Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Vancouver has overtaken Toronto as Canada’s most expensive city for expatriates according to an annual ranking.

Mercer’s Cost of Living Survey is designed to help multinational companies and governments determine compensation allowances for their expatriate employees. Cities are ranked against New York City and costs are ranked against the US dollar.

Vancouver has risen 35 places in 2017 compared to last year but remains well down the global rankings at number 107 with Toronto at 117. Montreal (129), Calgary (143) and Ottawa (152) are also on the list.

“Although the cost of living in Vancouver or Toronto may be high for locals, both cities remain attractive destinations for expatriates placed by organizations outside the country,” says Gordon Frost, Partner and Leader of Mercer Canada’s Career business. “Global costs give us some perspective: compared to the rest of the world, even with a strong dollar, Canada remains relatively affordable.”

The most expensive city for firms to relocate employees is Luanda in Angola followed by Hong Kong, Tokyo, Zurich and Singapore.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Live-aboard former minesweeper has nearly 5,000 square feet and 18 bedrooms

GORDON MCINTYRE
The Vancouver Sun

It sleeps 38, the patio is huge, is admittedly a fixer-upper, but the sticker says it’s only $299,000.

“That’s all in,” realtor Judy Ross said.

The 151 Water Street, a converted 152-foot minesweeper that is now a live-aboard ship, is for sale, much as that saddens owner Mike Fournier.

“Yes, I will miss it, immensely,” said Fournier, who, approaching 60, is only three years younger than the boat itself.

“Owning this boat is just one of those things, a rare opportunity, a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

So when he saw it for sale two years ago, he leaped.

“It was a race. My wife was looking for some property, I was looking for a boat and I won.”

In all, there’s almost 5,000 square feet; the back deck, or patio, alone is 900 square feet.

She started life as the HMCS Fortune 151, a Cold War Bay-class minesweeper that slept 65.

Fournier has a dossier of National Defence papers listing some of its operations, including the Fortune being the flagship of the Second Canadian Minesweeping Squadron during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

After being decommissioned in 1964, she became Greenpeace Two, bought for her ability to ferry a large number of protesters fairly quickly to Amchitka Island in Alaska where the U.S. was conducting nuclear tests.

She then became the yacht Edgewater Fortune, chartered by school, fishing and touring groups.

When Fournier bought her in 2015, he got the name 151 Water Street from her hull number in her navy days.

“And Water Street is because we

live on the water.”

You could get lost inside the ship, at least until you get your bearings.

Four dozen or so keys hang on hooks inside a glass-doored case, one for every door on board. In fact, the Fourniers gave each room a name because at first “we’d never know where we were otherwise.”

There is the usual assortment of pipes, valves, dials, low ceilings, tight crawlways and steep steps you’d expect on a navy ship.

It’s powered by a pair of 1,250-horsepower General Motors engines that drive two six-foot propellers. The fuel tank holds 70,000 litres of diesel (you’ll need about an $85,000 limit on your Visa).

“By my rough math, 70,000 litres would get you to Hawaii and half the way back, so you better refill there,” Fournier said.

The bridge has been enclosed, but the original controls are in place (for show). The captain would telegraph instructions to the engineer deep in the back bowels of the ship — but it still takes eight minutes for the rudders to fully respond, so sudden turns are out of the question.

The master bedroom and ensuite were tastefully renovated — there are 18 bedrooms in total. All in all, Fournier estimates there are about 5,000 square feet.

In the end, mould and dust got the best of his wife’s allergies, thus the for-sale sign.

“When Mike came to me about buying it, I said, ‘OK, we’ve done a lot of crazy things in our life, I’ll give it a year,’” Janice Fournier said. “There are some great memories.”

Real estate agent Ross specializes in float homes and calls her business Vancouver Unique Homes.

The 151 Water Street is about as unique as they come, she said.

“This is at the top of the list, absolutely,” Ross, who has previously sold two live-aboard boats, said. “This is the most unique, living-onthe-water property I’ve ever sold.”

There has been a lot of interest, a lot of kicking the, uh, lifesavers, but offers have fallen through because of financing.

“We’ve had a lot of offers, they’ve been accepted, but unfortunately various problems came about. They’re next to impossible to finance.”

Fournier declined to say how much he paid for the ship two years ago.

“I’m glad I did it, 100 per cent. I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Justin da Rosa
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Foreign buyers are showing increasing interest in the Montreal market, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

The foreign buyer segment showed strong growth in 2016, which has continued into 2017, with 235 foreign buyers recorded in Montreal from January to April of this year.

That represents a nearly 40% year-over-year increase for the same period a year prior.

Despite the growing overseas interest, foreign buyers still account for a very small portion of Montreal’s real estate sales.

“Although the number of foreign buyers has continued to increase in the Montréal area since the beginning of 2017, purchases by foreign buyers represent only about 2% of all transactions in the residential market,” Francis Cortellino, principal market analyst, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said.

Chinese buyers, in particular, showed great interest in Montreal real estate this year, according to CMHC, which published the report based on the Government of Quebec land register data.

They now represent 17% of all foreign buyers in Montreal’s residential housing market, up from 10% a year ago.

“From January to April, 2017, 40 percent of Chinese buyers opted for single-family homes compared with 28 percent for U.S. buyers and 17 percent for buyers from France,” CMHC said in its report. “Buyers from China also more often chose homes in the municipalities of the Island of Montréal surrounding the city of Montréal than buyers from the U.S. or France.”

The growing interest could be related to Vancouver and Toronto’s implementation of respective 15% sales taxes on overseas buyers within their markets, which could force foreign interest elsewhere.

It remains to be seen whether or not Montreal follows suit; but with a mere 2% market share being bought by foreign buyers, their influence on the market doesn’t appear to be significant.

Copyright © 2017 Key Media Pty Ltd

Seven Peaks townhome project will be a first for Polygon in Squamish

Michael Bernard
The Vancouver Sun

Project: Seven Peaks, Squamish

Project location: 39548 Loggers Lane

Project Size/Scope: 70 three-bedroom-and-flex and four-bedroom townhomes built immediately adjacent to the town’s recreational centre. Located under an hour’s drive via Sea to Sky Highway to downtown Vancouver and 45 minutes to Whistler. Access to outdoors recreation, including hiking, cross-country skiing, paddle boarding and mountain biking

Prices: From low $699,900 for homes ranging from 1,485 to 1,795 sq. ft.

Developer: Polygon Seven Peaks Ltd.

Architect: Barnett Dembek Architects Inc.

Interior Design: Polygon Interior Design Ltd.

Sales Centre: 39548 Loggers Lane, Squamish

Centre hours: noon to 6 p.m., Sat — Thurs

Sales phone: 604-262-9354

Website: polyhomes.com/community/seven-peaks

Occupancy: Early 2018

With four girls and a boy in a blended family, mother Ashley Dempsey was taking no chances in getting exactly what she wanted in her new home.

So when she learned that Polygon was releasing another 12 homes after selling out 22 homes in just two hours in May, she set up her chair in front of its Seven Peaks development in Squamish the day before a Saturday release at noon. She had a realtor spell her off Friday night and rode her bike back the next morning from the family’s rented home nearby.

“They (Polygon) told me that some people had lined up (for the first release) and didn’t get one,” she said. “I said, ‘that wasn’t going to be me’, so I was going to be the first in line.’”

The wait paid off. “We got a three-bedroom end unit, which we are really excited about,” she said.

That kind of enthusiasm — assisted by Polygon setting up tents and heaters overnight and offering free coffee and breakfast for the hardy buyers — has been typical of the response to Polygon’s first project in Squamish, sales manager Grace Lim says.

“We had a lot of locals who have been watching us for months,” Lim said. “This is our first development here, and they are just amazed at what Polygon has got to offer: the quality of the finishings, the space, the whole overall style of the home makes it so livable for young families and couples.”

It was not difficult for Polygon, which has built thousands of homes throughout the Lower Mainland, to make the leap to Squamish, halfway between Vancouver and Whistler.

“Our team is always looking at new opportunities and places to build Polygon communities,” says Goldie Alam, senior vice-president marketing for Polygon Realty Ltd. “Squamish is a growing town that is extremely appealing to young families and is less than an hour drive from the city, so it seemed to be a natural fit for us to explore building there.

“It has the small-town vibe and neighbourhood friendliness that people look for in a community, and we’re so excited to be welcoming new homeowners to the area,” she said.

Census figures in 2016 put Squamish at 19,500 people with an average age of 37, compared to the provincial average of 43 years.

The West Coast contemporary style townhomes are decidedly more spacious than what one might find in Metro Vancouver, with the three-bedroom-and-flex and four-bedroom models ranging from 1,485 sq. ft. to 1,795 square feet. But even without knowing those numbers, a walk through the four-bedroom presentation suite tells you there is space to spare. All the three-level homes are 24 feet wide, giving the main living, dining and kitchen area the feel of a detached house, rather than a townhome.

All rooms have ceilings of at  least nine feet —some have 10-foot ones — with large windows that let in plenty of light. Bedrooms have built-in and walk-in closets and good-sized bathrooms. One show-home bedroom has enough height to accommodate a model railway train, whimsically suspended from the ceiling.

Even the garage has an over-height ceiling and ample room to fit two vehicles side by side, with room left over to store paddle boards, skis, kayaks and other toys typical among Squamish’s outdoor enthusiasts.

Outside, homes have back yards of varying sizes, allowing play space for small children and room for a family barbecue.

“We envisioned lots of couples and young families who value the natural setting and the abundant adventurous pursuits in the area,” Alam said.

“We knew there was interest from local Squamish buyers wanting a newer or bigger home and we also anticipated that we would attract buyers from Vancouver and the North Shore, people who are looking for more space for less money than in the areas they currently live in.”

That price gap is significant. For instance, Lim said, a 900-square-foot two-bedroom condo in Polygon’s Juniper complex in the North Shore’s Lynn Valley sold this month for $724,000. The first homes at Seven Peaks, with almost twice the area at up to 1,795 square feet, sold in the high $600,000s.

While some may see Squamish as a bit of a distant drive from Vancouver, others point out that the commuter trek — under an hour from downtown to downtown — as comparable to the daily journey living in Langley or South Surrey.

Lim notes that there is also an express bus that leaves Squamish at 7:30 a.m. daily, arriving at Waterfront Station an hour later, and a return service leaving Vancouver at 5:30 p.m.

Ashley, who founded the Modern Life Management personal concierge business a decade ago, is lucky to have a colleague who takes care of Metro Vancouver clients while she serves those from West Vancouver to Whistler.

She and her builder husband have rented a home in Squamish for almost three years, and she swears they would never return to their former life in a detached house in West Vancouver.

“We don’t ever want a house, ever. We love the townhouse lifestyle. It’s so easy. We don’t have to mow lawns or clean gutters. We don’t do any of that stuff. We lived in a house. We were spending our time on weekends doing that.”

She and her husband and their family are very active in the outdoors, doing everything from mountain biking or paddle boarding one weekend to skiing and hiking the next. Seven Peaks is also just across the street from Brennan Park Recreation Centre with a swimming pool and ice rink, and just 10 minutes away from downtown Squamish by bike along level trails separated from car traffic.

Flooring is laminate wood style through the main level with carpeting on other levels. Homes come in a light and dark colour scheme. The kitchen features polished engineered stone countertops and full-height limestone-inspired mosaic tile backsplash. The entertainment-sized island dominates the kitchen space, which also has under-mount double stainless steel sinks. The refrigerator is a 32-inch Samsung bottom-mount model with french doors and an ice maker. The gas range is a five-burner Whirlpool slide-in model. The dishwasher is also made by Whirlpool.

There is a powder room on the main level and two bathrooms on the bedroom level with a frameless glass spa shower in the ensuite and stone countertops. A side-by-side washer and dryer combo is conveniently located on the upper level.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

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Community of condos, townhomes and live-work lofts uses both rustic and soft materials

Mary Frances Hill
The Province

Platform

Where: 87 Moody Street, Port Moody

What: 104 homes, including condos, townhomes and live-work lofts

Residence sizes and prices: studios, one, two and three bedrooms, 560 —1,612 square feet, starting at $409,900 for a junior one- bedroom, two bedrooms starting $653,900 and three-bedroom townhomes at $899,900

Developer and builder: Aragon Properties

Sales centre address: 2708 St. Johns Street, Port Moody

Sales centre hours: Call or register at www.aragon.ca/platform to book your private appointment

At Platform, Aragon Properties’ community of condos, townhomes and live-work lofts in Port Moody, Maria Zoubos shows she’s as much a designer as a story teller.

In the display spaces, she uses what she calls a “light industrial” décor theme to illustrate the traits of the surrounding historic community and reflect the desires of people who want to immerse themselves in character and warmth.

There’s no better way to reflect both of these elements than through this décor, says Aragon’s in-house designer, describing it as “a combination of hard rustic materials such as reclaimed woods or metals with softer, more refined elements.”

To illustrate this theme, she takes typical features and softens them with texture. Characteristics of light industrial can be seen in the stained oak planks, which offers a depth and richness through the colour and grain, she adds. Also, black accents reflected in the hardware and plumbing fixtures are softened by the matte texture of kitchen cabinet doors.

Throughout the display space, she pairs strong elements with soft ones in the more classic features. Glossy subway tile is applied with contrasting grout, and a cable-knit area rug and soft upholstery “help add richness and a sense of comfort to the space that would otherwise feel very cold,” Zoubos says.

“We took industrial elements such as the rich woods and black hardware and contrasted them with the soft cabinetry and modern quartz countertops.”

As is the practice in other Aragon projects, the bricks that adorn the walls in Platform will come from a character building that is either going through renovations or coming down. Recent Aragon projects had the developer repurposing bricks from the 1912-era Continental Hotel on Granville Street. The use of brick adds a history, a depth and character to the new homes, Zoubos says.

 “Repurposing the bricks and having them incorporated into someone’s new home is a process that our homeowners agree is really special,” she says.

“The colour scheme shown in the display suite shows this contrast of urban city comforts and industrial accents beautifully.”

Port Moody’s roots lie deep in the sawmill and forest products industry, while today it has such urban amenities as the SkyTrain Evergreen Line expansion, craft beer sites and Suter Brook Village, a shopping hub.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc

Plaza of Nations site gets a revamp

Derrick Penner
The Province

A new proposal for the Plaza of Nations site on False Creek calls for development of 1,400 housing units on a 10-acre site that would link Chinatown and the Downtown Eastside to the waterfront.

The residences, 20 per cent of them to be provided as social housing, would be in terraced, garden-topped buildings in the proposal from Canadian Metropolitan Properties Corp., a Vancouver company owned by Singapore billionaire Oei Hong Leong.

The concept includes a civic plaza, new waterfront restaurants and stores, a 69-place daycare centre, and a community centre with ice rink intended to be a practise facility for the Vancouver Canucks.

Oei said all of the marketing of the units would take place in Vancouver.

“Other developers have marketing offices in China, in Hong Kong, but we don’t,” Oei said on Wednesday. “We can’t stop overseas buyers coming here, but we don’t have any promotion overseas.”

The proposal is a departure from the 2012 application that Oei’s company submitted to the city. Project architect James Cheng said the city’s decision to remove the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts sent them back to the drawing board.

“The stars are all aligned right now,” Cheng said in an interview. Removing the viaducts, he said, “opens up the entire neighbourhood at this end of False Creek.”

It turns the Plaza of Nations land, which Oei bought for $40 million in 1989 from Li Ka-shing, into a more important hub in the City of Vancouver’s plan to redevelop northeast False Creek.

Oei, a part-time resident of Vancouver, said he bought the land “for my retirement,” and looks forward to developing what he hopes will be a landmark piece of the city.

“It is also very important how it serves the community,” Oei said. “James Cheng has good ideas (for) it.”

Cheng said that in the concept, the buildings are gently terraced to frame views of B.C. Place Stadium and Science World.

“Mr. Oei has always wanted to give back to the community, so the whole idea of the project is to blend in with the city but at the same time be iconic,” Cheng said.

Oei is in a legal dispute with Concord Pacific — he filed suit against the developer last year claiming that the competing firm was trying to constrain his development options on the site.

Canadian Metropolitan’s senior vice-president, Daisen Gee-Wing, wouldn’t comment on the lawsuit because it is before the courts, but said “we are confident we’re going to proceed with development.”

From the city’s perspective, the Plaza of Nations redevelopment is a chance to complete northeast False Creek “in a very different and interesting way,” said Kevin McNaney, the city’s project director for the area.

“We’ve done a lot of False Creek that’s residential with the seawall and people going by, but it doesn’t really have a lot of life,” he said.

“This is a real opportunity for some south-facing waterfront to create a vibrant commercial district on the water and really enhance the sports, stadium and special events functions (of the area),” McNaney said.

The proposal is conceptual, so there are no prices or specifications for market housing on the site yet.

McNaney said the social-housing component of the development will fall within city definitions for affordability. He said the city will seek to “maximize affordability and decrease rents as much as possible.”

The surrounding neighbourhood is already expensive, but McNaney said the size of the Plaza Nations site will likely provide “diversity” of price points. He added that Canadian Metropolitan has made a point of planning for larger, family-oriented units in the development.

Gee-Wing said Canadian Metropolitan is hoping to hear from the city on its application by fall, which would pave the way for public hearings in late 2017 or early 2018. If all goes well, the company could start construction by early 2019.

© 2017 Postmedia Network Inc.

Frances Bula
The Globe and Mail

The developer of a key piece of property along Vancouver’s False Creek waterfront says he wants it to be a contribution to the city – and that means he won’t be selling any of the 1,400 units overseas.

“We’re thinking more how to do it for the community,” said Oei Hong Leong, who has owned the former Expo 86 site around Plaza of Nations since 1989 through a company called Canadian Metropolitan Properties. He has made most of his money through other commercial ventures, not development. “We have no marketing office overseas. The only market is Vancouver.”

He was in Vancouver on a visit from his Singapore home, although he owns a house in Vancouver as well.

Mr. Oei, a Singapore billionaire who is considered one of Southeast Asia’s richest men, said he also wants to give back to the community in Northeast False Creek by building a museum that could display some of the 50,000 Buddhist artifacts that he has collected.

And, in keeping with his image of Vancouver, he wants the development to be like a garden.

When he first came to Vancouver, he says was struck by what a green city it was.

In fact, Singapore’s prime minister, who also visited the city the year after Expo and encouraged Mr. Oei to buy property here, was so impressed by that aspect that he pushed to have Singapore emulate the “garden city” feel of Vancouver.

As a result, the development, which sits on the waterfront near BC Place, will be called Expo Gardens and its design focuses heavily on terraced buildings with gardens and green spaces at every level.

Architect James Cheng, who has been working for years on the project, has produced a conceptual model that shows buildings that frame a view of BC Place and that step down to the ground. There will also be some bridges between buildings and several roof gardens.

“It just turned out that Mr. Oei’s vision from the beginning was to do a series of gardens,” Mr. Cheng said. That’s why we do the terracing, because every terrace can have a garden on it. We want multiple levels so the public can have different perspectives.”

The current design also envisions building a new island in False Creek, called Habitat Island.

Mr. Oei’s portion of the new Northeast False Creek neighbourhood will also include a novel community amenity that was worked out a few years ago with local residents and the Aquilini company.

That will be a community centre and skating rink that the Vancouver Canucks hockey team, owned by the Aquilinis, can use as a practice facility during the day.

The Aquilinis and Mr. Oei have committed that the centre’s operating costs will be covered by them, not the park board, which gives the area a new community centre and part-time rink for free.

The Canadian Metropolitan property is part of a much larger area that city planners are currently mapping out as a new downtown neighbourhood.

The company that did much of the original development of the old Expo lands, Concord Pacific, owns a larger piece of property to the east, while the B.C. agency PavCo, which operates BC Place, owns a small area large enough for one tower near the stadium.

The city is just starting to go through a process to establish a plan for the area, which will, if approved by council, result in the removal of the two viaducts that now run across Concord and city land.

That will then clear the way for a large park and city-developed housing on the land where the viaducts now come down east of Main. The city is envisioning 10,000 new residents in the area over all.

Planners have also said they want to make the waterfront in the area a destination with a lot of restaurants and shops, unlike much of the rest of Vancouver’s waterfront, which is dominated by pedestrian and bike pathways on the seawall and no commercial activities.

© Copyright 2017 The Globe and Mail Inc.