"They (heritage-building redevelopment projects) are far more time consuming than new projects, they're more expensive and they involve more red tape," he said. "They've got to be affordable for the developer... and they've got to be affordable for the consumer."

"We still managed to get a good density of units within our building," he said. "The footprint of the building was right and the design of the building was right, so we could get 12 units per floor. But some buildings just don't lend themselves at all to that."

"It's all about the numbers. If we had more (condos) that are about $179,000 or $199,000 and less that are about $399,000, it would be a boon for the downtown," he said. "You create options for hundreds of people, as opposed to dozens."