'Ice cream factor' a delicious way to take measure of a community

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You could call it urban development a la mode — residential development with an ice cream shop down the street. If you look closely enough, you’ll find it’s happening in Edmonton. Not quite the missing middle you hear urban planners talk about — constructing multi-unit housing like triplexes and low-rise apartments — to increase urban density but rather increased residential development in more urban parts of the city with walkability to amenities being a key factor.

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Residential housing growth in the western part of Wîhkwêntôwin (formerly known as Oliver) and densifying efforts in neighbouring Westmount are endeavouring to lead the way to the creation of a more walkable city with ice cream shops, of all things, popping up to help.

This, said the City of Edmonton’s Claire St. Aubin, the municipality’s senior planner in its urban planning and economy department, is also about turning around the past dynamic where the city’s mature neighbourhoods lost some 100,000 residents to the suburbs over a 40-year period that began in the 1970s.

The City Scoop

A few months back, BILD Edmonton Metro, the voice of greater Edmonton’s real-estate development industry, wanted to get the scoop on what city building ingredients are necessary to not only attract ice cream shops but to also build and shape communities.

“That got me thinking — ice cream is an indicator of proximity from one’s home to an amenity or service, just like how one’s distance to the transit stop or coffee shop or grocery store is,” said Jason Syvixay, BILD Edmonton Metro’s vice-president, strategy and operations. “And then another question — where do ice cream shops choose to locate, and why? Could it have something to do with the existing residential density, the vibe and identity of that neighbourhood or community? But some ice cream shops choose places that don’t have much going on — are they then pioneers of a place? All of these questions, I thought, are what developers and homebuilders ask daily — where do we build and choose to invest and why?”

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That led to a mid-August scooter excursion where BILD Edmonton Metro and some 50 interested parties, did a 10-kilometre scooter trek through Woodcroft, Westmount, Wîhkwêntôwin and Railtown. This is a look at what they discovered.

Woodcroft & Westmount Makeovers

If ice cream makes everything better, and you’re into soft serve — the tour’s first stop near the Dairy Queen next to Westmount Centre — then Woodcroft residents find themselves right next to an ice cream option as their neighbourhood redevelops.

With the Brentwood Community Development Group having made the decision to rebuild the existing Brentwood Homes — said to be at the end of their life cycle — the organization has unveiled Brentwood Builds, a project said to lay the groundwork for Brentwood’s future. Expected to create an additional 500 affordable housing units, it will replace 236 existing townhomes, include underground parking, and have a focus on three- and four-bedroom units.

A multi-phase, multi-year project, there are plans for new neighbouring small-scale retail that could also include an ice cream vendor. Speaking of ice cream, Twice Cream, in Westmount, the first ice cream stop on the tour, is helping to bring new life to the neighbourhood with its artisanal ice cream. Westmount, a mature neighbourhood, which has added some 1,200 housing units over the past 20 years, just spoke to, and was the right place to launch, according to parlour’s owners.

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Ice Cream Dreams

Heading into Wîhkwêntôwin, scooter riders were guided to both Kind Ice Cream, at the Oliver Exchange, and Made by Marcus in the Brewery District. But while both were popular ice cream stops, each with its own interesting story — Kind is an Edmonton favourite that is a woman, queer and Indigenous-owned business; Made by Marcus, from Calgary, is housed in a new building done in a historic architectural style — the tour showed that residential development is booming not far from these two go-to ice cream locations.

Urban Flats from Leston Holdings is a six-storey, 94-unit, new and purpose-built apartment rental building with one- and two-bedroom offerings on 114th Street near Jasper Avenue. Leston president David Mitton said the focus is on higher-end finishes but fewer amenities with the intention of hosting apartment events in neighbourhood shops — like ice cream stores — to keep rental costs down. Mitton also noted that, in this instance, Urban Flats is part of the missing middle the city talks about.

Two other developers, meanwhile, are also very bullish on the western portion of Wîhkwêntôwin: Autograph and Averton. Autograph has a number of projects in various stages in and around the Oliver Exchange area. Its most recent is the Mercury Block, a stunning black, seven-storey, 163-unit rental building with a unique open-air public space courtyard and retail at the main level.

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Down the block on 123 Street, will be the Cobalt, similar in form to the Mercury. It will have 166 apartment units and retail space, as well. Autograph already has The MacLaren nearby, a reimagining of the historic Buena Vista building, and is moving forward with The Clifton, a 12-storey, 18-unit luxury highrise just a bit west.

Averton, for its part, is in land assembly mode in the same general area and looking to focus higher density projects that will help to create an in-demand walkable node here similar to what Edmontonians have in Old Strathcona.

Riders also stopped at White Rabbit (inspired in part by Alice in Wonderland), located behind MacEwan University, where small batches are made from locally sourced ingredients.

Not So Vanilla

The worst place to plan and design a city is from behind a desk, according to Syvixay. He notes that BILD’s field trips are an invitation for people to see developments up-close, and to hear from the city builders behind them.

“Developers and their residential projects bring residential growth that can attract and sustain local businesses like ice cream shops,” said Syvixay. “We are seeing our development industry building more compactly, and more efficiently, too — building a range of housing products throughout the city, whether that is in core/mature neighbourhoods or in new communities. Many are also building mixed-use buildings that blend both residential and commercial opportunities together. You can imagine now, people living and enjoying amenities in the same building.

“Amenities, like ice cream shops and grocery stores and coffee shops, can definitely bring a community and development vision to life,” said Syvixay. “They are the things that bring people joy in their daily lives.”

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