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Downtown Real Estate

archited said:
Yes -- as per the article from NYT I posted recently, offices are going to follow in the footsteps of Retail and Hospitality in a rapid downward trajectory. Expect to see more office conversions to residential.
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Do you think coworking space in residential will replace office towers?
I could see 2 floors of a condo being converted to a wework/university library type setup as valuable. Residents, but also outsiders could use. Discounted rent or fees to building occupants vs outsiders.

Private offices and sections for companies to rent, but mostly mixed use areas.
 
Yes -- if the City could open up to more creative use of space enabling a blend of residential, office, retail, hospitality, and handcraft all in the same building without designating it by floor or by zones, then I think you would see some of the most amazing architecture, some of the most amazing conversions (especially with buildings like the CN tower and the Milner building -- I would like our team to be able to take a crack at both).
 
My understanding is that the MGA (province-wide) only gives municipalities powers to control sites based on use, effectively forcing sites to be designated by use, ie SFH or Office Tower, rather than by form, ie 2-storey-house-like-thing or 25-storey-tower-thing. that being said, the town of High River (of all the random places to try this) enacted a new LUB a few years ago that worked around this. by listing a huge grocery list of uses for each of the 6 zones in the town (down from 40-odd) and then writing in veerrry specific form rules for each zone, ie the 'Traditional Neighbourhood District" allows for cafes, lodging, apartments, agriculture, etc, but has strict rules about building height, setbacks and building form; including lots of use-specific controls. Essentially, it's a form-based zoning bylaw, but working within the use-based powers granted by the MGA.
Applying this to Edmonton's downtown=proper would be a bit wonky because of the scale of projects we have ( and the fact that DCs, being written custom for each project already have the 'grocery list of uses with really specific form rules to follow' model) but a lot of central edmonton would really benefit from having these much more wide-open uses for each zone, with a better focus on building form (that is usually what bothers neighbours of new buildings, after all). IDK, it woud be great to have form-based zoning be more common, but i think the MGA makes it more of a puzzle to put in place than it ought to be. It was a big deal when a little town like High River approved this LUB, very unexpected for such a conservative place. I've heard that it is serving as a model for what Edmonton is writing right now.
High River LUB
 
Near $30m loss on CN Tower. Woof.
 
City Centre West is looking like a ghost town (photos of vacancies from second floor):
98423C53-8827-4567-9638-E59DAEBDEB54.jpeg
53D694DB-E15C-4DE1-AB2C-94FD97863D26.jpeg
 
'For a $50-million residential condo building being constructed on a $5-million parking lot, this would equate to tax savings of about $891,000 over the five-year period. Qualifying projects must begin construction this year, cost more than $10 million and include at least 50 residential dwellings. Affordable housing and energy transition benefits will also be taken into consideration by the city during the application process.'
 
Kosy123 said:
I'm very curious and excited to see which 10 developments they're stating would be eligible and start off this year!
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My guesses in order of likelihood:
  1. Open Sky 121 St. (Open Sky)
  2. Grandin 4 (Westrich)
  3. Stationlands Rental Mid-Rise (Qualico)
  4. J123 (Streamliner Properties)
  5. The Hudson (Westrich)
  6. Parkview Tower 1 & Link Building (Pangman & Maclab)
  7. Edmonton Motors Tower 1 (Pangman & John Day)
  8. Falcon 1 (Langham)
  9. ICE District Tower BG (ONE Properties)
  10. Emerald Tower (Regency)
 
Not 'Downtown'

  1. Open Sky 121 St. (Open Sky)
  2. Grandin 4 (Westrich)
  3. J123 (Streamliner Properties)
  4. Edmonton Motors Tower 1 (Pangman & John Day)
  5. Emerald Tower (Regency)
 
"With the program designed to bring growth to the core of the city, eligible projects must be built in a defined “Centre City” area, including Downtown and Oliver. The area is bound by 108 Avenue to the North, River Valley Road to the south and stretches from around 87 Street to just west of 124 Street."
 
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