Construction has begun on the first phase of a major Edmonton mixed-use development at 95 Avenue and 87 Street, signalling the start of what could eventually become a community of 1,900 new housing units in Strathearn. 

The initial phase will include 183 purpose-built rental apartments in two six-storey buildings, anchored by a public plaza with neighbourhood retail and improved pedestrian and cycling connections to the River Valley.

The project, a partnership between Rockwell Investments, Canderel, Nearctic Properties and Westlake, is being built directly adjacent to the Strathearn LRT stop, making it one of Edmonton’s first transit-oriented developments of this scale. 

Developers say the location allows residents to reach downtown in minutes while maintaining connections to green spaces, arts programming and local amenities.

“After years of planning and consultation, we are pleased to be underway,” said Jim Stein, vice-president of Rockwell Investments, which has owned and managed the existing Strathearn Heights Apartments for many years. 

10- to 20-year build-out

The project is envisioned as a long-term build-out, with construction over the next 10 to 20 years without displacing existing residents, creating what Stein described as a “community-oriented vision." Rockwell has assembled land in the area over a number of years and now has more than 24 acres. The existing housing includes 505 apartments in 54 buildings.

“It’s a family business. It was started by my grandfather and I actually started working at Strathearn Heights, lived there back in 1980–81,” Stein said.

The project is adjacent to the River Valley Park.

“We’re very long-term players in Edmonton,” Stein said. “Years ago, we realized and started to assemble some adjacent pieces, recognizing that we wanted to redevelop and renew on a gradual basis. Right now, we’ve gone through several iterations of zoning and master planning, because technology changes and conditions change.

“An example is the LRT. The city decided they liked what we had and wanted to route the light rapid transit right by Strathearn, so we actually have a stop. Having the stop at Strathearn completely changed it. It turned our entire site into a transit-oriented development.”

Eventually the site will have 1,900 rental housing units.

“The beauty of this is that we’re starting at the south end, right by the light rapid transit, and we’re able to create the first projects without demolishing any of our existing residences. This is all new housing stock, additional housing choice, without displacement,” Stein explained, adding there will also be a retail component.

Retail planned for development

“Originally, in one of our plans, we thought about creating destination retail and had designated quite a significant area toward retail, because there’s a great need in that area. What we heard from the community was, 'No, we want neighbourhood retail, and we want the focus to be on neighbourhoods.' So our entire focus is on building a community with housing choice so people can start to live there and continue to live there.

"One of the problems in society today is that people can’t stay within their neighbourhoods. When you have housing choice and the support of local bistros, convenience, grocers and all the rest, you can say, 'Wow, I’ve got a walkable community right here, lots of green space, and I can connect to downtown.' That’s our vision.”

Retail will be interspersed strategically to create a hub near the LRT transit plaza. There will be adjacent retail as time goes on.

The build-out period will be dependent on absorption and market conditions. 

“But there’s a lot of positivity around this. We’re already working on the next phases. The vision is to create a community, but this isn’t going to happen in five years. This is a 10- to 20-year rollout, to be honest, while maintaining our existing stock. We’ll generally move from south to north in the development progression," Stein explained.

Bringing in Canderel as a partner

The scope of the development led Rockwell to seek out partners.

“We needed to deepen our bench, so we went through a long process before bringing in Canderel,” Stein said. “They have a lot of expertise in transit-oriented development.”

Ben Rogowski, president and chief investment officer of Montreal-based Canderel, said the development adds much-needed rental housing and strengthens the link between Strathearn, the LRT, the River Valley and downtown Edmonton.

He said Stein has had a relationship with Canderel for many years.

“The partnership is very appealing to us. The comfort that each party gets from working with someone you trust. We've got a situation where each party has its expertise,” Rogowski explained. “It's really a divide-and-conquer approach where we focus on what we're best at, while consulting each other, of course.

"And we're very excited about the project itself, delivering a new product in that area, transit-oriented, something that we think will have strong appeal to eventual residents. Hopefully, this is the first of many buildings that we'll do within this partnership.”

The apartment outlook in Alberta's major cities

Canderel has a positive outlook on both Edmonton and Calgary. 

“Edmonton's been a very strong market. Alberta has the benefit of, between Calgary and Edmonton, still being relatively big cities, but with rents that are more affordable than some other major cities in Canada,” he said. “That gives us comfort in terms of broader appeal.

"Alberta has sort of bucked the trend on the residential real estate side compared to other markets, so there's still lots of positive momentum. And while it seems to have slowed a little in the last six or 12 months, we think it's still a very strong story."

The market also differs from some other major Canadian cities, he said.

"Purposeful rental development has historically been more prominent in Alberta because it's not as much of a condo market as Vancouver, Montreal, or Toronto. So we like the fundamentals.”

Nearctic Properties is a privately owned real estate investment, development and management company based in Edmonton. Nearctic has been a partner in Strathearn Heights Apartments for 40 years.

Westlake is an alternative investment and advisory firm specializing in the acquisition, development and asset management of multifamily rental housing and healthcare real estate in Canada and the United States.