The first step in rebuilding on the site where a 2005 fire took down one of the first apartment blocks in Edmonton’s history has been completed.
Developer Dave Dyrbey, of Kota Contracting, spoke to Global News in his first interview since word got out in early July that the Arlington Apartments site was finally going to be redeveloped.
Dyrbey said pre-consultation letters had been sent to the surrounding neighbourhood.
The Arlington — on 100 Avenue and 105 Street — has sat barren since 2008, when demolition was finally completed after the 2005 fire.
Dyrbey said of the 137 letters sent, two came back — one in favour, one opposed to the proposed plan that would have a two-storey podium for retail, 10 storeys dedicated to hotel space, then the rest a broad mixture of condos.
“We’re not going to be asking for anything much greater than what is allowed in downtown Edmonton anyway,” Dyrbey said.
The only main variance from what is normally zoned is to have 33 floors instead of 28, with two levels of underground parking.
“We’re going to have a mixture there,” Dyrbey said.
“We want to do some micro-suites, which would be probably 450-square-foot units, and then we want to do some typical larger one- and two-bedroom suites.
“And we’re anticipating the top floor will be just two suites that will be penthouse.
The plan is to consciously cross several price points.
READ MORE: Development versus heritage debate continues over downtown high-rise
“All these developers downtown, they all announce they’re doing a new luxury tower. Well how many new luxury towers can Edmonton have?
“This is going to be a nice tower but it’s also going to address affordability issues for a lot of people,” he said.
After consultation with city planners, Dyrbey said the podium won’t be brick like the original building.
“They’re not interested in us recreating what was there at the Arlington.”
However, one attempt will be made to pay homage to the 1909 design.
“It’s our understanding that the city has in their possession the arched doorway that led into the Arlington Apartments.
“If it’s large enough and if it’s okay with the fire department, we’ll use that as the main entrance into the building.”
“Otherwise, it’ll be in the lobby somewhere in the building, maybe going into a nice restaurant or something like that just to show that this was left from the Arlington building.”
Now that they’re moving to the next stage of the planning process, Dyrbey hopes to gain approval within six to nine months, with the project coming before city council sometime next summer.
Watch below: It was Edmonton’s first apartment building, but the site has sat empty since the original structure burned down 10 years ago. Vinesh Pratap finds out why.