St. Albert-based Landrex Developers has confirmed that Costco is moving to St. Albert as part of a major development that will transform the north end of the city.
In addition to the Costco outlet, which is expected to open this fall, plans for the area call for a large commercial development south of Costco and residential buildings to the east.
Troy Grant, president of Landrex, said Costco itself will consist of a large warehouse store, a gas bar and a liquor store, all of them generating tax revenues.
"So a full Costco deal will happen there, And when you take a look at the site, just the commercial site alone, it brings in a quarter of a billion dollars of assessment," he said, adding the combined commercial developments would probably add a couple hundred thousand dollars or more in tax revenue to the city coffers each year.
Grant said they originally sold the land to another company that wanted to build the Costco. But that company walked away from the deal and it looked as if the store would slip away from the community.
So Landrex decided to enter into a deal with Costco and Cameron Development Corp., an Edmonton-based company, and divide the land between them.
Cameron took over the southern half of the land east of Highway 2, while Costco took the land to the north.
"Throughout the process Landrex really acted as the driver to the whole thing, making sure that Cameron had what they needed and that what they were doing wasn't interfering with what Costco was doing," he said.
"And then another group called Seymour Pacific popped up and they are building a multi-family site there."
Grant said Cameron is known in the region for developing one of Canada's largest retail centres, South Edmonton Common.
That centre contains about 2.3 million square feet of retail space, with tenants ranging from grocery stores and restaurants to clothing, electronics and a multi-screen movie theatre.
Grant said he does not know what kind of big box stores will move to St. Albert but he speculates the site will be similar to South Edmonton Common.
Infrastructure development of the site may finish within two years, with the first businesses moving in by 2014.
"(Cameron Development) are one of the most successful commercial developers in Alberta, if not Western Canada," he said.
"They have a very positive name, a positive brand and they are very professional. They are a great group."
Apartments
Seymour Pacific Developments is bringing in multi-family, apartment-style buildings at affordable market rates east of the commercial sites. At this time, Grant could not say how much the apartments would cost.
Landrex is also in the process of securing building permits for 69 of 81 single-family lots east of the apartment buildings. The homes will be sold at affordable market rates – about $450,000 – with a lot cost of about $150,000.
Housing is defined as affordable if a household spends no more than 30 per cent of its gross income on rental payments, or 32 per cent on home ownership costs.
Paving for the 69 lots could finish in May and Grant hopes the first house will go on the market in September, before the start of the school year. The 12 other lots are now under construction for show homes.
Grant said the city has about 10 affordable lots on the market. St. Albert needed to increase that number to allow people with modest income to live in the community.
"We think that's what the city needs. If the city does not grow and expand and live, if the city can't grow and can't expand, then we can't survive," he said.
"We need to bring something to market and put on the market that the market will bear and people will absorb, so we can continue to develop and build."
Responding to past criticism that industrial developments would offset more of the cities residential taxes than commercial developments, Grant agreed but said Landrex was not building industrial sites.
In competing with the surrounding area, he said a city the size of St. Albert needed to find its niche market for industrial development.
Historically, he said, commercial sites offset residential taxes to the greatest degree.
"If you say, well why are you putting Costco there, why not put a ball-bearing plant there … well, if I put a ball-bearing plant there it has good access to high-speed routes, it has no rail access, it has good water and the utilities access," he said.
"However it's not zoned industrial. We are building what the city has zoned it for."
Grant said Landrex worked through the winter to build roads and to put in power and curbsides. Gas should be in place at the end of the month, with primary road construction expected to finish in May.
Altogether, the Costco site takes up about 15 acres, while the Cameron and Seymour Pacific sites will be about 35 acres in size.
Landrex is further planning to build at least one hotel to the north of Costco. The site will also be the future home to Morinville-based Frontier Honda car dealership.
"We are just really proud of the work that we've done and the small team that we have, to have gotten us to where we are," he said.
"We are proud of the relationships we build with Costco, Cameron and Seymour Pacific. And we are really working hard on developing a positive relationship with the city."
