Major condo developer is making big investments in the Calgary and Edmonton markets

This year, Brad Lamb will finish one condo project and start construction on another, while purchasing two other substantial parcels of land in Calgary's downtown core.

To say the Toronto developer, president of Lamb Development Corp., is confident in the city – and Alberta's real estate future – may be an understatement.

Lamb has been a fixture in the real estate industry for 30 years. His company has more than 20 projects, worth an estimated $2 billion, in various stages of development in five cities – Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, Ottawa and Hamilton.

Builders believe buyers will eventually see benefits of sans auto

Condo buyers in Calgary's Beltline will soon see vehicle ownership as a peripheral requirement, but it will still take some time for the current mindset to change, says a developer who brought the notion of "parking optional" to Calgary.

The Beltline – which stretches from 14th Street S.W. to the Elbow River and the rail tracks south to 17th Avenue, plus the Stampede Grounds – is one of Calgary's hottest and most densified communities. And many new condo buildings, first planned several years ago, are just now starting to spring up despite the downturn.

Although the N3 development in East Village received plenty of press recently for not including parking, it was Toronto-based Lamb Development Corp.'s 6th and Tenth project in the Beltline that first brought the concept to Calgary, said president and CEO Brad Lamb.

Once rundown community emerging as residential magnet

* Old neighbourhoods, new Calgary: A look at some of Calgary's earliest communities and how they're evolving with the times

Once home to the city's early elite, the historic community of Victoria Park is back on the map for Calgary homebuyers.

The Beltline neighbourhood has seen resurgence in its housing market this year, with several newly announced high-profile condo developments complementing a dramatic rise in resale activity over the last 10 months.

Power Corporation of Montreal donates $1 million to music centre project

Calgary's National Music Centre has received a $1-million boost from the Power Corporation of Canada.

The money will be used to support construction of a new centre expected to open in 2016. The gift will be recognized through the Power Corporation innovation Stage, a space that will focus on telling stories of musicians,
inventors and industry builders who have helped make Canada what it is today.