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Crane Count

I bet they will start Imperia first, the building is approved and the site ready to go. The First & Tenth site still have active tenants (I think?) and Lincoln is not yet approved.

August is vacation time for much of the development industry, so I am hopeful that we might see a few projects break ground after Labour Day.
I believe all First and Tenth Tenants are supposed to be out by the end of October. I could see it (Gallery on Tenth) going ahead by the end of this year. Its also the only other Truman project in the beltline that's sold out and not yet under construction.
 
I bet they will start Imperia first, the building is approved and the site ready to go. The First & Tenth site still have active tenants (I think?) and Lincoln is not yet approved.

August is vacation time for much of the development industry, so I am hopeful that we might see a few projects break ground after Labour Day.
Yeah good point about Imperia. I’d like to see that one!

I also forgot about the cranes for the inevitable expansion of the MNP Centre, which could happen any time I think (???). While not technically downtown (2 or 3 blocks south), to anyone other than us it’ll be “another crane downtown.”
 
Been in Kelowna for the past few days. I think there are more cranes here than in Calgary. Definitely if you count the ones on mid/highrises. We need a boom in Calgary
 
Yeah we definitely need more cranes in this town. I remember times when we've had well over 50 cranes up at a time. The population boom we are in right now hasn't translated into a lot of large construction projects like it has in the past, hopefully that starts to change in the fall.
 
Regarding the number of cranes and high-rises here, TBH, I'm happy with where we are at. We are in a boom, just a different kind of boom, and while I'm looking forward to a few more towers in the Beltline, I don't want Calgary to mimic Vancouver or Kelowna's style of housing starts.

Comparing Calgary to Kelowna for housing starts from Jan 2023 to July 2024, Calgary has about 5.5 times the housing starts, which is about the same ratio for the populations. The big difference is Kelowna is 80% apartments compared to Calgary's 46% percentage, but Calgary still has roughly 3 times as many apartment housing starts. If there are less cranes, then it means Calgary's apartment housing starts are geared towards smaller developments as opposed to towers. Which is my own preference (unless the towers are in the Beltline or near a BRT/LRT station). Also a huge number of multi family in Calgary is row home or duplex, which is almost non-existent in Kelowna.

Apts total housing starts
14308 --30757 ---47% (Calgary)
4538 ----5684 ------80% (Kelowna)
 
It takes months to years to plan and finance a new tower. I am hopeful that a lot of the stuff currently in the pipeline will move forward, but as I keep reminding myself the process of design, securing financing, and getting necessary approvals in place all take time. I think Calgary was in the economic doldrums for so long that it sort of fell off the radar for a lot of developers until we very quickly found ourselves suddenly booming again.

I would love to see a supertall someday but mostly just want to see those parking lots in Beltline fill up, and some proper TOD start to develop.
 
Saw a new crane (for me) on 33st SW just north of 17 ave. There are two cranes in that vicinity now. Not sure the project for the new one
IMG_2597.jpeg
 

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