subject: Cambie Corridor Redevelopment Gold Rush – Everybody Wants a Piece [print this page] Cambie Corridor Redevelopment Gold Rush Everybody Wants a Piece
City of Vancouver says developers and home owners along the Cambie corridor aredriving costs up therefore they deserve their cut.
Well, it wasn't more thanfiveyears ago when planners and city councillors and contractors were locked in a NIMBY (not in my back yard) battle with localhomeowners. Central to the debate waswhere to potentially locate the contentious CanadaLineskytrain, down the Arbutus or Cambiecorridors. None of the homeowners wanted a Skytrainrunning through their neighbourhood but, as it turns out, the Cambie strip is experiencing a gold rush.
Developers keen to build high density, highrise projects in and around transportation nodes are'assembling' (buying up three of four adjacentsingle familyparcels in preparation for rezoning and development)along the Cambiecorridor. Home owners are asking ridiculously high prices and developers are paying them. This because the profit margins for the developer are nice and fat given the higher and better use of the land after upzoning, build-out and sale.
Not so fast says the City of Vancouver. Having spotted the huge potential profits on the table along the Cambiecorridor redevelopment belt', the City has decided to take a much bigger piece of the pie. Arguing that the higher density projects will increase stress on existing neighbourhood infrastructure, they want more in the form of DCL's or development cost levies. A development cost levy is typically a fee charged by the city at the time of rezoning to pay for street and underground services but also CAC's or community amenity contributions'. These includepublic facilities such as community centres and senior services.
Developers contest that they are being made to carry too much of the burden for public amenities on new developments and that they cannot afford the cities demands based on improved land value. This could also read "It tempers the profit line on our pro-forma".
Click here to read the full story in the Vancouver Sun.
I'll bet there are a lot of Arbutus corridor land owners that are now wondering what might have been.
