City unveils first builders for Blatchford project
Firms will create 43 townhouses at west end of green development
Plans for the first homes to be built in the long-awaited green Blatchford development were revealed Wednesday.
The first four companies that have signed land deals to build a total of 43 townhouses on the former downtown city airport land were announced at a news conference in a brewery across the street from the southern edge of the development.
Design renderings from builders Carbon Busters, Encore Master Builder, Mutti Homes, and Ocheller by Redbrick show off modern concepts with lots of windows, wood and stone materials, solar panels and rooftop patios.
The 43 townhouses will be fee simple, which means owners will also own the land their unit sits on.
Developing Blatchford came at a cost of $115 million in capital investment, according the city’s latest capital budget.
And development of the community’s environmentally friendly utility, a district energy sharing system, will require a non-refundable cash injection of $93 million.
The entirety of the 217 hectares is expected to be built out over about 25 years and eventually be home to 30,000 residents.
The first phase of development on the west end of the land will have about 250 units when it’s fully built out — with condo townhouses and four- to six-storey apartment and condo buildings that will also have commercial space.
“We’re dealing with the proposals now, so hopefully before the end of the year we’ll have announcements on the rest of the builders,” said Blatchford development manager Tom Lumsden said.
Lumsden said the development will fill out based on market demand, but said hopefully growth will proceed quickly enough that the homes on the east side of Blatchford near NAIT can be around the LRT station as it’s developed.
Transit officials said Tuesday that the Metro Line extension to the development is expected to be completed by 2024.
Encore Master Builder co-owner Kim Gibbons said her company will build 20 townhouses in blocks of five. She said her development will also feature secondary suites in the basement to help with return on investment for buyers purchasing one of the homes that will be outfitted with the geothermal heating and cooling system that is being set up for Blatchford.
“The mechanicals of this house are costing more to build, but I think the return on that is definitely worth it,” she said, adding that homes start just under $600,000.
Gibbons said she already has a list of 68 people interested in the development, and that pre-sales for the units begin Thursday morning.
Carbon Busters is the only developer planning to build net zero homes — a residence that creates as much energy as it uses — which president Godo Stoyke said will take shape as seven townhomes, with laneway houses attached to the two end units. He said the starting price is $527,000.
“I think these are some of the lowest-cost net zero homes in Edmonton,” Stoyke said.
Hopes that residents would already be living on the site by now were dashed due to delays, including a pause that city council voted for in 2016 to ensure that they get the complex heating system for the project right.
“We would have loved to have been in the ground a lot sooner, but again we had to recycle an airport, and we had to face market changes,” said Ward 2 Coun. Bev Esslinger, who attended the Wednesday announcement. “You never want to produce any buildings if no one is going to buy them, so I think the timing is right now.”
The first homes will be built on parcels near the former airport’s control tower, which is being preserved for an as-yet undetermined purpose and will be surrounded by a park and a plaza that will be turned into a skating rink in the winter, said Tom Lumsden, the manager of the Blatchford Development.
City council voted to close the airport in 2009, and a design by Perkins and Will was selected in 2012 following an international competition. But in the years that followed, council approved changes to the plans that the design firm said watered down the vision.
In February, a deal to sell 13 hectares of Blatchford land to NAIT was announced, making the polytechnic an anchor tenant.