I think this is a great project, just what PG needs right now. Its fantastic to see locals investing on this scale in local real-estate.

I suspect they are counting on a lot of the new staff (100+ new staff) for the cancer clinic buying into the condo’s… walking distance to work for the health industry… PG’s first high quality condo’s for the low maintenance convenience lifestyle.

Questions I would have of the project is how they figure to build a park-aid when they are proposing to build on the lowest point of the downtown watershed? I figure maybe the parking is above ground? Also why build in the morning shade of the Cannaught Hill?

So far the building looks like a standard square box… not much inspiring, but maybe once it fits into the skyline that will change… its private money though, so all the power to them. I hope it goes ahead and I have no doubt it will be successful… I bet its the start of more condo’s like this in PG as well.

What a wonderful addition to the down town! Dan Rogers did a good job when he was Mayor, I hope Shari Green in her role as Mayor doesn’t try and take credit for this one!

I wonder if the folks building this project are aware of the following chart at the Statistics Canada website which is a summary of the credit market debt in Canada over the last 4 years? (Check out the 6th line from the bottom – Total funds raised equals total funds supplied, which is 4.89 trillion $ at the end of 2011. Also note the dramatic increase in this number over the last 4 years. Ponzi scheme anyone?)

http://www5.statcan.gc.ca/cansim/pick-choisir?lang=eng&p2=33&id=3780050

Ponzi scheme for sure…
http://www.greaterfool.ca

I dont like the idea of these new projects getting a tax free ride. Nothing is free.

If they dont pay their fair share of taxes then someone else has to pay it for them.
(Wonder who that would be?)

In addition giving tax breaks to new business, certainly puts pressure on their competitors who have to pay taxes. However thats a fight they will have to handle.

Definitely a lot of call for 800,000 dollar condos in PG.

Good addition to PG. Will see it to believe it. Have seen many propolsal come and die in the last 10 years. Sorry for being part of the Opinion 250 negative gang.

How can a hotel of 150 rooms be built for 40 million and yet it cost the taxpayer of PG 36 million for a cop shop and the PAC is pegged at 50 million.

I once heard about a proposed hotel at Marleau (sic) Road and Highway 16 just around the corner from Walmart exit. That fall through?

I remember that too Harbinger. I haven’t heard anything on that project.

This is absolutely a “believe it when we see it” project. Like the great San Francisco developer promises, and the mammoth runway promises, and so many other ridiculous pie-in-the-sky dreams announced prematurely by politicians in PG…I would bet money on sod never being turned on this one.

$800K for a condo in the armpit of BC? Ridiculous! For $800K a person could get a spectacular condo in any number of places that provided clean air, smooth streets, lower crime, better health care and way more opportunity for quality entertainment & nightlife.

Good luck Rod! (And please share some of that wonderful stuff…)

Airport Plaza??

Once upon a time there was a proposal for a mega car lot and teeny subdivision on the Red Cedar Inn property next to Bon Voyage. Supposed to be a sporting goods store and another building on O’Grady Road next to Shoppers Drug Mart. Fields of Dreams? Build it and they will come? Nah! Take it to city hall first and awake from yer dream. Cynical? Yup. Can’t help it.

This project will create 115 permanent jobs? That seems a bit inflated.

“Definitely a lot of call for 800,000 dollar condos in PG”

I was in Whitehorse a few years back and there were condos built in their downtown approaching similar values and they sold very quickly.

How much do you want to bet that a half million dollar condo in downtown PG would be MUCH more plush and tastefully appointed than the average half million dollar spec home you see up on some lifeless subdivision deep in the Hart?

Heck, for 800K you might actually be getting a larger space than what 800K would get you in a detached home. Some of you should venture outside of PG to actually see what condos can look like if they are done tastefully.

The historical examples of residential real estate development in PG isn’t exactly cutting edge. Heck, it isn’t even average when compared to larger more “modern” centres. It’s well behind modern and emerging trends.

NMG: “How much do you want to bet that a half million dollar condo in downtown PG would be MUCH more plush and tastefully appointed than the average half million dollar spec home you see up on some lifeless subdivision deep in the Hart?”

“Heck, for 800K you might actually be getting a larger space than what 800K would get you in a detached home.”

This ain’t Ottawa. As someone else noted, most people around these parts prefer yards and little acreages.

All that being said, who knows, maybe they’ll get someone willing to fork over $350K – $800K for a condo in downtown PG. I’ll wait to see it before I believe it.

For that amount of money I buy a nice Condo in Victoria, plenty to choose from and no Snow and warmer Winters, keep on Dreaming PG and how about the bad Air Downtown ?

This is a hotel project. The economics of hotels in larger, growing communities these days are generally associated with condominiums, ground floor retail, offices, etc. Sometimes they are in the same building; sometimes they are in separate buildings sharing a common piece of property and common parking facilities.

There are a number of reasons for that. One is planning. Mixed use developments are preferred by most large cities. The other is the actual deal structure the developer can make which diminishes the risk of putting everything into one basket.

Many hotels these days are tenants with long term leases. In fact, some hotels are franchises. Whether a hotel will buy the hotel strata or lease it, we do not know. The developer may not even know that quite yet. But, just like a PAC or any other development, one has to have something to show before anyone will spend money on it. Selling something on a whim that has no solid basis for it is very difficult.

It sounds like Clint Dahl was able to do that and it sounds like he had the help of the City’s mayor at the time, city manager and real estate manager who handled the ground work, as well as the help of IPG staff and even NDI. This is EXACTLY what everyone was looking for and it was closer than they ever got. In fact, closer than a WIC.

It takes a piece of property that is about to become vacant off the City land inventory and increases the value of the land of the old police station once the development is under way. On top of that, it closes a portion of a street which will also be sold.

All the power to those who would invest in P.G. I think its safe to say that the city could use more clean modern hotel rooms, and the condos? they’ll sell. The condo man from San Fran did not cancel his condos because of low subscription, he quit the project because in his opinion, local construction contractors “charge too much” or that’s what it sounded like he was saying anyway. What I would like to know is: what is the elevation of the water table where the new hotel would go?
As Eagle One said, that is one of the lower areas in the bowl, and this old dog remembers when that area was actually a little swampy. Perhaps the parking would be at grade or higher?
metalman.

There are condos under construction on 7th between Winnipeg and Vancouver (finally!!).

I cannot find how much they will cost, but I would think in the $300,000+ range. No view, no security, no yard, common area asphalt driveway to look out onto on one side, wood construction with all associated noise “problems”, stairs to upper floors, no view, etc. etc.

Not everyone will like either of those places. But hey, we have some 30,000 dwelling units in this community; people are getting older; people have different tastes; heck, some people will even prefer the view of the rockies in the distance with the mills in the foreground rather than the view west to Cranbrook Hill and the University.

I would not be surprised if the top floor and likely the larger units are already spoken for.

The parking is shown to be at grade to the north of the building and below the building in a similar fashion as the Coast.

Between 1973 and now, I have not seen any water in those areas.

The Civic Centre ground floor is about 8″ or so below the 200 year floodplain that was in place at the time the building was built. I would worry a bit more about the finishes in that building than about a parking area with conrete columns.

Everyone concerned from realtor, to city, to developer, to engineers and architects would be well aware of the floodplain and would be building to meet the requirements, I am sure.

“This ain’t Ottawa. As someone else noted, most people around these parts prefer yards and little acreages”

You got that right! Out here the housing developments are actually appealing and diverse. But I digress . . .

Honestly, why do you care what they are listed for? What if there were 2 units priced at $750K and the rest were $350? Would that make you feel better? Why does it matter? I would assume that the developer for a $40M+ project has done some market research and they’ve come to the conclusion that they can make it work.

Do people feel threatened that perhaps their notions of what “people in these parts” want, may be a little outdated? Afterall, if someone is willing to pay half a million for a downtown condo in PG, what else could that say about the makeup of the population in PG? Perhaps that people may actually support downtown revitalization? Perhaps that they may like to see things like a PAC? Perhaps that the city is more cosmopolitan than what the “old timers” may be comfortable with?

It’s interesting how a significant private investment in a city desperate for such projects seems to cause people grief. Any other city in Canada would welcome something like this with open arms.

I am with NMG on this one. Why do people assume that what they want is what everyone wants?

Some people don’t like change and it seems that a number of posters on this site don’t like good news. if it isn’t something they can complain about – they don’t want to hear about it. if they are forced to hear about it – they rack their brains to find something to complain about. heck, I think half of them just make things up the majority of the time.

I know selling the house and lot and buying a condo is in our retirement plan – it’s much more secure to leave a condo vacant while you travel the world then it is a house. Condos are also a lot less work then a house. I have never enjoyed mowing the lawn or shoveling snow.

“Do people feel threatened that perhaps their notions of what “people in these parts” want, may be a little outdated?”

Why is it because someone shows skepticism they’re labeled as ‘threatened’ or something similar?

Anyway, if the condos are sold, that’s positive for the development. I actually hope people step up and buy them. It’s only a positive sign for the local stagnant real estate scene around ‘these parts’.

Best of luck to the developers.

$800, thousand for a condo? Sure hope that includes one helluva mud room. And maybe a butler for it.

$800K is for the penthouse suite guys not for the average condo…….

So likely the average price of these condos will be $300K to $400K. When you start looking at new houses in PG they are ALL over $400K. I think these condos will sell pretty easily. There are a number of people that work at UNBC, Northern Health and other white collar jobs that will likely want to have the urban lifestyle without the hours of work looking after a yard and the maintenance that comes with a house.

Will this complex sell out? probably not right away. But to get this project going they don’t need to sell out. Half of the building is going to be a Hotel. That’s what makes this complex different than some of the other proposals that we have seen. I sure hope it gets approval and starts right away.

Maybe it will be the start of more projects to come!!