CONDO KING MUSES ON THE BELTLINE BEAT
Lamb says he loves the ‘Manhattan-esque’ landscape, writes
Recently, I had the chance to sit down with Brad Lamb, arguably Canada’s most active condo developer, in the comfy secondfloor lounge of his recently completed 6th and Tenth condo in Calgary’s Beltline to get his insights into Calgary’s city centre condo market.
Lamb, a Toronto realtor and developer, has sold 29,000 condos, totalling more than $8.5 billion since 1988. He currently has 25 projects at various stages of development in Ontario. His record in Alberta is not as impressive — cancelling two projects in Edmonton and one in Calgary (Orchard in Victoria Park). Yet, Lamb is still very high on Alberta and especially Calgary.
LIKE TORONTO’S KING WEST NEIGHBOURHOOD
When asked what he liked about Calgary’s city centre, Lamb quickly answered, “I love the Manhattan-esque landscape with the two rivers creating an island in the middle of the city.”
He also likes the young party scene and the excellent restaurants. “When I am thinking of developing in a new city or new community, I do a walkabout to see if there are lots of hip people on the streets, in the restaurants and bars; these are my buyers.” He loves the Beltline beat, “it reminds me of King West in Toronto in 2004.” FYI, King West is a trendy urban village in Toronto’s city centre that is also nestled up against railway tracks.
When asked what he didn’t like, he quipped “the bland pre-2008 office, residential and retail architecture. To me architecture is critical to creating an interesting place to live.”
Ouch! He did say he likes the Bow, Telus Sky and Brookfield Place.
ARCHITECTURE & URBAN DESIGN
Lamb’s promotion of 6th and Tenth said it would be “unlike anything the city has seen before.”
In looking at the finished building, I would say it is attractive but not outstanding. It is unique in that it is set back from the sidewalk, allowing for small plaza with a water feature, seating and two big black horse sculptures.
He hopes the plaza will become a popular Beltline meeting place. He is proud of the first-class commercial space on the main floor with its 25-foot high ceiling giving it a museum-like feel. He added that Lamb Corp. is retaining the space and looking for a high-end restaurant to locate there. He was adamant “it won’t be a fast food or convenience store.”
When I asked why he didn’t use local architects for his Calgary projects, he said he uses only two architectural firms, both in Toronto — Core Architects and the Design Agency.
As these two firms have been with him since the beginning, he enjoys a great working relationship with them that results in a better, faster and cheaper designs than if he worked with a different architect in each city. From his perspective, having a like-minded architect is critical to a successful project. He recognizes there are good architects in Calgary, but this being his first project in Calgary he didn’t want anything to go wrong.
Backstory: The original design for 6th and Tenth was a brick building, but he couldn’t find anyone in Calgary to do that much brickwork cost effectively. Too bad, as brick has a timeless quality to it and would have respected the 10th Avenue’s historic brick warehouse past. It is interesting to note all of Calgary’s late 1970s and early ’80s condo towers were brick — Eau Claire 500, the Estate, Westmount Place, Riverstone and Roxboro House.
WHAT ABOUT ORCHARD?
Then I asked the tough question, “What happened with Orchard?” It was the two-tower project with an urban orchard in the middle on 11th Avenue S.E. at the edge of the Stampede grounds. Lamb was forthright, saying, “We had a great launch in November 2014 selling 50 per cent of the units, but with the drop in oil prices shortly thereafter, we didn’t sell many units after that. All the contracts had a clause stating we had to be in the ground by November 15, 2017, or the project would be cancelled and everyone gets their money back. It was a tough decision, but we decided not to go ahead given Calgary’s current economic climate. On November 20, 2017, everyone got their money back. It was the prudent thing to do.”
That being said, Lamb thinks Victoria Park and the plans Calgary Municipal Land Corp. is currently developing for the area are exciting. He added, “I hope the mayor and Flames’ owners can find a way to work together to create an arena district. It is too good an opportunity to be missed.” It would sure help a project on his land become viable again.
LAST WORD
Lamb was quick to say he “plans on doing more Calgary projects once the condo market supply and demand situation improves.” It is obvious he is pleased with how 6th and Tenth turned out and has not soured on the Calgary market.