Dear Friends,

If you have been around the JCC, you have seen the preparations that are taking place for what was to be our move in Spring 2009.  Sherrick Management had a chain link fence put up around the property and has had the dilapidated tennis courts removed. Subsequent to the necessary rezoning in July 2008, the property was presented to the public for sale into what was an already softened residential housing market. This market was further affected as the stock markets plummeted and disturbing global economic news made headlines.  Whilst there were some enquiries about the lots planned for our property, no actual offers were presented.    Given the current and likely continuing economic downturn for the foreseeable future the Federation executive and board have made a decision regarding the future of the JCC.  The likelihood that we can sell our property and generate the required funds to relocate next to the Talmud Torah is not feasible, at least at this time.

I, and my committee members Russ Joseph and Howard Anson are extremely disappointed at this turn of events.  We have had several different groups of volunteers working very diligently on all aspects of the project.  I thank all of them for the effort and hours put into the project.  I also want to thank Gayle Tallman, our executive director for all the extra hours she has put into the project so far.  Unfortunately, the property development process takes a long time.  For example, a community meeting was initially held, it took eight months for the City of Edmonton to re-zone the property, soil tests were performed, appraisals on the Talmud Torah land were needed, months were spent on planning the housing development, meetings with JCC user groups were held, not to mention meetings with lawyers on documentation.   We were also confident that based on negotiations so far that a deal with Talmud Torah on their surplus land would be negotiated.

The rezoning of the land resulted in a reduced number of saleable lots on the site as City planners required a significant “set back” from the ravine (stemming from well publicized problems on other similar locations in the city).  This reduced the original projected revenue.  However, acting in good faith I believed, and still believe that the project could have been a success if the housing market had not collapsed.  Unfortunately, there is a second part to the story.  Last week we finally received the preliminary plans for the new 35,000 square foot JCC.  The initial quote for the project was well beyond our original estimates.  Unfortunately, building costs have not yet adjusted to the new economic reality.  As a result the executive and board cannot see how we can make this move without going into debt or engaging in a campaign to raise capital for the building.

Could we have sold the property outright at the height of the market?  In the past offers have been presented to the JCC to purchase our land however these offers contained clauses that dragged out the closing for at least 2 years (and the reduced number of lots would still have emerged as an issue for any buyer).  In today’s world, buyers are walking away from their deposits.  Unfortunately, I now believe that no matter which road we went down, the sale would not have been concluded successfully.

So, where do we go from here?  In discussions with the executive and board we are asking our architect Rick Arndt to do an evaluation of our current facility as to the feasibility of completing major interior and mechanical renovations.  I will keep you informed as to the results of this evaluation.  Federation also remains committed to working with Beit Horim where it can be mutually beneficial.  We will review the possibility of accommodating them on our current site and creating a synergy between the two projects.  Will this new vision work out?  I will report to you in the near future as to the results of these proposals.  Fortunately some of the required work has already been done in the course of preparing our property for development.

I look forward to reporting happier news concerning our facility in the coming months.

Clyde Hurtig

President