Dormant Downtown high-rise site at 121 Street and 102 Avenue listed for $4 million

The dormant site of a cancelled 22-storey Downtown apartment project at 121 Street and 102 Avenue in Wîhkwêntôwin has been listed for $4 million this week, according to JLL, the commercial real estate firm handling the listing.

The $34-million project, which was to include about 185 units, underground parking and main-floor retail, was cancelled after delays. Its former contractor abandoned the site, setting the project back further. Excavation and shoring have been completed, and some backfilling was done to stabilize the pit after the summer's record-breaking rain.

Samuel Dean, JLL's executive vice-president of capital markets, said the site remains zoned for a project of that type. "It's a fantastic site and a fantastic community, and it'd be great to see someone develop," Dean said. He added: "I think realistically, somebody will likely rezone for perhaps lower-density multifamily." A future LRT stop is a few minutes away, and a retail hub across the street is performing well.

Coun. Anne Stevenson, whose ward includes the site, said the sale is welcome. Under a property subclass the city created to tax abandoned or derelict commercial properties, the lot does not qualify, because a legal definition of "improvements" to the land is not met. Stevenson said a single layer of poured concrete would have counted. Council colleagues want the subclass expanded, but provincial legislation limits how high the city can set property tax on commercial land, and those properties already sit near that ceiling.