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MichaelS said:
livewirecalgary.com

Westbrook LRT lands back in the hands of the City of Calgary

The City of Calgary has repurchased the Westbrook LRT lands back from a local developer, paving the way for potential development on the southwest parcel. According to an email from the City of Cal…
livewirecalgary.com livewirecalgary.com

Let's hope someone more ambitious gets control of this, and we actually see something built.
Click to expand...
Oof with inflation that's like a $20 million loss for Matco
 
Wow kind of shocked that this buy-back option existed but was never disclosed or debated. I wonder how long ago the City was first able to exercise it - I wouldn't be surprised if they could have done this a few years ago and just kept getting strung along by Matco. I'm all for selling a few starter parcels to developers intent on moving fast with 5+1 wood frame projects just to get some momentum going. Would be good to see a tower or two but shovels in the ground to knock the stink off is more important.
 
I was literally lamenting to my wife the other day what an eyesore and wasted opportunity this site had become when we drove by the other day.

Regardless of how the City decides to proceed with this site, they need to clean up the rubbish on-site and find a creative temporary use in the meantime.
 
adamyyc said:
I was literally lamenting to my wife the other day what an eyesore and wasted opportunity this site had become when we drove by the other day.

Regardless of how the City decides to proceed with this site, they need to clean up the rubbish on-site and find a creative temporary use in the meantime.
Click to expand...
It's such a weird problem - unlike other "potential" TOD (i.e. Anderson), Westbrook has demonstrated substantial infill demand for years in the all the areas around station. Real development, not just plans.

You'd think that Matco would have figured out how to leverage this demand after all this time?
 
CBBarnett said:
It's such a weird problem - unlike other "potential" TOD (i.e. Anderson), Westbrook has demonstrated substantial infill demand for years in the all the areas around station. Real development, not just plans.

You'd think that Matco would have figured out how to leverage this demand after all this time?
Click to expand...

I wonder if there are City requirements that must be filled that constrain the site? I am sure people here would know.

For example, does this site have any mandated low income housing? Given its size, it would be disappointing if there was no low income housing on it.

Similar to what you said - It just seems insane they took a $10Million hit to NOT develop an inner cityish site, directly beside a train station.
 
Mull said:
I wonder if there are City requirements that must be filled that constrain the site? I am sure people here would know.

For example, does this site have any mandated low income housing? Given its size, it would be disappointing if there was no low income housing on it.

Similar to what you said - It just seems insane they took a $10Million hit to NOT develop an inner cityish site, directly beside a train station.
Click to expand...
The same constraints that work against large site TOD development everywhere in the city. High front end civil construction costs (road realignment, utilities, grading) that usually can't be phased. These destroy a pro-forma.

In greenfield development, the city front ends major civil works. If they were willing to provide similar financing for these city owned TOD sites I think you'd see greater traction.
 
Interesting article about Hines and how bullish they are on Canada:
renx.ca

Hines 'bullish' on Canada, raises new $2B development fund

Hines Canadian real estate portfolio has "significantly" outperformed its holdings in other western markets, so the company has amassed an additional $2 billion in funds to deploy according to one of its top Canadian executives.
renx.ca renx.ca

From the article:
"And the total quantity of supply in Calgary is the lowest per capita in Canada. We’ve only got three units per 100 people . . . It’s about half of what similar cities would have in terms of inventory. . . . We are looking to do more multifamily product in Calgary.”

I wonder if Hines is interested in picking up the Westbrook site.
 
Saw this in a budget summary on CBC:

Taxing vacant land?
As part of its push on housing, the federal government also says it's looking at vacant land that could be used to build homes.

It's not yet committing to new measures but the budget says the government will consider introducing a new tax on residentially zoned vacant land.

The government said it plans to launch consultations on the measure later this year.
Wonder if this would include parking lots? Which i guess technically are not vacant.

Some other summary points.
  • Converting underused federal offices into homes. The budget promises $1.1 billion over ten years to transform 50 per cent of the federal office portfolio into housing.
Harry Hays? Not like there isn't vacant office space in the city that the feds could relocate to. The old CBE building does look like a federal building haha.
  • Building homes on Canada Post properties. The government says the 1,700-plus Canada Post offices across the country can be used to build new homes while maintaining postal services. The federal government says it's assessing six Canada Post properties in Quebec, Alberta and British Columbia for development potential "as a start."
I can't think of any post offices in Calgary but I do not know every post office in Calgary.
  • Rethinking National Defence properties. The government is promising to look at redeveloping properties and buildings on National Defence lands for military and civilian use.
There has been some conversation on Currie, maybe the reserve unit could move? It is a bit awkward to have a reserve unit in the middle of communities. I even think about the reserve navy unit off Crowchild and 17th... I think they could really take those two parcels and do pretty well by converting them
 
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