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Suburban Development and Sprawl

thommyjo said:
They were claiming the suburbs are no longer selling luxury homes and that they are more affordable than less sprawled areas. I don’t believe that’s true to the data. And that matters cause it shows demand, trends, and where young people are buying. Unlike places like Vancouver where you go farther away to afford a home, Edmonton is still seeing affluent buyers buying in the suburbs and that’s why central areas aren’t redeveloping faster.
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It is good to have a balance, so that people can choose where to live based on where they work and their chosen lifestyle. Alberta is a diverse place and not everyone wants to live centrally here or in Calgary. I think we should be thankful that housing has a wide range of options here and is still obtainable for a lot more people than say Toronto or Vancouver. New stock is bound to be higher. I don't think that is the key reason why central areas are redeveloping slower - people still own the homes that exist in central areas. You can only redevelop so fast as people are willing to sell.
 
Gronk! said:
https://imgur.com/V1FQotF
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I still think it'll start picking up now. All but two of the plots (the largest multi-unit building plots) in the first phase are pending or sold, and residents have had good things to say so far. Builders see that the concept sells well, that the geothermal heating/cooling system works, and that the LRT is on its way. I'm feeling optimistic for its growth in the coming years.
 
There is a HUGE growth engine coming to Blatchford (I almost hate to say this because it leads to people asking me to divulge something that I know that is covered by NDAs). I cannot say what it is, but it is real and it is powerful -- we (myself and others) are working on it now and it will be a huge boon to Blatchford and to NAIT. Btw, NAIT expansion on its own will be dramatic over the next decade and beyond.
 
archited said:
There is a HUGE growth engine coming to Blatchford (I almost hate to say this because it leads to people asking me to divulge something that I know that is covered by NDAs). I cannot say what it is, but it is real and it is powerful -- we (myself and others) are working on it now and it will be a huge boon to Blatchford and to NAIT. Btw, NAIT expansion on its own will be dramatic over the next decade and beyond.
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That's super exciting to hear. Are you able to share around about when the public might hear about this?
 
archited said:
There is a HUGE growth engine coming to Blatchford (I almost hate to say this because it leads to people asking me to divulge something that I know that is covered by NDAs). I cannot say what it is, but it is real and it is powerful -- we (myself and others) are working on it now and it will be a huge boon to Blatchford and to NAIT. Btw, NAIT expansion on its own will be dramatic over the next decade and beyond.
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Thanks for dropping this nugget, my heart is all a-flutter! Can you please clarify something I've always wondered? Will buildings on NAIT's Blatchford property need to meet the same environmental requirements – EG carbon emissions, green building codes, etc – as buildings on Blatchford proper? Or did Edmonton agree to modify the requirements for NAIT?

Also, can you please divulge something that you know is covered by NDAs? ;)
 
archited said:
There is a HUGE growth engine coming to Blatchford (I almost hate to say this because it leads to people asking me to divulge something that I know that is covered by NDAs). I cannot say what it is, but it is real and it is powerful -- we (myself and others) are working on it now and it will be a huge boon to Blatchford and to NAIT. Btw, NAIT expansion on its own will be dramatic over the next decade and beyond.
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5 B$ Intel Chip plant?
 
itom987 said:
^ That doesn't account for the people working on Blatchford, they are going at a snail's pace compared to their competitors in the suburbs.
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There are not single standing homes on a "traditional" lot in Blatchford. Young family's, most anyway, want a backyard for swings, hot tubs, maybe a small greenhouse and garden and a large garage to store recreational and home equipment like bikes, snowblowers a canoe. The only place to find that is the suburbs except a few lots or house that pop up in central that can be renovated or demolished and a new home built.
 
archited said:
There is a HUGE growth engine coming to Blatchford (I almost hate to say this because it leads to people asking me to divulge something that I know that is covered by NDAs). I cannot say what it is, but it is real and it is powerful -- we (myself and others) are working on it now and it will be a huge boon to Blatchford and to NAIT. Btw, NAIT expansion on its own will be dramatic over the next decade and beyond.
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I can't wait!
 
EdmTrekker said:
There are not single standing homes on a "traditional" lot in Blatchford. Young family's, most anyway, want a backyard for swings, hot tubs, maybe a small greenhouse and garden and a large garage to store recreational and home equipment like bikes, snowblowers a canoe. The only place to find that is the suburbs except a few lots or house that pop up in central that can be renovated or demolished and a new home built.
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There are a lot of young families with often very different needs and values. It might be the case that most of the young families you know aspire to the portrait of a very stereotypical white Canadian household you've painted (which there is nothing wrong with), but consider that it might not be representative of Edmonton as a whole.

As just one example, there are lots of immigrant families for whom a backyard hot tub doesn't really register among the other things they may care about:
  • proximity to cultural/linguistic enclaves (and associated school programs)
  • easy access to post-secondary by transit (often very important)
  • walkable communities with good transit for live-in elderly relatives/other family members that can't drive.
 
soupcrate said:
There are a lot of young families with often very different needs and values. It might be the case that most of the young families you know aspire to the portrait of a very stereotypical white Canadian household you've painted (which there is nothing wrong with), but consider that it might not be representative of Edmonton as a whole.

As just one example, there are lots of immigrant families for whom a backyard hot tub doesn't really register among the other things they may care about:
  • proximity to cultural/linguistic enclaves (and associated school programs)
  • easy access to post-secondary by transit (often very important)
  • walkable communities with good transit for live-in elderly relatives/other family members that can't drive.
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Another important thing is neighbourhood amenities. Even if you can't fit a hot tub on your patio, something like a swing set or a big backyard might not be as important if there's a playground a short wall away, and a large park with lots of grass just a but further beyond that. From how Blatchford is being planned, it seems like they're finding a good balance between the space of single detached homes, plus the neighbourhood amenities of a downtown core (in terms of walkable scale). Only time will tell how it plays out, but multiple families have moved there so far and they seem to love it.

"In the last few weeks, there's been a hum of activity with multiple families — the first residents of Blatchford community — simultaneously unpacking and moving into their new homes, all of them keen to meet their new neighbours.

'We had a dog's birthday party, we had a kid's birthday party and all of that within two weeks'

[...] 'Lots of people have been passing by as community tourists looking for signs of life. There's a pedestrian walkway out front and the kids on our street have been getting to know each other.

'It's peaceful. It's a little bit eerie at times, but that'll fill in fairly soon.'"
 
westcoastjos said:
It is good to have a balance, so that people can choose where to live based on where they work and their chosen lifestyle. Alberta is a diverse place and not everyone wants to live centrally here or in Calgary. I think we should be thankful that housing has a wide range of options here and is still obtainable for a lot more people than say Toronto or Vancouver. New stock is bound to be higher. I don't think that is the key reason why central areas are redeveloping slower - people still own the homes that exist in central areas. You can only redevelop so fast as people are willing to sell.
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I think this misses the main points of why there is so much on going criticism of the suburbs. For a lot of people they make more sense in terms of location, schools, raising kids etc. I don't think many of us have a problem with the concept of a suburb in general, in fact many of my favourite communities were the original suburbs. But the original suburbs achieved similar or higher densities while providing those amenities, and also being transit friendly and walkable. Why should you need to buy in an older community if you want to not be car dependent? In most new suburbs it would require minor changes to their layout to introduce at least some walkable amenities and community gathering places, and more housing types, but we refuse to do it or let it happen.
 
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