MacDonald Lofts

[Daveography]

Katz Group buys MacDonald Lofts, a low-rent apartment building with history of health violations
The Katz Group has purchased the MacDonald Lofts, a low-rent apartment building just northeast of the downtown arena in Edmonton with a history of health violations, including pest infestation and aging infrastructure.

“The property was being sold to someone else, to a third party, and we learned of it and we thought it would make sense, from our perspective, given our ownership position in the area, to also acquire that site if it were possible,” said Glen Scott, senior vice-president in charge of real estate for the Katz Group.

Scott said the deal isn’t expected to be finalized until at least next week, so plans for the site aren’t final.

The 102-year-old building next to Boyle Street Community Services was named a historic site by the city in 2003. It has been home to, among others, people hard to house because of addictions and mental health issues.

Full Story (Edmonton Journal)

 

[Daveography]

This makes me uneasy, to be honest. I'm sure Katz will prove to be a better landlord, but I highly doubt this will remain any kind of affordable housing for very long.

 

[archited]

How does it fit into their existing property holdings north of 104th @Daveography? Do they own all of the adjacent property? If so, I agree that the building is going to have a very short life span.

 

[Daveography]

@archited All of the rest of the land north of 105 Ave. that they own is surface lots.

MacDonald Lofts I think might be a protected building, though.

 

[archited]

Latest from Global news suggests that Katz Group is master planning the whole area including the MacDonald Lofts. I could envision something like exterior walls preserved as a component of a larger development a la Enbridge building. It will be interesting to follow this thread. I wonder who has been tagged to complete the master plan.

 

[chrisvazquez7]

It will be interesting to see what the Katz Group does with this building. I don't think it's reasonable to think the building will continue to house low-income residents, just because of the changes happening to the neighbourhood around it, and the rising value of the land. However, I hope they keep the building and renovate it into lofts. My vision for north part of the ICE District would be one with mid-rises with lots of brick and glass, cobblestone streets, and small retail spaces, similar to the Distillery District in Toronto or Gastown in Vancouver, but more modern. Not sure if that's what will come to fruition, but the MacDonald Lofts building would fit right in in a neighbourhood like that.

 

[Daveography]

Displaced MacDonald Lofts residents face long wait for housing
Capital Region Housing CEO Greg Dewling says the organization is ready to help residents who are soon to be displaced from MacDonald Lofts, despite Edmonton's larger challenges with affordable housing.

“We do have significant demand, ” Dewling said. “Demand has almost quadrupled in the last two-and-a-half to three years.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...ld-lofts-residents-long-wait-for-housing.html

 

[Daveography]

Tough days ahead for residents of MacDonald Lofts
Dave Martyshuk has already begun helping interested, low-income MacDonald Lofts residents find other accommodations.

And he says the future homes won’t be cheaper.

“It’s not going to be as economical as it is now at the Loft. People will be required to pay market rent,” said Martyshuk, who manages the building.

“We’ve got some other units if they’re interested, but there isn’t urgency right now.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...s-ahead-for-residents-of-macdonald-lofts.html

 

[Daveography]

Owners, managers of MacDonald Lofts hit with 377 public health charges
The owners and managers of a downtown low-rent apartment building face 377 charges under the Housing Regulation and Public Health Act for allegedly failing to comply with health orders issued following the discovery of units declared “unfit for human habitation.”

Alberta Health Services said Monday it had to resort to legal action against the owners and managers of MacDonald Lofts after more than 100 health inspections, four compliance letters and several meetings with property managers failed to remedy the alleged issues with building maintenance and pest control.

“The property management’s lack of responsive actions created a direct and avoidable risk to the health of the tenants in the building,” reads an emailed statement from the provincial health authority.

http://edmontonjournal.com/news/loc...nald-lofts-hit-with-377-public-health-charges

AHS lays more than 2,700 charges against former owners, property managers of MacDonald Lofts
The former owners and property managers of a low-income downtown apartment building are facing 2,778 charges under the Public Health Act.

Alberta Health Services said in a statement Monday that property managers' "lack of responsive actions created a direct and avoidable risk" to the health of tenants living in MacDonald Lofts.

When tenants found out last summer that their landlord planned to increase rents by $300 per month, they began speaking openly about the state of disrepair into which the 103-year-old building had fallen.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton/macdonal-lofts-charges-edmonton-1.3981239

 

[Daveography]

MacDonald Lofts resident glad something being done about building
Rena Ostertag remembers being woken up in the middle of the night by a cockroach skittering across her face.

“It freaked me out. The conditions are horrible,” Ostertag said Tuesday of her home in MacDonald Lofts, a subsidized apartment building near Rogers Place.

“I’ve never seen that — the cockroaches. They’re in the walls. They’re everywhere.”

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...nald-lofts-face-wait-home-after-charges-.html

 

[Momin]

Update: http://edmonton.skyrisecities.com/news/2017/02/downtowns-macdonald-lofts-slapped-health-orders

 

[Daveography]

Paula Simons: Tenement or treasure: The historic MacDonald Lofts awaits its future
The A. MacDonald Building — also known as the MacDonald Lofts — should be one of Edmonton’s most beloved heritage assets. Goodness knows, we’ve spent enough — almost $2 million in public dollars over the last 16 years — to restore the four-storey, red-brick warehouse as a historic site.

Yet for years it’s been the worst kind of slum housing, infested with mould, cockroaches and bedbugs. Just last week, Alberta Health Services laid an astonishing 377 charges against the building’s former owners and operators.

Now, the building is officially part of Ice District. The Katz Group recently closed the deal to purchase it for a cool $4.8 million, not a bad price, given the city’s latest tax assessment was just over $6.1 million. Sadly, that doesn’t mean the future of our past is guaranteed.

http://edmontonjournal.com/business...he-historic-macdonald-lofts-awaits-its-future

 

[Daveography]

Residents of 'horrible' MacDonald Lofts given one year to find a new place to live
The residents of MacDonald Lofts, a low-income building in the Ice District, have been given one year to pack up and find a new place to live.

ICE District Joint venture purchased the property in late 2016, and on Monday representatives said they'd issued relocation notices to residents, giving them 365 days to secure new housing.

The buiding has long been plagued with public health problems, and Alberta Health Services declared several units unfit for human habitation in summer of 2016. Earlier this year the former owners were hit with 377 public health charges.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/edmont...d-lofts-one-year-low-income-ice-district.html

ICE District says organization plans to help residents of MacDonald Lofts move
Officials with ICE District said Monday that it would, along with the province and Homeward Trust, help current residents of MacDonald Lofts to find housing elsewhere.

ICE District Joint Venture made the announcement in a news release Monday, and said current residents of the building were given a relocation notice that day giving them a year to find another place to live.

http://edmonton.ctvnews.ca/ice-dist...p-residents-of-macdonald-lofts-move-1.3362441

 

[archited]

This is not really a good low-income building. I suspect it needs to be completely gutted and rebuilt. The cost of repair will make it an expensive structure and, as a component of a larger development, I suspect that only the historic facade is salvageable, Some development incentives on the part of the City, however, could bring low-cost housing to some components of the overall scheme.

 

[Daveography]

At some point we have to grow beyond the notion that affordable housing means slums, because that's just not going to work. We need housing that is not only affordable, but affords dignity to those living within. The eviction sucks for the people living here, but to me this is a symptom of a much larger problem, not the root problem itself.