Warehouse-type district changing into the next Yaletown in style and spirit

Jeani Read
Province

Developer Leon Bogner likes the way his company picks sites in the city — “a little ahead of the curve,” he says.

Bogner was an early developer in Yaletown, transforming a warehouse into a development called the New Yorker, and also fast on the ground in Mount Pleasant — now South Main — with SoMa.

Now, Downtown South in Vancouver is due for some upgrading, and here Bogner Developments is again, one of the first kids on the block, offering a boutique apartment development called Pure.

Downtown South is that business district bounded by Burrard, Homer, Pacific and Robson and it’s expecting some big changes. Planners forecast the population in this area will grow by almost 10,000 people over the next 15 years. Parks, pedestrian and transit improvements, additional childcare spaces and affordable housing are all in the forecast — plus lots of major market housing like Pure. Bogner is really fond of being in at the start of things, when areas are still a bit edgy and new, and this fits the bill perfectly.

“There hasn’t been anything new built there in a long time,” says Bogner. “[Pure] will be cutting-edge and trendy, with Italian-style cabinets and ceramic tile on the floors — very European-looking. Sleek, minimalist, very hip and cool.”

There will be a variety of homes in the building, including some loft-style suites on the lower floors, and then, from the sixth to the 15th floor, a great idea — four suites only per floor, so each ends up being a corner suite. It’s an idea that somehow encourages people to get to know each other, too — another element Bogner likes to introduce to city dwelling. Although the concept is slightly different in his earlier New Yorker building, he was thrilled to hear someone describe living there as being like living in an episode of Friends — and he hopes the same sense of community will take hold at Pure. It’s a positive mindset that does everything from making buddies out of neighbours and creating the kind of pride-of-place that will keep the four-letter words from being scribbled on the elevator walls.

Jay Fines, a 32-year-old construction worker who has bought a studio at Pure, has similar hopes.

Fines now owns and lives in a house in White Rock, so may rent our his pied a terre at first, but saw buying at Pure as his chance to get a foothold into the downtown market. He envisions moving in as soon as he wants a hit of city life.

First, he loves the location for being accessible to everything yet not smack in the hurly-burly of Yaletown. “The location stands out,” he says. “It’s two blocks from the little Granville Island ferry and down the street from what will be a new Skytrain station at Davie, but it’s out of the hustle and bustle.”

And the intimacy of the development stands out, too. Fines works on a lot of the giant developments going up downtown: “People are all jammed in,” he says. “With 15 floors [Pure is] smaller, and homey — in an apartment.”

He also likes the clean, simple lines of the interiors. “That really appealed to me,” he says.

And the icing on the cake? Other people he knows have bought into the building, too. That’s right: friends.

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THE FACTS

PURE

What: Pure is 73 boutique homes in a 15-floor tower in Vancouver

Where: 1600-block Hornby Street, Downtown South, Vancouver

Developed by: Bogner Development Group Ltd.

Sizes: 597 sq. ft. to 938 sq. ft.

Prices: $359,900 -$1.2 million

Contact: Open daily from noon to 5 p.m., 1234 Hornby St., Floor 22, 604-806-0755, livingpure.ca

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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