By HARLEY RICHARDS
Advocate business editor
Red Deer’s inventory of rental accommodations should soon receive a boost — about 200 apartments’ worth.
The city’s municipal planning commission has approved an application by Laebon Developments Ltd. to develop three multi-family buildings in the southeast corner of the Timberlands subdivision. Each of the three-storey buildings would contain 67 units: 34 with two bedrooms, 29 with one bedroom and four bachelor suites.
One of the buildings would face a designated park/school site to the north across Timothy Drive, while the other two would be built along the west and east sides of the same lot, with a 294-stall parking area in middle.
Few multi-family buildings have been developed specifically for the rental market in Red Deer in recent years, but Laebon president Gord Bontje said outside the commission meeting room that he’s optimistic the demand will be there. He pointed to the renewed in-migration of people, tighter mortgage lending rules that are making it difficult for some to buy a home, and the fact secondary suites are now being regulated more closely.
Bontje said two apartment buildings in Lonsdale that his company built in 2003 and 2009, and which have a combined 159 units, are full.
Councillor Frank Wong welcomed the proposed development.
“It’s good to see that this is a rental project. We haven’t had many of these for years, so this will serve a segment of our residents.”
Other members of the commission were less enthused.
Doug Janssen expressed a number of concerns, including the potential for traffic congestion at the single entrance to the parking area, the fact the apartments will be separated from the park/school area by Timothy Drive, and that families with children tend not to live in apartment buildings.
Larry Thomsen was also troubled that the buildings are unlikely to house many children, despite their proximity to the park/school area.
Darcy Garrett and Mayor Morris Flewwelling, however, pointed out that adults living in the apartment buildings would also appreciate and use the nearby recreational amenities.
“I think it’s important for the city to develop some apartment buildings,” added Garrett.
Two letters of objection were received from nearby property owners, with these citing the size of the proposed development as a concern.
Bontje responded by saying the lot was zoned for medium-density multi-family development, and that if townhouses went in instead they could be just as imposing and actually contain more bedrooms than the three apartment buildings.
In approving the project by a 4-3 vote, the commission also granted a nearly 14 per cent relaxation in the minimum lot area required for a development that size. Deputy development officer Vicki Swainson said the fact the buildings were being developed for rental use, with smaller units, persuaded her department to support the relaxation.
The area to be landscaped would exceed land use bylaw requirements.
Bontje said work on the first building would likely to begin within six weeks, and take about a year to complete.
“As it fills, we’d move on to the second and third buildings.”
He estimated the total cost at $25 million. The property would be owned by a private company in which he would be a major shareholder.
Rents would start at about $700 a month for a bachelor suite, with a two-bedroom unit renting for approximately $1,100. Bontje said the buildings should appeal to older, single people in particular, with their elevators, on-site management and security features attractive to such tenants.
hrichards@www.reddeeradvocate.com