Garrison Woods: a new model for Canadian infill

In the redevelopment of a military base in Calgary, the Canada Lands Company discovers New Urbanism as the road to community building and financial success. Quietly and with great speed, Garrison Woods has emerged as one of Canada’s most successful new urban developments and one of the few built at high densities in an infill location with easy access to the city center. Among the key elements driving the success are: a patient developer willing to take risks and to trust local designers, a mix of new and refurbished housing, and architectural guidelines that keep the neighborhood consistent with its surroundings. Garrison Woods is the redevelopment of a 175-acre parcel of the Canadian Forces Base, a section formerly occupied by low-density military housing. The neighborhood is located a seven-minute drive from downtown Calgary and connects to existing neighborhoods on three sides. The military vacated the base in 1998. In the last four years, the nearly complete project has sold more than 300 units a year — more than twice the sales absorption rate in new conventional suburban projects in the area. Developer Canada Lands Company (CLC) is a so-called crown corporation, a Canadian institution that has no equivalent in the US. A private company in which the federal government is the sole shareholder, CLC receives no subsidies and pays taxes just as any other corporation. It’s chief mission is to purchase land abandoned by the government — at market rates — and develop the land on a for-profit basis. The profit goes back in the public coffers, but since the federal government is more patient than most shareholders, CLC has a cushion that allows it to do what most developers dare not do. Moreover, the company has a commitment to balancing its need to realize a profit with the need to create value for the community at large. According to Calgary’s chief subdivision planner Brent Toderian, Garrison Woods would not have taken the shape it has without CLC. “They have a different mandate than conventional developers,” he says. “CLC is more interested in taking risks and more willing to take the necessary time to push for innovation. Most developers would have chosen the path of least resistance.” Garrison Woods did have obstacles to clear, particularly in negotiations with the city’s transportation and street departments. Mark McCul-lough, general manager for real estate at CLC in Calgary, says that the public infrastructure design broke with existing engineering standards. Residential streets are 29.5 feet wide with a design speed of 20 miles/hour and allow parking on both sides. All intersections have bulb-outs to slow traffic and increase safety for pedestrians. Rear alleys were narrowed down to 19.6 feet from the customary 29.5 feet. “With the customization and high-quality parks we have probably spent a third more per gross developable acre than most developers,” McCullough says. The overall density of 10.5 units/acre is quite high for the area, he adds, “so we need to deliver quality public space when people have less private space.” Though CLC spent a considerable amount of time on getting variances, Garrison Woods has progressed with remarkable speed — especially when compared to military base redevelopments in the US, which have typically been slowed down by years of property transfer negotiations or the lack of capable private developers. Shortly after purchasing the site in 1997, CLC began involving citizens from surrounding communities in the planning process, primarily through a Community Planning Advisory Committee and public meetings. Construction began in 1998, and the project will be completed by the end of this year. Garrison Woods includes approximately 1,600 housing units: 409 refurbished single and semidetached homes, 238 new single and semidetached homes, 314 street-oriented townhouses, and 646 apartments, some of which are part of a senior housing complex. At the northern end of the site, 67,000 square feet of retail blend into an existing retail corridor. Garrison Woods has a 45,000 sq. ft. Safeway supermarket, as well as a soon-to-be- completed mixed-use complex with 160 apartments and 16,000 square feet of ground floor retail. The southern half of the community is not served by retail in the immediate vicinity, but the distance from the southern edge to the northern is only about one third of a mile. In addition, Garrison Woods is well served by public transit — every home is within a four-minute walk of a bus stop, Toderian says. The mix of uses is rounded out by two private schools, both in existing buildings adapted for reuse, a military museum, and a hockey arena. Stumbling onto NU Unlike Calgary’s more well-known traditional neighborhood development, the greenfield project McKenzie Towne (see March 2002 issue), Garrison Woods was not originally conceived as a new urban development. “We sort of stumbled on to it,” McCullough says. “We wanted to recreate the feeling found in older neighborhoods in Calgary, and our research led us to the principles of New Urbanism.” McCullough traveled to new urban projects in Canada, the US, and England, but CLC decided to work with designers and consultants who understood the local conditions. The master plan is by Brown & Associates Planning Group and the architectural code by Jenkins & Associates, both Calgary firms. The homegrown process is an important part of the project’s success, Toderian says. The absence of star architects (such as Duany Plater-Zyberk & Company who designed McKenzie Towne) is a sign of progress, he argues. “It sends the message that New Urbanism has reached the broad design profession and shows that you can engage local people and come up with a top notch plan.” Toderian spearheads the city’s effort to encourage more development along the same lines. For the last year, a Customized Infrastructure Committee made up of management-level staff from the engineering, roads, transportation, parks, and planning departments has worked with developers “to make innovation as easy as convention,” Toderian says. The city wants a complete new urban package, however. “If a developer comes to us with a conventional plan and just wants narrower streets, the committee won’t work with them. But if the whole package is there, we can help fight the internal battles for variances,” he says. Reuse and codes Toderian also points to the renovation and reuse of the existing base housing as one of the unprecedented aspects of Garrison Woods. The majority of the fifty-year-old homes were renovated in their existing locations, but in order to increase densities, 25 percent of the 409 homes were relocated and upgraded. The refurbished homes were interspersed with new single-family homes and townhouses and helped broaden the range of home prices. Housing prices range from approximately $73,000 for condominium apartments to $435,000 for new single-family homes. The project may not stay as affordable. “Sales activity and prices have exceeded our expectations,” McCullough says. “We’ve seen a 25-30 percent increase in prices in the later stages of building and in the resale market, and the appreciation has spread to surrounding neighborhoods.” A 20-unit section of “grow homes” — townhouses where parts are left unfinished for residents to gradually upgrade — were supposed to sell for between $128,000 and $145,000, but buyers immediately added all the bells and whistles so the homes ended up selling for $177,000. McCullough cites the architectural codes, and the respect that builders have shown them, as crucial to the project’s overall quality and strength in the market. The guidelines by architect Dan Jenkins are aimed at ensuring that new construction blends in with the refurbished homes inside the community, as well as the vernacular styles in surrounding neighborhoods. Permutations of four styles are allowed in Garrison Woods: Craftsman, Tudor, Colonial, and Victorian. The preservation of hundreds of mature trees serves to enhance the streetscapes — an important asset in Calgary’s tough climate. Just a beginning Garrison Woods is the first stage of the redevelopment of the Canadian Forces Base. CLC also owns a 280-acre parcel, known as CFB West, located across a major highway from Garrison Woods. This area has no existing housing, but is dominated by large hangars and administration buildings. The planned development program for the site includes 2,500 housing units, 350,000 square feet of commercial office space, and 125,000 square feet of retail, according to McCullough. As in Garrison Woods, the public has been actively involved in the planning process, and McCullough expects that construction will begin sometime in 2003. New urban principles will be employed in the new phase, as well as in other future projects by CLC across Canada. “Garrison Woods has become our flagship community,” McCullough says, and a model to follow in the development of former federal lands wherever possible.