Promise of vibrant new life in a downtown dead zone
Mayfair Hotel set to fall in plan for apartment towers
By Gary Lamphier, The Edmonton Journal
February 14, 2009 8:02 AM
The global economy may be groaning under the weight of the worst downturn in decades, but many real estate developers still see a bright future for the energy-fuelled Edmonton region.
For evidence, look no further than Mayfair Village -- a stylish new downtown highrise apartment project that could get underway as early as April, on the dreary stretch of Jasper Avenue where the derelict Mayfair Hotel now sits.
If Calgary-based developer ProCura Real Estate gets its way, the asbestos-ridden, 65-year-old hotel will soon face the wrecking ball, paving the way for work to begin on the firm's 708-unit, 15-storey complex.
Randy Ferguson, ProCura's Edmonton-based COO, says the eye-catching, $175-million project is designed to house roughly 900 residents in its two towers, with the north tower stretching an entire city block between 108th Street and 109th Street, on the south side of Jasper.
A smaller second tower, immediately south of the main tower, would face 109th Street, with a shared interior courtyard and rear service lane running running east and west between the two structures.
Unlike most new local highrise housing projects, Mayfair Village will be targeted at the midrange -- or affordable -- rental market, says Ferguson, with monthly rates for its one- and two-bedroom units pegged as close to average local rents as possible.
Nonetheless, architect Rick Arndt of Arndt Tkalcic Bengert has come up with a visually arresting design for the towers, featuring manufactured stone cladding and rounded corners.
On the ground floor, the project will be rimmed with street-friendly retail shops that have soaring 22-foot ceilings, and inviting, floor-to-ceiling glass frontage. Ferguson says ProCura hopes to attract fashion boutiques as tenants, along with the usual assortment of coffee shops and other retailers.
Since the project site requires no rezoning, ProCura's building permit application is already quickly winding its way through city hall. Ferguson says he sees no major regulatory hurdles ahead.
"The city administration has shown great interest in this project. I think they want to see something happen in this precinct, and at the same time, they recognize the need for this kind of housing.
"So I think it's a combination of the two that's driving their interest."
Ferguson says the TD Bank, ProCura's key lender on the project, is also supportive, although the final financing terms have yet to be nailed down.
With thousands of local rental units converted to condos -- or demolished -- in recent years, and with thousands more facing obsolescence in coming years, Ferguson says ProCura sees big
opportunities in the rental market.
"Edmonton's rental universe in the last three years has shrunk by more than 5,000 units, and the bulk of those units have been the most modest ones. Our rental vacancy rate is in the vicinity of 3.4 per cent to 3.5 per cent, and the vacancies are largely in the upper strata of rental units," Ferguson says.
"So that's only fulfilling the needs at the top end of the market. The cohort (Mayfair Village is targeting) is in that more modest band, and that's where there are no vacancies currently -- none."
Edmonton's huge population of 150,000-plus post-secondary students, and the city's growing numbers of independent seniors, singles and young professionals who prefer to live in or near the downtown core, are all key target markets for ProCura's project.
"It's more than just students. It's also people who have graduated, and are looking to start out on their own, as well as seniors," he says.
The site is also within a few blocks of the government district, as well as the head offices of three major Edmonton-based engineering consulting firms.
"There is a population coming behind us, and one thing they're not interested in is rolling around in cars. They want to live in an urban setting, and they want to have strong links to public transportation and high-speed transit," says Ferguson. "They want to be able to walk to their favourite restaurant, or their favourite grocery store. They want to live a pedestrian-oriented lifestyle."
With the Corona LRT station just a few feet from the northeast corner of ProCura's site, Ferguson figures Mayfair Village should appeal to this new generation of urbane, sophisticated urban dwellers.
The apartment units will be small but efficient, he insists, with an average size of 530 square feet. Most will be bachelor or one-bedroom units, although there will be a select number of 760-square-foot, two bedroom units.
Directly across the street from Mayfair Village, on the north side of Jasper, ProCura is also currently working on a $70-million redevelopment of the former Professional Building. Once it's completed this fall, the 11-storey tower will house about 1,000 white-collar workers, and its top four floors will serve as the new Edmonton head office for the $75-billion Alberta Investment Management Corp. (AIMCo).
Together, the two projects will inject a huge amount of vibrancy into a part of the downtown core that has long been a kind of urban dead zone.
"What we're offering (at Mayfair Village) is an urban, European style of living, where we're smart about the space and how we use it, so it's cool and comfortable as well as affordable. Our goal here is to create affordable-market housing, or what we call attainable housing. It's not subsidized housing."
If everything proceeds as planned, ProCura hopes to break ground by April. The 30-month construction schedule should mean tenants can move into their new homes by September, 2011.
"On Sept. 1, 2011, we'd like to see our buildings full of new occupants, enjoying their new environment, and us walking down the street with our chests puffed out like new fathers," Ferguson says.
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