Arris - 5th and Third | 142.03m | 41s | Embassy Bosa | Amanat Architect

General rating of the project

  • Great

    Votes: 9 9.6%
  • Very good

    Votes: 45 47.9%
  • Good

    Votes: 29 30.9%
  • So So

    Votes: 7 7.4%
  • Not Very Good

    Votes: 3 3.2%
  • Terrible

    Votes: 1 1.1%

  • Total voters
    94
I wonder if the target investor audience even knows about the DIC. Especially if this is going on sale on in the winter, have a feeling many will be buying it sight unseen.
I would say probably not. There's a good chance the marketing will be done to people out of town and/or out of country.
 
Buyers won't even know what the East Village is. The DIC should not be as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. It's a molehill and not a mountain. That we continue to circle back to this tells me that Calgary has a long ways to go.
 
Buyers won't even know what the East Village is. The DIC should not be as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. It's a molehill and not a mountain. That we continue to circle back to this tells me that Calgary has a long ways to go.
I remember i meeting a guy at a networking thing that got corporately relocated from Toronto to work as an executive at a big downtown company. He was high enough up that his company found the spot for him, he just had to provide the requirements. His requirements were:
  • Condo or house.
  • a place within an hour's drive of the office.
  • Access to good public schools.
The conversation reset my expectations of how some people think about moving, investing in property. and cities they don't know about. Everyone has wildly different expectations and criteria when choosing to live in a place. Literally any house in Calgary or surrounding towns would have qualified for this guy.

The level of detail to even know of the existence of a facility like the DI (let alone coming up with an estimate of how much real or perceived impact it would have if you chose to live nearby) is actually not very common, unless you already live here for a while and consume news and social media from here focused on the topic of downtown and homelessness. Even then, many people don't care relative to all the other factors people think about when choosing where to live.
 
I remember i meeting a guy at a networking thing that got corporately relocated from Toronto to work as an executive at a big downtown company. He was high enough up that his company found the spot for him, he just had to provide the requirements. His requirements were:
  • Condo or house.
  • a place within an hour's drive of the office.
  • Access to good public schools.
The conversation reset my expectations of how some people think about moving, investing in property. and cities they don't know about. Everyone has wildly different expectations and criteria when choosing to live in a place. Literally any house in Calgary or surrounding towns would have qualified for this guy.

The level of detail to even know of the existence of a facility like the DI (let alone coming up with an estimate of how much real or perceived impact it would have if you chose to live nearby) is actually not very common, unless you already live here for a while and consume news and social media from here focused on the topic of downtown and homelessness. Even then, many people don't care relative to all the other factors people think about when choosing where to live.

One really good thing about high migration is that newcomers don’t carry the same emotional baggage about what the “good” and “bad” parts of town are.
 
I've got a project adjacent to the DIC so I'm down there weekly and it's really not a great situation within a 1-2 block radius of the facility. One of the construction workers was attacked recently, there are regular overdoses, multiple instances of human shit being flung about, and the common areas of the Riocan building are constantly used for smoking meth, crack, cigarettes, etc.
Buyers won't even know what the East Village is. The DIC should not be as big of a deal as it's being made out to be. It's a molehill and not a mountain. That we continue to circle back to this tells me that Calgary has a long ways to go.
Yes - let's just ignore problems so they get worse and we end up like Toronto and Vancouver. That is the way!
 
Seeing opportunity to pay a less for a place is not acceptance of our social failures. Ignoring it by hiding it somewhere where it can't be seen is how things get worse and without the complexities that Toronto and Vancouver endure.. The more eyes on the DIC, the more voices to be heard for something much better. 500 more people living in this tower aren't going let the DIC dictate how they live either.

It wouldn't take long for a rejuvenated condo market to complete the Rift. The East Village with a completed Rift will be one of the better downtown neighbourhoods.
 
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One really good thing about high migration is that newcomers don’t carry the same emotional baggage about what the “good” and “bad” parts of town are.
Not to mention the problem is wosrse where they are from (Vancouver, Toronto). One of the problems with the DIC is that Calgary's downtown is pretty empty after hours, which makes it more of an issue. However, it's good they're building out the EV and growing the population so it's not an isolated to a part of the city. Once it's out of sight, out of mind, it never gets solved like East Hastings in Vancouver or Tenderloin in SF.
 
As someone who goes by that area every day, I think you'd have to be touched in the head (or yes, out of town and unaware) to buy into Arris. Unless you're getting an absolutely screaming deal, I see zero upside to buying there when there are plenty of other options around. Newcomers are not idiots...having your block surrounded by zombies is not some normal "big city livin'" feature that one just shrugs off.
 
Selling those units to locals would be a tough sell due to the reputation of the area but it won’t be hard to sell it to out of town investors, or even out of town people looking to live there. The area has its problems for sure but it’s no worse than most cities. In fact, it’s probably a lot better than most cities.
 
It may not be worse than many cities (at least in NA) but it's still a relatively poor property to invest in considering there are plenty of alternative areas or projects where you're not taking on the same level or risk. It's not about competing with rough areas of Vancouver or Toronto...it's about competing with properties in the Beltline, Kensington, Bridgeland, Mission, Eau Claire...even in another part of EV really. Not that those areas are immune from these issues, but the block that Arris sits on is ground zero for all the worst activity in Calgary. Apart from the DIC itself, pretty much any other street is better in that regard. Even if I was just parking my money, it would have to be a crazy discount to buy into this. I can see why they are marketing to them, but any out-of-towner who buys into this is not doing their due-diligence and/or flat out getting hoodwinked.
 
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I bet most of the out of town purchases would be just to rent out anyways.
Which still poses a higher risk of headaches, as you may have a smaller pool of tenants to pick from, or need to rent at a lower rate, or deal with higher turnover etc.

In investing, there's a mantra that says "manage the risk, and the profit will take care of itself". Whether to live or rent out, buying into Arris just has a bunch of needless risk compared to the alternatives. Why even put yourself in that position? Yes, if the price is cheap enough, or the market is tight enough, or the investors are blind enough, they'll sell these...but as things stand, I'm just not seeing it as a particular smart investment. They basically need to sell it to a bunch of suckers.
 
Which still poses a higher risk of headaches, as you may have a smaller pool of tenants to pick from, or need to rent at a lower rate, or deal with higher turnover etc.

In investing, there's a mantra that says "manage the risk, and the profit will take care of itself". Whether to live or rent out, buying into Arris just has a bunch of needless risk compared to the alternatives. Why even put yourself in that position? Yes, if the price is cheap enough, or the market is tight enough, or the investors are blind enough, they'll sell these...but as things stand, I'm just not seeing it as a particular smart investment. They basically need to sell it to a bunch of suckers.

Right, but buying from afar to live in without being informed what's around to buying from afar to rent it without being informed is the same process that follows the discussion.
 

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