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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
The city of Yellowknife is eyeing its recent $975,000 purchase of three 50 Street properties as a potential site for a future eco-housing project.

The city acquired the Corner Mart building and accompanying parking lot for $585,000 on Jan. 19, according to land registry records.

The Instaloan property next door was purchased for $390,000 on Jan. 4. All three lots were sold to the city for a relative bargain, considering that the last purchase price for Corner Mart and the parking lot was $820,000 in 1991 and 1992. The Instaloan property, meanwhile, was last listed for $530,000.

The money for the purchases comes from the city's land fund. Mayor Gord Van Tighem said he is not sure how much money is left in the fund, which gets its money from city land sales.

He called the purchases are a significant step toward the city's goal of reinvigorating the downtown core, particularly around the recently purchased properties on "Range Street," as this portion of 50 Street is popularly known.

"There has been a strong pressure within the community that downtown redevelopment should work toward rejuvenating some of the areas that are getting older and reaching the end of their life cycle," he said.

"This is not something a private investor would invest in because they would wait a little longer so the price might be reduced, although they were picked up at a pretty good price compared to other listings downtown."

Van Tighem said the city is currently collecting rent from the current occupants of the buildings until a contractor from the private sector can be found to go ahead with designing a concept plan, which may include the city's proposed "eco-housing" project, where the city would build a 24-unit multi-family, low-cost condominium building and then sell individual units to people who would otherwise have difficulties being able to afford buying a home.

"The location hasn't been selected but that would probably be a good one," said Van Tighem.

The city obtained $350,000 in CanNor funding in January, which will go toward hiring an architect and engineer to produce a detailed design plan of the eco-housing project. An expressions-of-interest process in January wrapped up today and a request for proposal is yet to be announced, he said. Ultimately the city wants to see 24 multi-family eco-housing dwellings on the lots, however how it will materialize is yet to be determined, said Van Tighem. It could for example, include main-floor retail space with upstairs dwellings, he said.

The mayor says the city wants to ensure there is a "residential component" to downtown revitalization in order to overcome some of the social challenges and "decay" taking place in the area.

During a Smart Growth committee meeting Jan. 11, it was indicated that an eco-housing committee is being formed which will be headed by the mayor and is to partner with developers, real estate companies, the community-at-large, council and city staff.

"Basically we will be looking for a model project that would be state of the art as far as ecological integrity, insulation use, minimizing utility expense and looking toward affordability as well," said Van Tighem.

City councillor Cory Vanthuyne, who sits on the Smart Growth committee, said he was aware of the land purchases last month but said it is premature to tie eco-housing to the 50 Street properties.

"I would not tie the (land purchases) with the purpose of eco-housing as of yet," he said, adding he is leery of the city getting involved in subsidized housing.

Van Tighem said the city's role is to serve as "a catalyst" for the project, hopefully sometime this year.

"The key thing is to identify someone in the private sector who can move forward with the concept when it has been evolved, and then move on with building," he said. "The city isn't in the (building) business."

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