That means the relatively modest growth of the past two years - only 1.4 per cent annually from 2008 to 2010 - could easily be surpassed.
The portions of the capital's outer ring road that are already constructed have improved accessibility from parts of Edmonton to its neighbouring city of 60,000 parked on the capital's northwest corner. They've also compressed the commute of St. Albert residents and businesspeople to key locations such as Edmonton International Airport south of the city.
Partial completion of Ray Gibbon Drive, which hooks to the Henday and funnels traffic along St. Albert's west side, has made that fringe of the city more attractive to businesses.
A case in point: the nearly completed Hole's Enjoy Centre, a development from the Hole family that will see relocation of its already famous greenhouse and market garden complex from central St. Albert to the west side.
The new location, set to open this fall, will include roughly 11 acres of land for a complex that will boast 200,000 square feet of building dedicated as much to a philosophy as to gardening commerce.
Notes Bill Hole, son of Alberta's late lieutenant governor Lois Hole, the family business is aiming to create a destination that is about living and life, not just gardening.
The complex includes a business plan emphasizing sustainability, water and energy conservation, a sharing of resources, customers and technology among like-minded business tenants, and a desire "to engage and delight customers with architecture that's both interactive and thoughtful."
So much for ordinary Alberta suburbia.
Transit plan
The Hole family's emphasis on green technology in its business' future home isn't the only thing with a green tinge in St. Albert - not by a long shot.
The local government in the northwest Edmonton suburb is thinking big when it comes to public transit these days. It has contributed to planning for Edmonton's northwest light-rail transit (LRT) line, and is pursuing a large park-and-ride/bus connection facility for the line's initial terminus near St. Albert Trail/Mark Messier Trail and 156th Street in northwest Edmonton.
While there's still no firm timeline for construction of the new LRT line or the park-and-ride, St. Albert likes the idea of jumping on board and potentially extending the line for three stations in south, central and northern St. Albert, explains Randall.
While LRT service to a denser St. Albert may be a decade or more away at this point, improved road connections have already influenced business decisions, and should do so in the future, he predicts.
"The Anthony Henday is going to enhance some of our growth opportunities with better traffic flow," Randall said.
That means opportunities for growth in the business parks on the west and east sides of the city, particularly as northwest Edmonton builds out to St. Albert.
Colliers International says St. Albert's industrial vacancy rate was only 2.27 per cent at the end of June 2010, having declined from 2.74 per cent in the previous quarter. St. Albert industrial space accounts for about 2.8 million square feet of the 96.2 million square feet in the Edmonton and suburban Edmonton markets.
Longtime St. Albert realtor Guy Hebert, the owner of Bermont Realty, shares Randall's outlook on the growth prospects for the city, agreeing that the Ray Gibbon Drive connection to the southwest section of the Henday has already started to change business investment decisions.
"It has certainly increased the exposure of the Riel Business Park," Hebert said, adding that development in the south end of the west-side business park is expected to pick up in the future.
A big draw such as the new Enjoy Centre is also likely to generate more retail traffic in the city.
Lease rates
Hebert says 2009 was a slower year in St. Albert, but the summer of 2010 has been punctuated by increased activity.
Investors with space for lease are typically looking at annual per-square-foot triple-net rates in the range of $18 to $24 for retail space in the city, with new buildings in high-traffic areas netting as much as $34, according to Hebert.
Second-floor office space is in the $12 range, bumping to $18 in professional buildings.
Business condo prices are running around $200 per square foot, with 1,506-square-foot bays priced at $301,200.
Industrial space leases are closer to $9 to $12 per square foot, Hebert says, with industrial land selling in the $500,000-per-acre range.
The City of St. Albert's business data suggest space is in demand, with the number of commercial businesses hitting 1,306 in June 2010, and home-based businesses totalling 1,011. Those totals are up 22.9 per cent and 26.4 per cent respectively from four years ago.
New-home construction is up in 2010 from last year, with building permit totals for the first half of 2010 hitting $56.6 million, up about 11.9 per cent from the first half of 2009 and almost 59 per cent from the first half of 2008.
St. Albert sees itself as competitive when it comes to attracting businesses. Part of the reason is that the spread between its non-residential tax rate and its residential rate isn't nearly as significant as it is in Edmonton.
For example, while the Canadian Federation of Independent Business pegs Edmonton's non-residential tax rate as 3.12 times higher than its residential rate, it put St. Albert's ratio at only 1.61. The provincial average is 1.96.
Maintaining a competitive environment is important for St. Albert, Randall said, as it aims to increase its non-residential tax base to 20 per cent of the total assessment base.
St. Albert supports density increases in some areas, and city council was given the green light to the concept of 25-storey towers downtown on a redeveloped Grandin Mall site proposal from Amacon Developments.
The developer hasn't moved ahead with its St. Albert Village project, but if the project goes ahead, it will be higher-density mixed and residential uses for about 2,000 residents close to scenic Sturgeon River through the city.
St. Albert annexed about 3,300 acres from Sturgeon County a few years ago, putting the city in a better position for co-ordinated long-term growth.
Randall suggests there will be increased signs of growth come 2011, thanks to the Henday and other factors, and that there are opportunities for investors in the multifamily housing market. "I would expect 2011-12 to surprise us with activity."
from Western Investor, October 2010
