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A quiet STIR project

June 17th, 2010 · 11 Comments

While the STIR projects in the West End have been getting a lot of publicity, STIR (Short Term Incentives for Rental) have been quietly making their way through city hall for other neighbourhoods.

When I was at the Marine Gateway urban design panel hearing, this project at 1418 East 41st got a quick approval earlier in the meeting. I also haven’t heard a word about it from that neighbourhood. It is a heavily immigrant neighbourhood, so I acknowledge that could be a reason. But it could also be that it’s a much lower building. It’s still quite different from the small single-family houses on the rest of the block — but not a tower.

The problem, I suspect, with trying to build something this size in the West End is that when you’re paying $3 or $4 million for the land, I doubt that the 47 rental apartments here, even with some bonus density, will pay the costs.

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