Shorter commuting time drives demand and fuels higher prices, real estate consultants say

Derrick Penner
Sun

Highway improvements and new rapid transit lines will increase property values by 10 to 20 per cent in six areas of the Lower Mainland, says a report by the Real Estate Investment Network, a consulting and research firm.

Don Campbell, REIN’s president, called it the “Gateway effect” — a reference to the $3-billion program to widen Highway 1 and build new truck routes.

“In a nutshell, [it] is about accessibility and demand,” Campbell said in an interview.

Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows, North Langley-Abbotsford, Port Moody-Coquitlam, Surrey-Delta, Mission-Chilliwack and areas of Richmond and Vancouver will see real estate values rise as the communities become easier for commuters to reach, Campbell and co-author Russell Westcott said in a report to be released today.

Campbell said people measure commuting distance in minutes, not in kilometres. “So as soon as you open up accessibility to a region, demand [among] people wanting to live there skyrockets.”

The $1.9-billion Canada Line SkyTrain route will make it easier for commuters to get from Richmond and south Vancouver to downtown Vancouver. The Evergreen Line will help improve downtown access for people in Port Moody and Coquitlam.

The Gateway program includes twinning the Port Mann Bridge, widening Highway 1 and building perimeter highways on the north and south sides of the Fraser River. The aim is to reduce congestion, speeding the flow of commuters and trucks.

Property values, Campbell said, should increase 10 to 20 per cent on top of whatever the average appreciation rate is in areas of those communities.

If property values fall, the report says, real estate that has the “Gateway effect” advantage, should retain 10 to 20 per cent more of its worth.

Campbell, an adviser to real estate investors and an investor himself, factored the experiences of other North American cities with major transportation improvements into the assessment.

He said property values near commuter routes, such as San Francisco’s Bay Area Rapid Transit and Toronto’s Go Trains, experienced increases of 10 per cent within about 500 metres of the major stations.

Campbell added highway improvements he studied increased property values up to 20 per cent for commercial property within a kilometre of highway exits and more than one kilometre for residential property.

And while Campbell said some of the Gateway “premium” might already be in the real estate market due to speculative purchasers, he does not expect the full increase to be reached until after new routes or improvements are complete.

“Once the work is done, then the [improved accessibility] occurs and people start to make it real in their heads,” Campbell said. “The general population doesn’t make its move until the project is complete.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

 

John LeBlanc
Province

In a 2006 Pay Me Now, Pay Me Later world we live in — you know it, your best friend knows it, heck, even the neighbour’s kid who mows your lawn knows it: Depreciation is the biggest kick in your wallet after you purchase your shiny new car.

To help lessen the financial pain, each year Kelley Blue Book pegs which new vehicles are projected to have the best resale value after five years of ownership.

BMW and Nissan have recently done well here and 2006 is no exception. BMW’s 5 Series and the BMW-built Mini Cooper and the Nissan-built Infiniti G35 coupe and M45 luxury sedan return to the Blue Book’s Top 10.

Other returnees are Lexus’ GX 470, Porsche’s Cayenne and Volvo’s XC90, with Chevrolet’s Corvette, Honda’s Accord Hybrid and Toyota’s Prius filling out this year’s Top 10.

The Blue Book also cited key options that new-car buyers should consider that add value at resale time.

The include goodies such as power windows and door locks, tilt steering wheel, cruise control, alloy or premium wheels, a CD player, keyless remote entry and a leather interior.

Bucking the trend against the current fuel-consumption hysteria, Kelley Blue Book cites that popping for a more powerful engine option helps at resale time as well.

Meanwhile, if you haven’t heard by now, Saturn will be the North American distribution arm for almost everything Opel.

General Motors has revealed what the next Opel Corsa subcompact will look like before its official unveiling at the British International Motor Show in July.

To be built in Spain, the new Corsa will house fuel-sipping 1.0-litre, 1.2-L and 1.4-litre four-bangers and CDTi turbodiesels in 1.3-litre and 1.7-litre displacements.

With the Honda Fit, Hyundai accent, Kia Rio, Nissan Versa and Toyota Yaris subcompacts all becoming increasingly popular on par with the continuing rise in gas prices, one would think importing the little Opel as a Saturn would be a no-brainer.

But, as of now, there are no plans to do so.

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

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EVERYONE MUST KNOW THIS
Let’s say its 6.15 pm and you’re going home (alone of course), after an unusually hard day on the job. You’re really tired, upset and frustrated. Suddenly you start experiencing severe pain in your chest that starts to adiate out into your arm and up into your jaw. You are only about five miles from the hospital nearest your home. Unfortunately you don’t know if you’ll be able to make it that far. You have been trained in CPR, but the guy that taught the course did not tell you how to perform it on yourself.

HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE

Since many people are alone when they suffer a heart attack, without help,the person whose heart is beating improperly and who begins to feel faint, has only about 10 seconds left before losing consciousness. However,these victims can help themselves by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. A deep breath should be taken before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged, as when producing sputum from deep inside the chest. A breath and a cough must be repeated about every two seconds without let-up until help arrives, or until the heart is felt to be beating normally again. Deep breaths get oxygen into the lungs and coughing movements squeeze the heart and keep the blood circulating. The squeezing pressure on the heart also helps it regain normal rhythm. In this way, heart attack victims can get to a hospital.

$25 gizmo fits any sliding door or window

Gillian Shaw
Sun

Robert Allen was working on his two jobs as a journeyman carpenter and a deputy fire chief when he stumbled across a home security idea that has catapulted his company’s flagship product onto the shelves of Wal-Mart.

Driving away from work on a housing development, Allen could easily see which patio windows were unlocked. Since sliding windows and doors are a favoured entry point for thieves, he decided to come up with a new twist on the old trick of protecting homes with a stick jammed in a door’s sliding tracks

The result is the Window Stick, a $25 gizmo that can be made to fit any size sliding door or window even allowing them to be left open a few inches. It jams the door and scares off intruders who try to dislodge it by emitting a piercing alarm.

It has proven its worth.

A Chilliwack couple Joanne and Robert Field woke up to the alarm one night and found a thief trying to get into their bedroom through the sliding glass door.

The thief had already reached a hand in to turn off the security light that was supposed to warn away intruders and was preparing to push the door open enough to slip in when the noise scared him off.

The Fields like to leave the sliding door slightly open when they are sleeping and when they saw the Window Stick at the home show, they decided to try it out. It was barely three months later when the Stick was put to the test.

Police tried to track the would-be thief with a dog but he escaped. A neighbor’s SUV was broken into the same night.

Allen has given up his day job as a firefighter in Errington, just west of Parksville on Vancouver Island, sold his carpentry business and mortgaged his Vancouver Island home to pursue his venture.

A recent test market with Wal-Mart was so successful that the retail giant is selling the Window Stick across Canada. The first order went out the week before last and Allen has high hopes for sales.

“We did a five store test market on Vancouver Island and sales were a lot higher than projected,” he said.

With the vast majority of windows in North America of the slider type, Allen expects demand will only climb. The Window Stick is adjustable and doesn’t require any tools for installation. It operates on a mini-12-volt battery, the same type used in garage door openers and Allen recommends they be tested annually, just as you would test smoke alarms.

So far his three-person company — that includes his wife Jackie and a business partner Ray Therrien — have 10,000 Window Sticks in their inventory. Manufacturing now takes place in China.

“We tried for a year-and-a-half to manufacture in North America but we couldn’t get the cost down,” said Allen. “We tried locally, we tried the U.S., we tried Mexico.

“We just could not compete. It would have been at least double the cost; it would have been a $56 product in Canada.”

The Window Stick comes in two sizes, at the same price of $29.95 on the www.windowstick.com Web site which includes shipping, for both sizes. In Wal-Mart stores, the price is $24.78.

Like any business start up, it’s a bit of a gamble and while the future is looking rosy for the Window Stick, Allen isn’t taking it for granted.

“So far it has been great, the support and response has been just fantastic. Now we just have to get it out there so people will have the opportunity to protect their homes and their families.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2006

Province

Letter

Keep Granville Island as it is. Paint it, give it structural support but definitely keep its local business focus.

I live near Broadway and MacDonald, where many local businesses are closing down to be replaced by chain stores like Starbucks and Cobbs.

Vancouver‘s Fourth Avenue has become this gentrified, Kitsilano version of Robson Street.

Do not try to make Granville Island a tourist destination, it already is that.

Keep it as a market for food, beverages, restaurants and artisans. Help it maintain its emphasis on commercial boating recreation.

Please, please don’t change it. Pay attention to the needs and wishes of the current tenants. They are the front-line people who have put their time, energy and money into making Granville Island work.

Listen to them — don’t hire outsiders to do some kind of “study.”

Kathy MacLennan,

Vancouver

Keep Granville Island‘s charm

Letter

Big-box stores, chain coffee shops and restaurants should never be allowed on Granville Island.

Its exquisite blend of art, craft, assorted foods, bakeries, specialty stores and the food market are what make Granville Island so very special and one of my favourite places to visit.

Installing bike lock-ups is a great idea but standardized parking is not. The current free three-hour parking, plus special parking for tour buses and indoor and outdoor paid parking spaces, is a perfect blend of options.

Widening the island’s docks and expanding ferry service is potentially a good idea, providing it doesn’t increase the number of visitors to unsafe levels.

Linking the island by street car or heritage rail could create too much congestion in the event of an emergency such as a fire.

Jane Saborio,

Surrey

© The Vancouver Province 2006

Province

Renfrew fire hall No. 15 isn’t the only building in Vancouver whose uncertain fate has residents up in arms.

Here are a few others that the advocacy group Heritage Vancouver — which featured the fire hall on its endangered list last year — is currently defending:

Burrard Bridge

Date of birth: 1932

The issue: Featuring cool concrete towers, Art Deco touches and an endless debate about its future. Open the outer lanes to bikes and walkers? Or widen the sidewalks — which means widening the bridge?

Says Heritage Vancouver: “Cantilevered outrigger sidewalks would radically alter the bridge’s appearance — adding bulky appendages that slice across the bridge’s architectural features.”

St. Paul‘s Hospital

Date of birth: 1913, with expansions in the 1930s

Address: 1081 Burrard Street

The issue: The red-brick hospital never escapes controversy. Should it be knocked down? Should a new St. Paul’s be built in East Vancouver — on a large plot of land just east of Main Street? While the building is on Vancouver’s Heritage Register, it could still be altered or demolished.

Says Heritage Vancouver: “We only need to look up Burrard Street at what will remain of the YMCA — a partial facade — to see what could await St. Paul’s, even with a sympathetic private developer.”

Vogue Theatre

Date of birth: 1940

The issue: The Granville Street fixture — a former movie theatre and National Historic Site — could become a supper club/cabaret. Among potential plans: replacing the seats with tables and turning the existing stage into kitchen space.

Says Heritage Vancouver: “The City needs a new medium-sized performance venue.

“Why can’t the City use the money earmarked for a new facility to acquire and rehabilitate the Vogue as a civic theatre instead?”

The 2400 Motel

Date of birth: 1946

Address: 2400 Kingsway

The issue: The City has been looking to develop this entire stretch of Kingsway to encourage higher density residential/commercial developments and now owns this venerable motor court. These post-war modernism structures are still common in many parts of the U.S., but increasingly rare in Canada.

Says Heritage Vancouver: “The 2400 Motel has been scrupulously maintained over the years and is virtually unchanged. With savvy management, it could continue as such into the future, marketed internationally as a unique travel experience.”

Salsbury Garden and Cottages

Date of birth: 1907

Address: 1117 and 1121 Napier Street

The issue: Two historic B.C. Mills workers’ cottages, examples of early prefabricated construction, now sit empty beside a unique heritage garden. With no heritage protection, the new owner wishes to knock down the cottages.

Says Heritage Vancouver: “Little cottages such as those on the site are a fast-disappearing element of our historical record.

“Even more significant is the potential loss of a unique, intentional development configuration that might be termed a historic ‘vernacular’ landscape.”

Hastings Mill Store Museum

Date of birth: 1865

Address: 1575 Alma Road

The issue: Once the company store for Hastings Mill down at Burrard Inlet, Vancouver’s oldest building survived the Great Fire of 1886 and was moved west in 1930. And while it’s open to the public in summer, it’s also been neglected.

Says Heritage Vancouver: “This historic site suffers from low public profile and meagre funding which, over the long term, could have negative consequences for maintenance and heritage conservation standards.”

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

PROPOSAL: Some in favour want their views heard

Andy Ivens
Province

John Kostiuk says the Whitecaps’ proposed soccer stadium for Gastown is getting a raw deal.

The Gastown resident is striking back at the campaign to sink the 15,000-seat stadium with a new website, www.stadiumnow.org.

“I thought it would be good to get the word out that there are people in the neighbourhood [who] are not being represented by the other coalitions and their own business society.”

Lower Mainland and Vancouver residents are strongly in favour of the stadium — scheduled to open 2009 if city council gives the idea a thumbs-up votes in a vote next month.

But among Gastown residents and businesses, surveys reveal a slight edge to the No forces.

The stadium would be funded by Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot, a software multi-millionaire who owns waterfront land east of the proposed stadium.

Kostiuk said, “I think the main organizer for the No side has his own property development interests involved.”

Jon Stovell, spokesman for the Gastown Neighbourhood Coalition, has interest in two properties in the unit-block of Water Street, noted Kostiuk.

“Those buildings back onto Kerfoot’s property,” Kostiuk said. “Various people who are opposed have their own financial interests.”

Stovell, a developer in Gastown who has won awards for his buildings, denied he would gain financially if the stadium proposal fails.

“We should be given other options,” he said.

“If they could find a way to get the stadium farther away and less bulky . . . I believe a stadium could be quite nicely incorporated into the waterfront. But they’re going to have to get together with other property owners and get a larger footprint.”

© The Vancouver Province 2006

 

Mike Roberts
Province

You can’t get a Starbuck’s coffee on Granville Island. Nor, for that matter, can you buy a pair of khakis from the Gap or order up a Happy Meal from Mickey-D’s.

Trivial? Perhaps.

But it is this underlying policy of “made in Vancouver” consumerism — no franchise chains, nay to the multinationals — that has, for more than 30 years, provided the cornerstone of the Granville Island experience.

Balanced on this founding philosophy is a vibrant and diverse community of independent shopkeepers, artists, artisans and buskers that sets Granville Island apart as a successful public market unique in North America.

The formula has long appeared bulletproof, drawing 12 million visitors a year to the historic, 16-hectare peninsula in the heart of Vancouver.

Today, however, there is a growing sense of unease on the island.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC), the federal body that governs Granville Island, is looking to make changes for the first time since taking it over in 1979.

Island Insight — an exhaustive infrastructure study nearing completion — will consider improvements to public access, transportation and parking, as well as the 19 buildings, seawalls and docks CMHC owns and manages.

All in time for the influx of visitors expected during the 2010 Olympics.

Many of the island’s business and studio owners are nervous. Change is in the wind, and unlike Granville Island’s signature scent — a melange of fresh-cut flowers, fried fat and sun-baked creosote — many feel there’s a bad whiff on the rise.

Joanne and Georges Lefebvre, owners of the bustling Stock Market in the public market, have worked on the island for 20 years. From cramped quarters, the Lefebvres offer 3,000 varieties of soups and stocks.

Joanne describes two decades on the island as “absolutely wonderful.”

“In French, we say, ‘ludique,'” she says. “Which means ‘playful.'”

But Joanne now wonders what the future will hold as Granville Island’s keepers plan for the next 20 years.

“They must be vigilant about keeping it small, encouraging the equilibrium of artisans and small business owners,” she insists.

“The administration seems quite dynamic and they are being proactive,” she adds. “But we will see.”

The CMHC’s Gloria Loree says the Lefebvres have nothing to fear. Ditto the 2,500 people who work on the island and the thousands of Greater Vancouverites who would say of their beloved Granville Island, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”

But Loree says that 30 years on, the crown jewel of Vancouver’s tourism industry needs a polish. The island’s aging infrastructure — pylons, planks and cement hardly touched since 1917 — requires maintenance. And increased visitation — particularly vehicular visits — has placed pressures on the island that need to be addressed. It will be a gentle tweak, insists Lore e.

“We know that the sense of pride and ownership by the community for Granville Island is extraordinarily high,” she says. “People feel about Granville Island the way they do about their home or their local park.”

So what, exactly, is in store for Granville Island?

It’s early days, but the CMHC’s proposed plans include:

n Widening the island’s docks and expanding its ferry services.

n Ongoing maintenance and safety improvements for old industrial buildings.

n Working with the City on linking the island with a proposed False Creek streetcar and/or linking the island by heritage rail with the coming Canada Line.

n Installing bike lock-ups and standardizing parking.

Granville Island artist Hilary Morris says Island Insight will have a “significant impact” on the future of the island.

“It’s important that things are looked at,” says Morris, also a board member of the Granville Island Business and Community Association. “You can’t just rest on your laurels and hope to remain successful.”

The artist is confident CMHC will maintain the unique blend of activities on which the island was founded.

“Many have tried and many have failed to create this kind of atmosphere and experience . . . so any sort of tweaking and changing will be viewed with fear,” she says.

Gloria Loree says multinationals will never be welcome on the island, while vehicles will never be banned.

“You couldn’t cut off vehicle access to the island without some really serious implications to the business life down here,” she says. “There’s a certain amount of animation that comes from having traffic circulation and a lot of our visitors are coming specifically to buy a lot of groceries.”

No, says Loree, the CMHC will instead offer alternatives such as extra ferries, more bike lock-ups and better rail/transit links.

As for that Starbuck’s coffee? Not on her watch, says Loree.

“The pressure does not come from the multinationals. It comes from our community, which says keep Granville Island unique, keep the chains off,” she says. “There is no intention to move in any other direction.”

[email protected]

Granville Island’s history at a glance

– 1850s: Local First Nations use the two sandbars that would become Granville Island as a natural salmon trap

– 1890s: Three early entrepreneurs stake a claim to the sand bars hoping to build booming grounds and a sawmill; Canadian Pacific Railway scares them off with a legal suit, launching a 20-year-long squabble

– 1915: The new Vancouver Harbour Commission gives Ottawa $1 for the mudflats and approves a $342,000 reclamation; 760,000 cubic metres of mud are sucked up and poured into wooden frames to form the walls of a 14.5-hectare, three-metre-high island

– 1916: Industrial Island opens for business, boasting 80 lots with annual rents of $1,200 to $3,700 per hectare; the locals called it Granville Island after the bridge above.

– 1930: 1,200 people are working in the island’s plants and factories, servicing B.C.’s booming forestry and mining industries, when the Depression hits, turning boom to bust

– 1939: Prime Minister Mackenzie King takes Canada to war and Granville Island is remobilized for the war effort, with around-the-clock production of a wide range of military-industrial machinery

– 1946: The island’s biggest tenants move out, lured by cheaper lands and cheaper transport — and leave behind oily, toxic firetraps. The island is in serious decline

– 1950: Officials decide to fill in the rest of False Creek to create more industrial land accessible by truck, but the plan is halted by its $50 million price tag; another 21/2 hectares are eventually reclaimed and Granville Island becomes, technically, a peninsula

– 1970s: Tertiary industry limps along on the island until future-thinking city officials decide to lobby Ottawa to help transform it into a people-friendly area

– 1973: Senior cabinet minister Ron Basford, whose riding includes Granville Island, shifts responsibility for the island to his ministry; Ottawa grants $25 million for the island’s revival and public markets across North America are studied for the right mix of shops, boutiques, food stalls and arts spaces for the island.

– 1979: The Granville Island we know today opens its doors to instant success.

— Sources: Granville Island Administration and The Greater Vancouver Book

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