'An important alternative': Former YWCA land in downtown Calgary on the market once more

jasabacklink 9 months ago 3 min read

A uncommon plot of prime actual property in Calgary’s downtown is on the market.

The previous web site of the YWCA was initially offered for $45 million in 2015 to Toronto agency Nice Gulf with the intention to construct a multi-purpose downtown group. These plans by no means got here to fruition and your entire metropolis block was listed once more final week.

“It actually is unprecedented to have a complete metropolis block of this scale in downtown, and it is going to be very thrilling to see who the last word purchaser is and the way they envision this mission,” mentioned Mark Goodman, principal of Goodman Industrial Inc. of Vancouver, who was tapped to promote the parcel.

The sale worth of the land at 320 fifth Ave. S.E., which nonetheless has the now-vacant former YWCA constructing on it, will not be being publicly introduced by Nice Gulf, however Goodman mentioned there was a whole lot of curiosity within the land, principally from Vancouver buyers.

The land has been zoned for a variety of mixed-use initiatives. It will enable for a density of 20 instances the 123,275 sq. toes of area, which means there’s a most of two,465,500 sq. toes of buildable area.

Goodman mentioned the land is right for some type of mixed-use group, with industrial at grade and residential above and doubtlessly a resort. He famous Vancouver has had success with all these initiatives, however extra buyers need to markets like Calgary the place there may be much less purple tape and fewer growth challenges.

Goodman mentioned buyers are typically keen to attend out a downturn. Calgary’s downtown has been working for years to discover a resolution to excessive workplace emptiness charges, which have led the nation since 2015 when oil corporations started to exit the market.

Emptiness has been hovering round 30 per cent for the previous few years and the town and different organizations have been looking for solutions to revitalization, which incorporates repurposing older, empty towers for residential. The large Stephen Avenue Quarter mixed-use mission can be at present within the session section.

Mark Garner, govt director of the Calgary Downtown Affiliation, mentioned there may be nonetheless appreciable demand for residential within the core, even with a number of initiatives within the pipeline.

“Based mostly on what we’d like and the investments we’ve made particularly in and round that space with the Riverwalk, I believe it’s an ideal time for elevated residential in that location,” he mentioned. “It actually is a good alternative for that block to be rejuvenated.”

Town block is simply outdoors the East Village and throughout the road from the Bow Valley Faculty north campus, between third Avenue S.E. and Macleod Path. It has quick access to a lot of facilities, together with the CTrain, Central Library, museums, eating places, grocery retailer, river strolling trails and different points of interest, together with the Calgary Stampede grounds.

It’s an especially walkable space, and a mixed-use group matches an urbanist imaginative and prescient for the downtown revitalization.

Kate Thompson, president and CEO of Calgary Municipal Land Corp., mentioned with the web migration that has taken place up to now 12 months and is being forecasted into the longer term, these initiatives change into that rather more essential.

“It’s an lively space, there’s rather a lot taking place within the space, so it has a whole lot of potential,” she mentioned. “What it alerts to me is that there’s a pipeline of land and it’s good to see that there’s exercise taking place on that.”

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Twitter: @JoshAldrich03

Be aware: The story has been corrected for the correct mount of buildable area for the mission.