Grandin Tower 2 | 113.99m | 36s | Westrich Pacific | Chris Dikeakos

What do you think of this project?

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Info on the original Misericordia Site since question was asked.

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cliffapotamus said:
they just cleared the site across the alley from this location, with planning approval sought for a 6-storey, 95-unit woodframe building.
branching further off. I'm thinking Westrich won't be moving on a tower like this for a while, instead focusing on the lower-cost woodframes they have sites for and land banking.
Office gossip from a couple months ago was that they bid on the Misericordia Hospital site the province was selling; the one behind Holy Child School in Grandin. one of our clients saw the plans for it and told one of our designers Westrich had "covered the entire site with 6 stories of wood, as dense as they could get it, with a diagonal gash across the centre as green space". I'm guessing there was some exaggeration happening as to how bad the design was, but the person telling the story was unimpressed lol. This story comes to mind because of all the sites in central Edmonton to put a tower on, the Mis site would be it. wide open, great location, couldn't ask for better access to amenities, etc. As well, given it's size, construction would be relatively unconstrained for staging, excavation, etc. if a site like that only warranted nothing more than a field of 6-storey woodframe, the idea that Westrich will move on a proper tower anywhere anytime soon seems unlikely to me.
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I'll retort with this: during Covid - Ian's buddy - CEO of Westrich was on CTV claiming he had an $85M check burning a hole in his pocket to build the "Hudson" tower. Crux of the story was the delay in the city getting zoning done in a timely fashion. So I'm extrapolating that the same CEO has the same check in his pocket that he'll put to quick use getting both 2 and 4 out of the ground at the same time........
 
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Less red tape, more reorganization and partnership changes that changed things.
 
northlands said:
Did you hear any word on who the successful bidder was on that site?

Also was it the original site of the Misericordia hospital or just mistaken? Been called the Eric Cormack Centre for as long as I've ever known.
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No, that whole thing was a design-team only project, (at least the way my office operates) so above my pay grade lol, I was only privy to offie-wide chatter on the subject. I don't think we had much info about other proposals coming in either, our client just happened to have some knowledge of Westrich. I don't believe either proposal was successful, but that's essentially a guess. I'm really hoping someone from out-of-town with a bit of a bigger vision gets it though.
yes, i believe it was(?) i think that's where the Nurses' Res came from.
CEO of Westrich was on CTV claiming he had an $85M check burning a hole in his pocket to build the "Hudson" tower.
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Very well could be true. I'm only hearing snippets, and this all happened a few months ago, when the RFP for the site went out. I hope they want to do a tower somewhere in the area. we have a surprising surplus of gravel lots for "Edmonton's densest neighbourhood" lol. we shall see.
 
This is the last building left to clear off on the Grandin 2 site at 112 Street and 100 Ave - currently in progress as we speak.

The Grandin 4 site, a six storey building that should begin construction soon, is immediately beside this to the west. It should be the next new residential project in Oliver to get going.

I wonder if Westrich is still proposing a tower to go up on this site beside their 6-storey build or if they will scale this down, too.

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TAS said:
This is the last building left to clear off on the Grandin 2 site at 112 Street and 100 Ave - currently in progress as we speak.

The Grandin 4 site, a six storey building that should be beginning construction soon, is immediately beside this to the west. It should be the next new residential project in Oliver to get going.

I wonder if Westrich is still proposing a tower to go up on this site beside their 6-storey build or if they will scale this down, too.

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Would they be going ahead with demolishing this property at this time if they weren’t planning on building the tower soon? Is there a chance this might start construction around the same time as their 6 story building across the alley? 🤔
 
Filip.Nowak said:
Would they be going ahead with demolishing this property at this time if they weren’t planning on building the tower soon? Is there a chance this might start construction around the same time as their 6 story building across the alley? 🤔
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They might use the second lot as a staging area and build the tower later. They'll have to demo regardless and it might just make their life easier
 
the house-6plex conversion thingamajig on the lot immediately north of the 6-storey woodframe site to the west of this (facing 113 st, across the back alley from the tower/demo site shown in photos here) went up for sale a couple months ago. the whole building, being sold as an income property. It is currently in good shape (photos of interiors from the listing looked good) and the building is occupied. i am curious, however, if Westrich bought it.
The apartment for sale would add 50' of frontage to the 113 site, creating an ~200'x150' site facing 113 and 100ave. this would allow for a lot more units in a woodframe, or provide more room to maneuver for a tower, better than the demo/tower site facing 112 that this thread discusses. the sign for the apartment on 113 has been down for a while, and there's been nothing but some dirt dumped on the 113 site since the DP went for public review a couple months ago. that lag is not unusual, but given circumstances i wonder what is happening behind the scenes.
My complete conjecture (I don't deal with Westrich at all) is that they might have bought that apartment on 113 to enlarge that site. that would make 113 a much better candidate for a larger tower. the 6-storey woodframe would go on 112, onto the 150'x150' site there. this would require reworking designs, new DPs, and probably zoning, but would allow for bigger, more efficient projects, allowing Westrich more latitude on the larger site to do something better than a tight tower (see Falcon; that's a 150'x150', and the podium on that is SQUISHY. not a lot of value created on those lower levels, once all the service spaces are carved out) facing 112.
This is complete conjecture, but idk. If Westrich is still at the stage to change plans for these projects, I feel like swapping the sites would have benefits.
 
^ Apparently, Westrich had a tentative deal to purchase this property a couple of years ago and according to one person I talked to, that fell through because there was a request to change the original price to purchase (and not by the seller). I don't think the seller has too favorable an opinion of westrich or this development anymore and spoke at council in opposition when the latest rezoning was before committee.

I don't see a deal happening but you never know.
 
TAS said:
^ Apparently, Westrich had a tentative deal to purchase this property a couple of years ago and according to one person I talked to, that fell through because there was a request to change the original price to purchase (and not by the seller). I don't think the seller has too favorable an opinion of westrich or this development anymore and spoke at council in opposition when the latest rezoning was before committee.

I don't see a deal happening but you never know.
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the seller is caught between a rock and a hard place or a highrise and a low rise. that lot would end up having next to no property value once it's sandwiched in between two higher density buildings.
 
luvedmonton said:
the seller is caught between a rock and a hard place or a highrise and a low rise. that lot would end up having next to no property value once it's sandwiched in between two higher density buildings.
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He definitely wanted to sell but when the offer apparently changed, things went south.

Property is well cared for though and looks solid and probably generates pretty good income. Not sure how many units in there.
 
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