Louise Station
360 8 St SW, Calgary, Alberta
Type: New construction
Size: 13,886 sf (fire station), 84,637 sf (Affordable Housing)
Project Cost: $44 million (estimate)
Development Partners:
- City of Calgary
- The LaCaille Group
Status: Opened in 2010
Description
Louise Station is a new firehall and emergency health services facility located inside the podium of a mixed-use building with two 11 and 18-storey residential towers, known as the Solaire Towers. The shorter tower contains 88 units of affordable housing units while the other contains 116 units of market housing units. Additional uses of retail space and office space are also incorporated at within the development.
Land
The City’s expropriation of the corner parcel at the corner of the development site was necessary to gain ownership of the entire block and advance the development plan. The existing site, then occupied by a two-storey home, was acquired at an appraised value of $1.1M.
Subsequently, the LaCaille Group made two land purchases from the City. The first purchase was at a cost of $2.7M for the strata parcel containing the market tower housing. It was one of five strata titles created for the components of the project. The second was a city-owned parcel, 727 1st Avenue, located approximately 750m away from the subject site. It was occupied by an affordable housing tower with significant operational and maintenance challenges. Under the condition that the City would reimburse demolition costs, the LaCaille Group purchased the parcel for $4.5M after the fire station project was fully constructed. Sale proceeds then went back into Program 489, the City’s affordable housing program, to further finance additional project costs or to fund other projects.
User Interaction/Partnership Framework
The public-private partnership emerged out of several years of roundtables hosted by the Mayor to address affordable housing. Out of this initiative, the LaCaille Group submitted a proposal to the City in 2006 calling for a partnership to redevelop a city-owned site. In return for the opportunity to build market housing on the subject site and the acquisition of City-owned land at another location, the LaCaille Group provided a new firehall, emergency health station and 88 units of affordable housing. The affordable housing component was intended to replace and provide a net gain of units located at the site that was acquired by the LaCaille Group. Council approved the Louise Station Comprehensive Development on July 17, 2007.
Costs / Funding
Funds to pay for the construction of project components came from existing municipal programs. The land acquisition cost of $1.1M and construction cost of $12.6M to build the new Fire Hall and Alberta Emergency Health Station were covered by the Fire Program, Program 041. $16.5M from Program 489, $12M from the Provincial Affordable Housing Funding, and $4.5M from Corporate Housing Capital Reserve were secured for construction costs of the affordable housing component. Sale proceeds of the strata parcel of $2.7M that were transferred to Program 489 were also used to offset further project costs.
Questions?
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