One-bedroom units already sold out
Sun
Chief and chef in the new Georgia Residences sales centre, the president of the property’s developer, Bruce Langereis of Delta Group, poses with David Hawksworth. Photograph by : Bill Keay, Vancouver Sun
The organizers of the Private Residences at the Hotel Georgia sales campaign have moved quarters and added a selling tool, a chef.
The sales centre’s new address is 549 Howe, between Pender and Dunsmuir. The start of the remodel of the old Hotel Georgia, site of the inaugural sales centre, forced the relocation. The chef is Vancouverite David Hawksworth.
Dana Volrich of Sotheby’s International Realty Canada, the Residences’ broker, took on the job of explaining why a culinary master is a catch and a half for the Residences’ sales campaign.
“One of Vancouver‘s most celebrated chefs, recognized not just locally but internationally, in combination with Vancouver‘s most celebrated hotel makes the neighbouring Private Residences a singular offering,” she says. “Chef Hawksworth’s restaurant will play a key role in the hotel’s identity as an authentically ‘Vancouver’ hotel featuring not only a multi-award-winning chef, but the 80 years of history wrapped up within its elegant Georgian exterior.”
Typical of hotel-homes, the hotel’s amenities will be available to Residences’ residents. Hawksworth’s fare will be available in the privacy of their homes “just by dialling room service.”
A leavetaking is always a good time to take stock.
– Half of the 156 Private Residences apartments are bought. “Because the floor plans sold fairly evenly, we have a good balance of suites available, except in one bedrooms, which are sold out,” Volrich reports. The starting price on the remaining homes is $1.3 million; the smallest square footage, about 1,100.
– Most of the buyers are local. “The majority are from B.C., but there is a strong international buying contingent, from the U.S. and the U.K. and Hong Kong, Switzerland and France.”
– The values the luxury-home customer seeks from a home are different.
“The market is far less speculative in this category,” Volrich says. Buyers are more sophisticated than ever — and have more choices than ever — as to where to spend their money. They are concerned not so much about cost, but about the over-all value and quality of what they are buying: They want to know they are buying the best in contemporary design and technology; they’re also looking for location and uniqueness in the marketplace. At the Private Residences at Hotel Georgia, our buyers are looking to make a long-term investment rather than to flip. “
As you might expect, a sales centre in a historic landmark attracted many just-looking-thanks visitors.
“Many people came through who had very fond memories of the Hotel Georgia, stylish lunches, after-work drinks . . . .” Volrich reports.
“Two ladies who had worked together in housekeeping for many years, and many years ago, and who had remained friends stopped by. They were excited to witness the return of glamour and luxury to what they remember as ‘the place in town.'”
Want dinner prepared by David Hawksworth in your home?
Telephone 604-682-8107 or visit residencesatgeorgia.com on the Internet.
© The Vancouver Sun 2008
