Katz Group pitches urban village for land north of Rogers Place

A prime piece of mostly vacant land in central Edmonton is destined to get a new lease on life, if the city approves a proposal by the Katz Group to develop it into an urban village.

The Katz Group wants to turn nearly 5.3 hectares of land north of Rogers Place into a mixed-use development called Village at Ice District, consisting of commercial, retail,industrial space and up to2,500 residential units.

The city is reviewing the application, which Stantec submitted on behalf of Katz Group Real Estate in March. The application has been green-lighted by the Edmonton Design Committee.

The plot is in Central McDougall, stretching from 106th Avenue to 105th Avenue andfrom 101st Street to 104th Street.

Warren Champion, vice-president of the Central McDougallCommunity League and long-time resident in the area, is familiar with the proposal and said the development is long overdue.

"It's density done with a plan," hesaid. "It isn't crowding, it's an actual community there and I'm very interested in the interface with the street and the type of architecture that they're going to use."

The proposal includes highrise buildings joined with some mid-rise buildings. A rooftop park and amenity space for people living there is proposed for the space atop the mid-rise, Champion said in an interview with CBC News Thursday.

"The people in the high rise get to look down on it," Championsaid. "It's probably a whole lot closer to Vancouver architecture than Edmonton architecture."

Champion has worked with architects over the years and contributed to the area redevelopment plan for Queen Mary Park and Central McDougall.

The area needs to be rezoned before the company can build. The city is stipulating that the highrises be a maximum height of eight stories near 106th Avenue, and up to 25 stories near Rogers Place on 105th.

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Anne Stevenson, councillor for Ward O-day'min, also wants to see something on the land. Part of the site is a parking lot but the rest is mostly unused.

"It's largely empty at this point, there just is literally nothing there," Stevenson said. "It's pretty desolate."

Stevenson, a former planner with the city, said she looks for three characteristics in a proposed development: density, design and diversity.

The urban village will be a combination of commercial, residential and retail spaces, as well as a park space.

"From a design perspective, from what I've seen, it really is open and well connected to the street. I think [it] will bring a lot of activity and life," Stevenson said.

The village would be adjacent to the MacEwan LRT Station, ticking off another box in the city's vision to develop neighbourhoods near public transit hubs.

Build and they will come

Champion said his only critique of the proposal is thefocus on commercial and retail uses.

"Edmonton has a lot of businesses, literally all downtown," he said. "Do not orient too much to business, orient to people actually living there."

He said the area needs more residents to support the businesses and the urban village should aim to fulfil that.

"An urban village is anything and everything you can mention: culture, education, schools, jobs, you name it," Champion said. "The only thing that's missing are people down there. Everything else is there, so that's what we really need."

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The city is accepting feedback from the public online until April 24.

Andrew McLellan, a planner with the city, said if there aren't drastic changes, the proposal could go to a public hearing this summer or fall.

The Village at Ice is expected to take several years to build out.