Bentall
plans to build 22-storey, 400,000 sf office tower across from new Shangri-La Res
Tower at Alberni & Thurlow at Liquor Store Location
400,000-square-foot
project to fill downtown need for space
Derrick Penner
Vancouver Sun
Friday, June, 15, 2007
Bentall Capital wants to build downtown
Vancouver's first new all-office skyscraper in more than five years, a 22-storey,
400,000-square-foot development at Thurlow and Alberni.
Bentall applied to the city for a
development permit for the site this week because "the market needs more
office space," according to Tony Astles, senior vice-president of Bentall
Real Estate Services.
Speculation around who would step
in to build the next new office building has swirled around Vancouver as downtown's
office vacancy rate dwindled -- to an all-time low of 3.5 per cent, according
to commercial realtor CB Richard Ellis in its latest report.
Astles said Bentall will build the
tower on behalf of the province's big public-sector pension fund, British Columbia
Investment Management Corp (BCiMC).
"It's a very attractive location,"
Astles said, across the street from the 61-storey Shangri-La tower, and the new
tower "will be an extraordinarily attractive building."
Bentall is proceeding with the project
without an anchor tenant. But Astles said the company is confident it will be
able to find a marquee name to rent space.
"We've done it before,"
he added.
The office tower will replace a number
of restaurants, a liquor store and parking garage. It will also add to BCiMC's
downtown real estate portfolio, which includes the MacMillan Bloedel building
and Evergreen building. The project's architect, Musson Cattell, Mackey, will
appear before the City of Vancouver's urban design panel's June 20 meeting to
discuss the project.
© The Vancouver
Sun 2007
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