Big plan just got bigger

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This article was published 28/05/2010 (5699 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Qualico Developments is considering almost doubling the number of residential units it will be constructing in its high-profile East Exchange District redevelopment project.

The manager of Qualico’s StreetSide Development Corp., which is overseeing the project, confirmed Thursday StreetSide officials are looking into the structural feasibility of adding two or three new floors onto each of the six heritage buildings on James and Market avenues the company will be converting to residential units over the next four to five years.

And if the demand is there, it would also like to build a new eight-storey residential complex on a nearby parking lot it also owns on the southeast corner of James and Lily Street, Martin Maykut said in an interview. He said eight stories is the maximum allowed in the Exchange under city zoning.

Maykut said the changes would add between 100 and 130 new units to the 150 originally contemplated when the project was announced in February. And they would also likely double the cost of the project to between $40 million and $45 million.

Maykut said it will be late summer before StreetSide decides whether to add on to the existing buildings. And it’ll be another two or three years before it decides whether to construct the new building.

“If the other conversions (of the buildings) go well, then the parking lot will also be converted.”

Because there’s little or no parking space at any of the existing buildings, the City of Winnipeg Parking Authority is considering building a multi-level, mixed-use parkade in the East Exchange District to provide much-needed parking space for the area.

The head of the city-owned WPA couldn’t be reached for comment. But Maykut and Brian Timmerman, executive director of the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, said they’ve been told that’s still the plan, and that the parkade would likely be built on a parking lot on the northwest corner of James and Lily.

Timmerman said he was told the parkade will likely have retail or commercial space on the main floor and 400 to 450 parking spaces on the upper levels.

He said BIZ officials would love to see a mixed-use facility because they tend to look more like buildings than parking structures.

“And mixed-use buildings is definitely the way to go… because to make it a truly viable community, you need that mixed use.”

Another 275 new residential units would provide a big shot in the arm for the Exchange District population, which has been bolstered in the last five years with construction of 175 new mid-to-upper-end condos along Waterfront Drive.

The Exchange District BIZ’s former executive director, Mal Anderson, said last February the last census showed there were 440 people living in the Exchange District in 2006. He said the Qualico project would likely boost that number to close to 1,000, and that was when Qualico was still talking about only 150 condos.

Qualico’s original plan was to convert the buildings to condos, rather than rental apartments. But Maykut said that may change.

He said the company plans to apply for financial assistance under the recently announced city-provincial tax-increment financing (TIF) program, which provides grants to developers who build either apartments or condos in the downtown. But StreetSide officials aren’t sure if it would be more beneficial under the TIF rules to build apartments or condos.

“It could be either, but my expectation is it will be condos.”

He said StreetSide will spend the summer repointing the bricks on the buildings and installing new windows. In the fall, it will begin renovating the interior of two buildings — 110 James and 133 Market — with the idea of having the first ready for occupancy by the fall of 2011.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

That was then, this is now

Manitoba’s largest homebuilder — Qualico Developments — is considering adding a few new wrinkles to its Exchange District redevelopment project.

What was originally planned:

Converting six heritage buildings — three on James Avenue and three on Market Avenue — into up to 150 new condominium units.

All of the buildings, which are four or five storeys high, would have retail or commercial space on the main floor and condos above.

Most of the condos would range in size from 500 to 600 square feet and be priced in the $160,000 to $180,000 range. But it may also include some penthouse units that could be up to 1,500 square feet each.

Total cost of the project was estimated at about $20 million.

What’s now being considered:

Adding two or three new floors to each of the six buildings, which would add another 50 to 70 new residential units.

Also building an eight-storey residential complex on a surface parking lot Qualico owns on the southeast corner of James and Lily Street (adjacent to the James Avenue buildings). That complex would likely have between 50 and 60 units and the size and price ranges would likely be similar to those in the other buildings.

The changes would double the cost of the project to between $40 million and $45 million.

— Source: StreetSide Development Corp.