New affordable student housing coming to Edmonton

The City of Edmonton has announced the “Downtown Student Housing Incentive” to expand the affordable student housing market downtown. The $15 million project will see five new buildings centered around Downtown Edmonton’s newest park, O’Daymin park. Multiple development companies, such as the Autograph group, will work on one or two of the five planned developments. 

“Downtown has challenges with access and servicing. So there is a feasibility gap,” said Katie Schneider, Development Manager at Autograph. “Incentives such as the student housing and the attainable housing program bridge that feasibility gap.”

Along with Autograph, there will be three other development companies joining the project as well, Westrich Pacific, Langham Developments and the local developer Jean W. There will be a total of 550 student exclusive units dispersed between the developments.

• The Vantage – 92 student units
• Lilac Park – 108 student units
• Falcon Two – 67 student units
• Quarters Student Housing – 150 student units
• Warehouse Block – 150 student units

 A major player in coordinating the initiative as a whole is BILD Edmonton Metro. BILD represents several Edmonton based land developers, builders and trade suppliers, who are responsible for bringing these concepts to reality. 

“BILD has been an extraordinary champion for the success of our downtown,” said Kalen Anderson, CEO of BILD. “It’s also been vocal about calling out areas where improvement is required.”

Additional incentives such as the “Downtown Attainable Housing Incentive” are part of a broader plan to improve downtown. The Community Revitalization Levy as well as the $192 million in federal funding for downtown’s improvement are key components of the project as a whole. The City of Edmonton plans to use these resources to create a safer and more vibrant downtown.

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