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The Quarters

VaultBoy said:
This was discussed at the recent city council for the Quarters rezoning. The owner of this land said they finished the conceptual planning of this tower and is apparently starting the preliminary design process "fairly soon". Honestly Probably not wording this correctly, but Under the new changes of the zoning of the quarters there is height restriction so to get the 35 stories on the tower his team will need to submit a new application for rezoning. Before Covid, they were ready to submit pre-application for development permit. I guess we'll see if the intent is really there?
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Recent Edmonton concrete tower project costs are ~$370,000 per unit including underground parkade and land. If this is 35 storeys and assuming 400 units that's a $148,000,000 build. The only way this gets done today is CMHC MLI Select financing at 95%, which is a $140,600,000 loan and $7,400,000 equity. The developer would also need to demonstrate a net worth of 25% of the loan ($35,150,000) to guarantee the loan.

Mr Balakrishran and his firm College Woods have spent the last 25+ years as a smaller land developer with no vertical tower experience https://collegewoods.ca/about-college-woods/. There is a reason the Edmonton towers being developed right now are by Edgar/Autograph, Westrich, Cidex, Pangman, Maclab - each with substantial experience in tower development and the pockets to pull off a project like this. For comparison, the Parks tower 1 is 35 storeys and being taken on by Maclab and Pangman.

I'll never say never and it would be great to get something like this in that area but there is a slim slim chance this project happens under this guy. Prove me wrong!
 
If this happens, I'll actually eat my hat. I hope to god it happens but I'm not going to be too sad if this never goes anywhere (would have great river valley views though)
 
Also hope that tower gets somewhere but I won't hold my breath given the history of development in the Quarters.

Still wish there was more political will to truly transform this district into something special and different - even something resembling East Village in Calgary would be a home run.
 
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Getting back on topic...does anyone know if there's anything planned for the site NW of this proposed tower?

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It used to be Chinatown Mall with the Mirama.

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archited said:
Oh, I can take anything that a functional illiterate can throw at me -- in case you didn't check, my license is active in California. The State of California is actually one of my clients so you might want to be careful what you say. I didn't take a shot at your post -- it was aimed at your incompetence and self-aggrandizement in all things "development project world". Your comments suggest to me that you are a "junior" at the company that employs you (daydreams about being something more relevant than your station would allow). You are a bloviated Mr.-know-it-all with no "there" there.
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Long time lurker - I am surprised more posters do not call you out for your BS on this forum. From what I have observed, your contributions to this forum alternate between random diatribes, bullying and personal attacks (on those who share their connections and knowledge of the industry), and numerous fact-like disguised posts about developments that with any back checking through the threads turn out to be completely false or do not materialize at all.
 
I suspect the timing of this project just around the time of a huge increase in costs is a big part of the reason.

But I do feel governments need to start to reign in the costs of future projects soon, people are starting to get tired of things being so over budget.
 
I hope we start seeing more movement in the Quarters. Cidex has been a start for the area but I thing we need at least a couple other developers who will take some of the properties out of the hands of the long time/current owners of the lots, who are happy to just let these lots sit while they earn a passive amount of money from the parking lots.
 
Edmcowboy11 said:
I hope we start seeing more movement in the Quarters. Cidex has been a start for the area but I thing we need at least a couple other developers who will take some of the properties out of the hands of the long time/current owners of the lots, who are happy to just let these lots sit while they earn a passive amount of money from the parking lots.
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Except we have had developers/development in addition to Cidex commit to and complete projects in the Quarters for decades including the Brighton Block,, the Pendennis, the City Market Building, the Army and Navy, Jaffer’s two buildings, the Double Tree, National Cappuccino, the Goodridge Block, the Chinese Elders, The Quarters Arts Collective, Ociciwan Contemporary Art Collective etc.

At the same time we’ve lost Brittany’s, The Nook, The Hardware Grill, the market, etc. We even lost the police recruitment centre and a cannabis store!

Many of those long time/current owners and their families would be quite happy to see their holdings developed or redeveloped by themselves (many of them are quite capable and experienced) or by partnering with/selling to a developer.

The problem isn’t a lack of developer interest, the problem is a lack of viable demand for the commercial, retail, and residential spaces that they and the Quarters need for development to proceed.
 
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