Bow33 | 22m | 6s | Truman | NORR

Calgcouver said:
How long are you willing to wait? The reason Truman is building wood-frame across the street is because the construction costs and the revenue psf make sense. Concrete towers are more expensive and need to be sold for more $psf.

Consider what is immediately surrounding the Westbrook site. Is a Dollarama, a dumpy Wal-Mart and a huge mall parking lot as your immediate neighbour something that you can charge the same as being in the Beltline or Kensington? If you're seeing what I'm seeing (and very likely what Truman is seeing) then the achievable revenue psf you can make won't make for a profitable concrete tower project, so it simply won't be built. If the mall and the surroundings don't change, how will the value proposition of the location increase?

For Westbrook to be built it needs to be built at what is profitable and achievable as it sits today. Waiting won't necessarily make it more feasible to build towers; this is a good place for 5-over-1 developments for the entire site, with good materials and architecture and an emphasis on a well-designed urban realm and public space.
Click to expand...
This is a great example for a topic that you can ask about to the mayoral or councillor candidates in this year’s municipal election. I don’t think townhouses are appropriate scale for that site, and that’s what was asked. Either high rise or mid rise towers likely fit the bill here.

Westbrook is competing with many other stations that are quite attractive as TOD sites. Franklin, Canyon Meadows, Anderson, Southland, Heritage, Chinook, Lions Park and Brentwood are all great candidates as well. I’m sure there are others too. The city can’t develop them all at once.

When the economics work for what the city thinks is an attractive purchase price per acre, I’m sure it will get done at Westbrook.
 
You must log in or register to post here.

Back
Top