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Edmonton is growing rapidly towards Leduc and the airport. What’s the big draw? The answers are complex
by STEVEN SANDOR
The City’s own stats tell the story:
Two thirds of the new developments in Edmonton are on our south side.
Developers are bullish about the south side, and don’t want the City to follow through on plans to limit more new developments in this part of the city until the west, north and east can catch up. Developers will tell you over and over: They don’t shape what homebuyers want, they respond to what homebuyers want. And so many of us are voting with our dollars and buying in the south. We’re dedicating our futures to living in the south. “There’s a lot of reasons why the south is winning the popularity contest over the last number of years,” says Sue Keating, Melcor’s vice president, community development Edmonton. “I don’t think there’s any one real reason. But, I think in the south, a lot has to do with simple desires, like wanting to be near family or the community you grew up in. There are social and worship connections.”
Melcor is developing in Glenridding, Cavanagh Ridge and Jagare Ridge. Keating says they’re examples of building in areas where there are great natural features. And that’s where the south may be ahead — with neighbourhoods close to places like MacTaggart Sanctuary.
“These are areas that have lots of gorgeous natural features like ravines and creeks. In our experience, that has furthered
our ability to develop specialized lots that back onto golf courses, ravines, creeks, tree stands.”
Keating says that being close to the airport is a draw, and it makes the drive to employment hubs in Nisku and Leduc a lot easier to manage. While the health of downtown is vital to Edmonton, it’s not the same sort of employment hub as you’d find in the cores of cities like Vancouver or Toronto. Many of
us don’t work downtown, so our commutes aren’t based on how close we live to the centre of Edmonton. The south has major retail drivers and industries.
Mike Kohl is senior vice president of Alberta Communities for Brookfield Residential, which has southern developments
in Chappelle Gardens, Paisley and The Orchards, and is in Edgemont and Parkland in the southwest.
“I think the south side, from the east all the way to the
west, just has a lot of land supply relative to the north or the northeast,” he says. “And it opens up opportunities for existing Edmontonians, but also new Canadians, to start new commu- nities. I think that’s a part of it. There are these mini communi- ties that start to develop critical mass.”
So, with a lot of land available, that means house prices in Edmonton remain lower than any other major city in Canada. And this means it attracts a lot of people who are new to the city, many of them new to the country. As these immigrant communities build, they attract more people from similar
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