Winnipeg | 300 Saint Mary Avenue | 14F | Mixed-use Apartments

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by drew

^ the original design of this building resulted in the original developer declaring bankruptcy (IIRC).

I think we would be very naïve to assume that the design will be remaining the same to make this building viable the second go around.

Like it or not, brick costs extra money compared to the other available exterior finishes. It's low hanging fruit in a value-engineering exercise and will likely be one of the first items to be scaled back.

Ha ha. You actually think it was the brick that made the project go bankrupt? It might have been an inexperienced developer who couldn’t afford a project of this scale.

The brick saved half a million dollars over metal. We budget cut this thing for two years straight. The brick was not consequential in the context of a $40 million project. You don’t think we would have done that? We were removing kitchen islands and shaving inches off windows to save every penny. We looked at every option under the sun to bring the building cost down.

If anything was the prime culprit it was Covid. Not only did it kill the owner’s primary source of income but it made construction costs run wild. We would cut millions out but because it would take three months to do, the inflation in construction would actually increase in cost. Had he built the first iteration he would have gotten a much better building that was four stories taller for five million less and open two years ago. Twice the parking. Every delay used to try and save money ended up costing more. It was an unprecedented time to try and build a project like this. Never mind if you’re just a guy and not a REIT.

[trueviking]

Originally Posted by bomberjet

I will play the naive card and assume the new owners have more money lol

What was the plan for the exposed areas of the precast concrete, leave bare? Or covered with some type of coating?

They don’t need to. The bankruptcy gave them $20 million of work already done.

The three sides that were not brick were exposed precast. Like the Stradbrook building. By the end it was going to be raw concrete because we had cut the cost of painting it. I actually preferred it.

[drew]

Originally Posted by trueviking

Ha ha. You actually think it was the brick that made the project go bankrupt? It might have been an inexperienced developer who couldn’t afford a project of this scale.

The brick saved half a million dollars over metal. We budget cut this thing for two years straight. The brick was not consequential in the context of a $40 million project. You don’t think we would have done that? We were removing kitchen islands and shaving inches off windows to save every penny. We looked at every option under the sun to bring the building cost down.

If anything was the prime culprit it was Covid. Not only did it kill the owner’s primary source of income but it made construction costs run wild. We would cut millions out but because it would take three months to do, the inflation in construction would actually increase in cost. Had he built the first iteration he would have gotten a much better building that was four stories taller for five million less and open two years ago. Twice the parking. Every delay used to try and save money ended up costing more. It was an unprecedented time to try and build a project like this. Never mind if you’re just a guy and not a REIT.

I never said brick torpedoed the project, only that it's very likely to get scaled back in the second go around, since everyone is so obsessed about it on this building. And I stand by that opinion.

[WinCitySparky]

When I brick you brick we brick