It’s been a long time growing, but a veritable harvest of housing is beginning in Taravista, as Genesis Land Development Corp. begins reaping what it has sowed.

“We spent the first five years building a land bank,” says Arthur Wong, vice-president and chief operating officer.

“We built the company the old-fashioned way: we used equity instead of debt,” he adds. “It’s conservative but safe.”

Genesis, led by company president Gobi Singh, spent about three years reorganizing, including going public on the Toronto Stock Exchange. “It’s only this year in 2001 that we’re showing what we’re capable of doing,” says Wong. It’s like planting a seed and waiting to harvest housing lots, he adds. Genesis now has enough land to keep development growing for five to 10 years.

David Lazarowych, Business Edge
Arthur Wong of Genesis Land Development Corp. says the company relied on equity for growth.

In the course of moving land to market, Genesis raised $66 million in equity over the years to do the development work and pay start-up costs. The company has its own engineering and planning staff.

The grand opening of Taravista is tentatively set for Oct. 13, depending on some city work still under way.

A large water pipeline was needed to serve developments farther north before Falconridge Boulevard N.E. was extended. “In two weeks this should be boulevard,” he says, gesturing to a hive of earthmoving equipment at work.

Falconridge Boulevard is the western boundary of Taravista, which goes as far east as 68th Street N.E. The community is north of Taradale Drive and south of 80th Avenue N.E.

Building a new area south of 80th Avenue N.E. is a plus in Wong’s view. In the south end of the city, avenue numbers have passed 150.

The builders are just getting into the ground in Taravista, but half of what they’re building is pre-sold. More than 260 lots had been taken up by builders by the end of August. (Some lots right on the boulevard can’t be developed due to required clearance from a small gas well.)

There are 111 lots north of the 14-acre lake and 170 to the south. The lake is a storm water pond, currently drained for landscaping. The large sandstone blocks incorporated into the landscape work were good news and bad news for the developer. The sandstone was under the land, and had to be moved out. The upside was that it was available for use in other projects, Wong notes.

He says Genesis plans to retain a couple of large commercially zoned tracts in its neighbourhoods and develop them on a joint-venture basis. That will give the company an ongoing cash stream from commercial property rents.

Genesis is also the developer behind the Canals of Airdrie subdivision, situated along 640 acres on a five-kilometre canal in Airdrie, including a commercial site. All available lots in Phase 2 have been taken up by builders.

Genesis has also just announced development of Bayside, a few kilometres south of the Canals. About 135 of 159 lots have been sold.

Genesis also owns 775 acres of development land in Symons Valley in northwest Calgary, which could amount to more than 4,200 lots plus a commercial area. The company intends to take advantage of the topography in the area, which includes the West Nose Creek valley.

The area plan for Symons Valley was approved last spring by city council.

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Calgary’s economy looks like it will be healthy and growing for the rest of this year and next year.

Calgary Forecasts and Indicators, provided by CB Richard Ellis research staff, show the annual GDP growth in the city is 4.4 per cent and the national figure is 2.6 per cent for this year. The figures, drawn from the Conference Board of Canada, anticipate lower growth at 3.1 per cent next year. The numbers show personal income per capita rising 2.5 per cent this year and forecast 1.6 per cent growth in 2002.

“It’s all growth,” says Mike Gigliuk, research director for the real estate company.

But Gigliuk points out that the conference board statistics are dated Aug. 31, before the devastating U.S. terrorist attacks that shook the world on Sept. 11. Figures from Promoting Calgary Inc., meanwhile, show Calgary is second in a national head-office count, with 204 to Toronto’s 470. Edmonton has 23, coming behind Montreal and Vancouver, and ahead of Ottawa’s 13. That gives Alberta 235 head offices out of 1,300 in Canada.

However, uncertainty is definitely in the air.

Businesspeople I’ve spoken with in the last few weeks have used phrases such as, “If we had talked before Sept. 11 . . . .”

It’s only a couple of weeks until a major building show unfolds in Calgary. The Buildex Calgary, Design Trends Calgary and Construct Alberta shows are set for Oct. 16 and 17. They are “targeted audience” shows for professionals in the industries in the real estate, construction and development sector, including property management, construction, interior design, engineering and land development. National event management firm MediaEdge Communications Inc. organizes them in conjunction with industry associations for building management, architecture, facility management, interior design and construction.

Web Watch:
www.genesisland.com