Proposed residential tower near U of A would rise 27 storeys

David Ewasuk has more on a new residential tower proposed for the University of Alberta area.

A residential tower will rise close to the main University of Alberta campus if a proposal by a local developer is approved by the city.

Edmonton-based Westrich Pacific, which is responsible for several recent Edmonton multifamily developments, including downtown’s Encore Tower and Ultima Tower, has plans to build the 27-storey Windsor Heights.

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It’s location: a block west of the campus on 87 Avenue at 117 Street in the Windsor Park neighbourhood, across the street from Lister Centre, the school’s main student residential complex, and from other private multifamily dwellings. The Windsor Heights tower would take the place of a strip that houses a convenience store, bank, restaurant and hair salon, and two neighbouring houses.

Westrich Pacific hopes to present its proposal for the site to city council this spring. Windsor Heights would hold 285 one-, two- and three-bedroom units, 250 underground parking stalls (and 18 above ground) and up to 24,000 square feet of retail space.

Ian O’Donnell, Westrich Pacific’s development manager, said the development, like its other projects, are marketed to “a wide spectrum of individuals, whether you’re going to school or working a good variety of budgets and good variety of needs.”

He said Westrich Pacific is gearing its local multifamily projects in response to recently implemented Edmonton’s City Plan, which encourages high density and taller buildings in areas “that are well-served by transit, that are walkable to places like the university and nodes of employment like the University Hospital.”

“We’re very hopeful that we’re bringing something really architecturally significant to a beautiful neighbourhood and help complement the neighbourhood to provide a variety of housing options as people move through their life and require different stages of housing,” O’Donnell told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday.

Michael Janz, who represents the Windsor Park neighbourhood as city councillor for Ward papastew, said Thursday he has heard both support and resistance for the project, but that this kind of development offers several “benefits that come when you add density close to centers of employment.”

“As the U of A has grown, there’s been a need for a lot more housing, not just for students, but for staff, for families, for doctors, for hospital staff, for nurses,” Janz told CTV News Edmonton on Thursday, adding that any time there’s a proposal to build such a tower, it’s “controversial.”

“I certainly heard an animated response from some of the neighbours,” he said. “At the same time, I’ve heard an equally eager response to have more housing choices around the University of Alberta, especially in an area like this, where you’re in eyesight of two transit stations, a major transit hub, you can walk to work.”

Windsor Park resident Ivy Neuhaus said parking is one of her concerns about the proposed development.

“Where are all these people going to park? They’ve only got so much parking within the building that they’re in,” Neuhaus told CTV News Edmonton, adding she thinks there are “other places they could be building that would be better suited for an increase of population.”

“They’re building all over the place here, and they’re just increasing the population here so much,” she said. “I don’t know that we can support that.”

With files from CTV News Edmonton’s David Ewasuk