National park community sees investment as brakes eased on hotel, retail regulations
BY DAVE HUSDAL
Banff developers are poised to consume some precious commercial development allotments for projects that have been proposed for years.
"I think it's a good sign in the confidence in the outlook for Banff that the landlords are putting up their own money to reinvest in space," said Darren Enns, senior planner with the Town of Banff.
Earlier this year, the town's planning commission approved a new hotel at Banff Avenue and Moose Street that will boast 172 rooms and suites as well as a restaurant. The project, a roughly 100,000-square-foot redevelopment effort from Banff Caribou Properties, will see the demolition of three small hotel/motel properties with 77 rooms and the construction of one new, larger complex.
Another developer is poised to move ahead on a 28-room expansion/redevelopment project on the Homestead Inn downtown.
As well, landlords are doing renovations to various commercial properties along Banff Avenue.
The activity comes at a time when regulatory changes have given developers more flexibility, though Parks Canada still has to decide whether it will ultimately accept another land-use bylaw change to Banff's federally regulated commercial growth ceiling.
After years of not being able to transfer new commercial development allotments drawn for in a lottery system, Banff developers can now buy and sell allotments, and transfer them from one lot to another.
In the future, they may even be able to bulldoze existing commercial space or convert it to a non-commercial use and then sell the right to rebuild it to another developer.
There won't be more allotments drawn for in the future, unless draw winners don't use or sell allotments within the five-year period following the draw. What may have been Banff's final draw to allocate space took place in March.
The transfer mechanisms approved by Banff council are very much about looking ahead.
"The big-picture goal was always to get ahead of buildout," said Enns.
Another indicator Banff is open for business: council defeated a proposed bylaw earlier this year that would have set limits on what types of "formula businesses" (franchises) could have been added to the Banff mix.
Lease rates remain comparatively high in Banff. Main-floor space along Banff Avenue can still set a tenant back from between $70 and $110 per square foot for prime property, according to assessor Frank Watson of Bow Valley Property Valuators.
from Western Investor October 2013
