Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Brandon Donnelly
Daily insights for city builders. Published since 2013 by Toronto-based real estate developer Brandon Donnelly.
Today, one of the top landscape architects in Canada -- Claude Cormier -- died from complications associated with something known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. He was only 63.
Claude, and the firm he founded CCxA, have been responsible for some of the most beautiful, whimsical, and critically acclaimed public spaces in Canada.
Those of you familiar with Toronto will know Berczy Park, Sugar Beach (pictured above), the new Love Park, and others. These are easily some of the most successful public spaces in the city, and for good reason.
CCxA is also the landscape firm behind our 100 Lombard project, where we have been similarly working to create a new and whimsical public space in downtown Toronto.
We're all sorry to see you go, Claude. Canada is a better -- and more fun place -- because of your work.
Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash
Montreal has a bylaw that came into effect on April 1, 2021 and that requires developers to contribute to the city's supply of social, affordable, and family housing. (All three of these have their own definition.)
Developers can meet this requirement in a number of different ways:
They can build the social, affordable, and/or family housing
They can contribute land or a building
Or they can pay cash-in-lieu
Usually, I think of inclusionary zoning as being the first of these three bullet points: a hard requirement to build a certain amount of non-market housing. That is not an absolute requirement here, and so I see this policy as being IZ lite.
Since the bylaw came into force, there have been approximately 150 new projects by private developers in Montreal, according to this CBC article. That has resulted in about 7,100 new market-rate homes. At the same time, it has resulted in exactly zero non-market homes.
From what I can tell from the article, every single developer has opted for option three: pay the cash-in-lieu instead of actually building the housing. Supposedly this has produced about $24.5 million in new fees, which sounds like a lot. But if you divide it by 7,100 homes, it isn't all that much: just under $3,500 for each new home.
So what is clear is that this is the least expensive option. That's why everybody is choosing it. If the fee was significantly higher and it was cheaper to just build the social/affordable/family housing, then every developer would just do that. This is how development pro formas work.
But at the end of the day, we are still taxing new housing and new home consumers for the purpose of trying to create a smidgen of more affordable housing. And this has never sat well with me, especially considering that there are plenty of other things that we could be doing to make new housing more affordable for everyone.
The first phase of Montreal's new Réseau express métropolitain (or REM) just opened it up. It is a 17 km light-rail line that includes five stations running from Brossard in the south (A1 above) to Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal. Eventually this network -- which is distinct from but connected to the city's existing metro network operated by STM -- will span 67 kilometers and have a total of 26 stations. To put this into perspective, Montreal's current metro totals 69.2 kms. So this is a near doubling.
Today, one of the top landscape architects in Canada -- Claude Cormier -- died from complications associated with something known as Li-Fraumeni Syndrome. He was only 63.
Claude, and the firm he founded CCxA, have been responsible for some of the most beautiful, whimsical, and critically acclaimed public spaces in Canada.
Those of you familiar with Toronto will know Berczy Park, Sugar Beach (pictured above), the new Love Park, and others. These are easily some of the most successful public spaces in the city, and for good reason.
CCxA is also the landscape firm behind our 100 Lombard project, where we have been similarly working to create a new and whimsical public space in downtown Toronto.
We're all sorry to see you go, Claude. Canada is a better -- and more fun place -- because of your work.
Photo by Filip Mroz on Unsplash
Montreal has a bylaw that came into effect on April 1, 2021 and that requires developers to contribute to the city's supply of social, affordable, and family housing. (All three of these have their own definition.)
Developers can meet this requirement in a number of different ways:
They can build the social, affordable, and/or family housing
They can contribute land or a building
Or they can pay cash-in-lieu
Usually, I think of inclusionary zoning as being the first of these three bullet points: a hard requirement to build a certain amount of non-market housing. That is not an absolute requirement here, and so I see this policy as being IZ lite.
Since the bylaw came into force, there have been approximately 150 new projects by private developers in Montreal, according to this CBC article. That has resulted in about 7,100 new market-rate homes. At the same time, it has resulted in exactly zero non-market homes.
From what I can tell from the article, every single developer has opted for option three: pay the cash-in-lieu instead of actually building the housing. Supposedly this has produced about $24.5 million in new fees, which sounds like a lot. But if you divide it by 7,100 homes, it isn't all that much: just under $3,500 for each new home.
So what is clear is that this is the least expensive option. That's why everybody is choosing it. If the fee was significantly higher and it was cheaper to just build the social/affordable/family housing, then every developer would just do that. This is how development pro formas work.
But at the end of the day, we are still taxing new housing and new home consumers for the purpose of trying to create a smidgen of more affordable housing. And this has never sat well with me, especially considering that there are plenty of other things that we could be doing to make new housing more affordable for everyone.
The first phase of Montreal's new Réseau express métropolitain (or REM) just opened it up. It is a 17 km light-rail line that includes five stations running from Brossard in the south (A1 above) to Gare Centrale in downtown Montreal. Eventually this network -- which is distinct from but connected to the city's existing metro network operated by STM -- will span 67 kilometers and have a total of 26 stations. To put this into perspective, Montreal's current metro totals 69.2 kms. So this is a near doubling.
As with most big city building projects, Montreal's REM is being and will continue to be criticized. Back in 2016, the project had an estimated total project cost of $5.9 billion. By 2021, this number had increased to $6.9 billion. Today, who knows what the number will be. But it will be more. The reality is that everything went up, by a lot, over the last five years. During the pandemic, we were seeing 30-40% cost increases on some of our construction line items.
What's perhaps most noteworthy about this project is its delivery model. It is being delivered through a partnership with the the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ):
Under the pact, the Caisse’s infrastructure arm is assuming $3.5-billion of the project’s $6.9-billion construction cost while Quebec is committing $1.28-billion and the Canada Infrastructure Bank is providing a $1.28-billion loan. The balance consists of a $295-million payment from Hydro-Québec for the line’s electrification, while the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, the transit authority for the Montreal region, is pledging $512-million.
Provincial and local governments will provide continuing operating subsidies for the REM to make sure the Caisse earns its required return on the project, currently pegged at 8 to 9 per cent. The pension fund manager will get 72 cents for each passenger-kilometre travelled on the light rail system. Without such a subsidy, fares would climb to a level few passengers could afford.
It'll be interesting to see how this approach stands the test of time. As I understand it, CDPQ wants to continue building and operating transit in other cities around the world. I don't know any of the specifics other than what I have read online. But from the outside, things seem to be working. The first phase of the REM broke ground in April 2018, and the opening ceremony was held this month (July 2023). That's basically warp speed in transit timelines.
Map: Montreal REM
As with most big city building projects, Montreal's REM is being and will continue to be criticized. Back in 2016, the project had an estimated total project cost of $5.9 billion. By 2021, this number had increased to $6.9 billion. Today, who knows what the number will be. But it will be more. The reality is that everything went up, by a lot, over the last five years. During the pandemic, we were seeing 30-40% cost increases on some of our construction line items.
What's perhaps most noteworthy about this project is its delivery model. It is being delivered through a partnership with the the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec (CDPQ):
Under the pact, the Caisse’s infrastructure arm is assuming $3.5-billion of the project’s $6.9-billion construction cost while Quebec is committing $1.28-billion and the Canada Infrastructure Bank is providing a $1.28-billion loan. The balance consists of a $295-million payment from Hydro-Québec for the line’s electrification, while the Autorité régionale de transport métropolitain, the transit authority for the Montreal region, is pledging $512-million.
Provincial and local governments will provide continuing operating subsidies for the REM to make sure the Caisse earns its required return on the project, currently pegged at 8 to 9 per cent. The pension fund manager will get 72 cents for each passenger-kilometre travelled on the light rail system. Without such a subsidy, fares would climb to a level few passengers could afford.
It'll be interesting to see how this approach stands the test of time. As I understand it, CDPQ wants to continue building and operating transit in other cities around the world. I don't know any of the specifics other than what I have read online. But from the outside, things seem to be working. The first phase of the REM broke ground in April 2018, and the opening ceremony was held this month (July 2023). That's basically warp speed in transit timelines.
Map: Montreal REM
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