Edmonton | Grandin 4 | 23m | 6s | Westrich Pacific | J+S Architect | Page 18

Barnaby · Nov 30, 2024

I wouldn't choose to live in one of Westrich's new wood framed builds, but others have been leasing their new projects very quickly. These are going to be good homes for people, and I don't find the very targeted bashing of a specific developer very helpful.

archited · Dec 1, 2024

When I was a student at UofA oh so many years ago -- I lived in a walk-up on 119street a block north of Jasper Ave. --- a brand new (at the time) studio apartment -- it was horrible and embarrassing and I moved out as fast as I could. Building to the lowest denominator is not good for the City nor for the people who get ripped off in the cheap buildings "made for them". There are a ton of infill projects being built that are better scenarios for those who can't afford that are ten times more humanistic Anyway -- this is my opinion -- take it or leave it. Remember when almost everyone on here was lambasting Ed Gooch for his comment "good enough for Edmonton" -- seems like now we are rationalizing developers who are playing the same game.

bodsbods9090 · Dec 2, 2024

IanO said:
Respectfully, you are simply out of touch with the realities of building and developing in Edmonton.

Construction costs being what they are, demand improving but still hit and miss and rents needing to come up ~10-15%+ minimum to really make concrete high-rise viable again. I've spoken with some of the other players and they will say the exact same thing.

Seems like Qualico is the only one who has the appetite to build high-rises currently. And Falcon too.

But like you said, the market isn't bullish here for that right now. I'd be okay with 10-15 story buildings going up to help with densifying our downtown core at this time. But, if high-rises aren't financially viable, the 10-15 story buildings probably don't make sense either.

David A · Dec 2, 2024

bodsbods9090 said:
Seems like Qualico is the only one who has the appetite to build high-rises currently. And Falcon too.

But like you said, the market isn't bullish here for that right now. I'd be okay with 10-15 story buildings going up to help with densifying our downtown core at this time. But, if high-rises aren't financially viable, the 10-15 story buildings probably don't make sense either.

The demand has to exist to built larger buildings or developers have to be confident it will exist soon. Our downtown has some big issues and has had little employment growth for decades, so these are some very fundamental problems that we may have to work on and resolve to increase demand significantly.

In the meantime, I am not a snob and would rather see some nice smaller buildings fill some empty lots to add a few more people in key areas. Incremental progress is progress and it does not have to be all or none.