More Calgarians seem to be taking to the fairways these days — or at least talking about it. But not everybody likes it in their own back yard.
Golf course communities were once big draws in the housing market, starting with Genstar’s Willow Park in 1964. But James Hammermeister, who heads Genstar’s Calgary operations, says his company isn’t planning any new golf course communities.
He doesn’t know of any other firm that is.
Golf course communities were more popular in the ’70s and ’80s, with Genstar developing Harvest Hills — now a public course — in 1989-90, and other developers bringing in courses from Silver Springs to Douglas Glen.
One reason for the decline is the cost of raw land, says Hammermeister. Golf courses can take 200 to 260 acres. “It’s a function of what you can afford,” he says.
Home buyers now place more value on other amenities, such as private lakes or a natural environment, he says.
Hammermeister says most of the golf courses being developed now are in master-planned resort communities in places such as Golden or Canmore — where golf can be combined with other available activities, such as mountain biking or whitewater rafting.
If the grass is always greener on the other side of the golf course fence, it might be good breeding. And that’s no fertilizer.
“You use management to create better conditions for grass. If you do that you don’t have to pump pesticide on there,” says Kevin Young, general manager of Harvest Hills Golf Course.
If you have strong, healthy turf, it will out-compete the weeds, he says. Terry Boldt, manager of golf course operations for the city parks and recreation department, also says selecting plants for their environment means you don’t have to use a lot of pesticide.
The requirements for golf course grass is that it greens up fast in the spring and stays green, is drought-hardy and resistant to traffic. And traffic can get pretty busy — there are 365,000 rounds of golf played each year on City of Calgary courses.
“What people see on a golf course isn’t that we are watering and fertilizing. It’s that you pick cultivars (varieties) of turf . . .” says Boldt. “There is not much guesswork in golf course management.”
On the city’s courses, the staff plant three or four varieties of grass, he adds.
Young notes that golf courses don’t seed each variety in a block, but put down a mixture all over the course. Fairways might be a mix of blue grass, rye grass and fescue, while greens are a bent grass. In each area, one variety will thrive and take over.
Greens are key, so staff fertilize there, but generally not elsewhere. Young uses a small amount of fungicide on the greens in winter to protect against snow mould, but that’s it. Calgary’s dry climate and cool nights are generally protective. Boldt says staff test the soil before spraying, and they are licensed pesticide applicators. All city golf courses are managed by certified turf-management specialists.
That’s the kind of specialist knowledge that might explain why my lawn looks more like the rough than the fairway.
Golf is one of the big attractions at Panorama Mountain Village near Invermere.
The resort, owned by Intrawest Corp., won a Canadian Home Builders Association award for its Riverbend townhouse project.
Riverbend, a collection of 40 luxury townhouses along Toby Creek, won the award for best multi-family project four storeys or less.
Media spokeswoman Mona Gauvreau said many purchasers in Panorama are Calgarians. They are buying a two-season lifestyle, she said, enjoying both the Greywolf Golf Course and the skiing.
Only 10 of the 40 townhouses remain on the market.
The company said two new townhouse communities are to be released for sale this spring.
Intrawest Corp. develops and operates village-centred resorts across North America. It owns 10 mountain resorts, including Whistler-Blackcomb. Its shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges.
Calgary’s only in 98th place, but that’s OK. It’s a race we don’t want to win. This particular race is a ranking of global rents for Class A office space, surveyed twice a year by CB Richard Ellis. Toronto is the only Canadian city in the top 50 around the world, in 39th place at $37.95 US per sq. ft. per year Calgary's downtown Class A office space has a global rent of $22.75 US per sq. ft., or $34.53 Cdn.
Global market rents are occupancy costs including rent, taxes, maintenance and utilities.
The most expensive office space in the world is in the West End of London, at $156.89 US per sq. ft. Tokyo holds second and third places at $147.05 downtown and $127.54 in the outer central area.
The most expensive North American offices are in the San Jose-Silicon Valley area of California, at $87.48 (sixth place).
After Toronto, the most expensive Canadian cities are Vancouver in 82nd place at $25.06 US downtown and Ottawa in 83rd place at $25.04 US. Montreal is in 103rd place at $22.07 US per square foot.
Edmonton had the least expensive Class A office space of Canadian cities in the survey at $11.49 US per square foot, and was 150th worldwide.
Operating costs and taxes in Calgary went up 16 per cent from 2000 to 2001 for all classes of office space, a rise of $1.34 per sq. ft. per year.
Mike Gigliuk, Calgary research director of CB Richard Ellis, says higher heating and electricity costs caused most of the increase. The increases by classes were 12 per cent for Classes AA and A, 13 per cent for Class B and 19 per cent for Classes C and D.
The change since 1997 has been 42 per cent overall. That’s partly due to utility increases and partly to the arrival of market value assessment for taxes between 1999 and 2000, says Gigliuk.
Calgary office space is still competitive when compared with other major Canadian cities, he adds.
Web Watch:
www.genstarcanada.com
www.panoramaresort.com
www.cbricharchellis.ca
