Redevelopment delayed again for Eau Claire Market
The long- delayed redevelopment of Eau Claire Market has stalled again as the landowner has been forced to fine- tune its latest proposal and soothe concerns within the community.
Harvard Developments was seeking a land- use re- designation and bylaw amendments to allow for more office space, remove a restriction on plus- 15 walkways and approve the relocation of the historic smokestack to another spot on the site.
The application is scheduled to go before council Monday.
But the Regina- based developer now says it wants more time to “tidy up the wording” and meet with stakeholders and residents later this month before re- submitting its proposal by the end of the year.
“There are a number of things from the old bylaw that make it very challenging to be successful in building a very dense, vibrant mixed- use project,” said Rosanne Hill Blaisdell, managing director for Harvard Developments.
“We are attempting to try to make those amendments in order to see the project go forward and see it be successful,” Blaisdell said.
Calgary’s Planning Commission recommended in August that council refuse the proposed changes, citing concerns Harvard failed to ensure “a level of certainty … to mitigate the adverse impacts” on the community.
“They want relaxations to the planning rules without submitting a proper development plan, and that’s a concern to us,” said Roger Brundruit, planning director for the Eau Claire Community Association.
“In 2008, they wanted relaxations of the planning rules and they got them, but they never built anything,” Brundruit said.
“Now they want more relaxations building on the last ones, and we’re worried whether they’ll actually build something; or are we, if council is going to give them more relaxations, then see nothing gets built?”
In a confidential report obtained by the Herald, top city officials echoed those concerns, saying the applicant “does not wish to redevelop the site in accordance with the 2008 Direct Control Land Use District or as approved in the 2008 Development Permit.”
That document reveals the city could repurchase the 2.95- hectare site at market value if the first phase of the redevelopment isn’t completed by the end of 2018 — “which does not appear likely or feasible … in that time frame,” according to administration.
Blaisdell maintains the project will break ground before that deadline passes.
And it’s unlikely the city would pursue its option to repurchase the land it estimates would be worth almost $ 110.5 million by 2018.
The city sold the land in 2007 for $ 13.5 million, well below market value, because the site was encumbered with a 75- year lease and sits on a flood plain.
“The city owned the land then rented the air rights to that land for very long leases,” said Coun. Druh Farrell. “What it ended up doing is freezing development on those properties.
Eau Claire Market opened in 1993 and was billed as an urban retail and entertainment destination. By 2000, with visitor numbers down and sales drying up, many stores closed.
Harvard Development purchased the building in 2004 for $ 28 million with a vision to reinvent the complex as an “urban village” with hundreds of residential units, a hotel, more office space and a larger movie theatre.
It then bought the land in 2007 and hoped to break ground by the end of that year. But the redevelopment stalled when the 2008 global recession hit.
Harvard Developments is now seeking to build additional “traditional” office space, as well as 900 residential units and commercial/ retail space.
Coun. Gian- Carlo Carra, a member of the planning commission, said he’s supportive of the new proposal provided “the regulatory package they’re asking for approval of sufficiently ensures that will be the outcome.”
Carra said the city may have inadvertently “dodged a bullet” because the repeated delays now afford both parties an opportunity to more easily integrate a new LRT station at Eau Claire for the Green Line, now slated to be built by 2023.
“Had we built what was proposed in 2007 ... planning for a transit station into the site would be a lot more difficult,” Carra said.