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public services, then people are forced to make choices that are much more expen- sive for them.”
Anderson says she is concerned about this political shift.
“At its purest level, it’s a case of supply and demand,” she says of the housing market. “For the city of Edmonton to count itself out of the game, I think that’s short sighted.”
When she worked at the City as a plan- ner, Anderson said the strategy was that a 25-year supply of land was always ready.
“We need to ensure a timely and unin- terrupted supply that meets many needs.” And that has worked, says Kodian, add- ing that developers will build where their
market research shows people want to live. “If I build in the wrong area, I get
smacked,” he says. “The political will to bend people’s choices one way is very expensive if it is wrong.”
THE TOWERING ISSUE
The “build where people will live” mantra is also holding true in the central part of the city.
Henry Edgar is the president of Autograph, which has built the 27-storey MacLaren building at the corner of 102nd Avenue and 124th Street, and the seven- storey Mercury Block at 102nd Avenue and 123rd Street.
He says that those in the business of developing and building high-density tow- ers are in a period of big risk, that these properties are expensive to build, and rent- ing the units is the way to go. “The condo market is challenged in Edmonton because of our affordability in single-family homes.”
But he believes strongly in the 124th Street area, because market research shows that is where people want to rent. With two phases of the Mercury Block
and the MacLaren all close to each other, he envisions a “West Village” filled with ground-floor retail. The MacLaren already has a wine bar, a local pub, coffee shop and a design studio.
Why bet heavily on the area formerly known as Oliver (name change coming soon, promises the Oliver Community League) over downtown?
“We have an easier time rationalizing development here because we’re building off of our own energy,” he says. “We built the MacLaren, it was quite successful, it’s full of people. You’ve got elm trees and bike lanes and bricks-and-mortar retail. Ulti-
mately, all of that contributes to a sense of safety when you’re walking around in the evening. We feel really confident about the success of our developments in this area.”
He says that the retail bays in these developments are “already almost all spoken for” and as of December 2023, over 200 people were already “registered for interest” in Mercury Block.
Meanwhile, things have slowed on The Shift, a 730-unit project near Warehouse Park, downtown. Edgar says for a down- town project to work, it needs a signifi- cant, rapid “absorption” — that is, like the condo market, the rental property owner needs to have a large number of units spo- ken for as the project is built. And Edgar’s not confident the economics work any- more without any incentives from the City.
“Edmonton remains the most affordable city out of the big five major cities in Canada.”
— Emmett Hartfield
“Downtown, while not that far away geographically, has a very different feeling on the street. When we think about our larger developments right in the centre of the core, there’s a vibrancy issue that is es- pecially challenging at night. The econom- ics of building towers is very expensive.”
Hartfield echoes the concerns about the core.
“Edmonton really needs to focus on cleaning up the downtown in order to help attract newcomers. This continues to be a major concern for local residents as well as newcomers and visitors to the city.”
INTEREST AND LABOUR
While the development community’s No. 1 fear is the spectre of regulatory changes, interest rates and labour shortages are other big issues.
“My biggest concerns at the moment generally have to do with the policies implemented by the federal government and inflation,” says Hartfield.
“The Bank of Canada and the Liberal Party are not on the same page when it comes to monetary policy and are going in different directions. The BOC is focused
on a plan to lower rates while the
Liberal party continues to spend money irresponsibly — money we don’t have, resulting in the BOC not being able to lower rates. This will ultimately affect housing affordability for many people when their mortgages are up for renewal.”
Interest rates affect developers and homebuilders two ways. They make no extra money on higher interest rates, that all goes to the banks. What they do is make it harder for families to qualify for mortgages. It makes the houses more expensive.
And, while the land is being developed, the carrying costs are higher. So, the investors are paying out more in the years it takes to prep the neighbourhood and build the homes.
But, the perfect storm that’s coming
is this: Alberta brings in millions of new people, but we don’t have enough trades- people to build the homes quickly enough.
“Ask any 16-year-old if they’d rather be a YouTuber or a roofer. You know what the answer is going to be,” says Kodian.
He hopes that federal and provincial governments will make it easier for trades- people immigrating to this country to get their tickets. “Are there carpenters out there who are currently Uber drivers?”
CONSULTATIONS
Something to chew on: would we have bet- ter public participation in things like zoning hearings, if they were actually held at times that were convenient to the public?
As a rule, public hearings usually take place on weekdays at 9:30 a.m. at City Hall. They are livestreamed (and archived) on YouTube, so they are not inaccessible. But, to speak at a hearing, you need to make time on a weekday — and that’s not easy. You can speak via Zoom or head downtown.
“Representation is made by people who have the time to do it,” says Kodian, and he feels it can skew the picture of what Edmontonians really want.
Kodian says when his company con- sults with residents, a school is booked in a convenient neighbourhood and the meeting is scheduled for after 4 p.m.
For a working family who has to get the kids to school, a weekday morning meeting is inaccessible.
So, the question: When council has hear- ings on things like neighbourhood renewals, where they are looking for public input, should they not be held during evenings? ED.
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