An ambitious apartment and townhouse project that was first zoned in 2007 will have to wait a little longer. Twelve years hasn’t been long enough to sort through the economics of what was a viable project, only to become unaffordable after the 2008 recession.
The big question remains: will council approve coughing up additional money to create an 88 Street and make it a town centre “main street” for the overall transit-oriented complex off 95 Avenue?
Council’s executive committee bought itself some more time Thursday, by leaving the question of an unfunded $13-million project to later this year when the capital construction budget is updated.
David Kent of the Nearctic Property Group told reporters city help is needed to create the new 88 Street, and to cover off turning 15 per cent of the 25 acres into municipal reserve land like parks and walkways.
“It’s inner-city land that has a value of north of $3 million.”
“The point that we are making with the road, it was a request of the administration and of the city, but it’s a request of our land. So we would like to be reimbursed for that land over a period of time with the uplift from the taxes we’re going to create.”
The scheme that is going back to the drawing board would see the city front the cost of 88 Street, and then have the money paid back through the eventual uplift in property taxes that Kent estimates would be worth $6.8 million a year once the project is fully built.
The site currently generates revenue through 52 circa-1950s, two-and-a-half storey walk up apartments. Since the project was first proposed, the Valley Line LRT has been redesigned to run right past what would be a new development of 1,900 units of mid- and high-rise apartment buildings.
Kent said what is being asked of them is more than what is proposed for projects in Bonnie Doon, or elsewhere along the LRT.
“When we’re asked to over contribute as compared to somebody else, it has a negative impact on our economics.”
There is opposition on council.
“This really opens up a bag of worms for almost any developer along an LRT track to say, ‘Listen, what about me too?'” pointed out Councillor Aaron Paquette. “To do it this late in the game, my worry is the appearance of it will be out of political necessity rather than economic necessity.”
“It is a cash flow problem for them. It is a precedent problem for us,” a supportive Councillor Ben Henderson told reporters.
“What’s on the table right now doesn’t work financially and no one is going to build something at a loss,” he said of the proposed main street road that would become city property in the middle of the developer’s land.
“If you’re going to put in a park, if you’re going to put in a roadway and you don’t build the final pieces of your puzzle for 20 years, how do you pay for that in the meantime?”
Henderson said when the project was first proposed, the local community was against it, but they’ve since come around in part because of the LRT.
Nearctic will go back for more public consultation on the updated proposal. In the meantime, they have begun some site assembly and consolidation of lands north of 95 Avenue and west of 87 Street, no part of the site has been redeveloped.
Rockwell Investments is the other co-owner of the project. The original development was created by owner Jim Stein’s grandfather in 1950.