The failure of Waverley West

Here's an article that was published in today's Free Press:

Over the past six years, Winnipeggers have heard much about how Waverley West would be a panacea to civic woes.

The development industry believed it would be good for economic growth by keeping jobs in skilled trades from exiting Winnipeg for Alberta. The Provincial NDP, a major land owner and potential developer, argued it would be economically “just” not only by keeping housing prices low, but through some of the profits funding programs in impoverished core neighborhoods.

The sounds of cement mixers and nail guns could not be heard soon enough. In March 2006, planning firm ND Lea said the shortage of available lots in southwest Winnipeg had reached a "critical stage," and Winnipeg Real Estate Board spokesperson Peter Squire said stalling on Waverley West would be "totally counterproductive" in creating a sustainable city. By September, things had become so grim, that Garth Steek, then the president of the Manitoba Homebuilder’s Association, warned south Winnipeg would “run out of building lots in two years.”

After all that pent-up demand, and months after building lots were alleged to have disappeared entirely, the Free Press reports that only 75 houses have been built, or are in the process of being built in the new subdivision.

Market demand is not the only thing that is underwhelming...
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