Feature Article

THE RENEWAL OF THE RESIDENTIAL HEART OF THE CITY

Written By: Lawrence Herzog
Published By: Real Estate Weekly
Article © Copyright Lawrence Herzog
2006-08-10

There's a new spirit of optimism in the heart of the city as rejuvenation makes it a great place to live, work and play. The communities that radiate out from the spot Edmonton was born and grew from "a fur trading post on the Saskatchewan" more than a century ago are basking in renewal and growth.

Building permits issued in the core of the city are on the increase, housing prices are rebounding and, as the population ages, more people are returning from the suburbs to the heart of the city. They are drawn here by easy access to services, transportation, affordable property values and a tight knit sense of community.

That sense of community has endured since the very beginning. In its early days, the river was the roadway. It brought fur traders and settlers; it was the connection to the outside world. Many of those settlers put down roots near the water and the river valley communities of Rossdale, Cloverdale and Riverdale were born.

Rossdale, named after pioneer Donald Ross, took its first steps about 1876, when the Ross farm was established. Cloverdale began in the 1880s with the establishment of two farms and was originally known as Gallagher Flats, after landowner Cornelius Gallagher who was ran Gallagher-Hull Meat Packing Company and who later became mayor of Edmonton.

Riverdale was originally called Fraser's Flats, after D.R. Fraser, who purchased land and established a lumber mill here. The mill and a nearby brick yard used coal mined out of cliffs overlooking the community.

More than a hundred years have passed but Riverdale remains distinct from other inner city neighbourhoods through the retention of much of its original character. There has been new development but not so much as to destroy many of the older cottage-like homes, which lend a turn-of-the-century atmosphere to this community by the river.

As Edmonton grew early in the 20th century, it spilled over the banks of the valley and reached north and westward. Oliver was one such settlement. Among its first white residents were the Oblate Missionaries who, in 1898, established Eglise Catholique St. Joachim on what is now 110th Street. Other Catholics followed, Protestants and then people of the Jewish faith.

Today Oliver is one of Edmonton's premier neighbourhoods and among our city's most desired places to live. Intense redevelopment in the 1960s and "70s has turned Oliver into the city's highest density neighbourhood.

Drawn by its rich character of trees and homes, superb proximity to river valley recreation and essential services, the area continues to prosper with new development and rejuvenation and restoration of older properties.

Further north, Prince Rupert boasts a connection to history of a different sort. Wholly contained with the old Hudson's Bay Company land reserve, the neighbourhood was subdivided during the great pre World War I land boom.

It wasn"t many years afterwards that pavement was laid down on Portage Avenue (renamed Kingsway Avenue in honour of the visit of King George VI and the Queen in 1939) and streetcar tracks placed. But Prince Rupert remained largely farmland and a golf course until the oil-driven boom of the late 1940s. Today, the neighbourhood is a place of transition, where young couples with children share tree-lined blocks of houses with older retired folks.

Overall, housing in the central district is considerably more affordable than the city average. In June, detached homes in central Edmonton listed through the Edmonton Real Estate Board sold for an average of $191,675. That's a third less than city-wide average for single family dwellings listed with the Board, which in June reached $298,631.

The economic indicators are solid and the benefits are being felt throughout the district.

Even in Boyle Street and McCauley, two inner city neighbourhoods in the midst of a stunning revitalization. Propelled by an energetic spirit of community involvement, new retail, professional and residential developments are keeping the area on the road to better times.

With myriad ethnic communities, the city's largest transient population and a rough "n tumble reputation, Boyle-McCauley has long confounded city planners. In the early 1980s, before boom went bust, planners figured downtown might push eastward and into the neighbourhood. With grandiose visions of economic fortune dancing in their heads, a $200-million hotel, office and apartment complex was even proposed.

Economic reality set in and, until the city hired a community planner in 1991, Boyle-McCauley languished " a ship without a compass, a captain or a rudder. Yet, the community itself rallied around, certain that a better future needed the stewardship of residents.

The Boyle-McCauley Area Redevelopment Plan (ARP), released in 1994, called for the development of new commercial and residential properties, community parks and other ambitious innovations. Recognized for its extraordinary level of community involvement, the plan was given a national award by the Canadian Institute of Planners.

When all three levels of government plopped $27 million into the infrastructure rehabilitation pot, the area began to bloom like a long-neglected plant given water at long last. New sidewalks, signage, upgraded parks and playgrounds and beautified schools are just some of the good the money has done. But the cumulative impact of the redevelopment plan, the infrastructure money and the community pulling together, has reached much deeper.

There's an energetic spirit of participation and a tremendous sense of ownership here. Few other communities in Edmonton can boast more committed residents and diverse and dynamic entrepreneurship that have played such a profound role in local rejuvenation.

The Avenue of Nations Business Association has helped channel energies and build partnerships. In the Asian shopping district around 97th Street north of 105th Avenue, a healthy number of new projects have opened in the last five years, and more are in development.

It's a vibrant, invigorating place to be, and those who have worked so hard to make it so deserve congratulations and gratitude.