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Edmonton Real Estate Market

Explore Edmonton has now taken over the intellectual property from Northlands. Northlands is getting smaller and smaller over years of mismanagement.
In one way it is sad, the organization has a lot of history. However, it was run by a tight group not that accountable to the public. I don't know if it is mismanagement, as much as things changing and their model no longer working well.
 
Developers are already excited by the work-at-home market in Edmonton...
That parcel was going to be developed by the City in the near future but City Council required it be listed for sale (I wonder if JL Developments has some connection to Councillor Walters, who is a strong proponent of getting the City out of the greenfield development business.)
 
That parcel was going to be developed by the City in the near future but City Council required it be listed for sale (I wonder if JL Developments has some connection to Councillor Walters, who is a strong proponent of getting the City out of the greenfield development business.)
"that parcel" was not "required to be listed for sale by council". "that parcel" was sold on the recommendation of a series of internal and external and collaborative recommendations to council by administration and others including the city's real estate advisory committee and pwc (who have provided development options and npv valuations for various options) for years. i have no idea if jesse lefrance "has some connection to councillor walters" or not but the suggestion that, if he does, it would have influenced this particular decision is, imho, libelous.

and, for the record, i know councillor walters although we are not friends and i respect the work he has done on council including his positions on the city playing developer with greenfield projects.

and, for the record, i don't know jesse lefrance other than i believe he was previously with beaverbrook (now cantiro) and has a prior financial background.
 
In one way it is sad, the organization has a lot of history. However, it was run by a tight group not that accountable to the public. I don't know if it is mismanagement, as much as things changing and their model no longer working well.

Someone at the Journal, whether Staples or Stolte, wrote a fairly long article about the history and politics of Northlands about 10+ years ago, when the downtown arena debate was in full swing and Northlands entered the fray with a massive sense of entitlement that they'd get first dibs on running the new arena while contributing nothing. That article was not very flattering, to my recollection. It sounded like an old boys club that got to play fast and loose with public money and lands, where shares were handed down through the generations of Edmonton's prominent/connected/influential families and they didn't have a first female shareholder until the 80's or something ludicrous. Having a share in Northlands was another notch in your social climbing belt. So no one should be surprised that it degenerated to the point that it had to be shut down once the City and province stopped shoveling taxpayer money at it. And now we're left with a white elephant Expo center and just under 50 million in debt. Such a legacy!

Pretty sure this is the article I remembered: https://edmontonjournal.com/news/lo...-what-role-do-they-play-in-the-arena-business

It’s also been run, at times, as something akin to an oligarchy of Edmonton insiders. The group has 286 shareholders, all invited to join by the board, all approved by the board. Each shareholder controls a $5 share which he holds for life, unless he moves away or stops attending annual meetings. When a shareholder died, it was often the expectation that his share would be passed to a son, a precious heirloom of the family (on the group’s 100th anniversary in 1979 only six of 200 shareholders were women; today 86 of 286 are women)

So my bad, they did have female shareholders by the late 70's.
 
More people have been moving out of Alberta versus moving in for the last 4 quarters, but this article is positive.
We've heard much about the brain drain here but perhaps with remote work more people may be able to work for those companies outside the city, but live here where housing is more affordable and equity can be built.

 
I’m not as knowledgeable on this but do y’all think that this could lead to a building boom and increased interest in new projects in the city as a result of the whole work from home and affordability perspective?
 
Lower housing prices are attractive to some, but our 'lifestyle', climate and perception of professional opportunity is as or more significant as well and we still need to work on those aspects.

I'd be curious to see what intra and inter-provincial migration numbers look like, for those are telling.
 
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City offers more grants for affordable housing​

June 28, 2021


The City continues its push to increase housing options for all Edmontonians by launching a third round of capital grants for affordable housing development.

The Affordable Housing Investment Program offers grants that cover up to 25 per cent of capital construction costs for multi-unit non-market housing and are available to eligible nonprofit and private sector organizations. Since 2020, the City has invested $13.8 million in 283 new units of affordable housing through the program. Applications for the third round of grant funding are due by September 3, 2021.

“We’ve had great success attracting affordable housing investment through this grant program. Every dollar the City has spent has been matched, on average, by six dollars from grant recipients,” said Christel Kjenner, the City’s Director of Affordable Housing and Homelessness. “More importantly, we’ve secured support for permanent, safe and affordable housing for Edmontonians who need it most.”

The grant program is part of the City’s $133 million Affordable Housing Investment Plan, approved in 2018 with the goal of creating 2,500 new units by 2022. Through grants, land contributions, surplus school site redevelopment and supportive housing development, the City is on track to meet this goal, with support approved for 1531 units so far.​

For more information:
edmonton.ca/affordablehousinginvestment
City invests in new affordable housing

Media contact:
Nicole Thomas
Senior Communications Advisor
Communications and Engagement
780-819-1109​
 
Award for Planning Excellence Merit
2021
Project Name: Edmonton City Plan
Company: Edmonton City Plan
The Edmonton City Plan is a comprehensive document that promoted the means to move Edmontonians forward with focus, boldness, and agility within the global context. It is a modern policy document that integrates all city strategic plans.

Anchored in economic and health realities, the City Plan is a living document built with resilience to disruption in mind. The overall goal of the plan is to lay out the path for a city of one million to grow in the coming decade, by responding to social and environmental challenges through people-focused, evidence-based, integrated, and measurable actions. It builds on the city’s transformational priorities (the five Big City Moves). The Edmonton City Plan was recognized for its sustainability goals: people-oriented, compact, and efficient urban form, fueled by the integrated Municipal Development Plan and the Transportation Master Plan, a geospatial approach to analyze nodes, corridors and urban fabric, growth management, preservation of the North Saskatchewan River Valley and ecological corridors, and clear strategic objectives and indicators, while seeking synergies with the Edmonton Metropolitan Region Growth Plan.

The Edmonton City Plan is a good example of how technical studies, strategic documents, and multifaceted participation techniques can reach a broad audience and engage stakeholders and the community to support and enable the re-imagining of sustainable development policies and actions by city staff.
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https://www.cip-icu.ca/Honours-Awards/Awards-for-Planning-Excellence-Recipients
 
This beauty, Lambton Block, is for sale:


There are also rough plans in the photos for a 10-12 storey building just behind the existing building.
Interesting. It could be a unique opportunity to build something new on the adjacent land while integrating the older building into it.
 
'
Permit Date
Jul 23, 2021
Description
To construct a Restaurant (building 7 - California Pizza Kitchen - Public Space 419.86 sq.m with 237 seats in total, including 132 seats in the patio and 105 indoor seats).
Address
5260 - WINDERMERE BOULEVARD NW
Status
Approved
 

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