believe it still hasn't reached bottom.
There might be a little room left, but with mortgage rates where they are now and the many deals available - and those wont last - waiting for prices to drop another $4000 or $5000 will cost you a lot more in the long term.
Trying to predict the bottom could put you in the same boat as the investors who missed out on the peak.

[240glt]

REAL ESTATE 101:

Plan for a long-term investment

Myke Thomas, Editor Calgary Sun.

Excellent synopsis, captain obvious.

[atlas_inc]

Key urban plan to call for sprawl limits, more transit in Calgary

Plan It charts vertical growth, transit boost

It could curb sprawl or stifle the suburban dream. It could chart out the next half-century of Calgary growth or become another batch of proposals found too radical or expensive and consigned to a dust-gathering corner of City Hall.

It -- or more precisely, the draft of Plan It -- will be released today, three years and $6.3 million in the making.

The sweeping blueprint calls for a vastly upgraded transit network, more dense "urban villages" around the city and strict limits on expansion in Calgary's outskirts.

The property development industry is warning Calgarians won't like the 300-page plan and its emphasis on condo projects in existing neighbourhoods rather than new suburbs.

"People are still going to have families and they're going to want a backyard and a fence and they will be willing to drive to it," said Michael Flynn of Urban Development Institute Calgary. "Plan It is a social engineering document, trying to create a market that isn't there. I think they would be better off just letting (free) market forces dictate what's going to happen with our city."

City planners have repeatedly warned that Calgary's decade-long spiral outward is no longer affordable, as new roads and city services must stretch further out as the population declines in fully serviced older suburbs and inner-city neighbourhoods.

Plan It's draft won't block sprawl, but will demand the city accommodate a much larger proportion of its growth in older neighbourhoods -- such as Brentwood, where the city has proposed towers and mid-rises that would add thousands of newcomers and jobs around the C-Train station.

"If you look further down the road at doubling our population then we've got to start taking more actions to try and retool ourselves for that," said Pat Gordon, leader of the Plan It project for the city.

Polls, focus groups and public meetings have captured the input of 5,000 Calgarians over three years for Plan It, a successor of sorts to the Imagine Calgary initiative.

It combines two influential city documents: the transportation plan and municipal development plan. It will be displayed at open houses that start today, before aldermen determine its final shape at a June public hearing.

Council has already approved Plan It's key directions -- such as linking all land-use decisions to transit, and making better use of existing infrastructure -- but concerns from business groups and others have delayed this draft's release.

Ald. Dale Hodges, an admitted skeptic, said Plan It has served to keep a bunch of city consultants well paid.

He's also worried about the soaring costs of its multi-decade proposal to create a citywide system of bus and train routes with service every five to 10 minutes.

"We cannot build it unless we have an awful lot more money from some unknown source, and the people of Calgary should not be hit up for this," he said.

Inner-city aldermen like Druh Farrell and Joe Ceci have been more positive about Plan It, saying it will produce a more vibrant and environmentally friendly Calgary.

It will also recommend a new pathway system for cycling commuters and some transit-only bridges across the Bow and Elbow rivers -- but not for decades from now.

Aside from the developers' consistent concerns, the project faced controversy last week when Chinese Calgarians decried a consultant's report for Plan It that suggested the city avoid development of new "Asian malls."

The city removed all references to Asian malls from the report, and said nothing in Plan It will single out ethnic communities.

Gordon said a denser, more transit-focused city would fare better in a recessionary economy.

"Cities around the world face these economic shocks and potentially physical shocks with changes in our climate so we want to be as adaptable and resilient as can be," she said.

The plan will also suggest ways Calgary can cope with a tighter water supply and hotter weather that global-warming experts say is coming.

jmarkusoff@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Condos near south Calgary LRT line stalled
Market delays Chinook project finish till at least 2015

By Joel Kom, Calgary Herald March 11, 2009 7:08 AM

The economic downturn is delaying a Macleod Trail project that's part of the city's first foray into transit-oriented development --another victim of the softening real estate market.

The site near the Chinook C-Train station was originally intended to feature an office tower and condos by next year. But after going through a long planning process that ended just as the financial crash began, the site's owner says the earliest things will be finished now is 2015.

"Everything's on hold because of the market," said Don Sandford, CEO of Lansdowne Equity Ventures Ltd., which owns two other properties along Macleod Trail. "With the market demand the way it is for major projects, I don't think anybody will be doing anything with our properties until the market changes."

The 1.2-hectare parcel of land at the corner of 60th Avenue and Macleod Trail isn't notable for its size, but for the role it played in launching the city's highly touted and occasionally controversial entry into transit-oriented planning.

Those kinds of projects feature high-density residential, commercial and office developments built near major transit hubs--which in Calgary's case are C-Train stations--with the aim of reducing dependence on private vehicles.

The Chinook-area redevelopment, dubbed the International Harvester, was part of the template for other transit-oriented projects near the Brentwood and Anderson stations. It got city support to move ahead last year and will eventually sport residential, office, retail and possibly hotel space.

Despite the delay, the site's fundamental value and the transit-oriented concept are still strong, Sandford said.

"To me, (the concept) is going to be a positive thing because it's going to let you create communities around LRT stations," he said.

Ald. Joe Ceci, who backs development around transit stations, said holding off was the right move.

"They've got a beautiful idea, but for the time being, it's the reality of the market situation," he said.

Ceci pointed to nearby projects still slated to go, including Chinook Centre's ongoing expansion and a 300-unit afford-able housing project.

Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., said the Harvester project won't be the last to be put on hold.

"Down the pipeline, don't expect all of those that are approved to be started," Louie said.

Condo projects are especially vulnerable, he said, noting there were just 22 multi-family housing starts last month, compared with 589 in February 2007.

The transit-oriented concept has won a seal of approval from a Canada West Foundation report that chastised Calgary for encouraging urban sprawl in the past and praised it for its new transit-centred path. The biggest obstacle to transit-oriented planning can come from community opposition, the report said.

Calgary itself has seen some vocal protests, most notably around the Anderson and Brentwood projects.

"Other cities have had to go through the same process," said Phil Boname, an urban development consultant who co-wrote the report. "Ironically, after the smoke clears, the type of development that occurs isn't as impactful as what was anticipated, and property values haven't gone down, they often go up."

Ald. Ric McIver, who joined some community members in opposing parts of the Anderson plan, said development around transit is a good idea, but the city has to promote the benefits of the plans instead of ramming the projects through.

"Trying to bulldoze over people will mean a pushback," he said.

jkom@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Dramatic increase in Calgary vacancies

Canwest News Service March 19, 2009 1:01 PM

News Service - TORONTO -- Alberta is leading a widespread jump in office vacancies across Canada because of a dramatic loosening in Calgary’s tight commercial real estate market in the last three months.

In Calgary, demand for commercial space continues to be impacted by sliding energy prices.

Total overall vacancy rates in the city jumped to 8.1% in the 90-day period to mid-March 2009 from 4.3% in the previous corresponding period, according to the National Office and Industrial Trends First Quarter Report from CB Richard Ellis Ltd., released Thursday.

"Capital investment in the province’s energy sector has been scaled back, while Alberta’s first provincial deficit in years contributed to business uncertainty in the first quarter," CBRE said in the report, which it uses to record trends and provide forecasts for clients.

A spokesman for CBRE said the figures are unlikely to be adjusted for the period between the middle and the end of the month and that allows the firm to refer to the report as a quarterly one.

The dramatic increase in Calgary vacancies means the Alberta city has gone from having the lowest percentage of available commercial real estate among Canada’s largest cities to one of the highest.

The figures will be watched closely by developers who are committed to building billions of dollars worth of new office construction in the city. H&R Real Estate Investment Trust had been struggling to finance the huge 58-storey Bow tower, EnCana Corp.’s future headquarters, but appears to be pressing ahead with the project.

Challenging economic conditions in the manufacturing, retail and resources sectors -- coupled with access to capital constraints -- all contributed to rising commercial real estate vacancy rates across the country in the first quarter of 2008.

Commercial real estate vacancy rates in both downtown and suburban markets rose from 6.3% to 7.5%, year-over-year.

Meanwhile, net absorption, aided by increased commercial inventory and rising unemployment, continued to decline, from 2,642,611 to 2,013,229 square feet, year-over-year.

"The residual effects of the Canadian economic downturn continued to impact first quarter commercial real estate market conditions," said John O’Bryan, vice-chairman, CB Richard Ellis. "In almost all cases, vacancies remained broadly based -- a trend we expect to continue for the balance of 2009 -- while more news regarding the slowing Canadian economy continues to surface."

Sublet space during the first quarter also increased, from 3,827,568 to 6,329,040 square feet, year-over-year, as more companies nationwide have begun "reconsidering their need for underutilized office space," said CBRE.

Western Canada, which has been harder-hit by falling energy prices and a decline in the resource sector, saw a steeper rise in vacancy rates, while Central Canada, with its more mature commercial real estate market, saw much less vacant office space, said the report. Several factors, including the completion of several landmark developments in Toronto and the continuing uncertainty in Ottawa’s tech market, are expected to boost vacancy rates in those cities in the coming quarters.

© Copyright (c) National Post

[atlas_inc]

Calgary condo tower on hold; developer seeks bankruptcy protection
'New financing' sought for 42-storey Arriva project

By Mario Toneguzzi And Kathy McCormick, Calgary Herald April 7, 2009 6:44 AM

A high-profile residential condominium tower near Stampede Park has been put on hold after the owner of the site recently filed for protection under the Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act.

Calgary developer John Torode told the Herald on Monday work has stopped on the 42-storey second tower of the Arriva condo project in the old Victoria Park neighbourhood which has about 60 per cent of its 221 units pre-sold.

"What we've done is put that limited partnership which is the owner of that site -- the second tower -- into CCAA (Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act)," said Torode, president of Torode Realty Advisors Ltd.

"What that does is gives us a chance to restructure the deal which would include finding new financing.The financing we had with the bank did not go well given the credit crunch and we think that we need to find alternative financing to proceed with the tower."

The Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act is a federal act that allows financially troubled corporations the opportunity to restructure their affairs. By allowing the company to restructure its financial affairs, through a formal Plan of Arrangement, the CCAA presents an opportunity for the company to avoid bankruptcy and allows the creditors to receive some form of payment for amounts owing to them by the company, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers.

Torode said it could take anywhere from one month to six months for the financial restructuring to take place.

The Arriva project includes a 34-storey tower that has been built and is close to sold out.Torode also recently announced that a planned third tower, which was to be another condo complex, would be a boutique hotel instead. A fourth tower that was part of the original plan was cancelled early in the development process.

The project is on a block between 12th Avenue S. E. and 11th Avenue S.E. and Olympic Way. At the construction site, small signs by Torode Construction Ltd., on the fence, say: "The Arriva 42 project is on-hold and this job site is secured and not operational."

Several condo projects in recent months have been delayed or cancelled in Calgary.

"There's been a number of projects stopped and I think many of them have to do with financing. We're no different," said Torode. "The financing market is difficult. We're committed to this project and we want to see it through to completion, but you can't do it without construction financing. So that's in a nutshell the bottom line."

Torode has a number of proposed projects for the Victoria Park area and Ramsay, but he said the filing under Companies' Creditors Arrangement Act is unrelated to the other projects. Each of those projects has its own investors and owners and they will each proceed or not proceed based on what decisions are made for those projects, he said.

But Torode also said: "Well, certainly we wouldn't start one of the other ones if this one's (Arriva) not going. This is sort of the key project. And you know phase one has turned out very well."

He said work has stopped on the project now. The tower is at grade on one side and close to grade on the other side.

"It's 20 per cent built, and we hope to finish building to grade -- and ideally, to build the whole tower," he said. "I will still be looking after the site because it is partially built, and all deposits received from buyers are insured."

"If credit markets loosen, we hope to get financing to build."

Recently it was reported that the City of Calgary is monitoring nine condo projects that have been halted due to the slowing economy. Eight of the nine sites are in the Beltline.

According to Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp., there were 7,039 condos under construction at the end of February in the Calgary census metropolitan area. That's down 12.6 per cent from a year ago when it was 8,052.

Louie said the number of condos under construction in the Calgary area is expected to continue to decline as more units are completed and the rate of starts slows down as well.

In February, the Altus Group Housing Report said new unsold condominiums are becoming a concern in the Calgary market. The report said most of the unsold units in Calgary are already completed or under construction and the expected decline in new condo apartment sales this year could lead to a"sizable"increase in the number of completed and vacant units.

"Many buildings in Calgary began construction with less than 50 per cent of the units pre-sold," said the Altus Group Economic Consulting report.

There are indicators of a "much more serious problem for Calgary," said the Altus Group. Those indicators include a high level of condominium starts in 2008 (5,335 units) and a high level of condos under construction. The pace of condo starts has also declined "dramatically" since the end of July, but "very few projects in Calgary have been formally cancelled so far."

"Excessive investor activity has also been a concern in Calgary," said the Altus Group report. "While the percentage of condominium apartment units offered for rent declined in Calgary between 2007 and 2008, the vacancy rate rose significantly from 0.7 per cent to 3.5 per cent."

The report said there is "clearly a large oversupply of product" in Calgary and" more project cancellations would help move the market back into balance more quickly."

The Arriva announcement is the second major construction project in Calgary in the past week to be affected by the current economic malaise.

Last week, H&R Real Estate Investment Trust announced it was deferring the south block of the Bow skyscraper project and construction for the time being would be stopped at grade level on that site.

---------

Arriva Towers Facts - The Arriva Towers are a planned complex of three high-rise towers in Calgary. One has been built. - The project is located in Victoria Park. - The towers were designed to have 34 to 42 storeys, making them the highest residential buildings in Alberta. - The buildings were designed by BKDI Architects, and developed by Torode Reality Ltd. TRL also owns the Hotel Arts, Kensington Riverside Inn and other development projects.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

New height cap on Holy Cross site development

Calgary Herald April 7, 2009 7:14 AM

City Hall - Redevelopment of the controversial Holy Cross site moved one step closer to reality Monday, though opposition from Mission residents prompted the local alderman to seek a lower height for any new building.

City council approved a land-use redesignation that clears the way for residential and other development at the former hospital site.

But before that happened, Ald. John Mar won backing to reduce the structure's maximum height from 22 to 20 storeys after hearing residents say a tall tower would stick out in Mission.

Peter Atkinson, with the Cliff Bungalow-Mission Community Association, said while it wants a strong, urban development, the group has concerns about the maximum height, which would have been 17 metres higher than any other nearby structure.

A specific plan for buildings on the site wasn't before council Monday, but Atkinson said it's easier to deal with that concern now.

Several residents said they are still concerned about the height.

The development, being led by Poon McKenzie Architects, still has to clear several other hurdles before construction can begin. The former hospital was closed and the site sold by the province as part of cutbacks in the 1990s.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

http://dcnonl.com/article/id33841

May 22, 2009

Calgary transit system to get $270 million upgrade

CALGARY

Ottawa and Alberta are each setting aside up to $90 million for transit improvements in Calgary as part of infrastructure stimulus spending.

The announcement was made by federal Environment Minister Jim Prentice and Alison Redord, Alberta Justice Minister and MLA for Calgary Elbow.

“Investments in public transit will not only create jobs and stimulate the economy, but will also leave the lasting links that will pave the way for Calgary’s growth and prosperity in the future,” Prentice said.

The total cost of the priority project identified in the Calgary package is about $270 million.

The federal government would contribute up to one-third of total eligible costs, to a maximum federal contribution of $90 million. The province is providing $90 million and the balance of the funding will be provided by the City of Calgary.

The priority project identified in the Calgary package includes a number of improvements including: construction of a light rail transit station; electronic fare collection; transit signal priority projects; a passenger information system; light rail traction power upgrades, expanded transit parking lots and the creation of four car stations and associated trackwork, along with road improvements.

Construction is expected to begin this year. A light rail transit station included in the project will begin construction next year.

DCN News Services

[atlas_inc]

EnCana pursues downtown Calgary land deal


BY KIM GUTTORMSON, CALGARY HERALD
MAY 28, 2009 8:01 AM


CALGARY - EnCana and the Calgary Urban Project Society are working on a deal that would see the energy giant buy the social agency’s building, opening up the possibility of a complete redevelopment of a key downtown block, sources say.

With the purchase, EnCana and the City of Calgary would have an interest in all the land between 6th and 7th avenues and Centre and 1st streets S.E. — the block across from the Bow tower, the future home of EnCana. The block includes the Regis Hotel and the Royal Canadian Legion No. 1, which are both heritage buildings.

The future of the police headquarters on the northeast corner of the site could also be up for discussion, particularly with the recent purchase of the former Nortel site in the northeast for a police campus and ongoing speculation a new downtown location will be sought for administration.

Any deal between the society and EnCana would result in CUPS — which provides services to the city’s homeless population — moving to a nearby site.

“It’s no secret CUPS has been in the process of looking for future opportunities and we have been for a long time,” said Tim Stock-Bateman, CUPS senior director of external relations.

“I think when an opportunity presents itself for CUPS to expand its services and to offer services in a better, more custom-fit facility, we look forward to doing that in conjunction with a community partner and, at this point, we’re having those discussions with EnCana.

“There is still, from our perspective, a question mark about a suitable facility.”

EnCana spokesman Alan Boras would only say the company doesn’t comment on transactions that aren’t completed.

Sources say that there is an agreement between the two to exchange buildings.

Since EnCana began assembling land on the two blocks straddling 6th Avenue to accommodate its new headquarters, there has been talk of the company purchasing the CUPS building. While open to selling its building, CUPS always said it needed to first find a new location.

According to sources, there is a building in the Beltline on 10th Avenue S.W. that CUPS is looking at moving into. It appears the existing CUPS building would be exchanged for the new location.

On the 10th Avenue building’s title the owner is a numbered company, which shares an address and post office box with EnCana.

Ald. John Mar, who represents the Beltline, said he has met with representatives of CUPS and is aware there could be a development permit application coming forward “in the near future.”

The 58-storey, Norman Foster-designed Bow tower, which is slated to begin housing EnCana employees in early 2012, is under construction on the block north of 6th Avenue. Steel workers are at the 12th floor, while other crews work on a 1,400-stall underground parkade that stretches between 5th and 7th avenues S.E.

EnCana assembled the land but sold it to H&R Real Estate Investment Trust and has a long-term lease for the steel-and-glass building.

On the south block, a smaller building — seven or eight storeys — will incorporate the facade of the historic York Hotel and include office, retail and cultural space. The start of that phase has been pushed back because of the economy but must be built at some point because of restrictions tied to the development permit.

H&R REIT owns the western half of the south block, which is where the smaller building will be built. It also owns the Regis Hotel, which is being used as the management office for the Bow project but will be turned into a boutique hotel. The city owns the building the legion leases, and both it and the Regis would remain standing because of their heritage status.

The only other buildings on the block are CUPS and the Andrew Davison building, home to the police.

A number of police services will move to the former Nortel site, which the city recently purchased. District 1 has moved to its new office and it’s likely remaining administrative staff will move to a new downtown location.

If the city sells the police property, it would mean a variety of development opportunities on a mostly-empty block.

“We always try to encourage development downtown,” Mayor Dave Bronconnier said. “If there was a proposal coming forward, we would take a good look.”

Stock-Bateman said he thinks CUPS will be in a position “with EnCana, at some point, to make a formal announcement about going forward on the project together.”

kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Work begins again on stalled condo project

By Joel Kom, Calgary HeraldMay 29, 2009

One of the first condo projects to be halted because of the economic downturn has been restarted this week in a move the area alderman calls "symbolic" for its impact on the Beltline.

Work on the 650-unit Encore site, formerly known as the Gateway-Midtown project, comes on the heels of a sinkhole that cropped up nearby in late April and led to a section of 4th Street S. W. being shut down for nearly two weeks.But with the sinkhole filled in with gravel, construction has begun on the project on 4th Street between 10th and 11th avenues.

"The crane went up (Wednesday)," said Brian Stoddard, CEO of Pointe of View, the project's developer.

Crews are now working on the six-level underground parkade and will eventually build to street level, where a floor of commercial space will be leased out.Those portions of the project are expected to cost around $50 million, Stoddard said.

Half the commercial space is already leased to a well-known national chain, though Stoddard wouldn't name which one.

The Gateway-Midtown property was originally owned by developer Resiance, which dug a hole for the foundation but walked away last fall after saying the project was "financially unfeasible." The site was then under court-appointed receivership, leading to Pointe of View taking it over in March.

"This is symbolic,"Ald. John Mar said of work relaunching. "It was the first site to stop work. It's the first site to restart."

The time was right for work to relaunch, Stoddard said, adding the shoring on the site's walls couldn't be left to sit there.

"You can't leave shoring there like that forever because there's always a concern that the shoring might fail and the road is going to end up slipping into the site," he said.

"We're sensing that the market is turning around, so we think the timing is appropriate for us to have a successful project there."

jkom@theherald. canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Calgary condo developer unveils stimulus package for prospective buyers
By Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary HeraldJune 2, 2009

CALGARY - A downtown condo developer is taking action to “revitalize home ownership” by introducing its own stimulus package for its highrise residential tower.
Homburg Invest Inc., said it doesn’t want to sit on unsold condos and Tuesday it announced its program for the 19-storey Castello development at 530 12th Ave. S.W.
In the 106-unit building, there are 42 remaining to be sold.
Aside from a 10 per cent down payment, the stimulus package includes that the balance would be paid in two instalments by way of first and second mortgages.
The first mortgage would be at four per cent for a five-year term on only 50 per cent of the purchase price. Payments on the first mortgage are interest payments only, calculated as simple interest.
The second mortgage will be calculated at six per cent, simple interest, for a seven-year term on the remaining 40 per cent of the purchase price. There will be no payments required on the second mortgage until the end of the term where by the accrued interest will be due.
Prices have already been slashed by an average of $100,000 per unit in the condo tower with 60 per cent of the 106 units occupied. Prices range from a low of $400,000 to $1.1 million.
The number of condos under construction in the Calgary census metropolitan area has been in decline since its peak level in May 2008, said Lai Sing Louie, senior market analyst in Calgary for Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.
At the end of April, there were 6,746 condo units under construction which was 35 per cent down from the 10,408 units a year ago.
The record level was achieved in May 2008 with 10,746 condo units under construction in the Calgary CMA, said Louie.
In February, a national housing report said new unsold condominiums are becoming a concern in the Calgary market.
The Altus Group Housing Report said most of the unsold units in Calgary are already completed or under construction and the expected decline in new condo apartment sales this year could lead to a “sizable” increase in the number of completed and vacant units.

MTONEGUZZI@THEHERALD.CANWEST.COM
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Alberta's population sees growth spurt
Province still seen as place of hope
By Richard Cuthbertson, Calgary HeraldJune 24, 2009 7:32 AMComments (1)
CALGARY - Three months ago Jane Sutera decided to leave Kelowna, B. C., and head to Calgary with her boyfriend in search of better career prospects.

The 19-year-old quickly found work as a receptionist with a building supplies company and says Calgary is a great place for young people as it offers real opportunities for job advancement.

"We wanted to try something new," Sutera said of her decision to move. "I'm young and there's just better opportunities in Calgary; there isn't very much in Kelowna."

It appears Sutera is not alone in moving to Alberta.

Alberta's overall population rose 0.59 per cent in the first quarter of this year. That's more than double the national average, according to a Statistics Canada report released Tuesday.

The report finds this province's quickly growing population in the first quarter was in large part due to the highest rate of net interprovincial migration in Canada, where Alberta gained far more people from other provinces than it lost.

Alberta's buoyant interprovincial migration numbers also mark a change from 2007 when, at one point in that year, Alberta was loosing more people to other parts of Canada than it was gaining.

Unlike Alberta, several other provinces and territories lost people to interprovincial migration in the first quarter of 2009.Many of those provinces, however, gained large numbers of international immigrants, with the rising number of non-permanent residents fuelling Canada's highest first quarter population growth rate since 2001.

Despite global and national economic problems, Alberta was still seen as a place for jobs in the first quarter of this year, according to Adam Legge, chief economist for Calgary Economic Development.

"We were relatively more attractive jurisdiction than other places in Canada," Legge said. "I think that spurred people to move here in hopes of finding employment opportunities."

It also appears that fewer people were moving away from Alberta, says Harry Hiller, a professor of sociology at the University of Calgary and author of the book Second Promised Land: Migration to Alberta and the Transformation of Canadian Society.

"There isn't as much incentive for people to move somewhere else because things aren't better anywhere else," he said.

Jobs aren't the sole reason people chose to move to this province, Hiller said. He believes people are attracted to Alberta because many already have friends and family who have moved to the province and established themselves here.

"People move to places where they have people who can assist them in launching their residency in that new community," Hiller said.

"This is because so many people have moved here over the last while--everyone has friends and relatives that they can call upon to help them."

Jobs attract people to Alberta and its cities, Hiller said. But there are also other factors that encourage people to move "up the urban hierarchy."

Some people move to cities like Calgary and Edmonton for better health care than what's offered in rural communities. Others are attracted to an arts and culture scene more substantial than in a small town.

"Why is it that people move to bigger cities?Because bigger cities have a greater variety of opportunities," Hiller said.

Three weeks ago, Andrew David and a friend packed their belongings in car and set out for Alberta.

The 25-year-old from Elliot Lake, Ont. decided to move to Calgary to find better paying work and because he wanted to see the mountains.

David's girlfriend of six years and their two young daughters will soon follow him to Calgary.

"I come from small town Ontario where its hard to find work," he said. "I'm always surfing the Internet, looking at jobs.

"My girlfriend used to live out here and she said that there's a lot more work out here than there is in Ontario. The wages are higher, so we figured we'd take a chance and move out."

The Statistics Canada report finds Alberta's net interprovincial migration was 7,144 in the first quarter, compared with just 2,761 for the same quarter in 2008. The province's net international migration, which has steadily increased in recent years, was 8,801.

Also adding to the total population was a "natural increase" of 5,412. Alberta's population now stands at 3,653,840.

Although interprovincial migration numbers for Alberta were strong in the first quarter, Legge says he suspects there will be a pull back in migration to Alberta in the coming months, as some other provinces, such as Saskatchewan, have better unemployment rates.

"There are other provinces that are lower unemployment that Alberta," Legge said. "So, I think we'll begin to see migratory patterns reflect that."

rcuthbertson@theherald. canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

[atlas_inc]

Calgary's building permits double in June


By Lisa Schmidt, Calgary HeraldJuly 7, 2009 10:04 AMBe the first to post a comment

CALGARY - The value of Calgary’s building permits doubled in June, but is still down about one-third since the beginning of the year, Stats Can said Tuesday.

There was $626 million worth of construction permits issued in Calgary in June, twice the amount handed out in May.

Most of the increase came from government and commercial permits, as the value of non-residential applications jumped five-fold. The value of residential permits fell about 40 per cent to $101 million.

In Alberta, the value of construction permits jumped nearly 50 per cent to $1.1 billion. Non-residential projects accounted for most of the gains, as residential permits were down slightly.

The rise in total building permits is encouraging, said one economist, and adds to other signs the worst of the recession has passed.

“However, the good news should be tempered with a liberal dose of caution,” Todd Hirsch, senior economist with ATB Financial, said in a release.

All of the gains were concentrated in a few large non-residential projects in Calgary, he noted.

“Since it is just one month’s worth of permits, it’s hard to argue that this is the beginning of a trend. Outside of Calgary, building permits remain rather weak, particularly for residential construction.”

Across Canada, the total value of building permits rose nearly 15 per cent to $5 billion in June.

Year to date, Calgary’s permits are still lagging last year’s levels, with the total value of permits sitting at $2.3 billion, down about one-third.


lschmidt@theherald.canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald





Virginia Galt

Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Tuesday, Jul. 07, 2009 09:15AM EDT

The value of building permits issued in Canada in May surpassed the $5-billion mark for the first time since October, 2008, Statistics Canada reported Tuesday.

This marked an increase of 14.8 per cent from April, with gains in both the residential and non-residential sectors.

The biggest gains were in Calgary, “with all components of the non-residential sector advancing,” Statscan said. Toronto followed with increases in the number of permits issued for multi-family dwellings – condominiums, apartment buildings and townhouses.

The gains surpassed expectations. Economists at the Bank of Montreal had forecast “a roughly flat result.”

Statscan reported that, in the residential sector, the value of permits has increased for three consecutive months.

“In the non-residential sector, the value of permits increased 15.3 per cent to $2.4-billion, following a 12.9 per cent decrease in April. The gain was mainly the result of increases in the institutional component in Alberta and Ontario.”

[atlas_inc]

Bow bridge to salute troops
Alderman says city trying to defuse anger
By Jamie Komarnicki, Calgary Herald July 26, 2009

Calgary's future pedestrian bridge across the Bow River -a $22-million target of taxpayer fury--will resemble a coiled, red-and-white spring and be touted as a tribute to Canada's armed forces, say people familiar with the project.

Official plans won't be released until Aug. 6, but according to a memo obtained by the Herald, the project designed by celebrity architect Santiago Calatrava will be a structural feat, if not wildly stylistic.

Prefabricated steel elements bolted together will give the structure its helical shape, said the memo, written by a Calgarian who was shown the design and briefed on the project as part of the city's consultations.

LED lighting is set to illuminate the 128-metre span. Further, a glass canopy will shelter the coil-like structure, with the six-metre-wide deck platform running through the spiral.

The bridge will be coloured red on the outside and white on the inside. Missing from the design, though, are the arches and spires on which Calatrava built his reputation.

Although the high-profile project has become notorious because of its price tag and well-known designer, city officials now stress that the project's intended aim from the start was to pay homage to the nation's armed forces.

Mayor Dave Bronconnier said in an interview Saturday that the bridge's name will pay respect to the military. City council plans to meet Monday to finalize the name.

While declining to discuss the specifics of the plan, Bronconnier said the Calatrava project has long been associated with the city's overhaul of Memorial Drive.

The message, however, got drowned out in the cries of opposition over the contentious project.

"This will be part of Calgary's celebration towards people who have given so much of themselves," Bronconnier said.

But Ald. Andre Chabot said it's news to him that the bridge will be a tribute to Canadian Forces, adding it's never come up in council deliberations dealing with the project.

Chabot, who opposed the bridge, said he thinks it's a matter of aldermen who supported the project trying to save face.

"It has never, ever, been referenced as such," Chabot said of the Canadian Forces tribute. "It's, I think, just an attempt by somebody to try and make it more appetizing, because the general public were totally incensed about the idea of spending that much money on one pedestrian bridge."

Chabot said that while he opposes the bridge, he would support dedicating it to Canadian Forces if such an idea was introduced to council.

A formal ceremony is being planned with military officials for the fall. When it's completed, scheduled for late 2010, the bridge will be "sort of an homage to the goals behind any Canadian military action," said Ald. Druh Farrell.

Bronconnier called the bridge a "sleek design and a good quality piece of infrastructure."

jkomarnicki@theherald. canwest.com

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald

http://www.calgaryherald.com/enterta...215/story.html

[atlas_inc]

CALGARY - It is now cheaper to build major construction projects in Calgary than it was a year ago.

During the boom years, huge projects in the province had a difficult time finishing within budget because of escalating construction costs on a monthly basis.

But economist Dan Sumner, with ATB Financial in Calgary, said that trend has reversed when you look at recent Statistics Canada data.

“With the recession-associated reduction in demand, the cost of building an office tower, factory, or hospital in Alberta is now more reasonable,” said Sumner.

Non-residential construction prices were 13.5 per cent lower year-over-year in Edmonton as of the second quarter of this year and nine per cent lower in Calgary.

“Like energy prices, construction costs soared in the first half of last year,” explained Sumner. “But after peaking in the third quarter, costs have fallen markedly as prices for everything from steel to concrete and even skilled labour has softened.

“The recession may have also removed some of the urgency in terms of completion times for large projects, which means that companies are not forced to pay workers overtime to rush and get buildings completed.”

According to Greg Kwong, regional managing director for CB Richard Ellis Limited in Calgary, there is currently 5,278,850 square feet of downtown office space under construction as well as 1,726,850 square feet in the suburban office market, 806,173 square feet in the industrial real estate market, and 836,908 square feet in the retail market.

The biggest chunk of the downtown office space is from the Bow Tower with two million square feet and Eighth Avenue Place with more than one million square feet.

The Bow is 100 per cent pre-leased to EnCana Corp. while Eighth Avenue Place currently has no pre-leasing in place.

“The nine per cent drop (in construction costs in Calgary) is certainly good news for developers, but the bigger concern is where’s the demand to build new projects,” said Kwong.

Sumner said that although Calgary and Edmonton construction costs have fallen compared with a year ago, relative to where they were in 2002 their rate of increase has been the highest in the country. Construction worth $100 in 2002 now costs $164 in Calgary and $151 in Edmonton, he said. This compares with current prices of $134 in Montreal and $139 in Vancouver.

“Non-residential construction is a lagging indicator,” added Sumner. “Considering commodity prices have remained stable recently and that economic recovery may be slow, construction costs may be set to fall further this summer.”

mtoneguzzi@theherald.canwest.com

[atlas_inc]

Turning the Tables
A sector-by-sector analysis of commercial and office real estate in Calgary shows a stark difference from a year ago


By Derek Sankey

Vacancy rates are rising fast in offices and commercial properties around Calgary, creating some good opportunities for tenants to strike a deal, and it’s a trend that industry veterans say will continue for at least the next two years.
“This year, rental rates have dropped anywhere from 10 per cent to 50 per cent,” says Todd Throndson, managing director of Avison Young in Calgary. “Next year, we’re looking at vacancy in the mid-teens and by 2011 … there’s the potential we could have vacancy in the 20-per-cent range.” Overall vacancy in this sector currently sits at 9.3 per cent city wide, up significantly from a year ago.Across the city, the big story in commercial office real estate has been a surge in sub-lease space. Companies that have been struggling financially have offloaded some space to reduce costs, while other companies that had aggressive expansion plans in 2008 quickly curtailed those plans and have begun farming out the unneeded space.
Business in Calgary talked to real estate experts and used recent market reports to give our readers a snapshot of what’s happening in each of the main markets in Calgary: the downtown core, the beltline, as well as the suburban south and north markets.

DOWNTOWN
The vacancy rate downtown has risen to 7.8 per cent after reaching lows of 0.8 per cent in 2007 and 2.2 per cent a year ago. About 2.7 million square feet of office space will be added downtown this year into 2010 out of a total of about 36 million square feet of space. In 2011, another three million square feet will be added.
“The market is going to have softness,” says Throndson. “Landlords have changed their pricing significantly.” With vacancy rates rising over two years, tenants renegotiating their leases or those that have come up for renewal will want to think carefully about their options looking into the future.
Class AA head-lease space is currently getting about $35 per square foot, while Class A space gets $30 per square foot, Class B sits at $20 and Class C at $16 per square foot. The largest contiguous space is at Place 9-6, which also has the dubious distinction of having the most head-lease space with 75 per cent of the building available at the end of the second quarter.
There are a total of eight office buildings under construction downtown containing 5.8 million square feet of space. They are: Penn West Centre West (fall 2009), Palliser South (fall 2009), Le Germain (spring 2010), Centennial Place East and West (spring 2010), Jamieson Place (spring 2010), Eighth Avenue Place East (fall 2011) and The Bow (spring 2012).

THE BELTLINE
This area stands out as one of only two areas city wide with positive absorption year-to-date in 2009. With the completion and occupancy of Stampede Station I, absorption recorded for the year is positive at 45,000 square feet, although it was negative 28,000 square feet in the first quarter.
Experts say the Beltine will be the exception for the remainder of the year, with a negative annual absorption forecast for the rest of the city as Keynote will be completed later this year and occupied by a majority tenant from outside of the Beltline.
The combined vacancy in the area sits at 9.8 per cent and is expected to remain below 11 per cent until spring of 2010, when vacancy will increase to more than 12 per cent as a result of the new Calgary Board of Education Centre reaching completion. The vacancy rate has been steadily climbing in this market, as well, up from three per cent at the end of the second quarter in 2008.

The total inventory in the Beltline is 5.7 million square feet in 93 buildings, with the largest contiguous pocket being 22,000 square feet in Bromley Square in direct vacancy. The largest sub-lease space is at 902 – 11th Avenue SW with 43,000 square feet. Class A space has a vacancy of 5.0 per cent, Class B is 11.9 per cent and Class C is 8.8 per cent.

Suburban NORTH
“The northeast has certainly seen a very significant jump in its vacancy,” says Avison Young’s Throndson. “A larger tenant of 30,000 to 50,000 square feet last year might have had three to five options,” he says. “Today, they probably have 20 (options).”
That sums up the activity level in the northeast part of the city, which has seen many large blocks of space open up this year. AMEC gave up about 55,000 square feet of space in its building near Centre Avenue, while the Willowglen building also has significant space available. Another half a building opened up from Loblaws at 32nd Avenue NE and when WestJet moved into their new corporate digs, it left a pocket of 65,000 square feet. Calgary Co-op also moved out of its old corporate office and into new space, leaving another 50,000 square feet available.
The good news, at least for landlords, is that the Calgary Police scooped up the space in the former Nortel building, which helped absorption. Yet, it’s a small dent in the overall picture in northeast Calgary. “There’s just a lot of blocks of space still available,” says Throndson.
The northwest quadrant of the city accounts for a relatively small proportion of space in the north market, keeping it one of the healthier places in the city. “There’s very little office space (in the northwest) and the market is still reasonably tight,” he says. “That’s the one market that is reasonably good. There’s just so little product in that market that it’s just pretty quiet.”

The vacancy rate in the suburban north currently sits at about 13 per cent, which was 6.5 per cent a year ago. That’s broken down into 6.8 per cent for the northwest and 14.7 per cent in the northeast – illustrating the contrast described in the markets by Throndson.

Suburban SOUTH
Like the northwest, southwest Calgary is a drop in the bucket when it comes to commercial office space and has little impact on the overall city inventory. The southeast, however, is another picture entirely with lots of activity happening there. It should be noted, though, that both quadrants have a vacancy rate of about 12 per cent.
The Airstates property on 11th Street and 59th Avenue SE is a 105,000-square-foot new building, which has only leased about 5,000 square feet, according to Avison Young. Macleod Place 1 and 2 – the two white office buildings across from Chinook Centre – have had space come available from Colt Engineering, while the Quarry Park development has had some space come back from Jacobs Engineering. The Southport Atrium at Southland Drive and Macleod Trail also has significant space open, about 44,000 square feet.
“Now tenants have a fair bit of opportunity to leverage landlords against each other,” says Throndson. There are currently 10 office buildings under construction in the south end of the city containing about 890,000 square feet that will help push the vacancy rate in the south as high as 18 per cent by the end of 2010 – the highest forecasted rate in any area of the city.
Projects underway include: Centron Park 3 (fall 2009), Quarry Park North A (fall 2009), Quarry Park West (fall 2009), Springborough Professional Centre (fall 2009), Homes by Avi building (fall 2009), Centron Park 4 (spring 2010), Quarry Park Boulevard Centre (spring 2010), Quarry Park Medical Centre (spring 2010), Quarry Central (fall 2010) and Atlantic Avenue Art Block (fall 2010).

Link http://www.businessincalgary.com/ind...1&preview=true

[atlas_inc]

Calgary unveils East Village master plan
By Kim Guttormson, Calgary Herald September 16, 2009 12:02 PM



CALGARY - The East Village master plan was unveiled this morning, outlining a future vision for the blighted area that includes commercial and residential developments, a pedestrian street cutting through the heart of the neighbourhood to the river and a new riverwalk.

While many of the concepts have previously been outlined in technical city planning documents, the man who heads the company responsible for redeveloping the area said this pulls all the pieces together.

“The master plan shows how the whole thing weaves together,” said Chris Ollenberger, CEO of the Calgary Municipal Land Corp., the agency charged by city council to transform the downtown community. “It shows the relationship between certain parcels of land, why this one is geared more towards residential, why this one is commercial.”

Using the tag of the “newest oldest coolest warmest neighbourhood” the Calgary Municipal Land Corp. (CMLC) will now try to sell the East Village — both the idea of the revamped community and some of the land. CMLC owns about half the lots in the East Village; 70 per cent if only vacant land is considered.

Ollenberger says while informal discussions with developers have already been held, they expect to begin marketing the East Village by early next year.

The East Village master plan sees the area being divided into six “character areas,” including gateways into the neighbourhood at the 4th Street underpass and at its northwest corner; capitalizing on its location along the Bow River; a “parkside” along the eastern edge which abuts Fort Calgary and existing park land; a transition area on the west side between downtown and the village; and its core, where the majority of development will take place.

The core includes a diagonal pedestrian street that cuts through its heart from 4th Street and 8th Avenue to the river.

It’s hoped the neighbourhood will be home to more than 10,000 people by 2020.

Long known for its homeless population and drug dealers, the East Village has been undergoing major work over the past few years. About 12 blocks in the neighbourhood are currently under construction, with land being raised as much as 2.5 metres to the flood plain level, streets being realigned and wider sidewalks and new lighting installed.

The city has started construction on the 4th Street underpass, which will provide a north-south connector from the Stampede grounds and the Saddledome to the bridge over the Bow River, requiring a tunnel be built under the CPR tracks.

CMLC has received numerous tenders to design a new bridge to St. Patrick’s Island.

The Cantos Music Foundation is renovating the King Eddy and has unveiled five possible designs for its new music centre, all of which incorporate the heritage building.

The East Village has been an issue for decades, but a number of previous attempts to revitalize the neighbourhood have failed.

In 2002, city council scrapped a deal to rebuild the area with private developers after an audit examining the bidding process and merits of the joint-venture agreement.

The estimated $200 million it will cost for the current East Village infrastructure upgrades — which the city says are necessary for developer interest — is being funded through a program called tax-increment financing, which sees the city pay for the work and then recoup the investment when the upgrades attract new development and increase property values. The property taxes from the Rivers district — which includes the under-construction Bow tower — will help pay for the work.

kguttormson@theherald.canwest.com
© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald
Link

[atlas_inc]

the city has released their numbers for individual neighboods (2009 census). Keep in mind that these numbers are from back in April. Union Square and Colors were just starting to move people in. I'm not sure how many people had moved into Xenex, Castello, Nova, and Vetro at that time.

Here's some of the inncer city stats:

...............................................2009............2008

BELTLINE _______________18, 341.......17,818....+ 523
CHINATOWN _____________1,287........1,281......+6
DOWNTOWN COMM CORE __7,719.........7,887.... -168
DOWNTOWN EAST VILLAGE 2,448..........2,316....+132
DOWNTOWN WEST END____2,288..........2,634....-346
EAU CLAIRE ______________1,716..........1,638....+78
MISSION/CB______________6,350.........6,020....+330
KENSINGTON_____________9,749..........8,994....+755

Total.......................................49,898..........48,588....1,310


http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/cityclerks/popcomparisonbycomm.pdf


Here's a look at Beltline over the last 5 years.
http://www.calgary.ca/docgallery/bu/cns/community_social_statistics/beltline.pdf

2004 - 16,119
2005 - 16,360
2006 - 16,662
2007 - 17,794
2008 - 17,818
2009 - 18,341

Another thing to note: According to the two documents the number of occupied suites in the Beltline has gone up from 10,360 in 2006 to 11,310 in 2009. The total number of all suites is apparently 14,617 for the Beltline, with 14,007 of those being apartment/condo. Only 106 single family homes in the Beltline.

[bob1954]

I hope in 8-10 years those numbers will double, at least.

[Yume-sama]

I hope in 8-10 years those numbers will double, at least.

:banana: I'll probably be one of them. If some interesting residential projects come up in that time, of course!

Like... Arriva finishing :P

[atlas_inc]

The LaCaille Group conjures up images of grandeur.

After all, under the helm of Peter Livaditis, the company made its name with one of the city's first-- and grandest--high-end restaurants on the banks of the Bow River in tony Eau Claire. Now the company is looking to the suburbs as it works with IBI

Group to plan a "city within a city," says LaCaille Group vice-president Al Schmidt.

"It's not suburban, but it will be a complete community," he says. The company started with the LaCaille on the Bow restaurant, where Livaditis built an executive, exclusive condominium tower attached to the restaurant.

Its success led to a second tower across the street, LaCaille Parke Place.

"Then we built Five West and it's been a great success," says Livaditis, an entrepreneur whose humble roots are still planted in Greece.

"We have been fortunate and we're still planning for a big expansion."

His second-in-command calls it more than good fortune.

"It's a combination of location, quality of product and name recognition," says vice-president Al Schmidt. "People know we work hard and pay attention to detail. We know the business and are dedicated and passionate."

The west end is one of the locations the group believes in, says Schmidt.

"We have three more sites in the downtown area, including a very high-end, 50-storey building that includes a five-star hotel," he says.

"We're just wrapping up the tendering process now to give us an idea of construction costs. We'd like to introduce this to the public by spring 2010 probably.

"We're very optimistic because of the unique offering."

The building proposed for 4th Avenue and 5th Street S.W. is "head and shoulders beyond anything else you see in Calgary today and will be a landmark," says Livaditis.

But some people may not know that LaCaille isn't just a high-end condo tower builder.

"People forget that we've done other things," says Schmidt.

"West Market Square, for example, was ours--and it is one of the proudest things for us that LaCaille has ever done. It has a different signature all over it compared to many other strip malls."

West Market Square is located on the west side on Sirocco Drive S.W.

Now the developer is taking its vision even further. "We saw an opportunity to do something that's very different in an area that's outside the core of the city," says Livaditis. "We'd love the chance to do something that doesn't exist in the city right now."

That "chance" is in two areas in Calgary's suburbs, where LaCaille is working with IBI Group on the "city within a city," says Schmidt.

The areas--one in Sage Hill in the north-central sector and the other within SkyView Ranch in the far northeast--will have a town centre, public spaces and amenities, with high-density condos mixed in.

The plans are following the city's Plan It vision, a new transportation and planning document that is meant to guide the city's growth for the next 60 years.

The largest of LaCaille's areas is one in the heart of Walton Developments' SkyView Ranch. Tentatively called North Pointe, the centre of the area is at Country Hills Boulevard and 60th Street N.E. "The master plan includes a 65-hectare town centre in the heart of the neighbourhood," says Steve Shawcross, a director with IBI Group.

"It will include one million square feet of office space, half a million square feet of retail, an LRT station, a community centre with a library and recreation facilities of roughly 10 acres (four hectares), and up to 8,800 residential units. The majority of these will be multi-family--everything from duplexes, to townhouses, brownstones and walkups-- and, in future, highrises."

The model for some of the proposed building forms is a mixture of Old-World market squares, unique architecture, and pedestrian-friendly streets--all with the aim of creating a "vibrant" community, says Shawcross.

"The setbacks from the street, the heights of buildings, the details of addressing the buildings to the street to create a pedestrian environment--regulating the architectural form helps meet the objectives of Plan It, yet ensures a high-quality public realm," he says.

At the end of the day, says Schmidt, "it will be much more a European-style town centre with a number of public squares. Part of High Street will have no vehicles allowed, but the LRT access will be there with public access to a park.

"It will be contributing 24/7 to a lively, vibrant environment that we are striving to achieve. It's the next level of a mixed-use town centre."

The initial plans were approved by city council in July.

"We anticipate starting the first phase within the next two years," says Schmidt.

More immediate is Sage Hill Farm in the heart of Genesis Land Developments' newest neighbourhood of Sage Hill Crossing.

Sage Hill Farm is bounded by land recently approved for future regional commercial development on the north; 37th Street N.W. on the east, Sage Hill Drive N.W. on the south, and a future road on the west.

Much smaller than North Pointe, the area is about 4.7 hectares and will be a "test case for the North Pointe proposal," says Shawcross.

"It will be mixed-use as well with 152,000 square feet of retail/ office space based on a high street, with the possibility of a larger-format grocery store that will be addressed to the main street."

In fact, preliminary plans call for creating a "series of small-town Alberta streetscapes," says Shawcross. "These will be things like a faux-barn that is like the original farmstead, but would be the grocery store. The bank will be in a brick building.

"We want to create a small-town feel to it all to foster social interaction and make it an interesting, community-based place."

The key: "There will be a high stress on creating a pedestrian environment."

Sage Hill Farm will include 350 to 500 residential units, he says.

"There will be an opportunity to create mid-rise condominium towers in the future, but the first will be four storeys," says Shawcross. "These will mix with retail and office space."

These are all similar to the concepts for North Pointe, but on a smaller scale, he says.

"It's all about developing the details, the architecture and the spaces so people will want to spend time here," says Schmidt. "It will be an oasis in a sea of hustle and bustle that is the city.".

LaCaille will likely be taking its development plan to the city in January, says Livaditis.

From there, LaCaille is hoping to start construction by the fall of 2010, with the first buildings to market by 2011.

LaCaille Group continues to work on Solaire, its tower on 4th Avenue and 8th Street S.W. that has 15 units left for sale.

Other projects are in the planning stages, including twin towers along the newly-designed and widened 16th Avenue North at 8th Street N.W.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald