Healy Ford site to accommodate 3 high-density highrise towers

Three highrisesto be built on the old HealyFord site in the warehouse district will be among the largest residentialcomplex proposals Edmonton has ever seen, a public meeting heard Wednesday night.

The development will includethree towers, 42, 45 and 48 storeys, with a mix of residential, retail and commercial space.

While people living in the area welcome new neighbours, they are worried about the physical scale of the towers.

"It's more just the vibrancy of the neighbourhood, which is positive, but more just the overshadowing of the neighbourhood, that might be a challenge," said Natalie La Belle, who lives across the street in a third-floor condo.

The buildings, with as many as 1,300 residential units toaccommodate2,000 people, would cast a shadow over a stretch between 103rd and 104th avenues on 106th Street.

"We're certainly setting the bar in terms of height and density," saidChrisDulaba,project manager ofEdmonton's Callidus Developments,who isworking on the project with the Ontario developers.

The first six floors will contain amix of retail, residentialand business units.

The rest of thecomplex will include condos, rental apartments and student housinggeared towards thoseattending nearby Grant MacEwan University and NorQuest College.

Peter Odinga, Edmonton's chief development planner, said the complex is one of the largest he hasseen proposedsince building height restrictions were removed following the closure of the downtown airport.

"It will create more activity on the street, hopefully, and it will also generate more activity overall downtown."

The original proposal for the site called for two51-storeytowers.