Economy hits Edmonton JCC

IRENA KARSHENBAUM

When the economic meltdown first hit in the middle of last September, many thought Canada would be safe. At the very least, many thought the strong fundamentals of the Canadian economy would allow us to better weather the storm. We soon learned otherwise.

When the Edmonton Jewish community gathered in August 2007 to vote on the construction of a new Jewish community campus, it received an overwhelming vote of support of 163 to 69. No one dreamed that, a year later, the project would collapse. Now, Jewish Federation of Edmonton president Clyde Hurtig said, "We're quite lucky that we didn't spend a lot of money to this point."

Nonetheless, a lot of volunteer hours and energy have been put into the project. The community invested considerable resources into applying for a rezoning application with the city of Edmonton, which took eight months, as there was a large backlog of development applications at the time due to the city's then-building boom. Negotiations were held with the city's Talmud Torah to move the facility and build it on the school's adjacent lands and countless planning meetings were held. The project also received a personal guarantee from Edmonton philanthropist Irv Kipnes, listed on the Federation's website at $11 million, as well as his commitment to volunteer to work on the project. Kipnes is said to still be standing behind the project.

Hurtig explained that his executive has decided not to do a capital fundraising campaign: "We felt the community wouldn't support a general campaign for a building."

Finally, the rezoned lots were put up for sale last summer and the advertising was ready to be printed, when suddenly, Hurtig explained, "The market had gone soft and then, practically overnight in September, the market fell apart. In the meantime the cost of construction soared and we're unable to raise the money."

Fortunately, the JCC had not been demolished yet, except for a few old tennis courts that were no longer being used, and no sale agreements had been entered into, which, if they had, would now most likely be renegotiated with the purchaser under less favorable terms and price.

Edmonton currently has a lot of construction projects that are in the process of being built, so labor and material costs will likely remain high until these projects are completed. On the flip side, the housing market has collapsed.

And there are other problems. The rezoned property, overlooking the Edmonton River Valley, lost about one-third of its value due to "set back," a development term referring to land that cannot be used, as it's located on a ravine and runs the risk of falling into the river. In recent years, numerous homes built nearby on the river bend have fallen into the river. Further, when the architectural plans for the 35,000-square-foot facility set to contain a day care, kosher restaurant, fitness facility, seniors residence and community offices, came in, the budget figures were almost double of what was originally anticipated. So the Jewish community of about 5,200 people could not afford to build the new centre based on the original plan of selling the present JCC property and using the proceeds of the sale for construction.

"All of this is very frustrating and very disappointing. I've spent hundreds of hours working on this. We've got the painting hanging at the JCC of what the development would look like. The problem is no one is coming forward to make an offer on the land," said Hurtig.

In the meantime, the community isn't giving up. "We're still looking at doing something, depending on how things go, maybe we'll be able to renovate the current facility or build a new facility," said Hurtig. "All of this is still being worked on. Unfortunately, it can't be done over night. All of this is done by volunteers and the JCC staff."

But Hurtig remains hopeful. "Maybe things will turn around," he said.

Irena Karshenbaum is a freelance writer and the founding president of the Little Synagogue on the Prairie Project Society, www.littlesynagogue.ca.

^TOP