Mackenzie Tower | 111.86m | 34s | Urban Capital | LEMAYMICHAUD

[quit]

^Some may change over to rentals instead of condos. The demand is there for newer rentals, as has been stated on numerous occasions on this board.

Yep. The new one on Whyte rented up fast. It will be interesting to see how Maclaren does. I imagine if it rents at a good clip, the Shift project will go fast.

It makes you wonder what some of the other mixed use buildings will do. The one in front of the Mac and then Aldritt too. Thinking about it more though, I think intent and commitment may have been lacking here.

Lamb launched with a splash too. I went to the opening event and thought, wow, this is going to sell. It fizzled. Given how long these were on sale for and how fast they pulled the plug makes me question if they were priced poorly for the market or if they just thought it would sell in a month. I can't think of another condo project that sold that fast. I recall most sales boards taking 12-24 months to sell including a place my girlfriends sister just bought in. It took them a while to sell and had to have shovels in the ground before it approached 75% or so.

 

[bodsbods9090]

Yep. The new one on Whyte rented up fast. It will be interesting to see how Maclaren does. I imagine if it rents at a good clip, the Shift project will go fast.

It makes you wonder what some of the other mixed use buildings will do. The one in front of the Mac and then Aldritt too.

I would hope that if they can do it economically some of these projects will shift their focus on rentals and not condos. As other have said, the market is not there.

The other proposal that I think has a good chance of going forward are the two towers on 108 St. Some of that is rentals so as long as they can pull it off, that project will be a very nice addition to the downtown.

Lots of proposals out there right now but man, I hope some of them come to fruition.

 

[OverheardatYEG]

I would easily say these were priced way above market rates. Starting rates were near the Sky residences for near top floor. I'm not surprised they didn't sell any when I went into their sales centre there was 0 activity. I liked the tower but priced way out of proportion. That being said I'd love to see someone else pick it up... site and concept still hold potential.

 

[bodsbods9090]

On another forum, it's been mentioned that there are no legs for this site and it's not dead.

Anyone else hearing anything?

 

[quit]

On another forum, it's been mentioned that there are no legs for this site and it's not dead.

Anyone else hearing anything?

That it may have some legs.

 

[bodsbods9090]

^Whoops!

Yes, that is has legs and there are things happening.

 

[_Citizen_Dane_]

^Whoops!

Yes, that is has legs and there are things happening.

On Connect2Edmonton there was some discussion about the Blue Plate Diner's upcoming closure and possible move on June 30th. User GreenSPACE had this to say;

"Blue Plate has a long term lease that will have to be bought out by the landlord. So something is happening with the building."

 

[OverheardatYEG]

@_Citizen_Dane_ rumour has it there's supposed to be a night club going in. Owned by the building owner: Limak?

 

[Airboy]

Well there once was one in the basement.

 

[Daveography]

Rezoning is up at Council tomorrow July 3:

http://sirepub.edmonton.ca/sirepub/mtgviewer.aspx?meetid=2266&doctype=AGENDA (Items 3.9 & 3.10)

 

[Daveography]

Lots of opposition to this one. You'd think this one was the proposal that looks to demolish three heritage buildings...

 

[Jdub]

On Connect2Edmonton there was some discussion about the Blue Plate Diner's upcoming closure and possible move on June 30th. User GreenSPACE had this to say;

We're at our current location until the end of July. Moving to another "central" location. Opening by August 1 (ish)

 

[Daveography]

Rezoning passed with three Councillors in opposition. Didn't catch the end of the debate so I couldn't say what the objections were. Will catch up when the recordings go online.

 

[quit]

Sounds like the tower separation was a big thing people were opposed to. More in this story.

I also noticed that all advertising for the tower has been removed from the street. Website was still up last I checked.

 

[Daveography]

@westcoastjos Ok yeah that makes sense, and there were a couple of speakers I heard talking about that. It's kind of a weird situation, though, where you don't necessarily want neighbouring properties to have more redevelopment potential anyway, being historical buildings that are in good repair.

What stood out for me (and apparently for Councillor Paquette as well, who voted against) is the concerns that the podium design doesn't meet the spirit of the HA zone (though planners said it meets about 80-85% of the intent). Again, I'm ok with this if the HA zone is being so prescriptive as to basically require faux-heritage facades. They can look OK, but - as I've said many times before - let our historical buildings stand out and stand on their own by not watering down the block with fake copycat designs.