Developers shun Plateau subdivision

JOHN THOMPSON

The City of Iqaluit will not create the second phase of the Plateau subdivision this year, because large property developers show little or no interest in leasing big, multi-unit lots.

That’s despite a territory-wide housing shortage, and an overwhelming demand for single-family homes in Iqaluit.

“Obviously, we want to be able to build this summer,” said Pat Angnakak, one of the 29 Iqaluit residents who snapped up single-family lots in the new subdivison during a ballot draw in April.

Within 15 minutes, all the single-family lots were gone.

But as for larger rowhouse and eight-plex lots, few property developers showed interest in them, perhaps for fear of getting burned by the Government of Nunavut’s decision to get out of staff housing.

The Plateau’s second phase contains 16 multi-unit lots, a large slice of the subdivison. But the city received only three proposals for them.

Without revenue from those multi-unit lots, the city only has $2.1 million to finance the new subdivision, rather than the $4.6 million that they anticipated.

Presented with only 45 per cent of expected revenue, city council decided to scuttle the project this year, during an in-camera meeting last Tuesday, May 9.

The city’s lands planner, Michele Bertol, said many developers have not built multi-unit lots within the first phase of the Plateau, created last summer. For that reason, they see buying into the second phase as a stretch.

Some developers in town, such as Nunastar, have stayed away from the Plateau entirely until they see how the market reacts to the GN’s decision to get out of staff housing, said Nunastar’s housing manager, Don Sinclaire-Chenier.

The Plateau has been billed as a “sustainable subdivision.” Part of that refers to how some Plateau lots are designated as “R2000,” a tough, and costly, new environmental standard.

Another part of the “sustainable” tag means avoiding urban sprawl.

The multi-unit lots are key to that, Bertol said, which is why the city can’t simply replace them with more single-family homes without abandoning the subdivision’s overall design.

Bertol said the city’s short-term gravel shortage, which could halt all construction this summer, has nothing to do with the decision to put the Plateau on hold.

As for Angnakak, who’s left with title to an empty, undeveloped lot, she said she’s relieved she hasn’t ordered building supplies.

“I wouldn’t do that unless I knew for sure,” she said.

Angnakak, and others who bid for the single-family lots, won’t have to make down payments on lot leases until the city begins to build roads and install electricity and water and sewer lines.

When will that happen? Bertol said that’s up to developers: the city won’t build the second phase until the multi-unit lots are sold.

“We’ll see what’s the demand,” she said.