London Construction - Development News Thread #1

[FazDeH]

the police station is ugly but I think 34 million is over spending and thats what the face lift is projected to cost. says todays Free Press.

[ldoto]

Chief says he's handcuffed by cash flow

Wed, December 13, 2006

By JONATHAN SHER, FREE PRESS CITY HALL REPORTER




Plans for an expanded London police headquarters have drawn mixed reviews, with some urging enhancements such as more windows and others backing restraint.

To those who want the city to make an expanded police station as beautiful as it is functional, Chief Murray Faulkner has a simple message -- show me the money.

Police have scaled back plans to fit within a project budget that now stands at nearly $34 million, he said yesterday.

Police likely will need more cash if they're to make more attractive the planned exterior of the Dundas Street station , Faulkner said.

"I'd probably have to spend more money," he said.

Whether council would authorize more money remains an open question.


Coun. Bill Armstrong supports enhancements.

"What we build will be there for a long time and might be a catalyst for the area," he said.

But Controller Bud Polhill disagrees -- if council finds extra money for the police, it should be used to enhance the service, not by making their building look nicer, he said.

"Put it into something like equipment that enhances the whole city and not just one area," he said.

Coun. Steve Orser, whose Ward 4 is just across Adelaide Street from police headquarters, suspects taxpayers don't want to spend more on an expanded station.

"If there's going to be changes to the outside, how much will it cost and where will it come from?" he said.

Orser is concerned council may divert money from improving function and security to esthetics. "I don't want to take money from the inside to spend on the outside."

He's also leery of simply adding to the bottom line.

"I don't think the majority of taxpayers in the ward support (spending more)."

Within view of the station, business owner Tim Morris of Comic Book Collector wants to see options and their price tags.

Morris doesn't want a repeat of the windowless brick walls of Galleria London, but he's also wary of an extra hit to taxpayers.

Police are months away from beginning work on an expanded headquarters.

Neighbours in the Old East Village support the expansion, but don't like the design, which includes a windowless wall to the west and a facade that doesn't hide the boxy structure behind.

The expansion was first pegged at $28 million and raised to nearly $34 million.

That's a lot for a council that's tightened its belt after years of spending on mega-projects. Council has adhered to a cap of $30 million it imposed on borrowing for capital projects. Council voted Monday to give Londoners a chance to sound off on the design.

[ldoto]

London shatters record for building permits

Wed, December 13, 2006

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, LONDON FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



Led by a surge in apartment construction, London has smashed the old record for building permits.

As of this week, the city has issued $720 million in building permits, easily surpassing the annual record total of $647 million set in 2004.

The final total for building permits will likely soar past $750 million because a permit should soon be issued for the $35 million downtown apartment project by Tricar Developments.

Even Rocky Cerminara, the city’s director of building controls, didn’t anticipate a record-breaking year.

“I was expecting things to taper off this year below $600 million . . . Eventually it will taper off, but our survey for next year shows between $500-$600 million in permits and that’s still pretty healthy.”

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said all the construction activity shows confidence in London’s economy. She said the city has invested heavily to improve the quality of life to attract and retain residents.

“Bricks and mortar and infrastructure are important but you need to offer more than that for people to come to live and work here,” she said.

Cerminara said his department has issued permits for over 3,400 housing units this year. When the Tricar project is added, the value of apartment starts alone will total about $140 million.

He said the market for single detached housing units has also been healthy.

“We haven’t seen this since 1989. Residential was really big this year,” he said.

The resale housing market has also been hot this year, defying predictions of a downturn.

Costa Poulopoulos, president of the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors, said there is a “high probability” the annual record of 8,903 sales, also set in 2004, could tumble when the December numbers are tallied.

London seems to be bucking a housing downturn seen in Toronto and more dramatically in the United States, where prices are dropping in many markets and risky mortgages are triggering foreclosures.

Cerminara said institutional building permits are also up this year, with the University of Western Ontario alone accounting for $65 million in building permits, including $31 million for a new student recreation building.

Figures to the end of November show that commercial building permits were about the same as the same period last year and industrial building permits were down substantially.

DeCicco-Best said the rising value of the Canadian dollar is having an impact on manufacturing but she said the economy is shifting to create more jobs in other sectors.

“We are still faring quite well and we are creating a different kind of environment for different kinds of jobs,” said DeCicco-Best.

[Snark]

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[ldoto]

That is Cool!

[ldoto]

Thu, December 14, 2006

The old record set in 2004 was toppled as of this week, with the final tally to hit $750M.

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



Led by a surge in apartment construction this year, London has set a new building record -- and the final numbers still have to come in.

As of this week, the city has issued permits this year for construction worth $720 million, surpassing the old record of $647 million in 2004.

The final total will likely soar past $750 million because a permit should be issued soon for first-phase construction of Tricar's twin-tower, downtown apartment project.

Even Rocky Cerminara, the city's director of building controls, didn't expect such a banner year.

"I was expecting things to taper off this year below $600 million. Eventually it will taper off," he said of the building activity. "But our survey for next year shows between $500 million and $600 million in permits and that's still pretty healthy."

Mayor Anne Marie DeCicco-Best said all the construction shows confidence in London's economy. She said the city has invested heavily to improve the quality of life here to attract and retain residents.

"Bricks and mortar and infrastructure are important, but you need to offer more than that for people to come to live and work here," DeCicco-Best said.

Cerminara said his department has issued permits for more than 3,400 housing units this year. When the Tricar project is added, the value of apartment starts alone will total about $140 million.

He said the market for single-detached housing has also been healthy.

"We haven't seen this since 1989. Residential was really big this year," he said.

The resale housing market has also been hot this year, defying predictions of a downturn.

There's a "high probability" the annual record of 8,903 sales, also set in 2004, could tumble when the December numbers are tallied, said Costa Poulopoulos, president of the London and St. Thomas Association of Realtors.

London seems to be bucking a housing downturn seen in Toronto and more dramatically in the U.S., where prices are dropping in many markets and risky mortgages are triggering foreclosures.

Cerminara said institutional building permits are also up this year, with the University of Western Ontario alone accounting for $65 million in permits, including $31 million for a new student recreation building.

Figures to the end of November show commercial building permits were about the same as the same period last year, but industrial building permits were down substantially.

DeCicco said the rising value of the Canadian dollar is having an effect on manufacturing, but the economy is shifting to create more jobs in other sectors.

"We are still faring quite well and we are creating a different kind of environment for different kinds of jobs," she said.

[MolsonExport]

And our municipal taxes keep rising to new highs, year after year.

London planning is asinine. First, they rezone a rural area to become residential and big box retailing, without upgrading the infrastructure. Swaths of homes/stores are built, which causes traffic to explode. Once the city is satisfied that gridlock is occuring, only then do they--in a piecemeal fashion--selectively expand the infrastructure, thus rendering the gridlock to a permanent state (and tripling the time it takes to make the upgrade).

For example, the intersection of Fanshawe and Wonderland has been under reconstruction for almost two centuries. And some people have been stuck in their cars at that intersection almost as long.

[ldoto]

Fri, December 15, 2006

The city's 3.6-per-cent vacancy rate is called a positive sign for the local economy.

By HANK DANISZEWSKI, FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



London's apartment vacancy rate is down for the first time in five years, another good sign for the economy, says a housing analyst.

In an annual survey conducted by the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), London's vacancy rate in October was 3.6 per cent, down from 4.2 per cent in the same month last year.

The city's vacancy rate had been rising steadily since 2001, when it was only 1.6 per cent.

CMHC housing analyst Penny Wu said the vacancy decrease was driven by a strong job market and an influx in recent years of younger people aged 25-44, which has helped spur demand for apartments in London.

"It's an important factor because younger people tend to rent," Wu said

But she said an unusually low number of apartment units came on to the market this year, although many projects are under construction.

There were about 1,100 apartment unit starts this year and Wu said the vacancy rate might rise next year when those units are completed and start coming on to the market.

"We expect the vacancy rate will rise slightly next year. But if the market for new housing and resale housing slows down, it might spur demand for rental," Wu said.

Wu said this year's 3.6-per-cent vacancy rate matches the 15-year average for the city.

Wu said the average rent increase for a two-bedroom unit in the city was 1.7 per cent in the last year, similar to the inflation rate. She said that suggests a good balance between supply and demand.

Across Canada, the average rental unit vacancy rate in 28 major centres declined by 0.1 per cent over the past year.

Windsor, reeling from a downturn in the auto industry, posted the highest rate in the country of 10.4 per cent. Windsor was also the only Ontario city to see a drop in average rents

[ldoto]

Update!

I went to the knight’s game on Friday night at the JLC. It looked like they had the crane on site for the twin tower project. Tricar Group must soon be putting up the crane!hyper:

[Snark]

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[FazDeH]

^^ Very cool snark, yeah I wish someone would actually draw them up and put them in, I would but I wouldnt want to make a fool of myself. I have no artistic talent.

[MolsonExport]

Middlesex (what the hell is this, a hermaphrodite?) County Courthouse is the ugliest of uglies in London. Even beats the Social Science Centre at UWO.

[Snark]

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[Snark]

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[ldoto]

Wed, December 20, 2006

Council is seeking a private firm to build a parking garage at a city-owned lot in the core.

By JOE BELANGER, FREE PRESS CITY HALL REPORTER



Any taxpayer money spent on a parking garage must benefit all Londoners, not just private interests, the London Chamber of Commerce says.

And before city council spends any money on downtown parking, it should set up a permanent authority to develop a strategic plan and stay on top of parking issues.

"We have to be cautious," chamber general manager Gerry Macartney said. "Any parking garage has got to have multiple uses and purposes (hourly, daily, monthly and long-term parking) so it's available to everybody."

The chamber sent a letter to council outlining its position.

Council voted 9-8 Monday to seek a private firm to build a parking garage at a city-owned lot on Queens Avenue near Richmond Street.

It also voted 10-9 for a policy to give grants of as much as $10,000 a spot up to 500, or $5 million, to a developer willing to build a parking garage.

Neither initiative is approved for funding, but should be part of council's 2007 budget talks next month.

The close votes suggest the issue could get a rough ride.

Deputy Mayor Tom Gosnell is pushing for off-street parking, noting the city lost 500 spots when the new Covent Garden Market was built. The city lost at least another 500 surface spaces with construction of the John Labatt Centre and the twin apartment towers going up at King and Ridout streets.

"If we don't do something soon, there will be irrevocable pressure to move offices out of the downtown, or to demolish more heritage buildings for parking, and then it becomes a disaster zone," Gosnell said.

Downtown landowners, led by Shmuel Farhi who owns more than 70 buildings and hundreds of thousands of square feet of empty office space, said they need off-street parking to lease vacant space.

Farhi has threatened to demolish heritage buildings for parking, including the old Capital Theatre.

City planners and downtown businesses say demolitions will destroy the core's streetscape.

Coun. Joni Baechler leads opposition to spending taxes on a parking garage, arguing the city has already spent more than $110 million to support downtown revitalization, not to mention incentives and other programs.

"Where does it stop?" Baechler asked at Monday's meeting.

As well, Baechler and others, including Controller Gina Barber and Coun. David Winninger, argue the city should focus instead on improving public transit, biking, car pools and better access for pedestrians.

Gosnell agreed other options should be explored, but argued demand for off-street parking will get worse in the next few years as more surface lots are developed.

"You have to have a balanced approach and address the issue in a sensitive way," said Gosnell, warning revitalization will stall without more office workers in the core.

He said taxpayers will benefit in the long run from increased property tax assessment. "If we're not going to do something about the off-street parking, then we might as well writeoff the downtown and let the office jobs move to the suburbs," Gosnell said.

Macartney agreed the city will need off-street parking in the coming years.

"But wouldn't it be better to have a comprehensive downtown parking plan before we make any decisions that tell us where we want to be in the future?"

Macartney also agreed about the need to fill empty office space in the core, suggesting it would spur use of public transit since many workers already take the bus.

"If we don't have growth stimulated by parking in the core, then we won't get the kind of ridership we're looking for."

[1ajs]

this may sound like an odd question but what does it coast per month for an apartment in london onterio? my dad is asking cause hes got a job offer out there from esso

[ldoto]

City's economy brightens

Fri, December 22, 2006

A new economic forecast says London will do better in 2007 than originally thought.

By NORMAN DE BONO, FREE PRESS BUSINESS REPORTER



London's economy is on an upswing, driven by its diversity and strength in manufacturing.

The Conference Board of Canada predicted yesterday that the city's economy will grow at a greater rate than originally projected by two other economic forecasters.

The city's growth in gross domestic product -- the goods it produces -- will improve to 2.4 per cent in 2007, stronger than the 1.5 per cent London posted in 2006, Alan Arcand, economist with the board, said yesterday.

The city is gradually shaking off the effects of a economic slump this year, Arcand believes. "You will see a slowdown in London, but it will be shallow given how much investment there has been in manufacturing."

The Conference Board report comes after Export Development Canada and TD Bank Financial Group both projected in the fall London's economic growth will be two per cent next year.

Although London has been hit with recent layoffs in the automotive sector, they have been limited to North American automakers and suppliers, Arcand said. Other areas of manufacturing and suppliers to Asian automakers are still doing well, he said.

In addition, London has a diverse economy, with an emphasis on health care and service sector jobs.

"It is stable, it is less cyclical than other economies. The provincial government is pouring millions into the health-care sector now and that will keep it growing," Arcand said.

John Kime, chairperson of the London Economic Development Corp., agrees with Arcand.

London has 20 businesses in growth mode, meaning they are hiring staff and spending money on capital projects, and 12 of them are in manufacturing, Kime said.

"It doesn't surprise me. A dynamic has been created in Southwestern Ontario, created by the enormous investment in Woodstock, and things are happening."

In 2008, growth is projected to be even stronger, going to 2.8 per cent, Arcand said.

"A real east-west trade corridor has opened in Ontario between Sarnia and Niagara region and London is right in the middle of that."

Gerry Macartney, general manager of the London Chamber of Commerce, also points to agriculture as an area poised to grow next year, benefitting London.

"Our diversity keeps us in good stead, agri-manufacturing will do very well," along with medical devices, life sciences and manufacturing other than automotive, said Macartney.

"All in all, I think we are in a bit of a catbird seat in terms of our diversification and geography."

The board cited solid non-residential construction, steady growth in the services sector and a rebound in manufacturing output as reasons for growth, Arcand said.

The services sector will grow about 2.1 per cent, up from 1.9 per cent this year, and manufacturing will post growth of 3.5 per cent in 2007, up from 2.4 per cent this year.

According to the Conference Board of Canada's Winter 2006 Metropolitan Outlook, London has enjoyed economic growth from 1998 to 2004 averaging 3.3 per cent.

London's growth will be comparable to other Southwestern Ontario cities, with Windsor posting growth in 2007 of 2.6 per cent, St. Catharines 3.1 per cent and Hamilton 2.3 per cent.

Ontario's GDP grew 1.8 per cent this year and will grow 2.5 per cent next year while nationally, Canadian GDP output up was 2.7 per cent this year and will go to 2.9 per cent next year, reported the board.

In November, Stephen Poloz, vice-president and chief economist at Export Development Canada, reported London will be dragged down by a cooling U.S. economy, but growth areas will include agri-food, livestock producers, farm machinery, telecommunications, aerospace and advanced technology -- all areas in which London is well positioned.

In October, TD Bank Financial Group economist Craig Alexander also cited the U.S. economic downturn, the cooling in the housing market on both sides of the border and slowing consumer spending as factors putting the brakes on the London economy.

[Snark]

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[1ajs]

Bachelor, single

i have no clue about this hes just asking me cause hes got a job offer from esso out there...

[FazDeH]

^^ I've never seen a bachelor go for more than $750 incl. utilities. But for a 1 brd Ive seen as high as a $1000 a month. Like Snark said it depends on how much a person is willing to pay, and where in the city they want to live.