CREDIT: Ian Smith, Vancouver Sun Cliff Bowman in a display kitchen in his condo centre built to market a project planned for Saltspring Island. The kitchen counter has a unique sink in the middle.

We’ve all heard about one-stop shopping. Well, how about a one-stop condo shopping?

That’s the concept behind a new condominium sales business that a real estate marketer is setting up in a Vancouver office building at 400 Robson.

When it opens in November, potential buyers of city apartments and vacation homes will be able to walk into the City and Country Condo Centre and get detailed information — everything from a full display suite to a scale model to a large screen video presentation — on condominium projects planned or built not only in the Lower Mainland, but in other areas such as Nanaimo, Saltspring Island, Kelowna and elsewhere.

“This is a real benefit for everyone, because you can get as much information as you want, all in one place,” condo centre founder Cliff Bowman said in an interview Tuesday.

Bowman, president of Vancouver-based Builders International Real Estate Marketing Corporation (bireM), believes he’ll be able to offer the same service for condo projects outside B.C.’s borders.

“I’ll also have projects here from the U.S.,” added Bowman, who already markets many U.S.-based condo projects throughout North America. “And we’ll have some from Mexico eventually. And everything’s done here. It’s turnkey. There’s no need [for developers] to hire their own staff or security. It’s very convenient. We have 60,000 people who live within a 15-minute walk from here. And there’s a lot of Americans who want Canadian real estate.”

Bowman’s condo centre, now being renovated, is planned to be a type of auto mall for condo shoppers, containing seven individual marketing bays where buyers can view several different projects simultaneously, without the necessity of travelling to the site. Individual bays are designed to feature scale models of developments, photographs, kitchen and bath vignettes, and large-screen video presentations. Several bays can be rented to provide enough space for an entire mock-up of a display unit.

Besides showcasing new condo developments, Bowman said the centre will offer on-site condo resale services, as well as mortgage brokers and lenders, a property management company and a relocation service coordinator.

The site also contains what Bowman calls a “condo cafe,” where potential buyers can leave the sales floor and talk among themselves in privacy. A condo research centre will be available for focus groups.

Already on display is a complete mock-up of the interior of a 1,240-square-foot home at the new Highbridge Village project on Saltspring Island,now in the process of getting a development permit.

The fully furnished display suite has a living/dining room, kitchen, two bedrooms and two baths, complete with fireplace, and hardwood and tile floors. The display suite took up three of Bowman’s bays, with each bay renting for $15,000 for three months.

There is also a full-scale model of the development and Highbridge site design maps.

“I think [the condo centre] is going to be great,” said Jim Rogers, president of Channel Ridge Properties, which is developing the Highbridge project. “People can look at all of the information here [without going to Saltspring]. And to be able to have a place in town where you can see, touch and feel it is a tremendous benefit for a developer. It’s so much more efficient.”

Rogers said the condo centre allows buyers to get a taste of their Saltspring development without leaving Vancouver. He said visitors to Vancouver from the U.S. and elsewhere can also get a “sneak preview” of the project.

Another project that will rent a bay at Bowman’s condo centre is Pacifica, a new condominium project on Nanaimo‘s waterfront.

“We’ve been involved in auto malls before,” said Edward Calb of Cape Development Corp., which is marketing Pacifica. “The principle here is the same. We know the concept and it works. We want to appeal to the Vancouver market and the tourist trade. We could have rented out our own space in Vancouver, but that would have been much more difficult.”

Rogers and Calb agreed another benefit of renting space at the condo centre is that they can recommend each other’s projects if their own developments don’t meet their clients’ needs. “We can help each other out,” said Calb.

Bowman said his new condo centre can help developers save up to $300,000 by not having to set up their own presentation centre in Vancouver.

He also said he plans to have new projects introduced frequently so people will want to keep coming back to see what’s new.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004