Building February March 2013

real estate development

|

construction

|

architecture

63

building.ca February • March 2013 CDN $4.95

01

WELCOME

TO THE

BIG LEAGUES!

PM#40069240

+ BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 1

Bold City Building in Edmonton New "Condo Czar" Suggests Serious Reform

13-03-20 2:19 PM

The BEHLEN commitment… “ We rely on BEHLEN for commercial building solutions because of their commitment to quality control and architectural flexibility.

In a business where service and scheduling are critical, BEHLEN consistently delivers quality products within deadlines.”

George Constantinides President, Contempora Steel Builders Winnipeg, MB

Customizable to fit your design BEHLEN engineers customize pre-engineered steel buildings to fit your design needs so you can provide the perfect solutions to your customers. From planning and problem solving to manufacturing and assembly, BEHLEN is committed to helping you build success.

© BEHLEN Industries LP 2013

66893_BEHLEN_Testimonial_George_Ad_BM.indd 1 BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 2

www.behlen.ca

2013-02-06 2:26 PM 13-03-20 2:19 PM

63 01

CONTENTS

what’s on BUILDING.ca

FEATURES

14 > Bold Transformation /

How Edmonton is setting its sights beyond carbon, and may be changing the way cities should be built.

By Rhys Phillips

22 > First and Goal /

Rider Nation is alive and well in Saskatchewan, but the home of their beloved team is not. Regina had chosen to address this not only with a new stadium, but is using this opportunity to engage in city building.

By Peter Sobchak

Beyond Dig-and-Dump Camilla Cornell investigates new approaches to soil remediation.

14

25 > A Hail Mary Deal? /

Ottawa bucks the conventional method of funding a new stadium and its surrounding precinct, and in the process prompts many to question the results. By Rhys Phillips

Like Money in the Bank Shayan Rashid gives five fantastic tips to reduce your taxes on employment income.

28 > Rootin’ for the Home Team /

WATCH > 2012 Global Investor Sentiment Survey Ian MacCulloch, of Colliers International Canada, discusses commercial real estate investors’ opinions about market conditions.

To figure out how important largescale sports facilities can – or cannot – be to city building, Peter Sobchak speaks with Max Reim, co-managing partner and founding principal of LiveWorkLearnPlay.

IN EVERY ISSUE

5 > Editor’s Notes

Perkins+Will's conceptual plan for the Blatchford redevelopment.

Image courtesy of the City of Edmonton.

7 > Developments

COVER IMAGE:

10 > Market Watch 12 > Legal 30 > Viewpoint

a

ABOVE IMAGE:

Concept design for the new $278 million stadium in Regina.

Image courtesy of Mott MacDonald Canada Ltd.

building.ca

-06 2:26 PM BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 3

13-03-20 2:19 PM

THE SMART WAY SAFETY

PLANNING

™

PROCESSES

TECHNOLOGY

PEOPLE

SAFER ACCESS SOLUTIONS. MORE PRODUCTIVE SITES. In 1936, Reinhold Uecker invented the rst steel scaffolding – and the Safway® legacy. Today, our innova�ve access solu�ons s�ll create safe efficiency by minimizing your crew’s exposure to dangerous situa�ons.

It’s all backed up by the most experienced and proac�ve safety team in the business and ingenious, produc�vity-boos�ng technology.

While you create structures, we create peace of mind – The Smart Way.

SERVICES IN TORONTO • Hois�ng and Motorized • Frame and Brace Scaffold • Quikdeck™ • Swing Stages

SAFWAY TORONTO

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 4

503 Carlingview Drive Toronto, Ontario M9W 5H2

416-675-2449 866-842-4424

• Rental and Sales • Labor and Engineering • Saock™ • Safety and Training

SAFWAY.COM/TORONTO

13-03-20 2:19 PM

Volume 63

01 Number Editor / Peter Sobchak Art Director / Roy Gaiot Legal Editor / Jeffrey W. Lem Contributors / William J. Ferguson, Odysseas Papadimitriou, Rhys Phillips Circulation Manager / Beata Olechnowicz (416) 442-5600 ext 3543 Reader Services / Liz Callaghan Advertising Sales / Greg Paliouras (416) 510-6808 / gpaliouras@Building.ca

Kevin Costner lied to you

All you need is some space, a bunch of guys and something to throw around, and you’ve got yourself a sport. And right after that you’ll have a bunch of people watching it. And at some point, they’ll be willing to pay to watch it. Then the question becomes: how much are they willing to pay? And if you ask a surprising number of cities in Canada at this moment, they will answer: quite a lot.

Maybe the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics started it, maybe not, but one thing is clear: many cities across Canada are feverishly involved in developing massive sports complexes. These projects can be loosely grouped into two categories: “Have team, need home,” and “Build it, they will come.” The former includes the cities of Regina, Ottawa, Hamilton and Winnipeg all currently re-building stadiums for their CFL teams, and Edmonton’s baffling decision to build a new downtown NHL arena. But the latter category is a head scratcher. Québec City is trying to woo back the Nordiques with a $400-million arena, and just recently city council of Markham, Ont. approved a plan to build a $325-million arena with taxpayer money to possibly attract an NHL team.

While it’s one thing for Edmonton to make a deal with owner Daryl Katz to ostensibly keep the Oilers (although threats by team owners to leave town are losing their potency, since there are very few attractive markets for them to go to), it’s another completely ridiculous one to spend millions of taxpayer dollars to go on a fishing trip, like Markham and Québec. Because here is a well-documented economic truth: publicly financed pro sports facilities do not create positive net economic benefits for the community.

Economists and development specialists who have studied this question (at least those who don’t work for a chamber of commerce or similarly invested organization) find that the rate of return a city receives for its investment is almost always below that of alternative projects. A report authored by Glen Hodgson and Mario Lefebvre in August 2011 for The Conference Board of Canada puts it succinctly: “[T]he public money used to construct and operate the facility is supported by the tax base and is often diverted from other uses in the local economy. From a purely economic perspective, there is not a compelling case for public sector investment in pro sports facilities.”

The authors diplomatically point out that positive benefits can and do exist, such as improved environment, infrastructure and amenities; increased global exposure and visitor tourism economy; a city’s pride and self-confidence, civic engagement, and so on. But cities should be wary when owners and other investors start trotting these out like carrots. Because here are some economic facts they want to distract cities from: most sports money goes to owners and players, but do they spend that in the city? Most athletes live somewhere else, and invest their money since their careers are short-lived; many league rules stipulate that gate receipts are shared with other teams in smaller markets; the subsidy a team receives from a city that foots the bill for a new facility increases the re-sale value of the team, but that profit goes into the owner’s pockets; and good economists balk at the spurious use of “multiplier effects” — with sports facilities, they don’t happen. Most people have fixed incomes, especially with discretionary spending such as entertainment, so a dollar spent on sports is not spent elsewhere in the local economy on, say, museums. In an ideal world, pro sports franchises and their facilities should be both privately financed and operate profitably. And what about Kevin Costner’s infamous quote? Even NHL commissioner Gary Bettman has made it clear many times that an arena won’t guarantee a franchise.

Senior Publisher / Tom Arkell Vice President, Publishing Business Information Group / Alex Papanou President, Business Information Group / Bruce Creighton Building magazine is published by BIG Magazines LP, a division of Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. 80 Valleybrook Dr. Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 Tel: (416) 510-6845 / Fax: (416) 510-5140 E-mail: info@building.ca Website: www.building.ca SUBSCRIPTION RATE: Canada: 1 year, $30.95; 2 years, $52.95; 3 years, $64.95 (plus H.S.T.) U.S.: 1 year, $38.95 US, Elsewhere: 1 year, $45.95 US. BACK ISSUES: Back copies are available for $8 for delivery in Canada, $10 US for delivery in U.S.A. and $15 US overseas.

Please send prepayment to Building, 80 Valleybrook Dr. Toronto, ON M3B 2S9 or order online at www.building.ca Subscription and back issues inquiries please call 416-442-5600, ext. 3543, e-mail: circulation@building.ca or go to www.building.ca Please send changes of address to Circulation Department, Building magazine or e-mail to addresses@building.ca NEWSSTAND: Information on Building on newsstands in Canada, call 905-619-6565 Building is indexed in the Canadian Magazine Index by Micromedia ProQuest Company, Toronto (www.micromedia.com) and National Archive Publishing Company, Ann Arbor, Michigan (www.napubco.com).

Member of

Association of Business Publishers 205 East 42nd Street New York, NY 10017

Inc.

Occasionally we make our mailing list available to reputable organizations whose products or services can be of interest to our readers. If you do not wish to be included, please e-mail or write to us.

Building is published six times a year.

Printed in Canada. The content of this ­publication is the property of Building and cannot be reproduced without permission from the publisher.

H.S.T. #890939689RT0001 ISSN 1185-3654 (Print) ISSN 1923-3361 (Online)

05

Glacier BIG Holdings Company Ltd. Customer Number: 2014319 Canada Post Sales Agreement #40069240

|

Peter Sobchak Editor

Proud member of

We welcome your feedback. Send your questions and comments to psobchak@building.ca building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 5

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

13-03-20 2:19 PM

06

DEVELOP-

MENTS Project Announcements Grosvenor Americas acquires development site in Calgary CALGARY | Based on the success of its Drake condominium development in the Beltline neighbourhood of Calgary, Grosvenor Americas (GA) has acquired another multifamily development site on the 700 block of 15th Avenue SW, on the opposite end of the block on which Drake is under construction. The Beltline Area Redevelopment Plan, which governs development of the 16,237-sq.-ft. site, allows for maximum of 7.0 FAR (floor area ratio), resulting in a proposed 18 storey residential tower. Utilizing a similar design to that of Drake, the buildings will architecturally “bookend” the block and further strengthen this central Beltline neighbourhood as a desirable place to live. GA will be submitting applications for redevelopment to the City of Calgary in 2013, and plans to commence pre-sales for the condos following this process.

“Driven by the energy industry in Alberta, which is expected to attract more than CD$250 billion in investment over the next two decades, Calgary enjoys some of the highest population and employment growth rates in Canada. At the same time, its residential market remains affordable, with condo ownership consuming a much smaller percentage of household income, compared with Vancouver and Toronto,” said Michael Ward, vice president, Grosvenor Americas.

Good News Canadian commercial real estate market remains strong and stable

TORONTO | The Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac) and FPL Advisory Group released the Fourth Quarter 2012 REALpac / FPL Canadian Real Estate Sentiment Survey, which recorded the thoughts of a wide variety of industry leaders, including CEOs, presidents, board members, and other executives from a broad set of industry sectors, including owners and asset managers, financial services providers, and operators and related service providers. The Q4 Index saw little change from recent “The current condition varies quarters; while the Canadian market is from province to viewed as strong and stable, many still province, but in show concern over international ecogeneral I think there nomic conditions. is an understanding La Tour Des Canadiens revealed Additional topline findings include: of, or a trend Many express positivity in the overall towards, becoming MONTRÉAL | A consortium comprised of Cadillac Fairview market, while some look for a further Corporation, Canderel, the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ U.S. recovery to spark additional activcomfortable with and the Club de hockey Canadien unveiled the features of a new the underpinnings ity; a lack of Class A product remains a condominium that is associated with a brand everyone in the of stability.” primary issue; cap rate compression and the low interest rate environment have led to very high asset pricing; many worry that an increase in interest rates could drive values down going forward; debt availability remains strong, es“This prestigious pecially for low-risk assets, however lenders are finding longer term loans increasingly less attractive; equity award, among the capital is seen as widely available as both public and private investors continue to find real estate attractive.

U of T faculty of architecture receives new endowment TORONTO | WZMH Architects and Oxford Properties have partnered with the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design at the University of Toronto to create the new WZMH Architects / Oxford Properties Graduate Student Endowment Fund. Oxford Properties initiated the Fund as a tribute to its long-standing relationship with WZMH Architects and in celebration of the firm’s 50th Anniversary. The Endowment Award will be presented each year to students demonstrating an innovative approach to the contemporary challenges of large-scale architecture, city building, and commercial development through their research and studio projects. The award underscores the combined agency of the design, planning and development communities and the importance of developing opportunities for greater collaboration between them. “Having such highly recognized industry leaders establish this fund is a great boon to our faculty and students,” says Richard Sommer, dean and Professor of Architecture and Urbanism at the Daniels Faculty. “This prestigious award, among the most generous of its kind at the Faculty, will shine a light on gifted graduate students who are our future leaders in design and urbanization.”

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 6

most generous of its kind at the Faculty, will shine a light on gifted graduate students who are our future leaders in design and urbanization.”

– Richard Sommer, dean and Professor of Architecture and Urbanism, Daniels Faculty.

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

50,000 LEGO bricks inaugurate LEGOLAND Discovery Centre construction stats Stanley Cups:

Conference championships:

Tour des Canadiens

07

TORONTO | Global leisure giant Merlin Entertainments, the world's second biggest visitor attraction operator, used a front-end loader dumping 50,000 LEGO bricks to mark the start of construction of the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto at Vaughan Mills, owned and operated by Ivanhoé Cambridge. Opening in spring 2013, the $12 million LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto is the first of its kind in Canada.

The 34,000-sq.-ft. indoor attraction will be geared towards children ages 3-10 and their families, and will feature over three million LEGO bricks and consist of several interactive features including hands-on play areas, a 4D cinema, master classes from LEGO Model Builders, LEGO rides, special party rooms and MINILAND, the venue’s signature recreation of Ontario landmarks, made out of LEGO bricks.

Division championships:

city will recognize: the Montréal Canadiens. By buying into Tour des Canadiens, future condo owners will have priority for purchasing tickets to regular season games; one two-hour skating session for two people at the Bell Centre; the possibility of attending preseason games in a private box or behind the Canadiens’ bench; and be invited to participate in private workouts and a VIP Presidents’ tour of the players’ dressing room.

Trophies: Kevin Gilmore, executive vice-presi0 dent and chief operating officer of the Club de hockey Canadien, indicated that plans to relocate the Place du Centenaire are advancing well. It will be situated in the immediate environs of the Bell Centre and designed to conserve this important tribute to the unique relationship that has developed over the past century between the Canadiens and their fans. He explained that for the duration of the work, the statues and bricks will be removed and carefully stored to preserve their integrity until construction has been completed.

Designed by architects Cardinal Hardy and Martin Marcotte/Beinhaker, the 48-storey building will stand on a 10-storey podium located at the corner of de la Montagne and Avenue des Canadiens. Huma Design will be responsible for the interior design of the 520 residential units and the common areas in Tour des Canadiens.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto

Contract awarded for 2015 Pan-Am Games athletic facilities TORONTO | Infrastructure Ontario, on behalf of TO2015, the Government of Canada, Province of Ontario, City of Hamilton, City of Toronto, Town of Milton and York University, announced that Ontario Sports Solutions has signed a contract worth $206 million to design, build and finance venues for the Toronto 2015 Games: the City of Hamilton's soccer stadium; the Town of Milton's velodrome, the host venue of the track cycling competition; York University's stadium, the host venue for athletics competitions; and the City of Toronto's tracks at the Toronto Track and Field Centre, Birchmount Park Stadium and Centennial Park Stadium, which will be used as warm-up and training facilities during the Games.

The total project budget will include the final design, build and finance contract as well as transaction fees and other ancillary costs that are being finalized. The consortium includes: developer Bouygues Building Canada Inc.; construction by Kenaidan Contracting Ltd.; and design building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 7

13-03-20 2:19 PM

DEVELOP08

by Cannon Design / Faulkner Browns Architects / Arup Associates.

Construction of Hamilton's soccer stadium and York University's athletics stadium began in late 2012, with Milton's velodrome to start in early 2013 and the Toronto tracks development will begin in summer 2014.

Great Gulf and Ryerson bring curb appeal to construction sites

MENTS Awards Halsall Associates honoured for excellence in corporate responsibility “Back in the 1990s, we decided to create a company where we would be happy to have our kids work. To attract the best of the next generation, we knew we had to get serious about reducing our corporate environmental footprint and commit to making the communities where we work, live and play more sustainable,” – Peter Halsall, chairman of Parsons Brinckerhoff Halsall Inc.

TORONTO | Halsall took top honours at Green Living’s second annual Excellence in Corporate Responsibility (ECR) Awards in Toronto, receiving the Team award in the building, design and development sector (large business) for its sustainability program called “The IRIS Project," which stands for Integrated Rating Indicator for Sustainability. This dynamic online sustainability reporting tool, developed by Halsall’s sister company Loop Initiatives, is a structured, comprehensive, target-based program which groups the company’s environmental and community initiatives into six categories, measured by 13 sustainability indicators.

The IRIS Project is responsible for driving social and environmental change in internal operations and client service delivery. It has led to thousands of dollars in savings from reductions in building and travel emissions, waste diversion and green procurement. The company’s IT energy-saving initiatives alone have reduced energy consumption by approximately 245,000 kWh per year, resulting in a 40-tonne reduction in carbon emissions and annual savings of $20,000.

The project has played a significant role in the company being named one of Canada’s Best Workplaces by the Great Place to Work Institute for six consecutive years.

TORONTO | The ubiquitous “post-nobills” plywood scaffolding familiar to pedestrians in every growing city has been given an overhaul by Great Gulf and Ryerson University. The developer and university are working with New York-based Urban Umbrella to cover sidewalks at construction sites with arching steel frames and translucent panels. The stylized scaffolding is being used by Great Gulf at its 75-story condominium One Bloor, and by Ryerson University for the construction of the Student Learning Centre.

Urban Umbrella started to gain notice after winning an international design competition sponsored by the NYC Department of Buildings. The company’s designs were embraced by New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and began being adopted for some building projects in that city. “With construction pushing Toronto to the height and density of a metropolis like New York, Toronto now faces the same problem that New York faces,” said Sarrah Khan, the Canadian engineer of Urban Umbrella. “Buildings must go up and come down, but we must protect the life of the city during this process. Urban Umbrella, with its graceful arcs and natural light transmission, allow people to enjoy and experience the city during construction.

Urban Umbrella, Toronto FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 8

REIT Round-Up

Granite Real Estate gets REIT conversion approval TORONTO | Thanks to a final order issued by the Superior Court of Québec, Granite Real Estate Inc.’s plan of arrangement under which the company would convert to a real estate investment trust was approved. The Court found that the arrangement is fair and reasonable, and as of December 31, 2012, Granite is now a REIT. Granite is engaged in the ownership and management of predominantly industrial properties in Canada, the United States, Mexico and Europe. The company owns and manages approximately 28 million square feet in 104 rental income properties. Their tenant base currently includes operating subsidiaries of Magna International Inc. as their largest tenants, together with tenants from other industries. b

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

Custom

Tenncare Building, Nashville, TN

Custom Brick™

Lymestone™

TerraNeo®

Quartzputz®

HDP™ Finish

Sandpebble®

Reflectit™

Better Practice. Better Value.

Whether it’s for a new or old commercial or residential structure, building experts consider Continuous Insulation (C.I.) a better practice. Building or restoring with Dryvit Outsulation® Systems can save time and money, compared to heavy and less energy efficient claddings - reducing operating and maintenance costs without sacrificing performance and durability.

Dryvit Outsulation® Systems are attractive, durable and easy to maintain. A variety of pragmatically engineered and CCMC evaluated Exterior Insulation and Finish Systems (EIFS) are available to suit the building’s design - providing a fully integrated and warranted cladding system with minimal maintenance requirements.

For more information call 1.800.263.3308, e-mail info@dryvit.ca or visit dryvit.ca Licenced Manufacturer

ISO 9001:2008 | ISO 14001:2004

CCMC-12874-R

© 2013 Dryvit Systems Canada. Dryvit, Outsulation, Custom Brick, Lymestone, TerraNeo, Quartzputz, HDP, Sandpebble and Reflectit are registered trademarks of Dryvit Systems Canada. All Rights Reserved.

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 9

13-03-20 2:19 PM

10

MARKET

WATCH

Green building accelerates globally through economic downturn NEW YORK | Around the world, the green building marketplace is accelerating, acGLOBAL GREEN cording to a new study by McGraw-Hill Top reasons firms Construction in partnership with United do green work Technologies. The study indicates a shift – new study in the global construction market, now

by McGraw-Hill viewing green as a business opportunity Construction rather than a niche market. Overwhelmingly, firms report that their top reasons to do green work are client demand (35 Client demand per cent) and market demand (33 per % cent)—two key business drivers of strategic planning. The next top reasons were also oriented toward the corporate Market demand bottom line—lower operating costs (30 % per cent) and branding advantage (30 per cent). In contrast, the top reason in 2008 motivating the green building market was Lower operating costs doing the right thing (42 per cent) and market transformation (35 per cent), fol% lowed by client and market demand.

“This research confirms that green Branding building advances environmental stewadvantage ardship while providing value to the market,” said Geraud Darnis, president % and CEO, United Technologies Climate, Controls & Security. “It also confirms that we now see more pull than push for green buildings.”

In the next three years, the sectors with the largest opportunity for green building around the world include new construction and renovation projects. 63 per cent of firms have green work planned in new commercial projects and 45 per cent in new institutional projects by 2015, and 50 per cent have plans for green renovation work. In the United Kingdom and Singapore, green renovation projects were planned by the greatest number of firms at 65 and 69 per cent respectively. In Brazil and UAE, new projects pose the largest opportunity. In Brazil, 83 per cent of firms are planning to work on new green commercial projects over the next three years, and in the UAE, 73 per cent have new green institutional projects planned.

“It is notable that over the next three years, firms working in countries around the world have green work planned across all building types, incorporating both new construction and renovation,” said Harvey M. Bernstein, vice president, Industry Insights and Alliances for McGraw-Hill Construction. “The exist-

35 33 30 30

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 10

ing building market is a ripe opportunity for green building, and we are seeing that play out in the market. It is clear that green is becoming an important part of the future landscape of the global construction marketplace, and firms will need to be prepared for that transition.”

Green buildings are also expected to garner business benefits for building owners. For new green building projects, firms report median operating cost savings of eight per cent over one year and 15 per cent over five years, as well as increased building values of seven per cent (according to design and construction firms) and higher asset valuation of five per cent (according to building owners).

For green retrofits, operating savings are higher than for new buildings with operating costs reported to decrease by nine per cent over one year and 13 per cent over five years.

Asset valuation is also expected to increase, though at more moderate levels than for new green buildings — design and construction professionals expect five per cent increased building value from green retrofits, and owners expect higher asset valuation of four per cent. For green projects, payback on efforts is expected within eight years for new projects and seven years for retrofit/renovation work.

Other significant findings include: • Human factor benefits are driving green building more today compared to three years ago — 55 per cent cite greater health and well-being as the top social reason for green (tied with encouraging sustainable business practice), up from only 29 per cent in 2008; • Energy use reduction tops the environmental reasons for green building — 72 per cent say it is the important environmental reason to engage in green building; • Water use reduction is more important today. 25 per cent of study respondents cite reduced water consumption as the top reason, up from only four per cent in 2008. It is particularly important in the UAE (64 per cent cite it as a top reason), Brazil (39 per cent), and the U.S. (32 per cent), ranking as the second most important environmental factor in these countries; • Improved indoor air quality is also more important today — 17 per cent cite it as a top reason to engage in green building, up from only three per cent in 2008; • For firms not currently doing any green project work, the primary driver that they think will motivate future green activity is the desire to do the right thing. This is in sharp contrast to those involved, suggesting this market is not as familiar with the business case for green building.

“We’ve been on the ground watching the markets shift to green around the world. Today, there are green building councils in 92 countries around the world — more than double what it was when we first looked at the green building market globally in 2008,” said Jane Henley, president of the World Green Building Council. “The business case is helping move the markets, and this study underscores the importance of measuring and reporting those benefits.”

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

5

4

3

2

1

0

“This study validates what we’ve experienced the past couple of years — that the business community has fully embraced green building as a strategic business imperative that also happens to have a strong societal benefit. We see this as a success of LEED and all the rating systems that have helped drive green building movements globally,” said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chair, U.S. Green Building Council.

Downtown tax crunch and high commercial taxes keep the squeeze on Canada's urban centres TORONTO | Downtown Vancouver, Toronto and Montréal continue to share the dubious reputation for having Canada's highest commercial-to-residential tax ratios, all in excess of 4:1, according to a 2012 survey of property tax rates of major urban centres produced by the Altus Group for the Real Property Association of Canada (REALpac). But, as the report also found, the gap narrowed slightly for the fifth consecutive year, moving in a more favourable direction for the business environment in Vancouver and Toronto.

Montréal, on the other hand, is heading in the opposite direction. Its downtown commercial taxes, which are increasing at an alarming rate, will likely vault past Toronto's in 2013 and are rapidly approaching Vancouver's high levels.

"Even though the survey uncovered some improvement this year, with the exception of Montréal, we remain deeply concerned about the damaging impact that inequitable commercial-residential taxes have on city growth and its ability to attract business and jobs," said Paul Morse, CEO REALpac. "Our urban centres are vitally important and at the moment are expanding due to tenant demand and relatively low interest rates. High realty taxes are a barrier to

business growth and in the long run, put a choke hold on investment in downtown office, hotel, and apartment and retail property development."

Residential tax rates According to Morse, REALpac has have declined over the long contended that a commercialpast 10 years at an to-residential ratio of about 2:1 would even faster rate than support healthy growth, and could be those of commercial achieved through gradual reductions tax rates. in the commercial rate. "Jobs are at the core of a thriving city economy.

With so many fundamental shifts taking place in our global economy, Canadian cities need to do what they can to accelerate business growth around where people want to live, not scare it away."

In other findings, the annual survey showed that even though Winnipeg and Edmonton raised their ratio slightly, they still maintained the lowest ranking among municipalities surveyed. Calgary and Ottawa made significant improvements to their ratios, while Halifax, falling closer to the average, published subtle reductions to its ratio as well.

On an absolute tax basis, Calgary, Vancouver, Edmonton and Winnipeg have the lowest estimated property taxes per $1,000 of commercial assessment, while Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Halifax have the highest. On the residential assessment side, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton and Toronto have the lowest property taxes per $1000 of residential assessment, while Winnipeg, Ottawa, Montréal and Halifax have the highest.

REALpac's website also points out that while most cities in Canada have moved to decrease commercial tax rates in the last 10 years, residential tax rates have declined at an even faster rate. b

11

Commercial to Residential Tax Rate Ratios 2010 -2012 5

2010 2011 2012 4

3

2

1

0

Winnipeg

Edmonton

Calgary

Ottawa

Halifax

Average

Montreal

Toronto

Vancouver

building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 11

13-03-20 2:19 PM

12

LEGAL Condominium Law Reform Steams Ahead Appointment of new Condo Czar suggests the government is serious about condominium reform.

By Jeffrey W. Lem and Odysseas Papadimitriou

Readers of Building already know that the Province of Ontario is undertaking another massive review of the Condominium Act (see “And So It Begins…”

Building, June/July 2012) — that is old news and altogether not that interesting. Governments announce all sorts of studies and talk a great deal about legislative reform, but many of these initiatives end up collecting dust and never seeing the light of day as tangible changes in the law. Against this rather cynical backdrop, recent events have certainly piqued our interest in terms of real condominium law reform.

The first round of the government’s broad, consensus-based law reform movement is now complete. The conclusions from the first stage of a three-stage review process were just published at the beginning of this year. Launched in September 2012, this first stage review consisted of four major information-gathering initiatives. Firstly there was some serious dog and pony “Public Information Sessions” conducted by the Ministry of Consumer Services. These were essentially open town hall forums conducted in five Ontario communities. Approximately 500 citizens got to voice their views at these town hall Public Information Sessions.

Secondly, a specific “Residents’ Panel” was assembled with 36 representative condominium residents from across the Province for three, full-day workshop sessions designed to elicit candid discussions about issues and proposed solutions for problems plaguing condominium life.

A similar round of four, full-day “Roundtable Workshops” was conducted for other stakeholders in the condominium industry, including builders and developers, to identify issues and discuss solutions from their perspectives. Finally, there was an “open mike” sort of invitation to the entire condominium community to provide written input, which forum netted 180 formal submissions from various groups having a vested interest in the outcome of any condominium law reform.

The results of this Stage One Review provided a decent overview of the current issues affecting condominium living and development in the Province. Five major heads of interest were identified in the Stage One Review.

Not surprising to those of us who routinely deal with condominiums, board governance was at the top of the list in the Stage One Review summary. The chronic lack of adequate training and support for condominium boards of directors, particularly first-time directors, was noted, with criticism being levied against many boards of directors for their lack of responsiveness, transparency and accountability about almost everything from community rights and responsibilities to the financial state of their condominium. Owners also caught some flak, FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 12

for the apparent lack of engagement in the process and their seeming unwillingness, on whole, to accept greater responsibility for good governance and management of their condominium communities, including chronic and ever decreasing participation in annual general meetings.

More effective and efficient rule and by-law enforcement was repeatedly raised, but so too was the need for better information, access to impartial advice, and reliable, trusted mediation mechanisms that might expedite dispute resolution. The need, in particular, for an independent, authoritative agency or organization to oversee condominium dispute recognition seemed to play prominently in the Stage One Review summary, setting the stage perhaps for some sort of tribunal or other bureaucracy that could serve as a “Condominium Court”.

Again, it came as no surprise to those of us who regularly advise condominium boards, but the adequate capitalization of reserve funds was identified as a hot topic in the Stage One Review summary. No kidding. It has long been a landmine waiting to explode, with many condominium corporations in the province avoiding common expense increases through chronic and ever increasing reserve fund deficiencies. It is almost certain that any condominium law reform will see the rules around the use of operating funds, special assessments, and reserve funds revisited and adjusted with greater emphasis on accessible, timely and reliable financial information for condominium unit owners.

While much of the foregoing will affect unit owners of existing buildings, readers of Building will be particularly impacted by proposals for changes to the documentation relating to the sale of a condominium unit.

These changes include calls for more “plain language” summaries that will more fully explain the key information buyers need to make an informed choice on whether to purchase including: fully transparent financial projec-

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

tions; costs to be included in the first year; and more stringent criteria for any exceptions or exemptions from such onerous full disclosure, all to ensure that consumers can make a more informed decision.

Another key topic affecting condominium living today seems to be the dearth of truly qualified property managers with condominium wherewithal. The Stage One Review summary identifies the need for higher standards of skills and training for managers and management firms.

This call for greater management skills will almost certainly involve regulation of the management industry by government or some organization acting on its behalf, and we in the business already see the mobilization and organization of that end of the industry.

Although the publication of the Stage One Review results was done with a relatively big splash and has garnered a fair bit of mainstream press, it is what the government seems to be doing behind the scenes that makes these authors suspect that the government really is quite serious about implementing substantive condominium law reform in the near future. Marko Djurdjevac, one of the best condominium lawyers in the private sector, and the author of the condominium law volume of the prestigious Halsbury’s Laws of Canada, was recently recruited by the Ministry of Consumer Services specifically to exploit his expertise in downtown2013(halfpage)BLD15.pdf 1 13-03-19to 5:14 condominium law. While it may be premature lookPMat

Jeffrey W. Lem is a partner in the Toronto/ Markham offices of Miller Thomson LLP. Jeffrey is Certified by the Law Society of Upper Canada as a Specialist in Real Estate and can be reached at jlem@ millerthomson.com.

Odysseas Papadimitriou is an Associate at Miller Thomson LLP, specializing in all aspects of condominium law.

Djurdjevac as the next “Condo Czar," the fact alone that the government plucked him from what is arguably the country’s biggest private condominium law practice to chain him to a desk dedicated to amendments to the Condominium Act is pretty telling, if you ask us, about how serious this government really is.

This is, however, a long road. Stage Two of this review process — the drafting of various options and solutions — is now under way, but the condominium law world will largely be oblivious to the behind-the-scenes activity being undertaken as part of this stage. In Stage Three, which will begin in the fall of 2013, these options will be brought to light, and will be reviewed and critiqued by condominium owners and other stakeholders. Only then will they be presented to the government for consideration in any condominium law reform. But even long roads have a beginning, and we seem to already be well down this particular road. b

13

C

M

Y

CM

MY

CY

CMY

K

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 13

13-03-20 2:19 PM

14

Transformation

How Edmonton is setting its sights beyond carbon, and maybe changing the way cities should be built.

By Rhys Phillips FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 14

he rapid evolution of industrialized western cities in the latter half of the 20th century was frequently marked by a bizarre double contradiction. Many urban centres underwent rapid declines with shrinking economies leading to, and in turn caused by, declining populations. At the same time, however, the overall percentage of the urbanized population grew exponentially through the growth of the car-based suburbs.

Ironically, during the same period, urban planning consolidated its position as a legitimate profession but seemingly without the medical profession’s cautionary first principle of “do no harm.” Perhaps the biggest task facing urban planning as a profession currently, therefore, is undoing the damage it has done over the last 50 years.

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

There is, of course, nothing new in this thesis. Already by the 1960s and 70s there was an increasing awareness of the problems the new fractured urbanism was creating and various North America cities were either avoiding some of the most egregious planning mistakes such as building freeways to and through the urban core (Vancouver and later Toronto) or attempting to correct past mistakes by making the core habitable again (Portland). New Urbanism’s emergence in the 1980s attempted to learn from what we liked best about earlier city form. Its biggest impact has been in popularizing the idea that human scale, connectivity and a sense of belonging to a place (if not to a time) should be the prime objective of city building and not some false rationalizing of public and private urban space to the economy of the automobile.

The work of transit oriented development (TOD) theorists such as Peter Calthorpe provides a less romantic corrective typology. But New Urbanism has not dramatically reordered how we structure our cities. Developments that have attempted to take its model to a major scale, such as Denver’s massive Stapleton project, winner of a Stockholm Partnerships for Sustainable Cities award, are changing the urban model somewhat. But their private sector developers have had a hard time radically breaking with problematic tenets of existing models.

This includes permitting a high percentage of single homes too far from services to walk to, as well as big box “power centres” with lots of parking while creating vibrant commercial/cultural urban centres proves difficult. Even the celebrated new urbanism community of Orenco Station in Hillsboro, OR (part of Portland’s metropolitan area), as Taras Grescoe details in his excellent Straphanger: Saving Our Cities and Ourselves from the Automobile, is considerably less successful in pulling people out of their cars than those projects focused on re-establishing the city’s existing core communities and multiple brownfield sites. And, he makes it clear throughout his detailed exploration of public transit in nine cities around the world, only the highest quality of transit service can bring about real change in how a city operates and develops.

The smart growth movement has built on New Urbanism’s critique of the quality of life failures of modern urban planning, but has also been driven by recognition that sprawl has unsustainable public cost implications. And, increasingly, climate change has intensified the focus on both compact, transit-based growth and, with buildings consuming 60 per cent of all energy, on green architecture. As very tall buildings are the least-efficient form of density, according to guidelines prepared by the City of Vancouver, this has generated a divisive debate about urban planners’ propensity to endorse high-rise structures against existing communities’ opposition. Within this elaborate context Edmonton has a bold new vision.

Edmonton Proposes a Qualitative Leap The City of Edmonton’s newly finalized plan for the redevelopment of its all-butretired municipal airport is more than just sensible intensification with good urban design on a major brownfield. This mixed-use, 217-hectare community for 30,000 residents (more than two and a half times the number for Stapleton despite being a smaller site) represents a qualitative, even epochal shift. It is about build-

ing a sustainable urban environment that recognizes that our socio-economic model is itself in a fundamental transition requiring a radical rethinking of our built environment. The plan’s vision is for “Edmontonians living, working and learning in a community that uses 100 per cent renewable energy, is carbon neutral, significantly reduces its ecological footprints and empowers residents to pursue a range of sustainable lifestyle choices.” It also represents a political commitment to providing a demonstration model for not only all future development in Edmonton but also for transforming the existing city over the next half century, says the project’s Executive Director Mark Hall in an interview. Edmonton’s mayor Stephen Mandel, a driving force behind the project, tells me that “from the initial stages, we had a vision for a longterm, innovative, sustainable community, one that could be a model for the way communities could be built, and that has never wavered.”

In some ways, this dynamic idea that the city is an integrated whole of live, work and learn — the opposite of 20th century zoning — is a return to a traditional, even pre-industrial notion of the city. While there are similarities, however, the most forward thinking new ideas about cities are being recast within the context of transformational change, what Jeremy Rifkin calls an emerging (but not guaranteed) third industrial revolution. This change, according to Rifkin, is driven in part by a precarious global economic dynamic that owes more to the end game of a fossil fuel economy than a dysfunctional financial system and will be built on two complimentary technical revolutions. The first is an emerging energy revolution (renewable green energy that is both possible and an imperative) and a communication revolution (laterally integrated digital technology, i.e. the internet). In his view, this will allow a more horizontally distributed economy overcoming current tendencies to centralize which in turn will redefine what viable communities are.

15

building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 15

13-03-20 2:19 PM

16

PARK DISTRICT

AGRIHOOD DISTRICT

Perkins+Will’s conceptual plan for the Blatchford redevelopment include (previous spread) transit and pedestrian oriented streets; (clockwise from top) a new destination park with hill for sliding sports in winter; a boardwalk by the lake; Wop May Plaza, named after a well-known bush pilot, will be a town centre; areas that weave urban agriculture into the

TOWN CENTRE

neighbourhood, called Agrihoods, will give residents an opportunity to grow food.

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 16

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

Defining Objectives, Setting Goals and Laying Down Principles

TECHNOLOGY AND RESEARCH DISTRICT

17

Edmonton’s City Centre Airport opened as Canada’s first licensed airstrip in 1929, just two and a half kilometres northwest of the city core and Alberta’s Legislative Building. While a new international airport opened in 1963, it wasn’t until a successful city referendum in 1995 approved the transfer of all passenger air service to the larger facility that the municipal airport was reduced to handling small aircraft services as well as Medevac flights for the nearby hospital. It took another 13 years, but by mid-2008 Council commenced an intensive planning process that would embrace a radical rethinking about urban form. The process would include undertaking extensive public consultation and initiating a major international two-stage design competition. Completed with remarkable single-mindedness, the final detailed plan for a sustainable 21st century community were delivered, and shovels in the ground for phase one planned for 2014.

Council first initiated a series of non-statutory public hearings in the fall of 2008 on the potential of the airport lands. At the time, reports Hall, the mayor and council were also promoting transformative thinking on all future development throughout the city. “They wanted the airport redevelopment to be a leader, not just in Alberta or Canada but internationally; and, by so doing, demonstrate just how the city as a whole should evolve.” What followed the public hearings were reports on possibilities that formed the basis of an approved “roadmap” for next steps. An ambitious collaborative public consultation to secure public buy-in was developed by Ottawa-based Dialogue Partners Inc. with the results reported to Council in June 2009.

By March 2010, the city had approved its Master Plan Principles for the airport lands (now renamed Blatchford, after Kenneth Blatchford, who served as Edmonton’s Mayor from 1924 to 1926). This document, whose opening Vision on sustainability takes its lead explicitly from the United Nations Brundtland Report of 1987, parallels Copenhagen’s “three sustainabilities” feature with its commitment to innovation in environmental practices, social experimentation and compatible economic opportunities.

Going International Edmonton made a bold decision that separates its approach from many similar North American projects — the city is the developer, a point Hall reiterated several times during our interview. Therefore, it has resolutely maintained the role of defining in detail what the new community will be like. But similar to Helsinki, which frequently plays the same role, Edmonton will work with both small and large developers to realize individual projects, all the while directed by clear design guidelines and within the context of city built infrastructure. According to the mayor, this unusual public retention of control arises from the site’s special set of circumstances. “We own the land and have a very specific vision for this land, which would be difficult for the development industry to sustain,” he explains, and is determined that it will be a convincing model for future growth. “We can show developers there is value in creativity.”

The question then became, says Hall, “Who did we really want to design this cutting edge sustainable plan. Who in the world would be best at this?” In answer, the building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 17

13-03-20 2:19 PM

18

city issued an international RFQ for plan development proposals, not, as is often the case in Canada, from developers but from design firms. The requirement was “to create a master plan to redevelop the Edmonton City Centre Airport lands into an environmentally sustainable, transit-oriented, mixed-use development for approximately 30,000 residents.” From 33 submissions received, five international design firms with strong green credentials were shortlisted. City officials had visited leading European projects including two Swedish projects, Västra Hamnen in Malmö and Hammarby Sjöstad in Stockholm. So it was perhaps not a surprise that the list included the cutting edge Stockholm firm of Sweco International AB; Foster & Partners of London, designers of the zero-carbon-city of Masdar in Dubai; the edgy modernist Rotterdam firm, KCAP

‘‘We own the land and have a very specific vision for this land, which would be difficult for the development industry to sustain.’’

— Mayor Stephen Mandel

Architects & Planners; BNIM from Kansas City, who included the rising Norwegian firm Snøhetta; and the Vancouver branch of Perkins + Will, led by Peter Busby, arguably Canada’s most celebrated green architect with a deep award-winning design record.

“The competition was very visionary,” says Joyce Drohan, an architect and Director of Urban Design in Perkins + Will’s Vancouver office. “It was the kind of bold step seldom used in Canada on this scale.” The city, she continues, brought all five short listed firms together as part of an interactive public symposium, a very dynamic interchange in which competitors sometimes found themselves revealing tentative ideas and approaches.

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 18

Perkins + Will’s Master Plan In June 2010, council selected Perkins + Will, whose plan applied all seven of the inter-related Principles contained in the Master Plan. First, the city wanted planning and design that would be exemplary place making with architecture, landscape architecture and land use planning consistent with sustainability and family inclusiveness. Second, it wanted an ecological footprint that went beyond other exemplarily international examples. Consistent with this, its third principle demanded a holistic approach to infrastructure that would support sustainability while the sixth mandated a design that could accommodate new technologies for sustainable solutions. Principle four mandated family housing but in low- to medium-rise buildings that would support an active street life, mixed uses and contains 20 per cent affordable units. A high proportion of green space or “outdoor amenities” was the fifth principle while the sixth called for recognition of the site’s rich aviation history, including “repurposing” the airfield’s hangers and stand-alone flight tower.

What followed, says Drohan, was more very intensive yet revealing public consultation that included one-on-one sessions with over 90 business and community groups including small and large developers. “Participants, who included a large number of vibrant younger people, brought seriousness to the series of three day workshops and both a commitment to and understanding of sustainability.” There was a desire to reinstate walkability, an earlier attribute of Edmonton that had been eroded, as well as to create communities that included integrated social and market housing. Urban agriculture emerged as a powerful marker in a city known for avid gardeners despite its short growing season. The highly respected Edmonton architect Barry Johns brought an intimate knowledge of the city’s sense of place and the design imperatives of a winter city to the design team, says Drohan.

The redevelopment plan that emerged in May 2012 (a final detailed blueprint was released in February 2013 with final council approval happening later this year) is a remarkably holistic vision of appropriate urban design in the 21st century. In sum, Blatchford is laid out as a ‘V’ following, and thus making permanent, a trace memory of the airport’s two runways. In the centre is a huge green space, the Park District, dominated by a lake that will collect all water run-off from the site. A hill at the top of the V offers a missing vertical from the flat site.

The lake-and-hill, says Drohan, represents a “kettle and nob,” the characteristic combination of bowl and hump created by glaciers scraping across the prairie topography. Not incidentally, it will provide a striking panoramic view toward the nearby city core while accommodating winter sliding sports. The park will also restore the native eco-environment and link into the city’s existing multi-use trail system connecting into Edmonton’s river valley, North America’s longest interconnected urban park.

The project is anchored at its apex by the Town Centre, intended as a busy commercial hub, shopping area and cultural focus, all with “iconic architecture.” But the centre will also have a high residential density of 190 units per hectare and embrace a mixed-use “high street.” From a new Town Centre station, the extended LRT will follow the old east runway through a Technology and Research District.

Despite its name, the linked communities along this line will also include 22 hectares of low- to medium-rise residential buildings grouped as neighbourhoods within a five minute walk of the three planned light rail stations. The stations will provide a focus for pedestrian-active, mixed-use and community-based “nodes.”

A series of semi-naturalized green corridors or “riles” with small streams running to the lake, will intersect these nodes, provide access trails and ecological corridors to the Park District and handle storm water run-off. Parallel to the LRT, building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

19

on the edge of the old runway, will be a relatively hard edge to the lake, developed as a series of public “outdoor rooms” placed along — if the drawings are any indication — a stunning lakeside promenade.

Others not living in these two districts can select to reside in the slightly less dense Agrihood District stretching along the old west runway. With 125 units per hectare on the 34 hectare site, row houses as well as low- and mid-rise European-style perimeter blocks will be grouped together into mixed-use neighbourhoods. Hall is adamant there will be no detached houses in Blatchford; but abundant family-oriented apartments with three to five bedrooms will be required. Staggered blocks and windows that break the dominant winds are but one tactic to help tame the northern city’s harsh climate. From a softer edged lakeshore, a series of “furrows” that are much wider than the riles on the eastern side will cut through the district to define the neighbourhoods as well as provide over 600 community garden spots. Along the old runway a five-station, bus-based transit system will link into the LRT stop in the Town Centre.

Like all the proposed districts, the Agrihood communities will be carefully connected into the five surrounding suburban communities.

The bones of the Airport, including runways, hangars and tower, will be embedded into the plan, with the two runways becoming the structuring axes or ‘twin backbones’ of the site, and buildings will become focal points for the open spaces they occupy.

A Cutting Edge City Economy Both the Town Centre and the eastern district are also intended to provide important business, employment and education components with one million square feet focused on information technology businesses. In addition, the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT), Canada’s largest polytechnic institution, sits on the Town Centre’s edge with plans to expand into the new

technology district. “There are major synergies to be exploited,” predicts Hall, including not only collaborating with the building and technical trades to explore and develop green energy and housing but also working with the college’s academic faculties, including business studies and healthcare. With the huge Royal Alexandra Hospital nearby, he sees significant opportunities to develop health related employment in sync with NAIT’s medical oriented programming.

“We believe that government needs philosophically to lead the way but never forget that the driving force in our economy is free enterprise which leads to profit,” says Mandel. “Blatchford [however] will be a mix of partnerships: from NAIT, our technical institute looking to expand on the site and its complementary desire to look at sustainable development; the City of Edmonton, who sees this as a model; and the private sector who will play a major role in building the various components.” When completed, approximately 12,000 new jobs are expected in the community. Hall waxes elegantly on “a confluence of opportunities that will see many of those employed in the new

building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 19

13-03-20 2:19 PM

20

creative jobs living with their families close to their work, enjoying a lifestyle built on work/life balance with an engaged population, cultural amenities, public art and public gathering places all wrapped around a huge park.”

Sustainability: Beyond Best Practices

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 20

At the very heart of the plan is a major new destination park, inside of which will be Festival Hill, created by excavating the ponds and building sites. It creates a grand vista towards downtown Edmonton, in addition to a toboggan hill overlooking the skater’s pond in winter.

rent technology), being a net exporter of carbon neutral energy.

Key to this is construction of a five kilometre deep geothermal well to “mine” the 160 degree Celsius temperatures available at that depth. The heat energy produced will be used for a district heating system while an organic rankine cycle generator will produce 5 MWe of power plus 7,268 GWh over 20 years of heat for “export” outside Blatchford. The well will be combined with a biomass facility using dry sludge, lowgrade waste wood including short rotation coppice (SRC) and sawdust from the city’s Clover Bar facility. It will export 500 GWh over 20 years of carbon neutral electricity to the city grid. Combined, these two operations are projected to reduce carbon emissions by 1.3 million tonnes over the next two decades. Along with research and development emanating from its educational partners, solar, wind, building-generated energy and other technologies will be researched, integrated and studied, perhaps even emerging as state-of-theart technology to be marketed to others.

Stay the Course There is potential for many “a slip twixt lip and cup” with a project of this size and length of implementation. The program and its ambitions are high while Perkins + Will’s detailed and very seductive renderings have set a standard seldom seen in such master plans in North America. Hall believes clear design guidelines enforced by contracts and a dedicated design panel, as well as the early engagement of the design industry already underway will carry the day. Mayor Mandel knows the difficulties. “There is a dream and there is a cost of that dream. As government, we need to deal with the realities of what the dream will cost [but] we can't, and won't, lose sight of the vision.” Cognizant of taxpayers, he points out that the site has been generating almost no tax dollars, a circumstance that will change. “[Development] will upgrade values and opportunities…which will create a further tax source for the City. So in the end, we believe that this vision is attainable.” Drohan believes a key is the planned early focus on amenities such as the park to quickly establish “a place with appeal and get people excited about the architecture.”

Edmonton may be the gateway in so many ways to Alberta’s northern oil sands but it seems intent, while its economy remains strong, to prepare for a new reality, perhaps that predicted “third industrial revolution.” b

Images courtesy of the City of Edmonton

Blatchford will be defined in good measure by its success as a sustainable community that goes beyond simply reducing energy consumption in a city whose carbon emissions in tonnes of CO2 per person is 24 compared to three for Stockholm. To reach the plan’s carbon neutral objectives, Blatchford starts as a high density live/work/learn transit oriented community designed for walking and biking to a full range of centralized and distributed amenities.

All water run-off is handled on site including extensive naturalized recycling of brown water that in turn will be used for toilets, skating ponds and garden hydration. Through the lake and riles, water will help animate an extensive network of parks and natural ecological zones that will allow the dense community to “breath,” both literally and psychologically.

An underground vacuum tube system will collect garbage, thus removing CO2 producing garbage trucks from roads while allowing narrower streets (which are kept short to mitigate prevailing winds). “Scrubbed” sewage gas from Edmonton’s Gold Bar waste plant will be used for cooking on site and also possibly for green gas fuelled vehicles. Detailed architectural guidelines will both ensure aesthetic design excellence while also requiring that all buildings meet the carbon-neutral standard.

Hall indicates that rather than rely on LEED certification, the city will set stringent energy results-based requirements for developers.

But Blatchford is looking beyond such sensible and innovative energy solutions toward an objective of being first, carbon neutral and second (as Rifkin has argued is quite within cur-

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

Before any property transaction or site assessment, identify your environmental risks...get ERIS.

Canada’s BEST source of environmental risk information for real estate

Images courtesy of the City of Edmonton

An ERIS Report includes and identifies: • Waste disposal sites • PCB storage sites • Spills • Contaminated sites • Underground tanks • Nearby industrial facilities Information Services include: • Aerial photographs • City Directory Search • Fire Insurance Maps • Property Title Search • Topographic Maps

Visit www.eris.ca Call toll free: 1-888-245-5460 Email: info@eris.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 21

13-03-20 2:19 PM

22

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 22

Rider Nation is alive and well in Saskatchewan, but the home of their beloved team is not. Regina had chosen to address this not only with a new stadium, but is using this opportunity to engage in city building.

By Peter Sobchak

FIRST AND GOAL

F

ootball is one of the toughest professional sports. Yet as resilient and thick-skinned as they have to be, even these gridiron gladiators require proper facilities in which to wage their pigskin wars. Such is the situation facing the City of Regina and the crumbling state of Mosaic Stadium, home of their Canadian Football League Saskatchewan Roughriders. Yet while this is a circumstance facing many Canadian cities — the result of “coasting on our infrastructural capital, when it comes to sports, for a long time,” says Conference Board of Canada chief economist Glen Hodgson — Regina has opted out of Band-Aid solutions like continual patchwork or on-site re-construction, and instead see this as an opportunity to kill several birds with one stone: get a new state-of-the-art facility while catalyzing a much larger urban regeneration plan.

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

Mosaic Stadium was originally built in 1910 and has been modified, renovated and expanded ever since. In January 2008, the Roughriders proposed a concept to Regina that would upgrade elements of the Stadium for $110 million, but further investigation showed that Mosaic needed more than just repairs, and the push was made to focus on building a new stadium. “The current situation is we do not meet codes for things like elevators and escalators and other things to get people out and around the stadium, let alone prepare food. In my view, it is not worth repairing. We need a new one,” says Mike O’Donnell, City of Regina Councillor for Ward 8. “When we build new, that gives us the ability to put in some of the latest features, a chance to give people seating that actually works, a chance to have enclosed concourses and a lobby area that can all generate revenue, a chance to introduce new concessions, improve viewing from the seats, make it expandable within its new footprint, and all kinds of things that are not possible in its current state. Plus improving and expanding it makes it more useable for other events, other than just a single sport.”

While the stadium issue was being probed, ideas for a Taylor Field Neighbourhood began taking shape, and on April 19, 2011 Mayor Pat Fiacco announced the City’s vision for a new stadium that would pair it with community redevelopment. The Regina Revitalization Initiative (RRI) was officially launched a month later.

The new stadium was originally proposed for an underused CP Rail yard between the Warehouse District and downtown Regina. “City had been in discussions with CP Rail about purchasing part of the 33-acre parcel of land at the rail yards — about 17.5 acres in a long strip along Dewdney Avenue — but it was decided that was too narrow to accommodate the needs of a stadium,” says Brent Sjoberg, Deputy City Manager and CFO, City of Regina. “City began looking at Plans B and C: Evraz Place and the land Mosaic is currently on. Both lands are city owned, but Evraz became the dominant favourite, mainly for the synergies created between the stadium and the other facilities in that area.”

On May 4, 2012 it was announced that a new open-air stadium would be built at Evraz Place that will anchor a multi-use sport and entertainment complex by incorporating existing facilities, including the Brandt Centre, the Queensbury Convention Centre, the Credit Union Eventplex soccer facility, the sixpad rink complex Cooperators Centre and the Sportplex.

Why Evraz? “We have the infrastructure of management, infrastructure of booking staff, operational staff, and so on, so we’re not duplicating that service elsewhere in the city.

Also, we can capitalize on incorporating the stadium into our other events, such as the Queen City Exhibition, Western Canada Farm Progress Show, and others, that will add more amenities to the patrons attending those shows,” says Neil Donnelly, VP Events at Evraz Place.

Connecting the stadium better to the downtown and incorporating parking needs are still issues to be worked out, but Evraz became the choice. The site is owned by the City, so there is no cost to purchase land for the stadium (however, in January 2013, the City reached an agreement with Canadian Pacific to purchase nearly five acres of land along the south side of the Evraz property for use as utility easement and for extra parking), and in a straight line, Evraz Place is a 20-minute walk from Victoria Park, but feels further away because there is no direct pedestrian route from downtown. To fix this, a pathway will be built parallel to the railway linking the stadium with downtown. Equally, if not more importantly, relocating the stadium to Evraz Place will free up 20 acres of prime land on the existing Mosaic Stadium site within walking distance of downtown in the North Central community. As part of the Revitalization Initiative, this will be opened up for much needed urban regeneration in the area, and is being planned as a complete neighbourhood with a mix of housing, green spaces and retail and commercial opportunities.

23

THE CAPITAL OF RIDER NATION The 33,000-seat open-air facility, designed by Mott MacDonald with P3A and architectural advisors Pattern Design, is eschewing the standard rectangular stadium shape and instead opting for a sunken “bowl” design that has been used in stadiums and amphitheatres for thousands of years. This will move seats in the new stadium away from end zones and closer to centre field, thereby increasing the number of seats with a full view of the field.

Yet the signature element for the new stadium will undoubtedly be the roof. “The new stadium will be open air, but not the way Mosaic is open air today. This will have a ‘wow’ factor, and be a showcase for this city,” says Roger Brandvold, Board Chair, Saskatchewan Roughriders. Most activities at the stadium will happen between June and November, which is a range of months that on the prairies translates to radically different weather conditions. From winter to summer, the path of the sun changes: low in the winter and high in summer. As such, the roof is being orientated with this in mind to provide the most sunshine in winter and the most shade during sumBUILDING.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 23

13-03-20 2:19 PM

mer. Additionally, the winds in Regina are predominantly in the northwest/southeast axis, and controlling wind can mean a 10°C difference in temperature. Therefore moveable vents will be installed to control air flow through the stadium.

“Wind chill is a big factor here, so if we can offer spectators protection from the elements, particularly wind, with the roof and how the concourse if set, that will really change the game day experience,” says Jim Hopson, president and CEO of the Saskatchewan Roughriders. While technically open air, the roof will incorporate a ‘roof-ready’ design that will provide an option to fully enclose the stadium at a later date.

The Roughriders will be the main tenant in the new stadium, but they won’t be the only tenant. According to data from the City of Regina, in 2010, more than 26 organizations booked a total of 2,121 hours of programming at Mosaic Stadium. With games, practices and other events, the Riders had 157 bookings totalling 1,224 hours. This is 58 per cent of total hours, and 40 per cent of total bookings. Football teams like the Regina Thunder, Regina Riot, and the University of Regina Rams also booked time, Regina High School Athletics booked 114 hours, and Saskatchewan Field Hockey booked 61 hours.

And as we are seeing, soccer is gaining popularity in North America, as represented by the Regina Soccer Association, who booked 210 hours. It is expected that this will be a huge growth area for the new FIFA-sanctioned stadium.

GREEN JERSEYS NEED GREENBACKS Of course, the question of money is never far from a discussion of new sports facilities. The cost of this project is estimated to be $278 million, and on July 14, 2012, the City signed

Previous spread: Mott MacDonald’s concept design for a new 33,000-seat stadium at the southeast corner of Evraz Place, bordering Elphinstone Street on the east and the railway to the south.

Above: The bowl design will increase the number of seats with a full view of the field.

FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 24

Light from the Sun

SUMMER

WINTER

a non-binding memorandum of understanding with the Government of Saskatchewan and the Roughriders that breaks down cost-sharing. In short, the Provincial Government will provide an $80 million grant over the next four years, the City of Regina will contribute $73 million and the Saskatchewan Roughriders $25 million. The Province will also extend a 30 year, $100 million loan to the City of Regina. This loan will be primarily repaid through a facility fee that will be increased from $8 to $12 at Rider games.

Another way to cover long-term costs will be an increase in Regina’s property taxes. Each year for 10 years, property tax in Regina will increase by 0.45 per cent, which roughly works out to an increase of $5-6 per year for the average home. The Riders’ contribution will be generated through naming rights, sponsorships and other sources.

The City plans to pay for the stadium for 30 years after construction wraps up in 2017. Over that time, $200 million is earmarked for maintenance and rehabilitation alone.

Overall, a Design Build Finance (DBF) P3 model has been adopted (like most other major sports complexes across the country), with a group of private partners that includes ZW Project Management and PC Sports as project manager, Deloitte as business and financial advisor, and Mott MacDonald, Pattern Design and P3A (RFQs to select who will build the stadium have yet to go out).

While the dollar figures and cost-sharing structure for such a small market will — and should — raise many eyebrows, several factors cannot be denied: Mosaic is collapsing, and won’t support the team or the fans (literally in the latter case) for much longer. But perhaps more importantly, the sight of thousands of Riders fans roaring in their “sea of green” jerseys, streaming out of the stadium and through the downtown streets before and after games serves as a reminder that football is deeply embedded in Regina’s identity. b

Images courtesy of Mott MacDonald Canada Ltd.

24

building.ca

13-03-20 2:19 PM

25

Ottawa bucks the conventional method of funding a new stadium and its surrounding precinct, and in the process prompts many to question the results.

Images courtesy of Mott MacDonald Canada Ltd.

By Rhys Phillips

I

n 2008, sports economists Dennis Coates and Brad Humphreys observed and reported on a consensus among economists that public investment in major sports facilities makes no economic sense. Yet in the same year, Ottawa’s city council started considering a sole-source bid from Ottawa Sports and Entertainment Group (OSEG) to undertake a major upgrade to the crumbling Lansdowne Park and its equally tired Frank Clair Stadium. Did Ottawa’s council ignore the evidence? Not entirely. The unsolicited proposal turned the standard — if questionable — wisdom of public stadium investment somewhat on its head. Instead of the private sector proponents maintaining “build a stadium for my team and revenue-generating development will follow,” OSEG’s pitch was, “let us realize the site’s rich commercial opportunities and we promise to bring you a CFL team.”

A HAIL MARY DEAL?

building.ca

Caption Ilibus. Cesti in re ditatemqui tempore sed undentia

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 25

13-03-20 2:20 PM

Lansdowne Park is a 16-hectare site tucked into a bend of the UNESCO-recognized Rideau Canal. Located only a few kilometers from Parliament Hill, it was acquired by the Ottawa Agricultural Society in 1868 for what would eventually become the annual Central Canada Exhibition. A combination stadium was added for the CFL Ottawa Rough Riders franchise in 1967 and eventually also became home to the Ottawa 67’s junior hockey team. However the city-owned site steadily deteriorated and in the 1990s many remaining exhibition buildings were demolished, with only sustained public outcry saving the park’s historic Aberdeen and Horticulture buildings. The Rough Riders folded in 1996, as did a short-lived resurrected franchise in 2006. That led to a failed effort to demolish the stadium (for structural reasons part of the south stands were removed) for private development of a high-end residential community.

By 2008, council was back at it, holding public consultations to prepare a design/build RFP for an international development competition. This process, however, was put on hold in October of that year, when OSEG tabled its proposal for a public-private partnership (P3) to rescue the dilapidated site. Not that Lansdowne could be called your typical rundown inner city property. While certainly in dreadful shape, the site is surrounded not only by the canal but also the highend Glebe residential community bordered by Bank Street, the city’s earliest and most successful “urban village” of nonchain specialty stores, galleries, restaurants and boutiques.

In June 2010, a divided council passed the Lansdowne Redevelopment Plan by a vote of 15-9 and ratified the final terms

13

09

01

10

12

02

03 08

04

07 05 11 06

Lansdowne Park 01 Aberdeen Square

05 Great Lawn

10 Heirloom Orchard

02 East Court

06 The Hill

11 Stadium

03 Skating Court

07 The Water Plaza

12 Aberdeen Pavilion

04 Great Porch

08 Children's Garden

13 H orticulture Building

09 Civic Gardens FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 26

of the P3 agreement in October 2012, which covers all or parts of five discrete but interrelated project components.

OSEG is a complex set of sub-partnerships but its key players are sports impresario Jeff Hunt, owner of the Ottawa 67’s, Roger Greenberg of Minto Group, the city’s biggest residential developer (and the successful bidder for Lansdowne’s residential and office tower component) and John Ruddy, president of Trinity Development Group, developer of much of Ottawa’s exploding but barren big box suburban landscape. Trinity will develop the retail component.

THE DEAL – SO FAR AS WE KNOW For the stadium, the city is responsible for the cost but it will be leased to the private partner for $1 a year for at least 50 years, although the CFL and hockey teams have been guaranteed for only five years by OSEG. The two partners are sharing the cost for the underground garage while OSEG is developing approximately one quarter of the site as commercial/retail, again paying the city $1 a year for up to 70 years. The lease includes the fourth element of residential/office including two condo towers and townhouses as well as an office building on Bank Street, all integrated into the retail component. OSEG will undertake the contractor role for all components save the park and has guaranteed a fixed price but with a key caveat. Any cost overruns will be added to OSEG’s share of its equity contribution and will be paid back from the closed revenue “waterfall” with eight per cent interest before the city sees any return.

The financial merits of the P3 for the city are difficult to pin down in part because the City’s media office refused to cooperate with my request for information or to arrange access to knowledgeable officials. It would appear, however (supported in a court affidavit by economics professor and P3 expert John Loxley), that counter to proper P3 practices, no Public Sector Comparator (PSC), P3 Shadow Bid or Value for Money (VfM) studies were developed. Therefore, it is simply impossible to say whether the project could have been done more cheaply as a standard public project, in

Stadium renderings courtesy of Cannon Design

26

building.ca

13-03-20 2:20 PM

Being advertised as a “stadium in a park,” the new Frank Clair Stadium by Cannon Design will provide 22,500 seats for CFL games and professional soccer matches. The highlight will be the wooden veil on the new curved south stands, which will rise gently from

Stadium renderings courtesy of Cannon Design

a landscaped berm.

which case it would be possible to determine if a steep “premium” was paid to have a third shot at a CFL team.

Indeed, while the city’s costs appear to have doubled to over $200 million, there has been no independent assessment of the project’s value for the city except for an early, critical report

by Deloitte. While the mayor has maintained that the project is cost neutral to taxpayers, a September 2012 financial update

by PricewaterhouseCoopers says that in present value terms, 25 per cent of taxes generated by the project will be required to finance city debt charges. Cost neutrality is also based on payments received from a closed, six-level revenue waterfall in which, after a modest fixed “cascade” into a Life Cycle pool, revenues will then “cascade” into the second level Return of Equity Pool. While the contract distributes revenues between the partners, the city actually has no “equity” as defined in this pool. Its contribution of land equity, which some say is significantly undervalued at $20 million, is considered “deemed equity” which is paid back only when the waterfall eventually cascades into the fifth level pool in about two decades. In the words of Ian Lee, MBA Director of the Sprott School of Business at Carleton University, and economist Michael Tiger, the “city provides [the] most money but comes dead last.”

Its success as a sole source arbitrator in the midst of an ongoing open process has been deeply controversial resulting in several court challenges, most notably by the Friends of Lansdowne. Its central legal challenge on the basis of the city’s violation of municipal contracting law as well as misleading information provided to council was dismissed, both by a lower court and on appeal. In part, the decision was based on the judge’s view that courts should take a deferential approach to questioning the wisdom of elected councils. The businesses in the successful Glebe Village see the commercial development as a threat to their viability, and local residents fear the loss of significant stadium parking along with intense residential and commercial development will make an already problematic situation much worse in a tight urban area with very limited transit options.

THE DIAMOND AND THE REST The process, therefore, has created deep rifts in the public — although common to Ottawa, many supporters apply the standard of anything is better than the current eyesore.

There are also those who simply support the return of football and/or the promise of a level-two soccer team. But if urban problems are a risk and the eventual value for money for taxpayers remains at best questionable, what will be the quality of this intensive mixed-use project? Cannon Design’s 24,000-seat stadium upgrade appears strong, in particular the south stands, which promise to be an architectural highlight for the city. Its well-scaled sculpted form, an elegant curving “berm” defined by a skin of wood slats, references the city’s sense of place in the once lumber-dependent Ottawa valley and next to the nearby Eardley Escarpment.

The stadium will offer an iconic site for the 2015 Women’s World Cup of Soccer.

Considerably less encouraging is the banal commercial architecture design. Originally, a relatively finely scaled “village” of good if not cutting edge modernism was presented, the work of local architects Barry J Hobin & Associates and Brisbin Brook Beynon’s Ottawa office. Their plan was subsequently replaced by a much blockier “big box plan” by New York’s Perkins Eastman with designs by suburban retail specialist Petroff Architects of Markham, Ont. Renderings suggest the mostly two-storey buildings will be largely generic big box architecture. To date, all the major tenants are indeed “big box” operations — Whole Foods, Empire Cinema, Sporting Life and an LCBO — along with five chain restaurants not currently in Ottawa. Fortunately, Minto retained Hobin as architect for the condo towers.

Marketing renderings and models suggest they will positively contribute to the city’s slowly emerging collection of sophisticated residential blocks.

Design competitions, however, can also be disappointing.

Vancouver landscape architect Phillips Farevaag Smallenberg won the competition for the large urban park on the canal side, beating out four other rather unexciting short listed submissions. (The public park will be managed by OSEG for a yet undisclosed fee but otherwise has remained outside the P3.) It is a pleasant but rather disappointing mix of tame, formalistic landscaping and open space with its most compelling element, a sweeping bridge across the canal, already jettisoned.

The end result seems to lack the kind of dynamic interplay of hard and soft elements that resonates with its location.

The final urban place-making and financial legacy of this partnership will only emerge over the next couple of decades, including if the project is really cost neutral to taxpayers.

Certainly, what has already been lost is the opportunity — through a collaborative public consultation process coupled with the mobilization of international design talents — to first explore a broad range of creative options and second to reach a consensus on how to make this very complex and important urban site resonate in the 21st century city. b

27

building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 27

13-03-20 2:20 PM

28

QA Rootin’ for the home team

+

Despite all the economic evidence that suggests major new sports facilities are a bad financial investment, cities in Canada are still building them. To figure out how important large-scale sports facilities can — or cannot — be to city building, Peter Sobchak, editor of Building, got on the horn with Max Reim, co-managing partner and founding principal of LiveWorkLearnPlay, an international urban development and advisory firm that has extensive experience in planning and implementing large-scale, mixed-use urban real estate developments. Over the past 25 years, Max has either led or provided lead advice on development, financing, programming, planning, leasing, operations and acquisitions, and the management of over $5 billion dollars of assets.

Max Reim: We are seeing a proliferation of new sports and entertainment complexes that are being built within CBDs of cities. We’ve also seen over the last 30 to 50 years major mistakes, and major lessons learned across the Western world on how to approach these projects that can be either major successes or disasters. Over the past 15 years alone there has been over $14 billion in public and private investment into arenas and stadiums just in the U.S., and there seems to be no letdown in either Canada or the U.S. But doing it right, with an intelligent and overall holistic approach is one of the differentiators between creating an enduring success or long-lasting disaster.

Peter Sobchak: Simply put, when it comes to advising cities on downtown plans that may or may not include a sports facility, what do you believe should be foremost in their minds? What needs to be done to make sure they have lasting value to a city or metropolitan area?

MR: There are many examples (mostly in the U.S. but in Canada too) of sports facilities that have been woven into a waterfront or industrial area or CBD and transformed them. If done right, these sports and entertainment districts — especially FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 28

when it comes to large-scale, heavily populated cities — have been located on the edge of a downtown periphery. They are still part of the CBD, but on the periphery, usually on abandoned or cheap land, such as industrial or rail lines (such as Denver’s LoDo area, or L.A.’s Staples district) that are easily accessible by transit and normal modes of transport. However, many of the stadiums that were built on the “outboard” areas — far from CBD — have become disasters (Montréal’s Big ‘O’, Ottawa’s ScotiaBank Place). Unfortunately there are more examples of this mistake than others that were done right.

PS: Many cities that embark on a major sports venue project are doing it for the same reasons: to capitalize on the qualitative benefits associated with them. But the ones for which the project became a failure, what did they do wrong?

MR: The very first thing is to ask the right questions from the very beginning, which many cities do not do. For example, is this the best way to spend public money, or is this just corporate welfare, investing into already rich owners? Is this really investing in the city and desired outcomes? Do sports districts contribute to the economy, and how do we quantify, measure and communicate those results? How will we ensure — i.e. through process — that these monies are being spent well? These are the questions that need to be answered first. Once you answer those questions you can set the framework for the correct approach.

PS: You mention in your “must-haves” that it is important to have other things that keep people around after an event in a sports facility. Why is that?

MR: Keeping people around after the event often leads to “warm bed” economies, i.e. hotels, who want to tap into that captive audience. This then leads to convention centre development, and other ways the city can leverage the presence

building.ca

13-03-20 2:20 PM

Max Reim of attendees. All served by parking and attached to multimodal transportation. Ideally, this first phase of development will lead to a second phase that includes office, some residential, even education or health care developments, all within the district.

PS: W hat do you think about cities that go on a fishing trip with municipal funding and build a facility in order to attract a major league team? Does it make any sense for a city to build a $200 million facility, like an arena – I’m looking at you, Québec City and Markham – even if they don’t have an NHL team? Or is this just what has to happen to get a project going?

MR: I think a city should have an iron-clad agreement with a major league team in advance of a plan before they spend any public funds. Like any prudent real estate company who has always pre-leased an agreement long in advance (and for many years to come) to anchor their development, Québec City should already have finalized all agreements, programming and business plans for their arena in advance before investing a dime of public funds.

PS: W hen we’re talking about sports facilities in this context, should we separate stadiums from arenas?

They are two different structures with two different revenue generation potentials. I mean, in Canada, how much profitable programming can be put in an open air stadium when it’s not a football or soccer game, versus an enclosed arena? I find stadium building to be a very questionable investment for a city.

MR: In the big picture, the outcome on a city is less dependent on the typology of the concept — arena or stadium — and much more on other aspects, such as location. That said, we are a country of small- to mid-sized cities in terms of populations and economic engines. Other than the obvious ones (Toronto, Vancouver, Montréal), most don’t have the engines to drive outdoor stadiums. There are no examples in Canada of an open air stadium earning more revenue than closed arenas.

But there are examples of facilities that combine their uses to a much more successful business model — think university and professional, such as the Alouettes moving from the Big ‘O’ to McGill University. If the city doesn’t have the necessary programming, is there a university or college that could

benefit from it? Building new outdoor stadiums of any significant size should not be a first step for any city. Look for private investment, for example the Montréal Impact MLS stadium, which was built with private money from the Saputo family.

29

PS: I’m fascinated when cities decide to invest in building major league sports venues, since most of the economic data predicts that they will not make their money back. Why do they do it?

MR: If you only measure economic ROI success from the facility alone, then it is always a losing condition. But if you look at — and can measure — the entire economic and social impacts from a broader development perspective, then sports facilities can very much be part of a successful catalyst plan. Take the Bell Centre in Montréal: at first poo pooed, mostly because of the sweetheart deal the Gillett family got, but now it is one of the most programmed arenas in North America, which is leading to major new developments, such as Tour des Canadiens (the anchor in Cadillac Fairview's multi-phased, multi-year development plan), and others, and probably more development per acre than any other downtown Montréal district. b

Max’s hardened must-haves: Cities need to be very clear and realistic about what their goals, resources and development plans are, both short and long term; Location! Especially if you are a small- to medium-sized city, your mixed-use sports and entertainment district must be fully-stitched into the CBD. Large-scaled cities can plan a larger-scale district on the fringe of the CBD but still needs to be attached to the downtown; Ideally, the entire district should be a safe, fully-holistic master planned mixed-use district, and programming should be that of synergistic uses that maximize an economic output. The facility’s programming should be targeting a minimum of 200–250 nights and days a year of events (be they sporting, cultural or otherwise), with 85 per cent sold-out audiences at every event.

This should be attached to a fully-walkable district of restaurants, entertainment venues, shopping, etc. that can be enjoyed by attendees several hours before, perhaps during, and ideally after an event. You have a captive audience and captive economy, but it is not going to be leveraged if people just come to the venue for the event then leave, only spending their discretionary income within the venue itself; Do NOT bet on the future of the sport(s) and never on the future of the team or the arena/stadium alone. There are no guarantees. Leagues and teams move around all the time.

building.ca

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 29

13-03-20 2:20 PM

30

V I E W -

Dori Segal: Excellence Starts with Independent Thinking and Strong Values

By William J. Ferguson

Teamwork is the hallmark of every successful organization. When backed by strong values and a vision that is genuinely and enthusiastically embraced by the leader, the collective strengths of a talented team are allowed to shine.

Dori Segal, president and CEO of First Capital Realty, believes that success in real estate comes down to a very simple concept: his company likes to buy assets in mainstream markets and then create a broad spectrum of offerings in basic consumer goods and services. To carry out this strategy, he has assembled a team of quality people with expertise in development, acquisitions, redevelopment, and property and asset management. First Capital Realty has grown mostly through acquisitions of income-producing properties, redevelopment of existing assets, and some greenfield development. The company’s focus reflects the belief that execution risk is preferable to market risk. In Segal’s opinion it is often preferable to buy a good tract of land in a premium location with a shopping centre that needs re-positioning, than to purchase a fully leased property in a secondary market. In other words, he believes there is less risk in buying good real estate that may not be in perfect shape, than in buying something in perfect shape that may not be in the most desirable market or location.

Segal’s team is comprised largely of entrepreneurs with significant experience in certain geographic regions. This stems from Segal’s recognition that Canada is a large and culturally diverse country. For example, Brian Kozak, Executive Vice President for Western Canada, joined First Capital in 2004, bringing 15 years of experience to the team from his leadership positions at Canadian Tire and Safeway Canada. Segal has given Kozak a great deal of independence and autonomy, knowing full well that western Canada cannot be run from the headquarters in Toronto. The results have borne out the wisdom of Segal’s thinking.

The same can be said for Gregory Menzies, a 25-year industry veteran who serves as Executive Vice President in charge of Eastern Canada. Segal recognized early on that a company would not be successful if it tried to run a business in Québec and Montréal the same way it would in Toronto because of cultural distinctions. For these reasons, he had to FEBRUARY MARCH 2013

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 30

give Menzies a great deal of independence and count on his ability to bring his banking, retail, and entrepreneurial experiences to every decision in order for First Capital to be competitive and profitable. Results speak for themselves: First Capital currently has 49 properties in Québec totaling nearly six million square feet under management.

First Capital divides the country into three major markets, with strong people at the head of each region. The team that acquires, develops and redevelops is also the group that actually manages the operations. In other words, when an investment decision is made at First Capital, it is vetted within the region by the head of leasing, head of operations, head of communications, head of development, and the senior vice president. Only then does the package go to the investment committee for approval.

The First Capital approach differs from other large real estate companies where acquisitions buys a piece of property, hands it over to the leasing or development department, and then moves on to the next deal. At First Capital there is an accountability factor to a degree that may not exist in many other organizations. In leadership, accountability through the ranks reinforces a William J. Ferguson is results-driven culture. Risks taken are chairman and CEO of evaluated during the process and, after Ferguson Partners Ltd. the fact, against the rewards achieved, and co-chairman and both individually and for the company. co-CEO of FPL Advisory For all his success, Segal recognizGroup. The preceding was es that he only enhances his chances an excerpt from his new for further success by having local exbook Market Discipline, perience run the show at the regional The Competitive level. The focus is on buying quality Advantage: Lessons from real estate for the long term as opCanada's Real Estate posed to going after short-term deals Leaders, published by the in pursuit of high returns. This thinkREALpac. www.realpac.ca ing has allowed First Capital to succeed, even through down cycles. Moreover, the company’s track record has helped Segal to attract some of the best people, because good leaders like to manage good real estate. b

building.ca

13-03-20 2:20 PM

YOUR IDEAS ARE AHEAD OF THE CURVE. OUR SOLUTIONS ARE AHEAD OF THE CODES.

Stay ahead of the curve, choose Owens Corning, Canada’s No.1 insulation products and systems to achieve optimum energy efficiencies that meet or can exceed today’s building codes.

1-800-GET-PINK® or visit owenscorning.ca

70% Lower Global Warming Potential Than Previous Formulation

THE PINK PANTHER™ & © 1964 - 2013 Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc. All Rights Reserved. The colour PINK is a registered trademark of Owens Corning. © 2013 Owens Corning. All Rights Reserved.

73% recycled content is based on the average recycled glass content in all Owens Corning fiberglass batts, rolls and unbonded loosefill insulation manufactured in Canada. SCS certified. GREENGUARD Children & Schools SM Mark is a registered certification mark used under license through the GREENGUARD Environmental Institute. Owens Corning PINK™ insulation is GREENGUARD Certified for indoor air quality, except bonded loosefill products. This product has achieved GREENGUARD Children & Schools Certification and is verified to be formaldehyde free.

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 31

13-03-20 2:20 PM

Your construction site.

No hassles. No worries.

No surprises.

Imagine that‌

At Canam, this is how we operate.

Over the last 50 years we have developed a fast, reliable construction method that adapts to all your commercial, industrial, institutional or multi-residential projects. Whether you are building structures, floors, walls or steel building envelopes, our construction solutions are simple and straightforward. So you don’t get any surprises.

1-877-499-6049 canam-construction.com

BLD Feb-Mar2.indd 32

13-03-20 2:20 PM