The southeast Edmonton neighbourhood of Ritchie is undergoing a transformation and it’s getting attention from millennials looking for a place to put down roots.
What is perhaps most visible in the community wedged between the Mill Creek Ravine and Whyte Avenue, is the revitalized commercial hub in the middle of the community.
Rudy Krause, president of K&K Foodliner, stood outside his company’s strip mall Wednesday afternoon as construction crews were hard at work replacing the facade.
The strip mall was built in the 1960s and is home to the Blue Chair Cafe, a hair salon, a convenience store and a handful of other businesses – with apartment units upstairs.
“We already started here, putting in new windows, the balconies will be redone, the siding will be all new, there will be kind of funky doors,” Krause explained.
Before the end of the year, it will look nothing like it does now, after $800,000 of renovations.
Across the street sits the new Ritchie Market, a combination brewery, cafe, butcher and cycling shop.
On the next corner of the four-way stop sits another renovated strip mall with a liquor store and baby boutique.
“It looks cool now. It’s not a dumpy little place,” Krause said. “The houses that are going up are nice houses, the businesses are all improving here.”
Residential real estate is also booming. The community is full of new infill developments, housing young families.
“Ritchie is very attractive because it’s got quick access to the Mill Creek Ravine, walkability to Whyte Avenue and all the shops and nightlife there, and it’s a way shorter commute than the suburbs,” explained Kennedy realtor Jessica Jefferys.
When the Blue Chair Cafe opened in 2004, the neighbourhood wasn’t so popular.
“Every street had something that was bad,” explained Blue Chair Cafe owner, Harold Wollin. “People only race by this four-way stop and never look at anything – they just drive by.
“All of a sudden now, it’s some of the most prestigious properties in the city. It’s exciting.”
Wollin said nearly every day he’s getting new customers telling him they recently moved into the area.
According to the city’s census numbers, that makes sense. In 2016, the most recent year on record, only 31 per cent of residents reported living in the community for at least five years.
“It was affordable, up until a little while ago. Now all of a sudden it’s desirable,” Wollin said. “From a restaurant perspective, I’m finally going to start appealing to people in the neighbourhood.”
The most common age demographic, representing nearly 450 of the 4,000 residents, is 25-29 years old.
“In the last 10 years, Ritchie’s seen a surge of 55 per cent increase in the average sale price of a single-family home,” Jefferys said.
“Compare that to the City of Edmonton, they’re sitting at 15 per cent over the same time period, so that’s really impressive growth.”
In her experience, millennials are searching more for a lifestyle provided by a community rather than a particular house.
“They want to be able to go and get a coffee and read the paper at a coffee shop on Saturday morning and walk to get their groceries and enjoy life outdoors. The other thing is they want to support small local businesses and with the Ritchie Market opening up and the four corners, they’re going to be able to do that.”
John Sheldon just moved to Ritchie with his family a few years ago.
“I guess we consider it an up-and-coming area,” he said, while out walking his daughter in a stroller past the new Ritchie Market. “It’s close to the Mill Creek Ravine, lots of good walking areas – also the schools in the area are really good.
“It was definitely a little bit run-down before but with the revitalization, it’s definitely helped bring more people to the corner and bring a new atmosphere to the area, so I like it.”
In 2016, the city census pegged Ritchie’s population at just under 4,000 people.