Members of Edmonton’s business community frustrated by lack of progress on Fort Road’s revitalization

City staff have promised a new zoning bylaw will come before city council’s executive committee either later this year, or in the early part of 2020, after a 2004 community revitalization levy (CRL) has failed to jumpstart development in north Edmonton.

The stalled CRL is highlighted by Station Pointe, a project that limped along through 2015, only to have things stall when BCM Developments, who purchased it and began construction of a 112-unit apartment building (with 19,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor), went into receivership.

“The things that we envisioned never came about,” said Deanna Fuhlendorf, the executive director of the Fort Road Business Association.

One of the board’s members, Hon Leong of L.P.Y. Developments, told the committee that the area could take off if it wasn’t constrained by city staff.

“Just about a week ago, I received notification from the City of Edmonton that they’re going to put a soup kitchen in the Transit Hotel,” Leong said.

“In my opinion, I’ve spent several millions redeveloping that corner, being one of the only developers willing to risk that kind of money in that area, so it’s discouraging.”

Coun. Tony Caterina said the idea of helping the homeless is good, however, development wouldn’t be hindered if it was at another nearby location that does not require rezoning.

“In that context, in that particular corner, that’s probably the worst thing that could happen at this point,” he told reporters.

“We’re $95 million into the CRL that we committed, or had to put in there in order to develop this, and so far, there’s been zero return,” Caterina said about city investment that has gone into what was the first CRL nearly two decades ago.

A similar CRL for The Quarters has also been “almost forgotten,” Caterina said, after the third CRL for the Ice District, took all the attention away from the first two.

The Transit Hotel has sat derelict, Caterina said, much like the Cromdale Hotel years before, only kept alive by a liquor store.

He’s been encouraging the city to purchase the property so the transportation department can use the land to create an improved corridor in the area at 66 Street, Fort Road and 127 Avenue.

City staff told executive committee Monday that there are no plans to purchase the property at this time.