Frances Bula
Sun

Vancouver is planning to tighten the rules in yet another central-city neighbourhood to prevent too much condo development, while at the same time offering new incentives for builders to create job space.

Burrard Slopes, the industrial-commercial area that faces downtown between Granville Island and Burrard Street, is the latest subject of the planning department’s efforts to preserve retail and office space in a market where condos have increasingly been trumping other uses.

Planner Phil Nolan said a few recent projects had “raised some alarm bells.”

One project put only a minimal amount of retail at the street level underneath a larger condo development. Another developer worked out a deal with the city that allowed a two-lot development to put all its condos on one lot and all the commercial space on another. That broke the normal rule for that area, which required all buildings to have commercial space at the street level.

“It was the same amount of space [as would normally be allowed for residential] but it looks different visually,” Nolan said.

If council approves the planning department’s recommendations Thursday, the city will require that, in any new development in the area, there be as much space built for commercial uses as for residential uses.

As well, the new zoning will allow the city to give a developer more space than is normally permitted in the area if that developer is building commercial space.

Burrard Slopes has about 1.1 million square feet of commercial space and 110,000 square feet of residential space, including all new projects in the pipeline, said Nolan.

The planning department has been clamping down on residential development in commercial areas for the three years, after analysis showed almost all the development outside the central business district downtown was going to residential. A second study suggested that the city ran the risk of running out of job space in its central areas if that pattern continued.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Frances Bula
Sun

BLUEPRINT FOR GREENING: TODERIAN’S ECODENSITY PLAN REVEALED Vancouver’s planning department, under new head city planner Brent Toderian, has come out with its draft version of an EcoDensity charter, which gives a little more shape to a term that many people have found so broad it’s hard to get hold of. There’s still a lot of discussion ahead before it’s finalized, but initial reactions are mixed. NPA Coun. Suzanne Anton, part of the political team championing it, says it provides some interesting new directions, while fitting in with the work already done in past decades through CityPlan. She likes the new standards for green buildings, the demonstration projects for new kinds of housing projects, and the fact that it will map the city to show where facilities and park space are needed in denser neighbourhoods. But opposition’s Vision Vancouver Coun. Heather Deal says her first take is that there’s a lot of focus on density and not as much on affordability or on the amenities needed for those dense neighbourhoods. And, she says, the standard for green building — LEED Silver — is not that bold. “It’s yesterday’s standard.”

Vancouver‘s ruling party has decided it wants to push the EcoDensity concept as far as it can.

So Non-Partisan Association Coun. Suzanne Anton will come to council today with radical new suggestions that the city’s own planning department didn’t include as part of its just-released draft EcoDensity charter, suggesting that the city:

– Allow extra height and density for buildings on key sites in the city’s heritage neighbourhoods of Gastown, Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside.

– Allow developers extra height on any building if they are willing to help provide some public benefits.

– Allow builders more floor space than the regular zoning permits for single-family houses if they build “green” houses.

Anton said Mayor Sam Sullivan and the NPA caucus agreed to put these sure-to-be-debated ideas out to the public because the EcoDensity initiative is an important one to them and they want to ensure all ideas are considered.

As well, she said, the city needs to find ways to pay for the public services needed for the dense city it is creating.

“If we gave extra density, that would pay for some major public benefits. The aquatic centre needs to be revamped, for example — this would help finance that. Or a new city hall.”

EcoDensity is the name that Sullivan gave an initiative he launched at the World Urban Forum in 2006, aimed at reducing the environmental impact of urban growth by encouraging dense city development.

The city’s planning department, under new head city planner Brent Toderian, has spent the last year working out what that would mean in terms of standards for green building, what kind of density would be encouraged where, what sorts of services a denser city would need, and how to measure “green” development.

The charter it came out with last week made 16 recommendations, ranging from setting new environmental standards for all buildings to allowing coachhouses in laneways and new kinds of demonstration projects.

Anton said the planning department did a good job but had to work within certain limits. “These are political decisions that we are proposing now,” she said.

Anton’s motions, which are being made after considerable discussion among the NPA caucus, have startled her political opponents.

“Why is this coming at the last minute?” said Vision Vancouver Coun. Tim Stevenson. “I find it amazing that this is being done this way. And this is not tinkering. This is a major shift.”

All of the recommendations, both from staff and the NPA councillors, along with any others that get thrown in this week, will go out for discussion at public meetings between now and February.

Staff will come back with recommendations and spend several months working out how to implement the changes.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

An economic boom tied to the construction sector can’t go on forever; we need globally competitive export industries

Jock Finlayson
Sun

Construction cranes create their own skyline on False Creek. What happens when the boom finally ends? Photograph by : Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun

The latest economic forecasts point to another good year for British Columbia.

A hot job market and a thriving construction sector are visible signs that the economy remains on a solid growth track. Most forecasters expect real gross domestic product to expand by around three per cent in 2008 — broadly in line with this year’s showing, albeit below the 4.5 per cent recorded in 2005.

Yet a closer look at what’s driving our economy prompts a more cautious assessment. Today’s positive picture mainly reflects high levels of activity in sectors that cater to domestic demand. In contrast, most industries engaged in exporting are struggling with an increasingly harsh competitive landscape — as evidenced by the fact that B.C.’s exports have been trending down since the start of 2006.

of 40 per cent of the province’s exports. In tandem with the steep downturn in American housing starts, lumber prices have plummeted over the past two years. From $360 US per thousand board feet in early 2006, the benchmark price has slumped to $260 recently. There’s little prospect of a near-term turnaround, as housing in the U.S. remains weighed down by the subprime mortgage crisis and a huge overhang of unsold homes.

Apart from this, Canadian lumber producers — like other exporters — are being badly squeezed by the soaring dollar. As our currency has risen, both lumber and pulp and paper companies have been receiving fewer Canadian dollars in terms of their U.S.-dollar sales.

For every one-cent increase in the Canadian dollar, the B.C. forest industry takes a $170-million hit. The roughly 20-per-cent rise in the dollar against the U.S. greenback since the start of 2007 has cost our forest industry in the vicinity of $3 billion. So it’s hardly surprising to see some B.C. mills closing and others taking downtime.

Next, consider energy, B.C.’s second biggest export category. Oil and gas companies operating in the northeast have been slashing capital expenditures and scaling back drilling activity. The number of wells drilled this year is down sharply from 2006. Lower North American natural gas prices are the principal culprit, although escalating drilling and production costs are also an issue. Recent projections suggest little improvement in market conditions in 2008.

Metallurgical coal prices for B.C. miners have also fallen, from $125 US per tonne in 2005 to just $85 in 2007. Fortunately, the picture is better for the province’s metal miners, as global prices for gold and other key base metals have stayed high thanks to buoyant demand from China and other emerging markets. However, revenues for Canadian coal and metal miners have been eroded by the strong dollar.

Another vital export sector is tourism. The industry in B.C. has been buffeted by a multi-year fall-off in American visitors, with border delays, higher gas prices and the skyrocketing Canadian dollar all taking a toll. Year to date, the number of overnight U.S. visitors is down another two per cent from 2006, while same-day visitors are down almost 10 per cent. Overseas visitor numbers have held up better, but the hard reality is that the U.S. accounts for most of the province’s international tourism business.

Several other export-based industries with a significant presence in B.C. are also grappling with a worsening competitive situation, primarily because of the dollar’s record-breaking surge. Examples include film production, greenhouse growers, call centres, plastics manufacturers and parts of the high-tech sector.

With so many exporters suffering, how is it that B.C.’s overall economy continues to perform well?

The answer lies in unusually robust conditions in domestically oriented sectors — construction, real estate, retail and other consumer services, and much of the public sector.

Supported by steady employment gains and higher wages, retail sales are up seven per cent so far in 2007. Housing starts are running at more than 30,000 per year — a healthy pace by any standard. And the value of non-residential building permits has climbed by 11 per cent this year, on the heels of an even bigger jump in 2006.

Business council research shows that seven of the 10 fastest-growing industries in B.C. are part of or closely tied to the broad construction sector. While welcome, the present construction boom cannot be sustained.

As a small open economy, the province needs vibrant and globally competitive export industries — a point emphasized by the B.C. Competition Council in its June 2006 report to government.

Against the backdrop of $100 oil, a high Canadian dollar, tumbling U.S. housing starts, and intensifying global competition, the competition council’s advice is even more compelling than 18 months ago.

Among other things, the competition council urged the government to continue to focus on streamlining environmental and land use regulations, recommended an expanded sales tax exemption for investments in information and communication technologies, called for concerted action to lower property taxes on major industry, and highlighted the need to maintain B.C.’s traditional advantage of low-cost electricity.

As Finance Minister Carole Taylor and her colleagues work to flesh out a budget and define an economic policy agenda for 2008 and beyond, they would be well advised to revisit the competition council’s report and to renew the government’s efforts to improve the business climate for B.C.’s increasingly hard-pressed export industries.

Jock Finlayson is executive vice-president of the Business Council of British Columbia.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

Traditional firms are not thrilled by Nicolas Bouchard’s success

Sarah Dougherty
Province

Nicolas Bouchard figured out 10 years ago that the Net was a good place to put a lot of information of interest to people buying and selling homes. Francis Vachon – CanWest News Service/Montreal Gazette

Growing up in a Quebec City suburb, Nicolas Bouchard could have easily followed the family tradition and become a real estate agent.

But Bouchard has vivid memories of his father’s pager ringing seven days a week. “How many Sunday dinners were interrupted by clients? — I wanted to have quality of life.”

Then Bouchard stumbled on a real-estate business model with a difference: Internet companies in the U.S. were helping consumers buy and sell homes without agents.

Bouchard figured he could make the same concept fly. In 1997, at age 21, he launched DuProprio.com, a website where owners can list and sell properties for a flat fee instead of the traditional commission.

The business Bouchard started in his parents’ basement has come a long way. Revenues topped $2 million last year and are higher in 2007. DuProprio claims to have saved consumers close to $237 million in commissions.

Bouchard is now rolling out his business model in other provinces, with an English site called ByTheOwner.com. Along the way, he has ticked off traditional real-estate firms, which see an upstart eating into their market share.

Bouchard runs his company from Charny, near Quebec City. He oversees a team of 70, including 35 employees and 35 subcontracted field representatives.

He has representatives in B.C., the Maritimes and Manitoba, but is waiting before jumping into Alberta, where two competitors, WeList.com and comfree.com, are already active.

DuProprio landed its first clients by soliciting homeowners with for-sale signs on their lawns.

Seed money from his parents helped Bouchard hire employees and build the company. DuProprio says 16,700 properties have been sold to date through its website and claims an average success rate of 64 per cent.

Sellers pay a flat fee up front that varies according to location and type of property. The average fee is $400 but will rise to $500 next year.

The fee buys sellers a website listing of six months to one year, depending on the type of property, and professional photos.

Sellers get a customized poster for their lawn and online tools to help them write a description, prepare their home for sale and negotiate. A DuProprio sales representative visits about 90 per cent of clients to help set up a listing. Bouchard and his team talk to clients and the public through their blog.

Vendors can download standard offer-to-purchase forms and use a software program to compare prices. Buyers browse for free.

DuProprio is not a licensed real-estate brokerage, nor are its field reps certified agents. The company doesn’t offer legal advice, but clients will soon be able to buy this advice under an agreement with Centract, a real-estate services company.

Traditional brokers and agents are licensed and regulated under provincial law. DuProprio has done an end-run around provincial regulations by not purporting to be a brokerage or using agents.

But Robert Nadeau, head of the group that applies those regulations, says he is keeping an eye on Bouchard’s business practices. The more DuProprio offers sellers advice — on how to set a price, for example — the closer the company comes to infringing on the exclusive jurisdiction of brokers and agents, said Nadeau, president of the Association des courtiers et agents immobiliers du Québec.

“A real estate transaction is complicated and people don’t want to have problems. Without them, the consumer has no protection,” Nadeau said, referring to the quality standards, insurance and professional liability fund that come with using licensed brokers and agents.

“Maybe they think they are saving on commissions,” Nadeau said of DuProprio’s clients. “But did they get the same price [for their property] as if they’d used an agent?”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Tony Gioventu
Province

Dear Condo Smarts:

We had a new roof done on our townhouses in April of this year. It took six months and the company provided us with a 10-year warranty.

In a rain storm a few weeks ago, one of the units was seriously damaged by a defect in the installation, resulting in the water running under the flashing. We immediately contacted the company, but to date, nothing has been done. The company says they did not have the time to return and now we find out they’ve gone out of business.

How do we get them to honour their warranty? It looks like we might be stuck with these repairs and a poor roofing job.

— CK, Langley

Dear CK: There are several types of warranties but the most common are warranties provided by the contractor or manufacturer, and warranties provided by a third party such as an insurance policy.

Manufacturer/contractor warranties are only as good as the company you hire and whether they have the ability or desire to meet their honoured commitments for their warranties.

A warranty is also a form of a contract, so it’s critical that for every service or product you purchase, you have a clear written agreement regarding terms and conditions.

Never take a verbal guarantee and always read the warranty terms and conditions closely before you sign the contract. A note on a bill that says “service/product warranted for three years” means very little.

Check out the company’s service history. If they’ve only been in business two years, how do you know they’ll be around in five or 10 years?

The other type of warranty involves a third party, often an insurance company that is sufficiently satisfied with the risks and will underwrite a warranty. These warranty systems serve consumers much better, but you must also be careful of the fine print. There can be many exclusions and conditions you have to meet, or the warranty may be null and void.

With any type of warranty, it’s important to document all inspections and maintenance work. As well, document all communication with the service provider or the warranty company. Phone calls should be followed up with a written confirmation of the conversation and the results. When you end up in a court room, your documentation will be critical.

Tony Gioventu is the executive director of the Condominium Home Owners Association (CHOA). Contact CHOA at 604-584-2462 or toll-free at 1-877-353-2462, fax 604-515-9643 or e-mail [email protected].

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Starting at $2.4 M, these suites not for ‘tire-kickers’

Kerry Moore
Province

New high-end hotel and residence includes 123 super-deluxe units that start at $2.4 million

The Ritz-Carlton at 1151 Georgia St., Vancouver, will be 61 stories high, comprising 130 hotel rooms and 123 private residences

High-end furnishings and appliances in kitchen and living areas, above, and deluxe finishing and materials in bathrooms, below, are standard for buyers of suites such as these, says the development’s marketer, Bob Rennie.

“Luxury living like this only works in major cities where there are the busy, luxury-oriented travellers. And in Canada, that would be Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary.

“And, yes, the executive and the business traveller now sees Vancouver as a world-class city,” says Bob Rennie, CEO for Rennie Marketing Systems.

He is talking about the Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Vancouver, where the target buyer isn’t a tire-kicker but someone who has enjoyed staying in luxury hotels and who, when sitting on the bed packing up, says: “I could live like this forever.”

“This” is bred by familiarity with and preference for very high-end furnishings and services.

“The buyers want availability.”

Residents will have access to all the five-star hotel’s amenities, including having their car brought to the door. “They may never see the parking garage,” Rennie says. Buyers can use the concierge, the valet parking, spa, housekeeping, and have meals brought up from the hotel’s restaurant. “They can phone home and the lights will be on for them when they walk in.”

According to Rennie, 70 per cent of buyers will have homes elsewhere — “Say, in Hawaii, Palm Springs or on Bowen Island.”

“This is the ultimate city holding. It’s world class and that’s why Arthur Erickson was brought on board.”

Erickson is a Vancouver-based, internationally known architect. But even he had to pass muster.

“We flew to Washington D.C. to meet The Ritz-Carlton design team. They let us have more leeway than seen in previous Ritz-Carlton buildings,” Rennie says.

That leeway is 61 stories with a twist. The building, which will seem to be rotating on its axis, according toErickson, “gives the tower a dynamic vitality. Most buildings in the city are perpendicular . . . so it is quite true that this will be my signature on Vancouver‘s skyline,” Erickson says.

One of the challenges when selling to people who have known the very best is to find the right stuff and to ensure that in three years, the appliances and finishings are still state-of-the art. So the interior design team flew to New York for its research and among the results are Balthaup kitchens with Miele and SubZero appliances.

Buyers will have their choice of three complete kitchen layouts: “Purist” which mixes white with aluminum for the ultimate in Euro-chic; “West Coast” with warm, flared, wood-plank floors and elm cabinets; and “Classic,” a mix of dark aluminum and walnut for serious sophistication. The kitchens are on show in the expansive preview centre, as are two bathrooms and closets “with gorgeous mill work.”

Despite the prices and quality assurance, buying here isn’t like an art auction, Rennie says. “These people will want to see what they are getting. They won’t phone in bids.”

The building will sit at 1151 W. Georgia and is due for completion in 2011. At 61 storeys, it will rival another hotel/residence project, the Shangri-la at 60 storeys.

Tallest of all? No, save that for an 81-storey building under consideration in Surrey. It will be Canada‘s tallest skyscraper upon completion.

THE FACTS

Ritz-Carlton, Vancouver

What: 61-storey tower, 130-room hotel with 123 private residences, including penthouses.

Where: 1151 West Georgia St.

Developer: Holburn Developments (West Georgia) Ltd.

Sizes: 1,200 sq. ft. to 4,000 sq. ft.

Prices: $2.4 to $15 million. Penthouse prices on request.

Open: Presentation centre, 1090 West Georgia, has viewing by appointment only. Information can be found at Vancouversturn.com

© The Vancouver Province 2007

Residential purpose replaces industrial; ‘It’s amazing the change,’ developer says

Sun

In West Pender Place master baths, marble will be the main waterproofing material. Italian marble will top counters. Slabs of marble will show up on the floors. Tiles of marble, or glass, will be used on the surrounds.

Versions of Hannah Hoch’s Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer- Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany ( 1919- 1920, 90 x 144 cm, Staatliche Museum, Berlin) are available through

NEW HOMES

Project Profile

West Pender Place

Location: Downtown Vancouver

Project size: 144 residences,

3 buildings: 36 storeys, 10 storeys, 5 storeys

Residence size: Varies by building, from 800 sq. ft. – 900 sq. ft. and from 1,200 sq. ft. – 2,000 sq. ft.

Prices: Lowest building, from $600,000; taller buildings, from $1 million

Presentation centre: 1409 West Pender

Hours: 12 – 5 p.m., Thu. – Sat.

Telephone: 604-682-6999

Web: westpenderplace.com

Developer: Reliance Properties

Architect: IBI Group

Interior design: Alda Pereira Design

Occupancy: Summer/fall 2010

Westcoast Homes

More than 40 years ago, Reliance Properties built what would be one of the first commercial buildings on the south shore of Coal Harbour. But times have changed and the low-profile property at the corner of West Pender and Broughton Street will soon be replaced with yet another Reliance project — this time, a luxury condominium complex.

West Pender Place is comprised of a 36-storey highrise to the west, a five-storey building in the centre, and a 10-storey midrise on the eastern point of the project designed by IBI Group. Interior designer Ala Pereira has given the interior space a retro feel, harkening to days when Reliance first built the smaller commercial property.

“It’s amazing the change,” Reliance CEO Jon Stovell says of the area.

“Coal Harbour used to be all rail tracks and log booms. This building was initially built in the early 60s as a resource building. Now Coal Harbour has become this premiere residential neighbourhood. It’s the go-to location. It’s right downtown but an urban oasis. That’s why Coal Harbour has incredible demand.”

Reliance is known for specializing in heritage projects, particularly in Gastown. Its heritage work there allowed it to increase density on the West Pender Place site. The largest nearby tower is a 26-storey highrise, but the West Pender Place highrise will have an additional 10 storeys.

West Pender Place will also have 15,000 square feet of retail space on the ground floor level, but all three residential buildings will have their own separate lobbies. This, says Stovell, will add to that feeling of “exclusivity” the architect has created with the residences. There will also be floating panels in metallic gold in the lobbies, giving a soft glow to the decor.

“The architect has done an excellent job,” says Stovell. “The buildings have responded to the site. Two sides are angled and the other two sides are straight.”

He adds it was a challenge for the architect because the site is so shallow, but he is pleased with the design because it allows most of the suites expansive views of the North Shore, even from the second floor.

“There’s a real diversity of unit type, including dramatic urban lofts with a 20-foot-high glass wall with private upper areas. I think those suites will be groundbreaking,” says Stovell.

While some suites, such as the lofts, are unique, all the condos will be built to the same high specifications.

“Everyone gets the same exceptional quality,” says Stovell. “We’re not going to deprive people in the small units.”

That means all suites will have oak hardwood flooring, air conditioning, a custom-designed Italian Dada kitchen, and eight-foot sliding closet doors with brushed metal and back painted glass panels.

The kitchens will have an extra deep kitchen island to allow counter height seating and quartzite slab backsplashes and counter tops. The upper cabinets are done in a high-gloss polyester lacquer, while the lower cabinets are done with rift-cut wood and aluminum edge detailing.

The en suite bathroom features a wall-hung vanity with integrated recessed vanity lighting, full-height mirrors and Italian marble slab countertops. There’s also a frameless clear-glass shower enclosure with glass or marble wall tiles, and rain-shower showerhead. All en suites have either a free standing or built-in soaker tub.

Amenities include 24-hour concierge service, a guest suite, in-house caretaker, fully-equipped gym, pool with lounge opening to an outdoor garden area with built-in barbecue. There’s also a steam/sauna area with his and hers change rooms and a conference/activity room.

HOW TO REALLY DO DADA ON WEST PENDER

What follows is an aside, an artwork suggestion for the eventual West Pender Place households and their Dada kitchens and German appliances. It is one result of asking Google for returns on the words ‘Dada kitchen.’

The 11th return was a photomontage “Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany” (1919 –1920).

Its creator was a German Dadaist, Hannah Hoch (1889 — 1978).

On the Internet, Hoch is lauded as a Dada and feminist original, the latter because she was one of the few Dadaists who was a woman and because of her pioneering exposition of feminist themes in her artwork.

In a West Pender Place home, a reproduction of anything by Hoch would seem so right for site, something different, obscure even, from the Old World commensurate to the presence of Italian cabinetry and German appliances in a home located in the most distant reaches of the New World.

The Dada cabinetry in the West Pender Place kitchens will have different finishes. The upper will be finished in a high-gloss lacquer; the lower, rift-cut veneers, with edges in aluminum.

Quartzite will top counters and face the backsplashes.

Gaggenau (“founded in 1681 in Germany“) will supply all the kitchen appliances except the refrigerator. Sub-Zero will supply it.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007