Here's a recent article about how my hometown (Canadian midsize city) is attempting to densify its downtown, given that we're also experiencing a housing crisis (like everywhere else in the country...)
https://www.latribune.ca/actualites/actualites-locales/sherbrooke/2025/06/11/densification-et-ville-15-minutes-le-plan-durbanisme-prend-forme-NQV6MJ7F6ZHW3NFH24QU32BEBA/
Here's the pic they chose to use to illustrate that "the downtown core is about to densify in the next few years".
So far I have built many industrial buildings that are about the size of a 3-4 story building, but in terms of housing, I've only built a couple of SFHs so far (didn't want to start too big... there were lots of lessons learned so I'm glad I started small).
In the above picture, I have no less than four separate surface parking lots (all different locations, but still all near the center of that pic) that are zoned for 6 to 10 stories and the City really wants me to do something with them. I'm meeting one of the seniors City councillors about this next week -- I am going to ask for a few compromises (90% instead of 80% surface occupancy, slightly more units, maybe even slightly more stories) and see what they say.
As you can see in this picture, a ~ 10 story tower would be the tallest thing in the downtown. Sherbrooke is very hilly and this is the top of the hill, there are a few 8-10 story buildings lower down (near the river in the top right part of the pic) but they aren't anywhere tall enough to be anywhere near what would be the "skyline".
This is a VERY slow process so don't expect much to report anytime soon (though I have a potential partner, large company that's actually been building for decades, who would love to break ground very soon on some of my parking lots, if I would just say yes)...
In my free time (I expect to have less of it than before π), if this forum survives for the several years the whole process will take, I will try to chronicle the process of developing and building a 8-10 story tower on what used to be surface parking, in the downtown of a midsize Canadian city.
I know it'll happen, land values nowadays are so high, that the cap rate (based on current values) on those surface parking lots is ridiculously low, and I know I'm at the point where it's time to do something with all those lots. Not sure when though... but I think it would be an interesting topic for an urban affairs forum... when it does. You guys would have the "insider" view π
(And yes, I know this should probably be a separate thread, and it will when there's anything other to report than "there might be construction updates at some point". Right now I'm just saying, anyone interested in the development process for a 8-10 story tower might want to keep an eye on this forum.)
