Grandin 4 | 23m | 6s | Westrich Pacific | J+S Architect

What do you think of this project?

  • Total voters
    25
Concrete high-rise construction is a bit tricky right now given high construction costs, overall duration ie interest payments and relatively low rents.
 
^ maybe for rear-view-oriented developers or those who want to justify their swing to cheap, poorly designed edifices. The high-rise market is just beginning to warm up in Edmonton -- there will certainly be some who are left behind.
 
archited said:
^ maybe for rear-view-oriented developers or those who want to justify their swing to cheap, poorly designed edifices. The high-rise market is just beginning to warm up in Edmonton -- there will certainly be some who are left behind.
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Respectfully, you are simply out of touch with the realities of building and developing in Edmonton.

Construction costs being what they are, demand improving but still hit and miss and rents needing to come up ~10-15%+ minimum to really make concrete high-rise viable again. I've spoken with some of the other players and they will say the exact same thing.
 
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IanO said:
Concrete high-rise construction is a bit tricky right now given high construction costs, overall duration ie interest payments and relatively low rents.
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This project was at one point going to be a highrise then got scaled back to 6-storeys. You don't see the same option happening for the lot beside this one?
 
IanO said:
Respectfully, you are simply out of touch with the realities of building and developing in Edmonton.
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Not so much -- I am involved with a number of potential Edmonton developers and California developers giving Edmonton a strong look-see with their attached projects (in the advanced planning stages). The forward looking will benefit in the next year. You will see a number of high-rises starting up or going through approval stages in the City in 2025. My experience with development and developers generally -- in the early stages they are less risk averse and take gambles that pay off; when the subject office matures they tend to go for the bucks and safe investments; when they mature even further they typically become "stature-minded" and look for innovative high quality projects. A company like Maclab or Qualico is in the latter category; a company like Beljan is in the first category; a company like Westrich has landed in the middle category.
 
In development it is always important to be innovative! -- lest you get tagged with the moniker "greedy".
 
I wouldn't choose to live in one of Westrich's new wood framed builds, but others have been leasing their new projects very quickly. These are going to be good homes for people, and I don't find the very targeted bashing of a specific developer very helpful.
 
When I was a student at UofA oh so many years ago -- I lived in a walk-up on 119street a block north of Jasper Ave. --- a brand new (at the time) studio apartment -- it was horrible and embarrassing and I moved out as fast as I could. Building to the lowest denominator is not good for the City nor for the people who get ripped off in the cheap buildings "made for them". There are a ton of infill projects being built that are better scenarios for those who can't afford that are ten times more humanistic Anyway -- this is my opinion -- take it or leave it. Remember when almost everyone on here was lambasting Ed Gooch for his comment "good enough for Edmonton" -- seems like now we are rationalizing developers who are playing the same game.
 
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IanO said:
Respectfully, you are simply out of touch with the realities of building and developing in Edmonton.

Construction costs being what they are, demand improving but still hit and miss and rents needing to come up ~10-15%+ minimum to really make concrete high-rise viable again. I've spoken with some of the other players and they will say the exact same thing.
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Seems like Qualico is the only one who has the appetite to build high-rises currently. And Falcon too.

But like you said, the market isn't bullish here for that right now. I'd be okay with 10-15 story buildings going up to help with densifying our downtown core at this time. But, if high-rises aren't financially viable, the 10-15 story buildings probably don't make sense either.
 
bodsbods9090 said:
Seems like Qualico is the only one who has the appetite to build high-rises currently. And Falcon too.

But like you said, the market isn't bullish here for that right now. I'd be okay with 10-15 story buildings going up to help with densifying our downtown core at this time. But, if high-rises aren't financially viable, the 10-15 story buildings probably don't make sense either.
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The demand has to exist to built larger buildings or developers have to be confident it will exist soon. Our downtown has some big issues and has had little employment growth for decades, so these are some very fundamental problems that we may have to work on and resolve to increase demand significantly.

In the meantime, I am not a snob and would rather see some nice smaller buildings fill some empty lots to add a few more people in key areas. Incremental progress is progress and it does not have to be all or none.
 
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