Emerald Sky at Kincora

[Stunt66]

Mulitfamilys fine, it's the super low pricepoint thats the big concern. 130k for a 2 bedroom is insanely low. if the builder builds a complex thats more in line with whats out there, it won't just attract the type of crowd that this emerald building attracted

[hurrdurr]

They're fucked either way.

The owners that will actually live there won't be able to afford the special assessments when the reserve fund inevitably runs dry due to shoddy quality and poor management

[mrsingh]

Originally posted by Stunt66
Mulitfamilys fine, it's the super low pricepoint thats the big concern. 130k for a 2 bedroom is insanely low. if the builder builds a complex thats more in line with whats out there, it won't just attract the type of crowd that this emerald building attracted

I agree with Kloubek and Stunt66 here. I also live in Kincora, on our street all the houses range between $500 - $650k. I have no problem with multi-family homes coming in as it was always zoned that way, but with the low entry price point I have been concerned about what happens to both our property values and the crime rate.

We have already had a rash of car break-ins in the area and I am worried that with investors buying homes at this price point just to rent them out would further add to this problem.

[avow]

Originally posted by Ryan Shawcross
Financing has fallen apart, this thing won't get built.

Where did you get this from? I just heard a new ad campaign roll out on the radio today.

[avow]

They have begun digging a hole*** and finalizing paperwork. ETA for completion is summer of 2013. The plan has been modified shrinking the condo buildings and adding town houses along the main road.

Also they have announced Encore in Kincora which is phase two across the street. It will be 1 building with 98 units it looks like.

Edit 9/20/2012: Well that was a lie from the sales people to get the remainder of the deposit.

[avow]

E-mail

MESSAGE TO EMERALD SKY CUSTOMERS

The purpose of this message is to provide you with a current update as to the status of Emerald Sky. Over the past few months we have worked with the Planning Department at the City of Calgary (the “Planning Department”) in an attempt to have the development application for Emerald Sky processed and approved. The Emerald Sky site is in a location designed as a Transit Oriented District (“TOD”), which among other things requires greater density than sites not designated as TOD sites. The Emerald Sky site is zoned as an M2 site, which allows for the construction of multi-family apartment style homes.

It became apparent very early in our meetings with the Planning Department that they were going to insist on exercising a great deal of discretionary control over the development of this site. There were even comments to the effect that the site had not been zoned appropriately when it was created, at which point we elicited the support of the land developer that created much of the Kincora community, which the Planning Department zoned when the community was created.

During our discussions with the Planning Department, they presented a number of ideas that they had for the site, and instead of debating at length over these issues, we simply conceded to many of them, rather than suffer additional delays, or had our professional consultants explain why the requests did not make sense or were not physically possible, in some cases. We thought we had reached an agreement with the Planning Department, but additional requests to change the design of the site were made, and we could not agree with the significant additional changes that were being requested.

While we negotiated in good faith with the Planning Department for several months, at the end of the day they have a great deal of discretion, much more than any other jurisdiction in which we do business, and this is an issue that our industry is addressing, as this discretionary power has resulted in adding significant cost to the construction of homes in Calgary. Rather than continue on with fruitless discussions with the Planning Department, we asked them to issue a “denial” of our development application. This would provide us with the opportunity to have our development application reviewed by the Calgary Planning Commission (“CPC”), a body independent of the Planning Department. This was not a decision that we made lightly as this process and these delays have cost us thousands of dollars, in addition to the several million that we have already invested in this project. While these delays have had a significant economic impact on us, we also appreciate that they may have caused our customers a great deal of inconvenience.

Our file was scheduled to be heard at CPC on September 13, 2012. On September 13, 2012 we were advised that CPC would table our application until their October 11, 2012 meeting, to allow them more time to review the comments made by the Planning Department, and our rebuttal of same.

Over the years we have developed 100’s of sites and 1000’s of units, and we have the development expertise to know what works best on a particular site. We did not take the design of this unique location lightly, and our consultants did a great deal of research, modeling and analysis to design a project that addressed all of the unique characteristics of this wonderful site.

Today consumers are very well informed. They know what they want, and they seek it out. This project has been very well received by consumers, and they have endorsed the product, and the site, by quickly buying the units as soon as we release them. We take a great deal of pride in the overwhelming acceptance of our products by the buying public.

We apologize for not corresponding with you earlier, but with so much uncertainty created by the Planning Department, we wanted to wait until the CPC issued their decision on September, 13, 2012, which would have allowed us to convey a message to you that would specifically advise of the status of the project, and the uncertainty would be removed. With the CPC tabling our application until October 11, 2012, we simply did not want to delay communicating with you for another month. We hope to be successful at CPC, and that our development application will be approved. If our development application is approved, we have a team of senior construction personnel that will begin an accelerated construction schedule, and all three buildings will be built almost simultaneously, and we hope to recover some of the time that we have lost.

While it is unfortunate that developers must go through these ordeals to get projects approved in the City of Calgary, until the system is changed, and the discretionary power of individual planners is removed, or at least decreased, this process is a fact of life and will continue to add cost to home ownership for Calgarians.

We take a great deal of pride in delivering value to our customers, and our staff works tirelessly to achieve this. We sincerely apologize for the delays in our Emerald Sky project, despite the work of many staff members and external consultants, the delays were beyond our control.

You should take comfort in knowing that the decision to purchase a home at Emerald Sky was a sound economic decision, and the economics of your decision have only improved over the last few months.

We would respectively request that you be patient for a few more days. As soon as we have a decision from CPC we will communicate with you, and hopefully we will have good news to share with you at that time.

Randy Klapstein
Chief Executive Officer, Carlisle Group

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Finally, an update.

[avow]

New message, we are getting refunds.

In September we communicated with you to advise you that we were having difficulty getting approval from the City of Calgary Planning Department (“Calgary Planning”) for our Emerald Sky project, and in that same communication we advised you that we would be taking our development application to the next level – the Calgary Planning Commission (“CPC”).

Our application was heard at the CPC session on October 11, 2012, and the outcome was very discouraging, and not what we expected. Normally an application is either approved, or denied at CPC, however, CPC choose to refer our application back to Calgary Planning (where it has already been for the last 8 months), and CPC recommended that we work with Calgary Planning to move all of the surface parking for the residents underground, build townhomes along 37th Ave., and remove bedrooms that do not have a window, and they gave Calgary Planning three months to deal with these issues.

This direction from CPC is particularly disturbing for the following reasons:

1. Almost every suburban condominium development has surfacing parking. Moving the entire resident parking underground increases the cost of each unit by approximately $20,000 to $30,000.

2. Had CPC read the Geo-technical report prepared by our consulting engineer, they would had seen that the report recommended that we not build into the slope on 37th Ave., as it would create an unstable situation, and that was taken into consideration when the site was designed by our various professional consultants and engineers.

3. As to the window issue, Ald. Lowe brought this up at the September Council meeting, and at that time the Calgary Law Department advised Council that this was provided for in the Alberta Building Code, and that Council did not have the authority to overrule the Alberta Building Code. CPC obviously choose to ignore the advice of their own Law Department.

Our lawyers are currently reviewing the decision of CPC with a view to expedite an appeal to the Subdivision and Development Appeal Board ( the “SDAB”), an impartial body, independent of the City of Calgary. While we hope to be able to get before the SDAB in November, at this time we have no assurance of that.

We sincerely apologize for the delays concerning this project, and the delays are solely as a result of the current dire state of affairs at the City of Calgary, as it relates to the approval of developments. We have worked on getting this project approved for approximately 10 months, and have incurred unnecessary significant cost simply trying to accomplish this. By way of contrast, we routinely have development permits approved in Edmonton in 8-12 weeks. One has to wonder how two major cities in the same province can be so different.

In the next few days you will be receiving a Cancellation Agreement for your Emerald Sky unit. Upon the execution and return of this Cancellation Agreement to us, our lawyers will provide you with a full refund of your deposits, which they are holding in trust on your behalf.

This was a very difficult and disturbing decision for us to arrive at as it effects over 250 families, but we cannot in good conscience ask that you wait any longer in limbo for the City of Calgary to approve this project. We will continue to work towards an approval for Emerald Sky, but at this time, we do not know what the final design will look like or if it will even be economical after the City finishes redesigning our site. The current planning approval in Calgary adds thousands of dollars to the cost of home ownership, and makes it unaffordable for many. We have sold thousands of units in the last two years, we know what our customers want, and we deliver it.

Again, we want to apologize for our failure to get this project approved, but rest assured that our staff worked tirelessly to do so, and we engaged one of the best planning lawyers in Calgary to assist us. We did everything that we could to get this project approved, and spared no cost, as this approval became a point of principle for us.

Over the next few days we will be preparing a letter to the City of Calgary addressing our concerns with the planning process in Calgary, and out of respect for our Emerald Sky customers, we will provide you with a copy of that correspondence.


Randy Klapstein
Chief Executive Officer, Carlisle Group

[UndrgroundRider]

I sympathize with the Beyonders that had their money tied up in this, but I do agree with the City. The parking situation needed to be addressed, it's already bad in this area. And bedrooms without windows? Seriously?

[Twin_Cam_Turbo]

Fuck, looks like I'll buy a better car with my refund and savings then :P

[Seth1968]

Originally posted by UndrgroundRider
And bedrooms without windows? Seriously?

Most builders would call it a closet.