CALGARY — The Alberta government bought seventeen lots in the trendy southwest neighbourhoods of Roxboro, Rideau Park and Elbow Park last year for $51 million.
The lots and homes that stood on them were damaged and declared to be beyond repair after the devastating 2013 flood.
The lots have been maintained by the government, including debris clearance, lawns mowed and sidewalks cleared of snow and now six of the properties in Roxboro are up for sale, coinciding with the completion of upstream flood mitigation efforts, including construction of the Springbank Offstream Reservoir.
The government has engaged Plintz Real Estate in Calgary to sell the properties.
“We expect that there will be a lot of demand for these properties,” Jeff Jackson, an associate broker with the firm, told Global News. “You know, waterfront in Calgary is pretty exclusive, there’s not a lot of supply of it, so, we do expect a lot of demand.”
Dennis Plintz said the location of the properties was “flood fringe.”
“Based on the measures and the studies and the water flow, and really great information that’s available, the risk that’s relevant here in the community has been substantially diminished,” he said.
The lots back onto the Elbow River and were listed for sale on Monday at prices ranging from $1.75 million to $3 million.
“We’ve priced these at what we feel is fair market value. But the list prices are just a framework and they could potentially go for more than the listed prices,” Jackson said.
It is unknown what the cost of the new homes will be, but as a rule of thumb, the cost of land is between 20% and 40% of the sale price of a home. Because of the location, the cost of land in the three communities is closer to the top end of the scale.
The property titles will include restrictive covenants that will allow only single-family homes built on site.
The Calgary River Community Action Group was formed after the flood and spokesman Tony Morris is pleased the properties will soon again have homes.
“We want these neighbourhoods whole; we don’t want them gap-toothed with empty lots. And with the restrictive covenants that are on all the titles, we want them restored to the way they were before,” Morris told Global.
“That’s been the whole theme of the protection of these inner city neighbourhoods that were impacted by the floods.”
Plintz said insurance would likely not be a problem for those who eventually buy the properties.
“I live on the river and I’ve purchased here after that (the 2013 flood) and we’ve bought and sold a lot of properties on the rivers,” he said. “So, there’s different policies, different riders that you can get, but insurance is not a challenge.”