Edmonton Construction 5

[Auditor]

Originally Posted by TimB09

I think I'm gonna look at buying into the Aurora project when it eventually starts selling. I would love to move downtown. So I think I am going to.

I work with a company who has an office building downtown and I heard a rumor floating around that they might be looking at building a new office tower downtown at some time in the next 2-3 years. They need more space and their companies are scattered all over the Edmonton and Alberta Region. Now, this is just a rumor and I don't know if maybe they meant a new building in Sherwood Park or St. Albert, but this is what I heard. But keep everything open and listen(Hint: NOT Epcor)

Do you work for Atco?

[murman]

Originally Posted by feepa

This one?

Oh yeah, that's an award-winning goof-up.

[murman]

Originally Posted by TimB09

I think I'm gonna look at buying into the Aurora project when it eventually starts selling. I would love to move downtown. So I think I am going to.

I work with a company who has an office building downtown and I heard a rumor floating around that they might be looking at building a new office tower downtown at some time in the next 2-3 years. They need more space and their companies are scattered all over the Edmonton and Alberta Region. Now, this is just a rumor and I don't know if maybe they meant a new building in Sherwood Park or St. Albert, but this is what I heard. But keep everything open and listen(Hint: NOT Epcor)

Oh, my dear newbie. The sharks are about to surround you; they smell blood.

[Spencer]

I'm looking forward to the Aurora project as well. My wife and I used to live downtown in a condo but we decided we needed more space. We build a house in St. Albert (where I grew up) and have been home sick for downtown ever since. I'd love a townhouse in the DT area around 1500 sqft with a small yard. Heres' to dreaming...

[CMD UW]

/\ Well, I've heard that sales will more than likely start in spring 07.

[Jasper and one o nin]

Originally Posted by m0nkyman

How long does it take to get up a flight of stairs?

Live/Work, baby. Only way to live.

what, are you a phone sex girl?

[Jasper and one o nin]

Originally Posted by Spencer

I'd love a townhouse in the DT area around 1500 sqft with a small yard. Heres' to dreaming...

and I would love to crap silver dollars

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by Auditor

Do you work for Atco?

Yes I do.

Do you know something I don't know?

[Ginty]

Originally Posted by TimB09

Yes I do.

Do you know something I don't know?

Were you at the ATCO christmas party at 1905 last week? it was nuts.

speaking of the oilers. there is a game tonite

[big W]

Originally Posted by murman

Or those that are a mere 15 minute walk to work.

I walk 10 mins from the office so suck on these . Just far enough to get away from the office and relax on my way home.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by Ginty

Were you at the ATCO christmas party at 1905 last week? it was nuts.

speaking of the oilers. there is a game tonite

No. I missed it. Heard it was fun.

I dont work right downtown for them. I work in one of their offices scattered throughout the city.

[Kevin_foster]

Originally Posted by big W

I walk 10 mins from the office so suck on these . Just far enough to get away from the office and relax on my way home.

hahah - Murman, you heard the man. Suck BigW's banannas!

Tired this morning, that made me laugh. Travelling takes a lot out of you...

[codeman9669]

Hey there,

I too work for an ATCO (Edmonton based) company. I can tell you that for our company, we have head-office based staff in 4 different buildings downtown, and that our growth plan for the next 4-5 years is to DOUBLE the number of people employed by the company. Granted that a fair portion of these will NOT be Edmonton based...but there are quite a few that will. I dont know where we are going to fit all these people....space is already tight. In fact, when I start back in Edmonton on Jan. 2, I dont even know if I have an office yet, hahahahah!

[Auditor]

Originally Posted by TimB09

Yes I do.

Do you know something I don't know?

Nope- I just know they are one of the larger local companies and growing.

[Coldrsx]

RE:ATCO - how about the lots west of you, tear down that crap.

[TimB09]

Originally Posted by Auditor

Nope- I just know they are one of the larger local companies and growing.

Yeah, we are growing.

A lot of Corporate stuff is in Calgary though. So we may or may not see something up here. Up in the air.

[Coldrsx]

City economy will slow in '07, but stay No. 2
3.6-per-cent growth will trail only Calgary
Ron Chalmers, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Thursday, December 21, 2006
EDMONTON - Edmonton's sizzling economy will slow to a more sustainable pace in 2007 -- yet will trail only Calgary among Canadian cities.

The Conference Board of Canada predicted Wednesday that the city's economy will grow by a healthy 3.6 per cent, compared to a phenomenal 6.6 per cent in 2006.

The region will gain 16,000 jobs. "As a result, retail sales, which increased by an


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Font: ****astounding 11.9 per cent in 2006, are expected to grow by a further 6.7 per cent in 2007," the Conference Board predicted in its quarterly Metropolitan Outlook.

Local construction broke records in 2006 with more than 15,000 housing starts.

"In 2007, output growth in the construction sector will slow but is still expected to reach a solid 5.4 per cent," the Outlook predicted.

With rising prices, housing starts will fall below 13,000 units. But that dip will be more than offset by industrial, commercial and institutional construction.

The cooler housing market will reduce growth in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors.

From 2008 through 2011, the Edmonton-region economy is predicted to grow at 3.5 to 3.6 per cent annually, with unemployment remaining under four per cent.

Edmonton is expected to receive in-migration, mostly international, of about 10,000 people per year.

Calgary's economic growth is forecast to fall from 7.3 per cent in 2006 to 3.9 per cent in 2007, then to remain near four per cent through 2011.

The Conference Board expects Canadian economic growth to rise from 2.7 per cent in 2006 to 2.9 per cent in 2007, then to average about 3.2 per cent through 2011.

"The impact of the housing price correction south of the border and its effect on the debt-laden American consumer will limit U. S. economic growth to 2.2 per cent in 2007," the Outlook reports.

This will hurt Canadian exports, particularly of construction materials and will reduce Americans' travel in Canada.

"While housing prices may be softening in the United States, they are still rising in Canada, adding to the wealth effect," the Outlook reports. "Profits have also continued to rise, resulting in unabated growth in business investment spending."

On balance, "all signs continue to point to exceptional growth in household income into 2007," it concludes.

Both the National Bank and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce are predicting the economy will grow between 2.2 and 2.4 per cent next year.

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© The Edmonton Journal 2006

[Coldrsx]

Table is set for upgrader building banquet in Sturgeon County
Gordon Jaremko, The Edmonton Journal
Published: Thursday, December 21, 2006
EDMONTON - Equipment orders are going out to fabrication yards.

Contractors are being recruited, including up to 2,000 construction workers.

The first entry in a growing industry lineup to build a Sturgeon County oilsands upgrader row of up to four mammoth plants northeast of Edmonton is on schedule to start construction in 2007.


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Font: ****And owner North West Upgrading Inc. seeks no government concessions or incentives before taking the $2.4-billion first step in a three-stage megaproject that will turn 150,000 barrels a day of bitumen into premium refinery-ready oil.

"Things are on track," North West president Robert Pearce said in an interview Wednesday.

"We don't believe we need government largesse to make this project go ahead," he added.

As a form of manufacturing, independent bitumen upgraders receive no counterpart to royalty breaks given to new Fort McMurray oilsands extraction operations.

But international markets for Alberta energy products are ripe for the value-added processing projects, Pearce said.

"The economics of bitumen upgrading can be pretty attractive in the United States as well as Canada. We think there's room for growth in both," he said.

Upgrader plants live on a price "differential" or gap between refinery-ready light oil and bitumen.

The raw initial oilsands product is penalized with discounts for heavy weight, tarry texture and impurities led by sulphur that add to refiners' costs of making fuels and lubricants.

Quality discounts are deepened by periodic gluts of bitumen, chiefly from "in-situ" or underground extraction sites south of mining and processing megaprojects clustered on the shallowest oilsands deposits north of Fort McMurray.

Refinery renovations and pipeline expansions over the past two years show signs of cutting bitumen discounts that used to run in a range of 40 to 50 per cent, Peters & Co. said in a recent research report telling investors about a potential jump in profits for companies producing heavy oil.

But the bitumen discount is still hovers at 25 to 35 per cent, the investment house added.

North West's construction application, currently under review by the Alberta Energy and Utilities Board, predicts its operating costs will be about $4.50 per barrel of bitumen processed. That is about one-fourth of the increased value that the plant's end products would fetch if it was running now.

As of Wednesday, bitumen fetched $18 a barrel less than premium light oil, show daily price reports by GLJ Energy Publications Inc.

In November the value-added niche that North West is out to fill averaged $19 per barrel.

The firm also expects to make more than the difference between bitumen and light oil on some production. The Sturgeon plant's output will include more valuable ultra low-sulphur diesel fuel and "diluent" or thinner added to bitumen for pipeline shipments, Pearce said.

Investment markets around the world eagerly support well-designed bitumen upgrader projects because they understand the profit potential, he said.

North West has raised about $300 million privately with private sales of corporate paper and plans to make an initial public offering of shares in late 2007 as construction begins and company requirements for capital increase, he added.

Governments also stand to gain. North West predicts the first 50,000-barrels-daily stage in its project will spin off $7 million a year in Sturgeon County taxes. When finished in about 2015, the full 150,000-barrels daily plant is forecast to pay provincial and federal taxes of $270 million a year.

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© The Edmonton Journal 2006

[Coldrsx]

Oliver's stately homes
by Lawrence Herzog
It's Our Heritage | Vol. 24 No. 51 | December 21, 2006
The Hill Houses - 9720, 9716, 9712 - 111 Street. Photo by James Tennant.
One hundred years ago, Edmonton was in the midst of its first great boom of the 20th century. As is happening these days, hundreds of newcomers were pouring in every month, and the demand was enormous for housing and services.

The area we now call Oliver was then known as the West End, and it was where many affluent citizens chose as the location for the new elegant homes. From the lip of the river valley and along Avenues like Victoria (100th), huge homes began to dot the landscape.

In the first dozen years of the 20th century, the West End solidified its position as one of Edmonton’s most prestigious residential areas. While millionaires perched their mansions prominently overlooking the valley, middle class houses and workmen’s bungalows filled the streets and avenues behind them.

The Mountafield, 9850 112th Street

Designed by architect V. E. Wize and built in 1905, The Mountafield was one of Oliver’s first permanent houses. Named for Henry Mountafield, this house boasts a number of unique features including a mansard roof (common in Eastern Canada but rather rare in the West), a four columned front porch and an unusual centre window on the second floor topped by a pediment dormer with a fanlight.

Mountafield was born in England in 1867, attended Portsmouth Naval Academy and obtained a Master’s Degree from the London School of Arts. The next eight years of his life were spent in Japan before heading to the Yukon Gold Rush.

After spending five years in the Canadian North, Mountafield moved to Edmonton, where he was appointed City Auditor in 1905. He turned his attention to real estate and, when war broke out in 1914, he enlisted and served with the 19th Alberta Dragoons. Mountafield died at the age of 71 in July 1938.

Victoria Avenue Residences - 11215, 11219, 11223, 11229 100th Avenue

Constructed between 1907 and 1913, the large and elegant houses along this stretch of what was called Victoria Avenue were homes for doctors, lawyers, bankers and managers. Originally the three most westerly homes were part of a single parcel of land divided into three lots. The houses were most likely constructed by William Allen in 1907 and 1908. All three structures share two-storey Four Square architecture, with verandahs, hip roofs and dormers.

The Weinlos/Friedman Residence at 11219 100 Ave was purchased by Eisig (Issac) and Lea Weinlos in 1926 and remained in their family until 1982. Their son Morris became Chief of Staff at the Misericordia Hospital and established the Weinlos Clinic. A part of Millwoods and an Edmonton school have been named in honour of the Weinlos family.

The house at 11229, recently the Convent of the Saint Vincent de Paul Sisters of Charity, was home to Robert and Nellie McClung between 1915 and 1918. Nellie was a famous early women’s rights activist, part of the temperance movement and a Liberal MLA from 1921 to 1926. She went on to become a Canadian representative to the League of Nations and the first woman to sit on the board of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).

Constructed in 1912-1913, the Charles Barry Residence (11215) was built in the Tudor Revival style. The woodwork resembles half timbering in the apex of the two-storey gable which dominates the front facade. The exterior is stucco with additional Tudor detailing visible in the multi-pane windows in the front door, the upper sashes of the bow windows, and other smaller sashes.
The North Side 99th Avenue Homes 11212, 11210, 11208, 11204, 11202 99th Avenue

The North Side 99th Avenue residences once stood on a single parcel which was divided in 1907. They were all built that year, making them among the earliest in the district. Located on the north side of what was then McKay Avenue between 112th and 113th Streets, these five residences were all two stories, constructed of brick.

They featured two-storey bow windows, topped off by centre gables and second storey balconies above first floor porches. Nearly 100 years on, they have retained many of their original similarities, even though they have been extensively altered over time.

The Hill Houses - 9720, 9716, 9712, 111th Street

These three homes now appear only somewhat similar, but when they were built in 1909 and 1910, they were identical. Located on the crest of the hill at Denver Avenue (97th Avenue) and 111th Street, the houses were originally clad in red brick with contrasting stone string corners, window sills and lintels. The two-and-a-half storey structures boasted second storey balconies and front entrance porches, now obscured.

The Mackay Residence at 9720 was owned for over four decades by the Mackay family -- first Mrs. Jane Mackay and then Miss Ethel Mackay. Dr. W. M. Mackay, Jane’s husband, was one of the first permanent doctors in the Canadian west.

He was born in Scotland in 1836, became a doctor in 1859 and was hired by the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1864. He was taught by such medical pioneers as James Lister, who revolutionized surgical survival rates with the discovery of antisepsis (and whose name still graces a famous mouthwash.

The Dubuc Residence, 11302 100th Avenue

Built by a Belgian contractor in 1912, this two-storey brick house was occupied by Judge Lucien Dubuc from 1912 until 1956. The residence featured solid masonry construction two bricks deep and a second storey balcony.

Lucien Dubuc was the son of Manitoba Chief Justice Sir Joseph Dubuc and he arrived in Edmonton to practice law at the turn of the century. By 1920 he had been appointed to the district court bench the beginning of a career that culminated in his appointment as Chief Justice of northern Alberta. He became the first judge in Alberta to allow proceedings in French in 1924.

The Kirkhaven, 11229 99th Avenue

The Kirkhaven was built in 1907, making it one of the earliest homes in the district. It is a typical Edwardian wood frame house, with two storeys, an offset gable dormer, shutters and clapboard styling.

With the popularization of suburbs and mass exodus from the inner city after the Second World War, conversion of larger homes to apartments became common practice in Oliver. The Kirkhaven was one of those converted during this time.

There are many other significant Oliver residences constructed in the early part of the 20th century. They include the Cornelius Gallagher House at 9902 111th Street, built by Gallagher, mayor of Edmonton in 1896 and owner of the Hardstone Brick Company and the Gallagher-Hull Meat Packing Co. in what is now Cloverdale.

Mansions owned by the Shaw family, the York family and the McGavin family (of bakery fame) were also located in Oliver.

©Copyright 2000-2005, All Rights Reserved. All articles, text and photographic material presented here is copyright. Unauthorized copying or re-distribution is strictly prohibited.
December 21, 2006
Vol. 24, Iss. 51
Advertised Listings
New Listings 322
Total in Issue 565
Mortgage Rates 1 Year Closed 7.01
2 Year Closed 5.72
3 Year Closed 5.8
5 Year Closed 5.72


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[murman]

Originally Posted by TimB09

Yeah, we are growing.

A lot of Corporate stuff is in Calgary though. So we may or may not see something up here. Up in the air.

Is ATCO still controlled by that Calgary family (Southam? I can't remember exactly as I never hung out with the horsey set at Spruce Meadows [also controlled by the same family, I think]).