It's widely believed Wal-Mart will anchor the site, in part because Springwood has been developing Wal-Mart-centred projects in Western Canada's secondary markets for more than a decade.
After a lengthy debate back in 2007, the town opened its arms to big-box stores at the Domtar site. While the town's downtown area redevelopment plan has a provision limiting box stores to roughly 50,000 square feet, town council specifically addressed the Domtar site with a land-use bylaw amendment that allows a store as large as 200,000 square feet only on that site. That's large enough for a Wal-Mart super-centre, if the retail giant is so inclined.
Highway upgrade
Complicating redevelopment to the south of the historic downtown area are plans for redevelopment of the Highway 1A corridor on the north edge of downtown.
Alberta Transportation has included twinning and reconstruction of 4.7 kilometres of the highway in its three-year plan, but has yet to award contracts of the project. The highway is the main traffic artery connecting Calgary and Cochrane (it becomes Crowchild Trail in the city), and it carries thousands of commuters to and from the community each day.
That means it provides not only a way for retail dollars to leave the community, but also a way for Calgarians to head west on a Saturday or Sunday afternoon. Greater retail development in Cochrane is seen not only as something that might keep more Cochrane residents shopping locally, but also as a potential draw for small businesses in the historic section of downtown.
Just when the $13.1 million highway twinning work starts will influence how the town redevelops connections to the highway and the Domtar site, notes Drukier.
Factor in a busy railway line that must be crossed, and the province's plans to twin the north-south Highway 22 bridge over the rail line, and you have no shortage of variables to work around.
Another one is the town's own financial war chest, which isn't exceedingly flush, thanks in part to a commercial tax base that hasn't grown much with Cochrane. It makes up only 13.1 per cent of the base.
While the town envisions $129 million in major capital projects in the next 10 years, the timing of those projects might best be described as flexible. It hasn't identified firm start dates for the planned $29 million aquatic centre, a $22 million arts centre, a $15 million RCMP station or a $17 million bridge over the Bow River. The last item would provide alternative access to various planned or existing residential subdivisions high above the town centre on the south side of the Bow.
The only bridge spanning the Bow now is on Highway 22, making in-town commutes a challenge at times.
Cochrane officials understand transportation is a big issue - both within the sprawling community and between Cochrane and Calgary.
To that end, the town's 10-year financial plan also envisions $27 million in capital spending for transit, something that has raised more than a few eyebrows locally. While the province has committed up to $6.1 million in GreenTRIP transit funding for Cochrane buses, a transit terminal and maintenance facility, the grant cash amounts to less than one-quarter of what the town might spend.
For now, just how to phase in transit remains to be decided. But some type of system is expected to push forward sooner or later.
Noted Cochrane communications manager Emily Cargan: "It's not a question of if we're going to have transit. It's a question of when."
One of Cochrane's suburban rivals, Airdrie, already has a transit system to go with a growing industrial base.
Industrial pricey
The latter makes people like longtime local realtor Deborah MacIsaac just a little envious. MacIsaac, a Cochrane booster, laments how much-larger Airdrie has scooped up businesses that simply can't find affordable and needed industrial land in Cochrane. What is available comes with a price tag of more than $1 million per serviced acre, according to MacIsaac. The few industrial buildings that are available lease for as much as $16 per square foot.
"We just don't have industrial in this town," said MacIsaac. As for the price of industrial land, she offers an observation that might surprise some.
"We've always been higher than Calgary for the 15 years that I've been doing commercial."
MacIsaac says there would be fewer commuters (almost 30 per cent of the population works outside town) if there were more available and affordable parcels on which to locate industrial shops in Cochrane.
Cochrane's tax rate for non-commercial assessment is comparable to those for Airdrie and surrounding Rocky View County, and a little over half of Calgary's rate. While it's higher than the comparable Canmore rate, the reality is you get more land, building and house in Cochrane than you do for the same dollar in Canmore to the west.
Entrepreneurs looking to set up shop in Cochrane can expect to spend $25 to $28 per square foot, plus common costs, for new commercial retail space, said MacIsaac, with older downtown properties priced closer to $15 per square foot annually.
Housing
Cochrane's average single-family house price is in the $425,000 range, and condos with $10,000 in credits toward adventure gear and memberships can be had for less than $200,000.
Certainly there's demand for new homes in Cochrane, though MacIsaac notes the number of resale listings is higher these days, with roughly 260 on the local market in August.
Building permit totals hit $93.7 million for 2009, then reached $101.4 million in 2010. That figure included almost $52 million in new single-family homes and $14.5 million in the multi-family sector.
Total permits for 2011 amounted to $56 million for the first eight months of the current year, with only $1.05 million in commercial and industrial permits going through as the community faces a lull.
That's evident not only in the development sector, but downtown, says MacIsaac.
"I see [lease] deals being cut to keep people in there right now, just because of the economy. It's very flat out there right now."
On the upside, MacIssac, who first lamented big-box development in Cochrane, now sees what will happen with the Domtar site as something that can help the historic downtown by keeping dollars in Cochrane and attracting more shoppers from outside the town.u
from Western Investor November 2011
