Blatchford Development | ?m | ?s | City of Edmonton

yeggator said:
None that have had to be developed on the remediated lands of a municipal airport that was operating flights until 2013. Instead of comparing this to some suburb in Windermere, compare it to Griesbach. I don't know how long ago it was an operational military base, but it's still being built out. And don't get me started on the Homesteader subdivision on the site of that old creosote plant.
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Griesbach started developing in the early 2000s. So it took about 20 years to get to where it’s at and there’s still room to develop. The commercial area only came in the last 5 years or so. And Griesbach, while having some quality considerations, isn’t doing quite the level of Blatchford. Plus Blatchford is supposed to have much more medium density, which will take longer to build.
 
erudyk_29 said:
The Metro Line is being extended directly into Blatchford as we speak. There will be a station called Blatchford directly inside the district. Yes it will be well connected to transit.
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I mean, it’s about as far as possible from the residential areas because it’s right on the border.

There’s tens of thousands of homes in Edmonton with a closer walk to transit than what’s been built in blatchford.
 
To my understanding the stretch of the line that is in Blatchford is supposed to be come a denser, mid-rise, mixed-use area. It looks stupid right now because the places people are moving in are not right beside transit but as the eastern sections start to develop it will start to come into its own. I agree with other users that the line would have been better aligned to the west further allowing for better connectivity within the neighborhood and a connection to the VIA station and it was probably a poor decision to put it where they did and also to start the construction of Blatchford further from transit. But to say it's an outright failure and catastrophe as many have said is way overblowing things. It's had a slow start and it may not live up the (very ambitious) goals it set out. However by the end of this process it will become the best new neighborhood built in Edmonton in literal centuries. If you buy a home in Blatchford you will be closer to an LRT stop than 90% of the rest of Edmonton and Edmonton Metro Area. I would also defend the placement of the line slightly by mentioning that it allows it to serve existing neighborhoods like Westwood and the western parts of Alberta Ave as well as Blatchford.
 
erudyk_29 said:
To my understanding the stretch of the line that is in Blatchford is supposed to be come a denser, mid-rise, mixed-use area. It looks stupid right now because the places people are moving in are not right beside transit but as the eastern sections start to develop it will start to come into its own. I agree with other users that the line would have been better aligned to the west further allowing for better connectivity within the neighborhood and a connection to the VIA station and it was probably a poor decision to put it where they did and also to start the construction of Blatchford further from transit. But to say it's an outright failure and catastrophe as many have said is way overblowing things. It's had a slow start and it may not live up the (very ambitious) goals it set out. However by the end of this process it will become the best new neighborhood built in Edmonton in literal centuries. If you buy a home in Blatchford you will be closer to an LRT stop than 90% of the rest of Edmonton and Edmonton Metro Area. I would also defend the placement of the line slightly by mentioning that it allows it to serve existing neighborhoods like Westwood and the western parts of Alberta Ave as well as Blatchford.
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Yeah, I would be as negative as some. But I understand the frustrations. I think starting with the higher density and mixed use areas would have made more sense. Sort of like university district in Calgary did. Get people visiting, shopping, host some events. Then sell them homes.

Not having high density next ton the train for likely 5-10 years still feels like a huge planning failure.

Yes blatchford is a long term project. But in the 30 years it’ll be building out, it could either attract tens of thousands or like 3500. And for every resident not living in blatchford, it’s likely more living in suburban sprawl. Apparently 65% of new residents move to brand new homes in new suburbs. That’s wild, and hurts our city in multiple ways imo (transit use, schools, local business support, Main Street vibrancy, etc).

If blatchford was just built like any new suburb, with a handful of apartments, tons of townhomes and duplexes, and some SFHs, and got built in 10-12 years vs 20-30, would that almost be better at this point? Central living, transit served, close to downtown, more bikeable, etc. that’s the question I have these days.
 
When I was with a different consultant Blatchford was one of my projects. There were a number of mid rise units in the planning stage. There were also a few site planned for 8 story. which I believe were still moving forward. I did not see anything near the station though.

As for the waste to heat facility I have been informed that it is still a bit further away design is still not complete.

I have had the luck to walk through everyone of those developments. For inner city they are ideal. They could be more accessible but the spaces are relatively compact. I can't see a king-size bed in any bedroom. I like the number of basement and garage suites.

If the length of time Griesbaigh took. Blatchford would be as built out.
 
While I understand the comparison between Blatchford and Griesbach, as the CBC article notes Blatchford is not market driven but very much policy driven as a wet dream of a municipal government that was 1. fixated on creating some eco paradise that was and has been unrealistic and 2. a continued municipal government that refuses to give up on this project despite being $200M in the hole costwise, and not seeing the revenue taxwise - in essence a double negative

ALSO - another very important difference is that the Griesbach lands owned by the federal government were transferred to the Canada Lands Company for redevelopment. The Canada Lands Company is a self-financing crown corp similar to PSP or the Canada Infrastructure Bank established to develop federal lands, not some guy down in Ottawa with no development experience doing development off the side of his desk. The CLC has been very successful developing projects like Downsview in Toronto, Wateridge in Ottawa and Griesbach here.

This is not at all what is happening at Blatchford. As many have noted, including myself, the City of Edmonton, which has 0 experience in development or development finance is the developer here using tax payer money and the struggles are obvious that the city is well beyond its core competencies of an entity that has a core mandate to provide basic municipal services to tax payers. IF, as I have suggested and was motioned to council, the city created a municipal development corp similar to the CLC or similar to what the city has with EPCOR, I would be willing to bet a lot of money that this development would be way further ahead and way less poorly performing, and would be in a place that the city is actually earning tax revenue from and not just a cost sink hole.

Which brings me back to the point in the CBC article, this development is policy driven by a municipal government that is not at all in a position to be a developer, and is not market driven by a/ proper entities in place to manage and finance development.
 
CaptainBL said:
While I understand the comparison between Blatchford and Griesbach, as the CBC article notes Blatchford is not market driven but very much policy driven as a wet dream of a municipal government that was 1. fixated on creating some eco paradise that was and has been unrealistic and 2. a continued municipal government that refuses to give up on this project despite being $200M in the hole costwise, and not seeing the revenue taxwise - in essence a double negative

ALSO - another very important difference is that the Griesbach lands owned by the federal government were transferred to the Canada Lands Company for redevelopment. The Canada Lands Company is a self-financing crown corp similar to PSP or the Canada Infrastructure Bank established to develop federal lands, not some guy down in Ottawa with no development experience doing development off the side of his desk. The CLC has been very successful developing projects like Downsview in Toronto, Wateridge in Ottawa and Griesbach here.

This is not at all what is happening at Blatchford. As many have noted, including myself, the City of Edmonton, which has 0 experience in development or development finance is the developer here using tax payer money and the struggles are obvious that the city is well beyond its core competencies of an entity that has a core mandate to provide basic municipal services to tax payers. IF, as I have suggested and was motioned to council, the city created a municipal development corp similar to the CLC or similar to what the city has with EPCOR, I would be willing to bet a lot of money that this development would be way further ahead and way less poorly performing, and would be in a place that the city is actually earning tax revenue from and not just a cost sink hole.

Which brings me back to the point in the CBC article, this development is policy driven by a municipal government that is not at all in a position to be a developer, and is not market driven by a/ proper entities in place to manage and finance development.
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When you consider Blatchford and Mill Woods, at this point the city does have experience doing this work. However, I agree that it has been slower than would have been ideal. I also think things are picking up now.
 
I noticed that Mutti isn't on their list of builders anymore. Do you think they're done building in Blatchford? This might be a dumb question, but they'll still finish any work they have left to complete, right?
blatchfordedmonton.ca

Homes - Blatchford

Located minutes from the downtown core, Blatchford combines the best of urban living with local neighbourhood charm.
blatchfordedmonton.ca blatchfordedmonton.ca
 
CplKlinger said:
I noticed that Mutti isn't on their list of builders anymore. Do you think they're done building in Blatchford? This might be a dumb question, but they'll still finish any work they have left to complete, right?
blatchfordedmonton.ca

Homes - Blatchford

Located minutes from the downtown core, Blatchford combines the best of urban living with local neighbourhood charm.
blatchfordedmonton.ca blatchfordedmonton.ca
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The Mutti homes that I walked through were of the lowest quality that I've seen in the price point. This is a win for the neighbourhood if they're no longer a builder. The Encore offerings have been fantastic.
 
Barnaby said:
The Mutti homes that I walked through were of the lowest quality that I've seen in the price point. This is a win for the neighbourhood if they're no longer a builder. The Encore offerings have been fantastic.
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Interesting point. So you don't think this is any sort of bad sign for Blatchford (i.e., that we might see other builders pull out too)? Genuinely curious since it's one of "the originals", but I don't know how uptake for their units has been compared to the others. I know units in Blatchford tend to sell well even before they're built, but I haven't been there in a while to see if that's still the case.
 
For quality builds these are all of residential level work. Multi did have me double taking a few times, but they may have been just a step down. From a guy that spends most of his time in industrial, commercial and institutional construction reviewing residential always has me bite my tongue.
 
Barnaby said:
I wouldn't be surprised if this is Blatchford kicking Mutti out, that's what I am saying.
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This would be my guess as well. I suspect that their reputation was starting to unfairly impact the reputation of other builders in the community, which the city certainly cannot afford. With Landmark and Streetside/Qualico coming into the community, I'm not too concerned that they are "losing" Mutti.
 
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