[Offworld]

Hariri Pontarini

Cool to know. Edmonton could use more of that firm's stuff.

 

[ThatRealestateguy]

Not for awhile I don't think. Didn't inquire, but leasing overall has slowed considerably.

It’s about 30 % leased and the owner of the building has it listed for sale with an Ontario brokerage

 

[The_Cat]

It could be the need to free up cash for the next phase of The Parks.

 

[Garceyues]

It’s about 30 % leased and the owner of the building has it listed for sale with an Ontario brokerage

30% leasing does not seem bad considering that move-in only started like 3 months ago or so.

 

[NicolBolas]

30% leasing does not seem bad considering that move-in only started like 3 months ago or so.

I would assume it's slower then expected given comparables in the downtown area.

Developers want to clear off WIP cash as quickly as possible to make the asset a tangible sale to investment firms and of course to have some positive cash flow to secure loans for the next one.

 

[IanO]

For reference - 30-40 units a month is a very good number to try and hit.

 

[MetroEd]

We're probably going to be faced with an availability crunch downtown next year based on how fast units are renting out, and then we might get a scramble to build either from people who want to beat Ice District 2 or to compete with it.

I would think new units are very much needed with apparently 42,000 people making their way to Edmonton in 2024?

 

[NicolBolas]

I would think new units are very much needed with apparently 42,000 people making their way to Edmonton in 2024?

I think alot of these people want single family homes, particularly if they are transplants from GTA or the Lower Mainland. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to go from downtown Toronto or Vancouver and end up on 104st and Jasper.

 

[Platinum107]

I think alot of these people want single family homes, particularly if they are transplants from GTA or the Lower Mainland. I don't know about you but I wouldn't want to go from downtown Toronto or Vancouver and end up on 104st and Jasper.

Maybe some people would like the downtown life without having to fork over $3000+ a month...

 

[NicolBolas]

That's not a apples to apples comparison. For $3000 a month you are also getting an actual downtown lifestyle, unfortunately Edmonton can't really provide a similar experience, we can't even provide a similar experience to Calgary now.

While I agree with developing downtown, what we are doing now isn't working as well as we had all hoped it would. Perhaps we need to do something like New York did in the 1970s and offer significant tax breaks to outside developers and REITs. While also mandating street level commerical in all new buildings.

We also need to realize that we are winter city, people don't want to walk outside in -30. Another mandate should be the expansion of our pedway system to all new builds, similar to the system in Calgary.

I find the single biggest problem Edmonton has, is that we don't seem to take lessons learned from other cities and apply them here.

 

[ADob]

Increasing the pedway system is 100% guaranteed to kill whatever nascent street vibrancy we might have. Nope.

 

[inclusion]

Increasing the pedway system is 100% guaranteed to kill whatever nascent street vibrancy we might have. Nope.

We don't have a ton of vibrancy as it is, which is largely driven by social problems. Montreal has an extensive pedway system and their street vibrancy is still better than here. If anything, a pedway system offers people another mode of moving in the winter, particularly those with accessibility challenges, which means more people downtown even if they are inside. I'd rather more people in general downtown than the constant notion that pedways = bad when that isn't really true. Increased foot mobility should be seen as a good thing given more people will translate to supporting businesses.

 

[an_edmontonian]

I don't buy that an increased pedway system will kill downtown vibrancy. It would provide a comfortable way to get around during the cold months. When its nice out people will still choose to walk outside. What it would do is provide ways to comfortably get around downtown year round. Montreal, Calgary, Toronto, Minneapolis, and more have extensive pedway/underground walkway systems.

When I worked downtown I utilized the system to get around in the winter to use downtown businesses. In the fall, spring, and summer I would usually walk outside.

 

[BASE]

100% agree. I had a lot of meetups downtown that probably wouldn't have happened in the winter if not for the benefit of pedways.

 

[Gus Haynes]

I like that there's a bit of a pushback here against the notion that pedways "kill vibrancy". I know that when I worked in the CBD, the pedways allowed me an option to visit businesses a few blocks away when I might not have otherwise in truly terrible weather.