A developer with major condo projects across Western Canada and California is not typically expected to build into St. Albert.
But Intergulf-Cidex Group of Companies has now bought land in the city. And while it may not build high-rises here, it is just as serious about getting the ball rolling on development, said company president Abed Itani.
The Calgary-based company has already moved in 18 pieces of equipment to Ville Giroux in the northwest of the city to prepare for construction in early 2015.
“We will move faster than the previous developer. We would like to be in the ground as soon as possible and that’s what we are committing to,” he said.
Ville Giroux is located at the western edge of the city, east of Ray Gibbon Drive with Lacombe Park to the east and North Ridge to the north.
The original concept brought forward by then-owner and developer Genstar was to create a neighbourhood with “French-Colonial detailing.” This included a mix of housing types, as well as a commercial Village Centre, park space and green walkways.
Itani plans to stick to the existing area structure plan (see sidebar) for developing Ville Giroux, he said. He is now working on the concept design for the three to four acre neighbourhood commercial part of the site, he said.
“It takes time to design the concept that will work,” he said.
The first phase of development will take place on the east site of Ville Giroux, where Intergulf-Cidex already started servicing land for two apartment buildings.
Pending the city’s approval of the development permits, both buildings will offer about 75 units ranging from one to three bedrooms, he said.
The commercial site is planned for the northeast corner of the site, near the firehall. Sobey’s also owns a part of the site, he said.
Itani said the west of the city does not have much commercial space once you leave St. Albert Trail. He is now talking to different commercial brokers in the neighbourhood to “see what the community needs.”
“It will be depending on the demand for the community and I believe there is demand in that area for different uses,” he said. “From convenience store to a medical clinic to any type of retail that people need in that area.”
While the majority of the development will house multi-family type development, the existing ASP does plan for some single-family homes in the west of Ville Giroux. That site will be developed last, said Itani.
Most of the multi-family development will consist of townhomes and apartment buildings, offering between 750 to 800 units. Intergulf-Cidex has not decided whether to rent or sell the units in the apartment buildings, he said.
“We’ve been looking at the Edmonton and surrounding area for the last three years,” he said. “And we’ve done some due diligence on St. Albert and we really like the community and we really like the administration there and we like the neighbourhood.”
Ville Giroux facts
Based on the 2012 area structure plan (ASP), build-out of Ville Giroux is anticipated to take 10 years.<br />Intergulf-Cidex bought the 22.4-hectare site from Genstar Development Company this year. Genstar still owns land to the south. <br />Based on the existing ASP:<br />• The majority of Ville Giroux (about 47 per cent) is expected to be developed for housing<br />• The size of the commercial development (about 16 per cent) is about five acres in total, divided into one larger parcel on the west side of Versailles Ave. and a smaller parcel on its east side<br />• The rest of the area is divided into parkland, roads, and a storm water management facility<br />• The Sobeys chain of grocery stores owns another part of the land<br />• St. Albert’s third fire station is located in the northeast corner of Ville Giroux
