John Mackie
Sun

One of Vancouver’s oldest theatres may be torn down for condos.

The Imperial Theatre was built in 1912, and is the only old theatre left in Chinatown. For the last two-and-a-half decades the theatre has been known as the Venus, and has shown porn films.

A nine-storey condo development has been proposed for the site at 720 Main St. The market condos are part of a larger plan that would see developer Porte Realty restore three heritage buildings at the southeast corner of Main and Georgia and retain them for non-market housing.

The plans are still in the development stage, but David Porte of Porte Realty says currently the company is looking at 78 condos plus one floor of retail in a new building and 40 to 50 non-market units in the heritage buildings at 208-212 East Georgia, which is now the Hotel Pacific.

Heritage expert John Atkin says the Imperial/Venus is one of the last remnants of Vancouver’s original theatre district, which was based around Main and Hastings.

The other old theatre in the neighbourhood, the Pantages, is about to undergo a full restoration and will once again become a live theatre. The deal hasn’t been finalized, but developer Worthington Properties is planning to spend $7 million and $10 million to restore the Pantages, for which it will receive heritage density transfer it can use at other sites.

Atkin is dismayed that the city didn’t work out a similar deal for the Imperial.

“Nobody did the research [to realize how old it was],” he said.

“All they saw was a pink stucco porno theatre. The mindset was ‘Let’s get rid of it,’ instead of thinking ‘Wait a sec. This might be something.'”

The theatre has had an interesting life. It was built for $60,000 by Canadian Amusement Theatres, then leased out to the Seattle-based Sullivan-Considine vaudeville chain, a rival to the Pantages theatre empire.

The Imperial opened on Oct. 14, 1912 with the Sheehan English Opera Company (“chorus of 40, orchestra of 40”), which performed Il Trovatore, The Chimes of Normandy and The Bohemian Girl. Tickets were 50 cents to $2, at a time when you could get into other theatres for 10 cents.

But the timing for a live theatre was bad. Movie theatres soon became the main source of public entertainment, then the First World War was declared, sending Vancouver into an economic recession.

The Imperial never really recovered. It was known as the Garden for a while, then the Emmanuel Temple, but sat vacant for almost a decade before it was converted to Walsh’s Auto Wrecking in 1938. Walsh’s moved out in 1967, and in 1970 it was converted back to a theatre.

David Porte says his company looked at any heritage value the theatre had, but concluded it had been so badly renovated over the years it didn’t have much architectural merit left.

“We looked at it, investigated it inside and out,” he said. “Certainly inside it’s fairly grungy, and architecturally there’s nothing left inside. Whatever there may have been is long gone, and the exterior, the pink stucco, sort of speaks for itself.”

Porte says his company is planning to do a heritage restoration of the Pacific Hotel site, which is a bit older and has more of its heritage character intact. But in order to make the Pacific work as non-market housing, there had to be a market housing component, which will be built where the Imperial/Venus stands.

The entire site is spread over six lots on Main Street, which Porte Realty assembled earlier this year for $5.168 million. Porte says when everything is said and done it will be a $25 million to $30 million project. Atkin thinks the condo project will likely go ahead. But he laments that the city didn’t recognize the potential for a refurbished Imperial Theatre.

“You’ve got cultural facilities screaming for space, you’ve got the Downtown Eastside screaming for revitalization, and you’ve got the [city’s] Coal Harbour Arts Centre floating around in space with $23 million [to spend on a live theatre],” he says.

“To my way of thinking it seems silly to knock down a facility that could be a boon to that neighbourhood. Because I think the last thing Main Street needs right now is more condos, in terms of street life and what it would bring.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Eric Beauchesne
Sun

OTTAWA – Some of the air has come out of the Calgary housing boom with prices for new homes suffering their first month-to-month drop in two years, and one of the steepest declines among more than two dozen Canadian cities.

However, Calgary homeowners can relax, as the Statistics Canada report Monday also shows that new home prices in the oil-rich city were still more than 50 per cent higher than a year earlier, easily the steepest increase of any city.

And the city’s housing boom will not likely go bust as it did in the early 1980s, said a housing market consulting firm.

The surge in housing prices is similar to the city’s previous boom three decades ago, said Clayton Research Associates in a separate analysis Monday.

“But several other ‘giant killers’ of the mid-1970s and early 1980s boom — like escalating interest rates and plunging oil prices — are unlikely to come into play this time around,” it added in its monthly housing report.

Meanwhile, prices in Canada’s other really hot housing market, Edmonton, remained hot in October, rising a further 2.2 per cent from September, the steepest increase of any city, and were 41.1 per cent higher than a year earlier, the second steepest increase.

And while overall new house prices in Canada edged up just 0.2 per cent during the month, the smallest increase in more than a year, prices were still 11.4 per cent higher than a year earlier, although year-to-year gains in all other cities were in single digits with prices in two — Victoria and Windsor — being slightly lower.

The real estate industry expects housing sales this year will reach a sixth straight record high despite what has been a slowdown in sales in recent months.

While the housing boom has faded in most parts of the country, homeowners have had a good run, and not just in the increases in the value of their homes.

Homeowners have also seen their incomes rise over the past decade and half, something which renters haven’t, according to a separate report Monday into the state of housing in Canada by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.

A modest 3.3-per-cent increase in real after-tax median household incomes between 1990 and 2003 masks divergent trends for owners, who saw their incomes rise 4.5 per cent, and renters, who saw theirs fall 4.8 per cent, CMHC said.

Meanwhile, the housing market has not only been good to homeowners, but good for the overall economy as well, CMHC also said.

“The housing sector made a significant contribution to the Canadian economy in 2005, with strong employment growth, rising incomes and low mortgage rates fuelling sustained housing demand and high levels of new construction, resales, renovation and mortgage lending activity,” it said.

The strength of housing construction in recent years, the highest since the late 1980s housing boom, has also occurred in spite of a slowing in population growth and an aging of the population, it noted.

“With population growth slowing, and immigration typically in excess of 200,000 per year, net international migration now accounts for approximately two-thirds of population growth in Canada,” it said, suggesting that will continue.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

Derrick Penner
Sun

Construction in the industrial, commercial and institutional sectors will pack an ever bigger economic wallop in the coming years totalling $17.3 billion in 2008, up from $11.4 billion in 2005, according to Credit Union Central B.C.

Credit Union Central economist David Hobden said the boom is being driven by factors including the province’s strong economic growth, consumer spending and disposable income growth.

And while 25 per cent of the estimated spending will be on public-sector infrastructure, 75 per cent will come out of private-sector pockets for development of B.C.’s oil-and-gas sector, pipeline construction and independent power projects.

“Government spending was growing a little faster [than private sector spending] over the past three years,” Hobden said. “The need for more commercial and industrial buildings hadn’t really shown up yet.

“Now, we’re at a point where vacancies in the business sector is pretty well used up, and that’s the real growth emphasis now.”

The Credit Union Central forecast is based on measures of gross-domestic-product growth, which is expected to remain strong, and lists of possible projects, such as the provincial government’s major projects inventory, which now stands at $110 billion worth of potential work over the next several years.

Jock Finlayson, executive vice-president of the Business Council of B.C., said the Credit Union Central forecast is on fairly solid ground, based on projects that are underway, such as Olympic venues and the Canada Line rapid transit. Many other projects, from ski resorts and hotels to mines, have already been committed.

“[Construction] is the biggest growth engine in the B.C. economy at the moment, and that’ll certainly continue probably through the rest of the decade,” Finlayson said. James Brander, an economics professor in the Sauder School of Business at the

University of B.C., said construction, traditionally, is not a stable component of the economy, because “it can go south in a hurry.”

Brander said that, if energy prices were to suddenly drop or the economy were to turn sharply hurting commodity prices, then many of B.C.’s big projects would likely be delayed or shelved.

Currently, however, energy and commodities continue to boom and “my best guess is that the chance of a real downturn in the next two or three years is pretty low.”

Finlayson said the bigger issue is whether the construction sector will have enough capacity and enough workers to build projects on time and on budget.

BUILDING BOOM

Non-residential construction, already at a high level, is set to soar to an even higher one, according to Credit Union Central B.C.

Spending

2005 $11.4 billon

2006 $13 billion*

2007 $15.4 billion**

2008 $17.3 billion**

* Estimate

** Forecast

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

‘Inching to a balanced market’

Ashley Ford
Province

New-home prices keep edging up in Greater Vancouver but the high-flying markets of Calgary and Victoria are starting to see some price easing, Statistics Canada said in its latest new-housing price index released yesterday.

While Vancouver prices edged ahead 0.5 per cent in October, Victoria prices trimmed their sails by 0.5 per cent.

In oil-rich Calgary, where double-digit increases have been the norm, prices slipped by the same amount, the first drop since November 2004.

Nationally, housing prices in October edged up by 0.2 per cent, the smallest monthly increase since July 2005 and below economists expectations of a 0.5 per cent.

Derek Burelton, an economist with the Toronto-Dominion Bank, said all of that is growing evidence that Canada’s housing market is finally cooling.

“We have seen some sales slowdown in the resale markets and that appears to be making its way through to new housing.”

But it is still too early to say whether house prices have peaked and are ready for a major correction. Burelton said the market is “inching to a balanced market.”

StatsCan numbers show new- home prices rose in 11 of the 21 major metropolitan areas it surveys, with Edmonton leading the pack with a 2.2-per-cent increase in prices.

“Higher costs for construction materials, labour rates and an active housing market continued to be factors driving prices,” Statscan said.

Greater Vancouver housing starts remain strong.

The latest numbers from Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. show starts rising by five per cent last month to 1,405 units compared with a year ago.

The market remains dominated by multiple-unit starts and is expected to provide a wider selection of housing for consumers and improve housing affordability.

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builder’s Association, said: “We will see some softening of prices for some building materials but they will most likely be offset by increased costs of land and development charges imposed by municipalities.

“We expect to match last year’s housing-start numbers and see them fall marginally to around 17,000 next year, which is still a very strong market,” he said.

“Most pundits see prices increasing but level off around the six- to seven-per-cent mark.”

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

If you think B.C.’s construction industry has been busy, you ain’t seen nothing yet, Credit Union Central predicts

Paul Luke
Province

B.C.’s non-residential construction sector is surging into a white-hot future, says a new report. The already blistering pace of non-residential building across the province will accelerate as investment pours into transportation, commercial, industrial and institutional projects, Credit Union Central of B.C. said yesterday.

Total provincial spending on non-residential building should bound to $17.3 billion in 2008 from $11.4 billion last year, the report said.

That represents average annual growth of 15 per cent, up from 12.6 per cent annually for the period from 2003 to 2005.

“B.C.’s boom in non-residential construction is being driven by many factors, including robust growth in provincial GDP, consumer spending, disposable income and employment,” Central economist Dave Hobden said.

“Moderate growth in population, relatively low and stable interest rates and China’s surging economy are other significant factors.”

Non-residential construction comprises transportation and utility projects, as well as commercial, institutional and industrial buildings.

Growth in real gross domestic product from the non-residential sector should average 8.8 per cent a year through 2008. That’s up from 6.3 per cent over the past three years, the Central report said.

Building construction will generate the fastest-growth rate in GDP, followed by repairs and heavy engineering, Central said.

Growth should be spread widely over the province, the report said.

The building binge means the sector will account for more than seven per cent of all growth in B.C.’s real GDP from 2006 to 2008.

Surging construction will fuel dramatic employment growth.

The non-residential workforce should jump to more than 119,000 people in 2008 from 89,100 in 2005, the report said.

“Seventy per cent of forecast growth will be in specialized trades working for equipment, foundation, structural, envelope and finishing contractors,” Central said.

“The remaining 30 per cent will be in direct employment with builders and developers.”

Self-employed workers will account for more than half of the sector’s forecast job growth. Engineering projects account for about two-thirds of total construction investment in non-residential, the report said.

– – –

WHERE ARE YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK TODAY?

Estimated capital costs for non-residential projects in the B.C. government’s Major Projects Inventory total just under $80 billion, up almost $23 billion from a year earlier.

Here are 10 major non-residential projects in the Lower Mainland from the inventory:

– RAV Canada line — estimated cost: $1.9 billion

– Vancouver International Airport expansion — estimated cost: $1.78 billion

– Proposed Port Mann Bridge twinning/Highway 1 widening — estimated cost: $1.5 billion

– Proposed Cogburn magnesium quarry and ore-processing plant in Hope — estimated cost: $1.3 billion US

– Proposed Coquitlam Light Rail Transit Line (Evergreen line) — estimated cost: $953 million

– Proposed South Fraser Perimeter Road in Surrey — estimated cost: $800 million

– Proposed Golden Ears Bridge in Langley — estimated cost: $650 million

– Vancouver Convention Centre expansion — estimated cost: $615 million

– Sea-to-Sky Highway upgrade — estimated cost: $600 million

– GVRD Capilano and Seymour Water Filtration plant — estimated cost $600 million

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Deborah Curran
Sun

The Agricultural Land Reserve and housing affordability have generated significant discussion in 2006.

Most recently, on Nov. 29 in The Vancouver Sun, Philip Hochstein decried the lack of affordable housing in Greater Vancouver. No one can argue with his characterization of the problem and the need for more affordable housing.

However, beyond his statement of need, Hochstein’s proposed solution regrettably resembles a 1950s style of urban development.

He suggests that one of the answers to creating more housing supply is to build on the ALR and Green Zone in the Lower Mainland. As modern cities the world over are discovering, sprawl — which is what Hochstein is advocating — is not the answer. Smart growth and density are.

Greater Vancouver still has a large amount of underused urban space, which presents an opportunity to densify to create more affordable housing.

Indeed, this vision for compact, complete communities that includes significant regional farmlands has been affirmed by the public time and again over the past decade. It is clear that Greater Vancouverites have said No to following the inefficient, low-density example of Los Angeles-style sprawl.

Starting with the Livable Regions Strategic Plan, and being affirmed with the CityPlus process and myriad public opinion polls, residents understand that more compact development is a more efficient way to improve housing affordability and quality of life.

For example, in 1997 a Viewpoints Research public opinion survey reported that 72 per cent of British Columbians believe it should be difficult to remove land from the ALR and 90 per cent believe that government should protect farmers and farmland by limiting urban development.

Hochstein’s suggestion to build on natural green space and agricultural lands as a strategy to combat affordable housing is short-sighted.

Starting with the ALR, the agricultural community in B.C. produces the most blueberries, cranberries and raspberries of any province in the country. The ALR is a non-renewable resource that generates more than $2.3 billion in gross annual farm gate receipts, pays $405 million in wages and has a $2.11-billion impact on B.C.’s gross domestic product.

In the past 30 years, 36,000 hectares of agricultural land in B.C. have been converted to urban uses, and at present we produce only 50 per cent of our food needs in the province.

The ALR, a mere five per cent of the land base in the province, is our working landscape for food security in this era of rising oil costs. When compared with affordable housing, food security and feeding a growing population are equally important long-term needs, or slices of the quality-of-life pie.

From a supply and demand perspective, research from the United States over the past decade has shown that rising land prices are more closely tied to population increases (meaning emigration and immigration) and construction costs, not to constraints in the supply of land.

Prices rise equally quickly and reach thresholds of non-affordability in places with few or no growth controls (e.g. Seattle, Calgary, Toronto, Houston, Denver.)

This research has also shown that those places with limited land supply, such as Portland and Boulder, have the most successful housing affordability strategies that reflect the smart-growth principle of being able to live in the same neighbourhood through all stages of one’s life.

Finally, one cannot ignore the simple fact that land cost per residential unit decreases as density increases.

The citizens of Greater Vancouver and the rest of the province have a new vision for moving forward — not backward.

The era of paving over undeveloped land and sprawling across every metre of agricultural land is over. Sprawl is not the answer and the ALR is no longer an urban reserve.

Our solutions lie in developing smart, compact, well-designed communities that include green space and local food production.

Deborah Curran is a land use lawyer and founding member of Smart Growth BC, a provincial non-governmental organization that supports the development of compact, complete communities.

© The Vancouver Sun 2006