Capri-Landmark plan panned
Property owners fear loss of affordable business space
Some property owners in the Capri-Landmark area warn the city’s plans for their district will result in business disruptions and job losses.
A main objection is the idea of extending Sutherland Road to connect with Spall Road, which would cost tens of millions of dollars for property acquisitions and construction.
And they say it’s both unrealistic and undesirable to try to transform Capri-Landmark, now a largely service-commercial district, into a densely populated urban centre.
“We’ve been blindsided by this whole plan,” said Bob Curell, owner of a two-storey rental building on Sutherland Avenue that likely would be demolished to make way for the road’s new alignment.
Curell and other Capri-Landmark property owners will have a private meeting today with city officials to express their frustration with how the plan has been developed over the past year.
“(We) landowners and our tenants comprise over 50 service-commercial businesses, with over 500 employees, all of who will be displaced if the current proposed plan is approved,” reads part of a letter signed by Lambert and Paul Construction Ltd., a leasing company with about 4.9 hectares of land in the Capri-Landmark area.
The city expects total spending of $95 million in the Capri-Landmark area on infrastructure upgrades in the next 22 years, on things such as roads, parks and utilities. Much of that would come from development fees, but an estimated $32 million in tax dollars would still be required.
A goal is to make Capri-Landmark, now home to about 2,500 people, a so-called live-work hub with 10,000 residents by 2040, city council heard from planning staff on June 11.
The area is home to both the Capri Centre Mall, for which there is an ambitious redevelopment plan with several highrises and hundreds of new homes, and the Landmark business centre, a cluster of towers with premium-quality office space.
But it also has many older single-family homes, as well as other business districts with relatively low commercial rents.
“There are places to get your lawn mower fixed and buy new tires for your cars,” Curell points out. “If all these businesses get chased out, they’re just going to relocate farther away from the city centre, contributing to the sprawl the city is so worried about.”
Small commercial buildings with affordable rents for family-owned businesses are relatively rare in the real estate market, Curell says.
He says he’s often approached by real estate agents acting on behalf of developers interested in his property, but he believes it would be difficult to replicate his business model elsewhere given the shortage of such buildings.
“I could sell my building, but I don’t believe I could replace my income,” he says.
“There’s a need for affordable business space, and there’s a lot of that here now,” Curell says. “But the city seems willing to see hundreds of job losses in this area in exchange for, maybe, attracting thousands of new residents. I just think they’re dreaming.”