Other

Download Document

Other

Download Document

Glen Korstrom
Other

The marketers of Village on False Creek sold six units on the weekend and are outpacing their own sales expectations, Rennie Marketing Systems owner Bob Rennie told Business in Vancouver yesterday.

Fewer than 200 of the village’s 737 units are left to sell, the company told BIV.

Many recent sales have been in the high-end Canada House, which was designed by late architectural legend Arthur Erickson and housed Canadian athletes during the 2010 Olympics.

Units at Canada House range between $1.2 million and $7 million, Rennie said.

Sales include 34 of the 40 units in the Canada House West building and 11 of the 20 units in the Canada House East building.

“I didn’t think [in early 2011] that I would bring Canada House to market until September of this year,” Rennie said. “So, we’re well ahead of our scheduled releases.”

Richard Chu
Van. Courier

Metro Vancouver’s commercial real estate market remains stable, according to the latest CBRE Ltd. reports.

The company’s second-quarter industrial report for the region noted that the overall availability rate of industrial property remained unchanged from the first quarter’s 7.3 per cent. The regional vacancy rate rose 30 basis points to 4.7 per cent but has risen from a two-year low reported in the first three months of the year.

Leasing activity has picked up in 2012 after a slowdown in 2011’s latter half as distribution and logistics companies have had a surge in confidence with exports up 10.5 per cent year over year in April and freight shipments through Port Metro Vancouver rising 12.8 per cent in May.

Meanwhile, the region’s office market has experienced a minor increase in vacancy and negative absorption as business confidence continued to moderate over continued global economic concerns. While the region’s office vacancy rate edged up 40 basis points to 8 per cent, key markets remain tight. Vacancy rates for triple-A office space downtown remains at record lows of 0.7 per cent, and second-quarter single-A office space was at 1.8 per cent.

Leasing activity in the region has remained stable, with gross leasing of 664,190 square feet in the quarter, a bit more activity than in the year’s first quarter. But CBRE’s office market report predicted activity in the rest of the year will remain muted with economic uncertainty affecting demand, primarily in the suburban office market, where large tenant deals have declined.

However, the region’s new inventory continues to expand significantly. Nearly a million square feet of new industrial property has been built, and 2.2 million square feet of office space is under construction.

In the retail space, mall owners and developers remain optimistic about the local market as 4.8 million square feet of retail space is being added in the region over the next few years.

© Copyright (c) Vancouver Courier

Other

Download Document

Fall colours could herald an upturn in housing sales, as mortgage rates continue at historic lows

Other

Download Document

Carlito Pablo
Other

Building condos on top of a church isn’t heresy for Rev. Jim Smith.

According to the Presbyterian minister, his Vancouver congregation is pioneering this development concept, which he says could serve as a model for other urban-based churches.

“It’s a new way of being able to provide for the church to expand what we do,” Smith told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview. “This is being financed by the church with its property and the sale of the condos. And I think that they can coexist.”

Smith is the minister of the Central Presbyterian Church. The flock wants to redevelop its West End property on Thurlow Street into a 21-storey tower.

Based on an initial plan, the top 14 floors will be devoted to condos. The four storeys below are going to contain subsidized rentals geared mostly to seniors. The bottom three floors will house a new church and community spaces.

“We’re about community, and the West End is about community, isn’t it?” Smith said. “Rather than have some kind of a ghettoization where you have a building that is only exclusive, we anticipate and look forward to an interaction between all of the people that are in the building.”

Built in 1975, the current church is in use from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week, according to the minister. Two other congregations share the facility. Various community groups also use the church, from a Montessori school to an Alcoholics Anonymous group.

“We just have no more time or space to make available to groups in the community,” Smith said.

The congregation intends to submit a letter of inquiry to city hall in early September as the next step in its redevelopment plan.

“We’ve been here for a hundred years,” Smith said. “We plan to be here for another hundred years, rather than sell the property, take the money, and run away. We want to stay.”

Housing firm aims wrecking ball at Vancouver heritage home

Naoibh O