Gronk!
Senior Member
Is there a new name for this tower? Grandin is a dirty name these days.
Grandin Tower 2 | 113.99m | 36s | Westrich Pacific | Chris Dikeakos
- Thread starter Daveography
- Start date
davcocom
Active Member
Westrich biggest downgrade is stopping working with architects like Chris Dikeakos. BUT being honest, something like The Hat @ 122 would work great here too.
NicolBolas
Active Member
I don't know I'm getting meh vibes from this already.
Jhawk
New Member
I talked about this in another thread so it might be somewhat redundant, but the short answer is that it's a simple case of dollars and cents. Concrete highrises in Edmonton are a challenge financially.
Calgary's rents might have been declining at the time of your post, I don't know Calgary's rates, but developers, especially the larger institutional developers, and REITs don't care about rent declines in a particular quarter, etc.. they are looking at 20 years out, and they look at the rental market for the past 20 years.
Calgary's highrise rental market consistently fetches around 15-25% more than Edmonton's high rise market and has for the past 30 years. Developers are betting it will be that way for the next 20. It's also not so much about the extra rental revenue, it's that a Calgary building will likely be worth 15-25% more in 20 years.
It's not a case of developers having anything personal against Edmonton, only a case of people running numbers through a calculator. 47 high-rises have been built, or are u/c in Calgary over the past 4 years, and most of them have been built by out of town developers. Vancouver developers, like Bucci, Amble, Bossa, Gracorp, Cressey. Others like Cadillac Fairview, Slokker, Hines, Western Securities, GWL. Even some from Edmonton. One Properties has built a few towers in Calgary recently, and recently broke ground on another. Cantiro, which I believe is an Edmonton based developer is breaking ground on a tower first week of May. Calgary based Truman is building 5 or 6 high-rises, and proposing more but it's almost all Ontario money.
David A
Senior Member
Yes, higher rents likely do attract more construction, although I would be cautious about predicting current trends 20 years in the future. Interestingly, migration to Edmonton has been quite strong too, so it is not just that a lot more people going to Calgary.
If anything, fundamentally it is probably the considerably higher cost of housing in Calgary that is leading to more demand there for high rise rentals and condos, which then leads to higher rents and condo prices. However, as can be seen in the GTA and GVA, prices can only go so high and there is only so much people can or will bear. With recent declines it looks like Calgary may have reached its maximum also, so perhaps those 20 year projections should take that into account too.
MakeYEGGreatAgain
New Member
Edmonton is growing. Just not enough jobs downtown to entice more people to live in new highrise towers.
High earners in Edmonton working in the energy sector are the blue collar type vs those in Calgary who want to be close to their office buildings. Just a different set of demographics. Someone wanting to spend money on a big truck vs someone wanting to spend more money on a condo/apartment to walk to their office.
For 30 years, Edmonton has been bleeding corporate jobs and has been struggling to attract or keep those jobs. Think of Telus as an example.
High earners in Edmonton working in the energy sector are the blue collar type vs those in Calgary who want to be close to their office buildings. Just a different set of demographics. Someone wanting to spend money on a big truck vs someone wanting to spend more money on a condo/apartment to walk to their office.
For 30 years, Edmonton has been bleeding corporate jobs and has been struggling to attract or keep those jobs. Think of Telus as an example.
whattheheck
Active Member
^And successive council after council does not seem to care.