ICE District Block IJ | ?m | ?s | ICE District Prop. | Next Architecture

what will it take to really drive ice district phase 2 to happen? Seems like we aren't attracting the office demand and in terms of residential, the way they built sky residences will never succeed here until traffic becomes way worse of greenfield developments start to cost more to reflect the cost of sprawl. 4bedroom house for under 400k or 1bdrm unit in sky for 600k is a tough sell. we aren't toronto with the commute or vancouver with the beauty/quality/attraction of DT.

I really want to see our downtown develop, but the alternatives are too attractive it seems for most people to want to live/work there.
 
what will it take to really drive ice district phase 2 to happen?
$65+/BBL WTI with minimal WCS spread sustained for minimum 18 mo with good future outlook.

And that's really just for positive absorption to soak up the Exxon Valdez of unoccupied sqft that spilled into Calgary's office market to ripple into Edmonton.
 
A bit out of left field.
why would you say that?

there's still lots of things progressing through the conceptual and planning stages for new and revised projects throughout the region.

the current state of affairs - as dire as it is :( - isn't going to last forever and the planning and implementation cycles are longer than the business cycles.

arguably the best time to start things is at the bottom, not at the peak.
 
what will it take to really drive ice district phase 2 to happen? Seems like we aren't attracting the office demand and in terms of residential, the way they built sky residences will never succeed here until traffic becomes way worse of greenfield developments start to cost more to reflect the cost of sprawl. 4bedroom house for under 400k or 1bdrm unit in sky for 600k is a tough sell. we aren't toronto with the commute or vancouver with the beauty/quality/attraction of DT.

I really want to see our downtown develop, but the alternatives are too attractive it seems for most people to want to live/work there.

In Toronto the density and development really picked up when they passed the Greenbelt legislature which stopped sprawl and forced many first time buyers to look for Condos. Many of them realized they could raise families downtown which triggered larger units and services incorporated into the towers.

You are right, house prices in Edmonton are really low compared to other cities of similar size and employment opportunities in North America and the commutes are comparatively short so people keep going outside of the core.
 
why would you say that?

there's still lots of things progressing through the conceptual and planning stages for new and revised projects throughout the region.

the current state of affairs - as dire as it is :( - isn't going to last forever and the planning and implementation cycles are longer than the business cycles.

arguably the best time to start things is at the bottom, not at the peak.

Again, I like it, but not typical or expected given the location... hence the choice of words.
 
You are right, house prices in Edmonton are really low compared to other cities of similar size and employment opportunities in North America and the commutes are comparatively short so people keep going outside of the core.
Being able to sprawl near endlessly in each direction helps with that a lot.

Plus Edmonton's workforce really is so spread outside the core. Lots work up north, or in our industrial areas, Nisku, Acheson, etc. Doesn't help either that arguably the largest headquartered non-govt company in Edmonton chose to build their own campus rather than be within the core.
 
Being able to sprawl near endlessly in each direction helps with that a lot.

Plus Edmonton's workforce really is so spread outside the core. Lots work up north, or in our industrial areas, Nisku, Acheson, etc. Doesn't help either that arguably the largest headquartered non-govt company in Edmonton chose to build their own campus rather than be within the core.

PCL?
 
Bingo!

Nothing against PCL though. Great company in all my dealings with them...
 
You are right, house prices in Edmonton are really low compared to other cities of similar size and employment opportunities in North America and the commutes are comparatively short so people keep going outside of the core.

I don't know that single family house prices in Edmonton are priced really low or it's more of an issue that new condos downtown are priced really high. And if it's because of the cost of downtown land, I don't understand why downtown land is priced so high. Is it in high demand? Is it taxed too high? There are so many for lease retail spaces (I mean before covid) as well. I get the feeling downtown lease rates are high and yet more businesses would rather set up shop somewhere else anyway where people happily drive.
I would love more people downtown! And more businesses downtown. Is the only answer to make home prices outside downtown more expensive?
 

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