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Housing project future of infill

$200-M development to be unveiled

By: Murray McNeill

29/07/2010 8:28 AM | Comments: 33

Larry Carter says the development on the land will take three to four years to complete.

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Larry Carter says the development on the land will take three to four years to complete. (PHIL.HOSSACK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA)

The preliminary plans for a new $200-million multi-family housing development being touted as a blueprint for future infill developments in Winnipeg will be unveiled to the public today.

Winnipeg-based B & M Land Co. and Calgary-based Lexington Investment Corp. are teaming up to build a new 900-unit townhouse/apartment/condominium development on the former Fort Rouge Rail Yard (FRRY) site in south Winnipeg.

Vacant land in city put to very good use

The Fort Rouge Railway Yard redevelopment project:

Where is it? On a 6.4-hectare parcel of vacant land on the northeast corner of Pembina Highway and Jubilee Avenue and adjacent to the city's proposed new bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor intended to run from the downtown to the University of Manitoba.

What's planned? An eco-sensitive, infill housing development that will include 400 townhouse units and two to three 12-to-16-storey towers containing about 500 apartment-style units. Some will be rental units and some will be condominiums.

Who's doing it? Winnipeg's B & M Land Co. owns the land and Calgary-based Lexington Investment Corp. is the developer. Lexington will also be marketing the condos.

How big are the housing units? The townhouse units will all have three bedrooms and the apartment-style units will include one-, two- and three-bedroom options.

What are the rental rates and selling prices? That has not yet been determined.

What are some of the other features of the development? Geothermal heating and cooling systems will be installed in all of the buildings. There will also be an abundance of green space, walkways and bicycle paths, all connected to the surrounding neighbourhood.

-- Source: Lexington Investment Corp.

 

A senior city planning official said the project, which hasn't been given a name yet, is ground-breaking for a variety of reasons.

For starters, it will be the first of several new infill housing developments expected to spring up near the city's planned new bus rapid transit (BRT) corridor, which will run between downtown Winnipeg and the University of Manitoba.

These developments are referred to as transit-oriented developments (TODs) because they focus on transit as the primary mode of transportation for the residents.

"It's also very significant because it's our first real area-redevelopment site that's being developed," said Michelle Richard, co-ordinator of the city's Our Winnipeg initiative, the document that will serve as the city's development blueprint for the next 25 years.

Richard said there are 10 other major sites, most either vacant land or former industrial sites, that the city has identified for redevelopment over the next two decades. Others include the former Canada Packers site in St. Boniface, the former Kapyong Barracks site on Kenaston Boulevard, and the former Manitoba Sugar Beet property in Fort Garry.

She said the FRRY project will also be the city's first real opportunity to demonstrate that new neighbourhoods can be creating within an existing area of the city.

"We've never really done that before."

The preliminary plans for the FRRY project are being unveiled at a public open house being held from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. tonight at the Lord Roberts Community Centre, 725 Kylemore Ave.

Lexington president Larry Carter said in an interview the development will be built in three phases. Construction is expected to get underway next spring, and will take three to four years to complete.

It will include 400 townhouse units and 500 apartment-style units. The latter will be contained within two or three multi-storey towers.

Some of the units will be rental and some will be condominiums, he said. Exactly how many of each hasn't been determined.

The partners also don't know yet what the size and price ranges will be for the units. That will depend to some extent on which layout they go with for the site and there will be several options display at the open house.

Carter said Lexington and B & M Land have already consulted with city planners and local community groups and businesses about how the site should be developed. Now it wants to hear from area residents.

"We want their input on what concerns them and also what they like about it," he said. "We have some ideas about what we'd like to do. But nothing is cast in stone at this point."

Richard said the FRRY project is believed to be the largest multi-family residential project to be undertaken in the city since the late 1980s.

In addition to being designed so residents have quick and easy access to the new BRT system, all of the buildings in the development will be equipped with geothermal heating and cooling systems.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca

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"The partners also don't know yet what the size and price ranges will be for the units."

House prices are currently in decline and expected to continue this way for years to come. When this development is complete, prices will be very affordable. Word of warning, do not buy early.

Excellent idea though.

This is a great idea, however I'm disappointed there's no mention of trying to get similar developments downtown on one of the many, and ugly, surface parking lots. The downtown needs way more apartment buildings; the city should be trying to find developers to build them there.

Lexington Investment Corp., if you read this, please build apartments downtown, where they're badly needed!

Waverly West was suppose to be the start of geothermal heat. What happened? Developers got greedy and they houses were built to close together for geothermal to happen. Only those who are building there own homes will geothermal be a reality.

yeah, this isn't going to happen unless sammy stops his electioneering and we get the brt route. build the next ones as lrt but get the first one done so these developments can happen.

"In addition to being designed so residents have quick and easy access to the new BRT system, all of the buildings in the development will be equipped with geothermal heating and cooling systems." Right, good idea, just like Waverley West right? Oh right, I forgot, geothermal heating was scrapped at the last minute there.

It would be a good step but this isn't the first time a project like this has been announced so I'll believe it when construction starts. Before Katz put the BRT system on hold there was planned development along the route. When the system fell through, so did the development. So if the connection to the U of M isn't started, and the BRT leg needs to be modified to LRT to match the 2nd phase which may one day happen, I don't see a developer actually going through with this in a hurry. For 'Transit Oriented Development' to happen, you actually need 'transit' there. And if it's going to need to be torn up and switch to LRT so that the system isn't completely inefficient, there's even less incentive to move there until that's actually done because the 'rapid transit' that exists will disappear during that construction and you'll be left with just taking a 60.

I'm a bit lost on the reporting of this story because we just scrapped the section of the BRT system that goes to the U of M so reporting that it's going to be built at the BRT system that's intended to run from downtown to the U of M isn't accurate anymore. And with similar projects being tied to the previous BRT plans, which fell through when construction was stalled, there's no indication that this will be any different so it's not even really worth reporting on. The first question I'd ask the developers is "when would the leg to U of M need to be completed by for this plan to become reality?"

I just hope that the units will be affordable new housing. Most people can't afford to pay $300,000 for a new house in a decent area.

I used to live in a very nice apartment building at the corner of Munroe and Panet, and there was a rail line a quarter of a block away. Those trains used to blow their horns at all hours of the day and night (please don't bring up any rules about not being allowed to blow the born in the middle of the night - they didn't comply with any such rule). When living in a relatively industrial city, with rail lines running all over the place, you adjust. And I'm guessing that's what these developers are banking on, too.

Great idea but...
Out of these 900 units how many will be accessible to people that need wheelchairs or scooters for mobility. Even if you are one of the first to move in, you may not have a disability now, but what if due to an accident or medical situation you now need a wheelchair or scooter to get around. Wouldn't it be nice, besides getting adjusted to a different way of getting around you wouldn't have to worry about moving? What if family or a close friend all of a sudden needs a wheelchair or shooter to get around, wouldn’t you still want them to come and visit you??

As well why are thing going to build a whole bunch of 2 or 3 story structures and take away space that could be use for a park area for the new residents of the area?

They should go back to the drawing board and reduce the number of buildings and bring in a bunch of high rise apartment style buildings, then use the extra space as I mentioned for a park, and playground. On a nice summer eveing it would be great the space to activities planned for people living in the new development to come out and get to know each other.

Are people in Winnipeg afraid to look up to the sky?

Are they taking reservations yet?

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