[mr.x]

For discussion and updates outside of downtown in the City of Vancouver only.

------------------

Vanoc Update: Trout Lake Ice Arena
Vancouver Sun
Published: Monday, December 10, 2007

What: Trout Lake Ice Arena

What's new: Park Board to approve second contract to Bird Construction.

Details: Trout Lake's existing arena is to be replaced with a new facility that will be used as a training facility for short-track speedskaters. Once estimated at $10.5 million, the project cost has ballooned to $15.94 million because of the hot construction market. It first went to $13.08 million last year. Then, in October the city agreed to pay another $2.86 million by diverting money from two other projects, the post-Olympic conversion of the Hillcrest Curling Centre and the Renfrew Pool change room project.

The Park Board split the Trout Lake project into two contracts. The first was awarded to Bird Construction in November for nearly $2.2 million. The board said Bird was also working to bring the overall cost down to $13.7 million, with the remaining $2.14 million for contingencies. In a report going to the Park Board on Dec. 10, staff now want to award a second contract for $11.53 million to Bird. Normally the board has to approve the contract award, but because the final contract negotiations won't be done before the board's Christmas break, the general manager wants to have the authority to sign the contract himself.

[MistyMountainHop]

Nice way to kick off the thread with a bang, Mr. x! :)

[SpongeG]

that Canadian Tire in east van has put up a sign with all the stores

there is Canadian Tire, Price Smart Foods, Mark's Workwearhouse, PetSmart, Boston Pizza and Starbucks - might have been another but i forget...

petcetera will have some competition - i wonder if locals will favour the Canadian chain over the US chain...

[Architype]

Construction of the VCC King Edward campus, photo by me Dec 7th. There are two more floors to be added.
http://img100.imageshack.us/img100/4084/vccconstruction6131fg9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[officedweller]

Thanks! That went up fast!

[hollywoodnorth]

Petcetera is shit......go to a PetSmart store there is no comparison its HIGHER end and clean and organized and well staffed.

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver December 11-17, 2007; issue 946

Real estate roundup: Peter Mitham

Construction starts on project to create region’s “greenest” commercial building

$60 million Discovery Green aiming for LEED gold, but could hit platinum certification

Pouring green

What’s being touted as the greenest commercial building to become available in the Lower Mainland came a bit closer to reality last week.

With dignitaries from the province and the developer, Discovery Parks Trust, looking on, the foundation for Discovery Green poured into place.

The $60 million project is rising on the last available site in Discovery Place, Discovery Parks’ original Burnaby research park. An 80-acre parcel set aside by the province in 1979 for technology-oriented office space, Discovery Place is now home to 15 buildings occupied by companies ranging from Electronic Arts to Xenon Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The latest building aims to achieve LEED (leadership in energy and environmental design) Gold certification on completion in 2009, but Tom Douglas, Discovery Parks’ director of leasing, notes that the initial results from energy modelling suggest that the building could meet the requirements for LEED platinum.

Total energy consumption could be cut by 79% compared with a conventional building, while a 45% reduction in water consumption is planned through rainwater harvesting. An ambitious target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions is also envisioned.

Douglas notes that several of the features being incorporated in the building’s mechanical and electrical systems are new to North America, but he sees no reason why they can’t work here. Better still, Douglas expects that tenants will enjoy overall savings from the building, citing a U.S. study that suggests one company in a similar eco-friendly building managed to pay its rent through lower employee turnover and productivity gains.

Morguard Investments Ltd. is handling leasing for the building, which will join its stable of properties on completion. The 147,162-square-foot building is estimated to be in excess of $60 million.

Green light

Shato Holding Ltd.’s bid to exclude approximately 28.5 acres from the province’s agricultural land reserve to accommodate redevelopment of the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club recently won approval from the Agricultural Land Commission.

“The commission believes the exclusion will have no greater impact on the agricultural suitability of the land beyond that which currently exists,” the commissioners say in their decision.

Adjacent to the existing club property, the land will allow the club to be reconfigured as a residential community with upwards of 450 units of housing. The proposal drew strong objections from conservationists, some of whom mounted a boycott of Shato’s White Spot restaurants.

Parking tax shifted

Despite concerns in some quarters that the new South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority that forms on January 1, 2008, diminishes citizen representation in the taxation process, business groups are applauding the approval of a bill that will see the former TransLink parking tax laid on the backs of businesses and residential taxpayers alike.

Passed in Victoria on November 29, Bill 43 restructures TransLink such that the board of elected municipal representatives that formerly governed it will be replaced with a nine-member board of appointed professionals. The interests of municipalities will be represented by a commission of mayors.

But the bill also provides for a system of variable tax rates that lays the burden of taxes to support regional transit service on all regional property owners, not just commercial property owners as the old TransLink parking area tax did. In addition, revenue garnered through the property tax is capped at $18 million a year.

The allocation of the tax burden is up to the appointed board, to be named in early 2008.

The Vancouver Fair Tax Coalition, an alliance of seven business groups, expects the allocation to be fair given the degree of opposition to the TransLink levy and feedback on drafts of Bill 43. One such draft could have hit Vancouver business property owners with a whopping 34% of the burden, according to Bob Laurie, the tax coalition’s co-chairman.

“The province is going to be watching them like a hawk,” he said of the new board.

And what of the democratic process?

Laurie thinks it will be an improvement on what existed before, as the legislation is specific in the parameters it sets for the board’s taxation powers, the province will be overseeing its activities, and the new board promises to eliminate much of the regional squabbling that hobbled the current governance structure that Laurie considers hardly democratic.

“You don’t have the governance model that promotes regional co-operation,” he said. “That’s not democracy. Democracy is the alignment of appropriate decision-making with the will of the people.

[Jacques]

Question has anyone seen the segment about the VAG expansion on globalTV, I do not watch the tube so I am seeking more info HERE?

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver December 18-24, 2007; issue 947

At Large: Peter Ladner

Concerns over Canadian Tire store largely unfounded

Canadian Tire’s second-try application for a large-scale super-green retail store and four smaller retail stores, including Best Buy and Mark’s Work Wearhouse, on Southwest Marine Drive may seem perfectly reasonable to a business person. But it seized up Vancouver City Council for three nights due to a barrage of public reaction, mostly negative.

A lot of the negativity was from people who see this store as a precursor to Wal-Mart, which owns the adjacent property. That’s evident from the complete lack of protest and almost unanimous council approval of a comparable Canadian Tire store in a comparable former industrial area on the Grandview Highway.

Since no one could come out and say they opposed Canadian Tire’s application in the name of Wal-Mart, a storm of other objections was raised.Given that Canadian Tire had bought the property in good faith, under an existing policy of allowing big box stores on that location, the company’s $20 million investment in the development had to be respected if we want to be providing any certainty for companies investing in our city. So what arguments would be strong enough to override that concern?

•“The neighbourhood doesn’t want it.” This became the headline in the media based on presentations from anti-corporate activists from other neighbourhoods, but it doesn’t reflect the facts. A survey by Canadian Tire asking people in the immediate area if they would support a new Canadian Tire store and other retail on the site got a 77% vote in support, 9% against. Of the local businesses surveyed, 78% were in favour, 7% against.

•“It will kill small independent neighbourhood stores in local shopping areas.” The biggest retail impact from the Canadian Tire complex would be from clothing sales at Mark’s Work Wearhouse. (The only significant hardware merchandiser in the area is Canadian Tire’s existing small-format store a few blocks away, due to be closed.) An independent retail study concluded that a proposed 100,000-square-foot expansion at Oakridge Mall would be the biggest loser, so city staff recommended that clothing sales be curtailed at the Canadian Tire complex, mainly to protect Oakridge. Council turned this down.

“There is no expected impact on neighbourhood shopping areas, which generally support clothing stores that attract a different clientele,” the city staff reported. The exception was a faltering Field’s store on Fraser Street, but its possible closure “should not have a significant impact on the marketing appeal of the Fraser Street shopping area.”

•“It will increase greenhouse gas emissions from increased car traffic created by this auto-dependent format.”

This is a legitimate concern but is easily misunderstood in today’s passion about climate change. “Big-box store” evokes acres of parking at the edge of town, miles from downtown. Opponents played to this ugly image by citing “10,000 additional car trips a day” and speculating on resultant GHG emissions.

That’s the biggest estimate for the busiest day of the week, Saturday, and includes trips both ways. The actual number of cars is half that: 5,000 max. That compares to 3,770 cars driving past the store every hour on a Saturday.

Then you have to ask how many of these trips were “new” – the shopper wasn’t already driving by, or would have never left home if not for these new stores. Hardly any, I would predict. And how far would those shoppers have driven if they didn’t come to this store? If the new store is closer than the alternate destination, then these trips are reducing GHG emissions.

Because this store is on four bus routes, within three blocks of a new SkyTrain station, on a bike route and will offer home delivery service, its allowed parking footprint is less than half that of a typical suburban mall.

All in all, it’s easy to generate hysteria about increased GHG emissions based on unexamined suburban big-box stereotype thinking. But it doesn’t always make sense.

[SpongeG]

An independent retail study concluded that a proposed 100,000-square-foot expansion at Oakridge Mall would be the biggest loser, so city staff recommended that clothing sales be curtailed at the Canadian Tire complex, mainly to protect Oakridge. Council turned this down.

yeah like people are gonna abandon more selection of clothing stores in oakridge mall for Marks Work Wearhouse :rolleyes: i am sure all those west side mothers are jonesing for some Denver Hayes :haha: sweaters

[East Van]

theres some activity on the false creek flats area. does anyone know if this is for the hospital develpment ?

[officedweller]

Drove past Kingsway & 12th today - the "Stella" condo looks to be topped out - huge visibility down Kingsway, and tucked in behind is the "Sophia" condo which looks almost complete.

[Hot Rod]

I like this the most ^^

"Because this store ... ...., within three blocks of a new SkyTrain station, on a bike route and will offer home delivery service, its allowed parking footprint is less than half that of a typical suburban mall."

[officedweller]

Trevor Boddy's article from Saturday's Globe & Mail:

Vancouver's threatened legacy
Recently, some of the region's most historic buildings have fallen victim to the wrecker, smashing to dust an irreplaceable part of a city's soul. Is there any way to save the remaining architectural masterpieces?
TREVOR BODDY

tboddy@globeandmail.com

December 29, 2007

It was downtown Vancouver's last building that could remind us of the 1930s - a whirling wedding cake of streamline stucco that most of us knew as the Fido outlet at Georgia and Richards, first built as the Collier Auto Showroom. It got knocked down early one morning during the civic strike, leaving one more empty-tooth slot in the mug's face of downtown.

Then, on Dec. 6, the wrecking crews went to work on one of Arthur Erickson's most world-renowned and influential houses, a grand sequence of portals and frames elegantly descending down a Horseshoe Bay cliffside. This 1963 house for David Graham was featured on the pages of Life magazine and leased as a love nest to Warren Beatty and Julie Christie when in town to shoot Robert Altman's McCabe and Mrs. Miller.

West Vancouver resident Barry Downs, one of British Columbia's most-respected house architects and authors, says "the Graham House was Arthur Erickson's Fallingwater" - a reference to Frank Lloyd Wright's career-reviving, rural Pennsylvania concrete and brick house, which similarly cascades over rocks down a hill.

The Georgia Street Collier/Fido showroom was a vision in white from when modernism was new, and the West Vancouver Graham House was the evolution of these same ideas of seeing architecture afresh, but tempered to our climate, our building materials, and West Coast lifestyles.

Someone broke the law, surely, when these two got whacked?

Alas, no.

These losses draw attention to the weakness of British Columbia's heritage legislation, as neither building had meaningful legal protection, and their owners needed almost nothing except a perfunctory demolition permit to excise these two crucial visual reminders of how we lived in the 20th century. Heritage advocates worry that the loss of these high-profile downtown Vancouver and West Vancouver buildings will clear the way for an end-of-the-building-boom destruction frenzy for many more, a kind of demolition derby.

Herb Stovel - head of heritage studies at Carleton University and one of Canada's leading preservationists - says B.C. heritage legislation and programs are strong in the soft strategies of convincing and cajoling owners to preserve our history, but weak on legal guarantees to prevent demolitions like these. Prof. Stovel says B.C. is having some success with the "nurture and support" of conservation efforts, but cautions, "Governments need to preserve and protect buildings, too." He notes that heritage-protection efforts are significantly blunted by a clause in B.C. heritage legislation requiring public compensation if designation reduces potential private redevelopment profits.

Heritage designation - or as the Americans call it, the "landmarking" of private buildings without owner's approval - is commonplace in the don't-tread-on-me capitalist United States, and a crucial historic preservation tool in every other nation of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development.

American preservation efforts are powered by the private sector, in large part because of tax incentives instituted under former president Ronald Reagan. With this public intervention into private real-estate markets in the name of preserving Mom-and-Apple-Pie America, maybe the Harper government will come to realize it can please Bonspiel and Tim Hortons Canada through similar tax changes here (starting with the brewing controversy over an entirely non-elitist construction, Kingsway's 2400 Court Motel.)

Canada's federal historic-sites protection for private buildings is even weaker than our provincial laws, in large part because of resistance to our central government asserting powers over heritage. Heritage preservation straddles land use and cultural concerns, and federal activism is seen to threaten entrenched constitutional rights of the provinces, especially Quebec. Federal political systems, however, have not stopped Australia and Germany from implementing strong heritage programs at both national and state levels.

B.C.'s weak heritage legislation is the legacy of both Socred/Liberal and NDP governments, right and left both eschewing perceptions of cultural elitism in preserving our best buildings at the cost of private development rights. Consequently, we all lose a common good - a sense of our own past. With every demolition, Metro Vancouver comes closer to status as a muscular and aggressive zombie-town, with no brain and no heart.

At both municipal and provincial levels, heritage efforts are understaffed and underfunded, with most current efforts devoted to research on sites and creative advice to owners and developers, backed up with modest grants (available to designated properties only) for their upkeep and occasional restoration. This means many micro successes - the replacement of rotting eave ornaments on many Edwardian former doctors' residences, for example - but a few macro failures, such as the recent demolitions, and those which are likely to follow in the current regulatory climate.

At a level below official designation is the largely honorific category of heritage registers - West Vancouver's is currently being compiled, while Vancouver's is being updated - which are listings of potential heritage sites. Heritage registers are useful tools for heritage and urban planners to flag properties, so the soft arts of persuasion can be applied in the context of other land-use approvals. Some B.C. municipalities require the approval of owners even to be listed on their heritage registers, which seems to me the architectural equivalent of asking words if they want to be in the dictionary.

The District of West Vancouver debated adding the Graham residence to its draft heritage register shortly before it came down, but was reluctant to do so without the support of owner Shiraz Lalji, and everyone involved knew this would be symbolic, not actual protection. West Vancouver city planners and politicians did everything they could to hang on to the Erickson masterpiece, but in the context of current provincial legislation and funding programs, they had no arrows in their quiver; when it comes to heritage preservation, the province owns the whole armoury.

Soft strategies of moral suasion have had some success, notably the campaign led by Arthur Erickson Conservancy founder Cheryl Cooper to protect his Evergreen Building on West Pender. But crucial to this soft success, says Ms. Cooper, was some hard cash, in the form of valuable Transfer of Development Rights, which can be bought, then moved to another piece of downtown.

But even this device is not available today, as earlier this year Vancouver city council placed a moratorium on the issuance of new TDR agreements, while it examines the large stock of existing credits yet to be plunked down on a downtown peninsula already subject to hyper-development. Vancouver is the only municipality in British Columbia that has developed a density bank system, and incentives like these only work in building-hungry boom times, seemingly about to end.

With the Graham house now gone, preservationists' worries have moved on to two even more important West Vancouver residences - houses-cum-painting studios with important gardens for artists B. C. Binning and Thomas Gordon Smith.

The self-designed 1942 Binning house - a National Historic site, and arguably the first residence in Canada entirely shaped by the European Modern Movement - was thought to be safe when Jessie Binning's will stated a first preference to donate the house and garden for permanent use as a scholar's residence or house-museum preserving the pioneering works of her predeceased husband.

But according to one of her will's executors and former Erickson partner Geoff Massey, there has been no luck in convincing the likes of the University of British Columbia, Simon Fraser University or Emily Carr College of Art and Design to take on stewardship of this modest but sublime nexus of art and architecture. "If there was a half million dollars on the table, it could be done," said Mr. Massey of the funds needed to endow repairs and property taxes, "otherwise, it is going."

Similarly, and somewhat unbelievably, there is no heritage designation protection or conservation plan in place for the 1964 house designed by Arthur Erickson for Marion and Thomas Gordon Smith, recently named by his architectural peers as one of the top five buildings constructed in Canada in the entire 20th century.

The Smiths still live there, and unlike the willful decline of the Graham property, it has never looked better. However, the Smiths have talked of willing the house and garden to the Vancouver Art Gallery. With VAG's announcement of their planned construction of what could end up being a quarter-billion-dollar new gallery building, there will be strong pressure to extract the maximum benefit out of the property - by demolishing the house or building on its integral garden.

I know and have chatted with all of our remaining stalwarts of heroic modernism, most well into their 80s: Erickson, Massey and Downs as architects, and the Smiths and the late Jessie Binning as clients. There is often a sheepish tone of resignation in their voices, as if it was inevitable that these markers of their lives and times will be destroyed, the self-consuming monster of modernism moving on to new challenges. These sentiments are understandable, but the duty to preserve these and similar buildings is not for those who made them, but for all of us.

Like many people his age, 83-year-old Arthur Erickson has good days, and he has bad days. I talked to him in both modes recently, and there is one strong word he voiced both times about the demise of the Graham house: "Tragic."

[nathan6969]

^^As someone who lives right near the graham house i can't see what all the fuss is about, the place was a wreck, and just the fact that arthur erickson designed it, doesn't necessarily mean its the greatest architectural triumph this city has ever seen. If it had such architectural value how come no one was interested in paying for it. I'm sick of my fellow west vancouver residents pissing and moaning about this house, there's certainly enough money here, why don't they put it where there mouth is.

[SpongeG]

that building with the Tim Hortons on Terminal is looking close to finishing the outside

does anyone know whats going in the lot next to it? A LEASED sign has gone up

the MINI dealer is getting up pretty fast too

[SpongeG]

theres some activity on the false creek flats area. does anyone know if this is for the hospital develpment ?

i saw that the other day - if its the same area i saw - looks kinda far back to be the hospital

[jlousa]

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p155/jlousa/20071211-FromElementarySchoolSideVi.jpg

http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p155/jlousa/20071211-FromBalaclavaSttopView-red.jpg


Details presented by Emaar to the neighbours on November 19th are as follows:

• project to extend from West 41st to the north edge of the current Fellowship Centre property.
• 5 concrete buildings varying in height from 3 to 8 storeys in a stepped arrangement
• site coverage will be nearly 90%
• senior oriented complex (senior-friendly market housing)
• plus/minus 50 units
• average unit size 1,400 sq ft
• majority of units 2 bedroom/2 bathroom
• 120 underground parking spots for residents plus 20 for church (likely with mechanical car park system)
• traffic to be oriented northbound to West 39th
• green space on roofs
• pool at southwest corner (facing West 41st)
• EcoDensity friendly
• external elevators
• geothermal heating

[excel]

^nice. thanks for the info.

[officedweller]

Thanks. I dug this up with a google search:

http://www.dunbar-vancouver.org/DRANews/item/79/catid/15

Architect is Adrian Smith (Chicago. FormerSOM, architect of Burj Dubai, hence the connection with Emaar) http://www.smithgill.com/firmportfolio.htm#

The Dunbar Resident's Association's view is:

The view of the DRA Board is that the project as described is objectionable and clearly does not comply with the Dunbar Community Vision. For example, both the significant extension of the project northward beyond the lane and the excessive height of some of the buildings are patently inconsistent with approved Vision directions.

The Board is further concerned with the guidance City Planning is reportedly providing the developer to encourage increased density and greater building height than is supported in the Vision.

The Board relies on the Dunbar Community Vision -- which was developed as part of a City planning process engaging neighbourhood residents -- when making its comments, and urges that any development submission respect the Vision and reflect the desires of the community.

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver January 8-14, 2008; issue 950

Real estate roundup: Peter Mitham

Billboards get bum’s rush

Roof-top signs that don’t comply with Vancouver municipal bylaws headed for the scrap heap in 2008

Seeking compliance

The new year has opened with Vancouver city staff readying a campaign to rid the city of non-conforming billboards following a Supreme Court of Canada decision in November.

The Supreme Court rejected an appeal regarding the billboard atop the Lee building at Broadway and Main, which must now be removed in compliance with a Vancouver bylaw prohibiting roof-top signs. The federal court’s decision upholds an earlier B.C. court judgment that ruled in favour of the city.

But Carlene Robbins, manager of the city’s property use branch, said at least 200 signs that fail to comply with the city’s existing billboard regulations could come down starting this year.

Municipal staff are surveying existing billboards to see how many don’t comply with current bylaws. Though many were approved by the city and received the requisite permits, they no longer conform with the city’s rules.

“We’re thinking we’ll have a voluntary phase-out period,” Robbins said, “and then if they don’t comply, we’ll have to look at enforcing, and we’ll start by enforcing the most offensive or the ones that most blatantly don’t meet the current bylaw.”

Staff will present a signs survey and phase-out strategy to council in the coming weeks. The news doesn’t sit well with local media buyers.

Carmen Hunt, media director with ad agency TBWA\Vancouver, said Vancouver already has less billboard space than surrounding municipalities. Any decrease in the number of boards will put upward pressure on the cost of space.

“The few remaining boards that are available will be in so high demand that the space will not often come available to advertisers – they’ll be booked on long-term contracts – and the space that is available will probably be prohibitively expensive,” Hunt said. “For a lot of advertisers, it’s the loss of a really strong media.”

Fraser Institute weighs in

Fraser Institute senior fellow Martin Collacott recently weighed in on Metro Vancouver’s Sustainable Region Initiative during a regional discussion at the Wosk Centre in Vancouver.

Residential developers are one of the few groups that benefit from immigration to a region that’s significantly challenged by the people it already has, said Collacott, a former diplomat who currently studies immigration policy for the Vancouver-based Fraser Institute.

With Statistics Canada reporting that nearly 70% of recent immigrants to Canada live in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver, Collacott said better immigration management could help manage urban growth.

“Shouldn’t Vancouverites be saying, ‘Well do we really want this? Are we going to benefit from it? What are the benefits, what are the downsides? And do we have to have it?’” Collacott said in an interview last month.

Developers might benefit from immigration, he said, but the average citizen is often left out.

“The real estate industry would like an endless increase in demands for housing,” he said. “The average Vancouverite is not in any of the categories that have a clear benefit. What’s the deal here? They’re simply being told they’ll have to have [immigration].”

While Collacott has questioned Canada’s immigration policies in the past, the Metro Vancouver forum was one of the first times he has publicly applied his concerns to regional growth issues.

Michael Alexander, a research analyst with advocacy group SmartGrowth BC who heard Collacott’s presentation, doesn’t think immigration is as big a factor as the shape of growth.

“We’re perfectly capable of continuing to sprawl without adding one more person to Vancouver.”

Kristall polishing plans

The Kristall Resort and Spa in Vernon was big news when it first cropped up in this space two years ago (see “Kristall clear” – BIV issue 764; June 15-21, 2004).

Then valued at $65 million, the project was supposed to be completed in spring 2006. Site servicing began three years ago, but construction of the main buildings never started. A call to project manager Jim Radford last year confirmed that plans were still on the books, but nothing was to be announced till January 2008.

Well, here we are – and the news is out.

In fact, construction of the project began in earnest last month. While the price tag has increased to $100 million, construction is still expected to take two years. The 150-room hotel, including a 20,000-square-foot wellness centre, is slated to open in late 2009 and be in full swing by the start of the 2010 golfing season.

The 174-acre property has approvals from Vernon for up to 300 units. A second phase of the master-planned project, a venture of Europe’s Swarovski Group, could include a resort-style residential community similar to the one at neighbouring Predator Ridge. •

[mr.x]

i like that Main Street billboard, don't know why people are complaining about it.

[SpongeG]

i would like to know who is complaining?

i haven't yet met anyone who says anything about it

its reached landmark status too as most locals know it

it brings in some good money for the building - they are losing a nice chunck of change

[mr.x]

there are thousands of signs in HK just like that, i really don't understand why the city is being such a dick about it. god forbid if this is a view issue.

[TwoFace]

there are thousands of signs in HK just like that, i really don't understand why the city is being such a dick about it. god forbid if this is a view issue.

As you may know, the Indian Bands are pushing for LARGE advertisement signs on the south side of Burrard bridge This needs to be stopped and if Main and Broadway is part of that precedent, to me it's a noble cause.
I for one, don't care to look at a Giant McDonald's sign when driving over my favorite landmark.

[officedweller]

It's more an issue of control. It's also reflected in the City's strict controls on building and landscape design.

[cornholio]

Although i hate large advertisements, and well just about any advertisement as its main goal is to gain your atention at the expense of much more interesting things like architecture etc. and brain wash you. Anyways I agree that city goes way to far with its rules and thirst for total control over everything and anything. In the end its just going to make me move and leave the region which I love otherwise, well I dont care too much about the city but rather the almost unspoiled nature within a short drive and all the benefits of a city. Anyways my point is that all these rules regarding just about everything is just freaking insane in a country that prides itself on the freedom its people supposedly have. I mean all these liquor bylaws, smoking bylaws, billboard bylaws, dog bylaws, idling bylaws, the hate of gatherings, hate of events, dog bylaws etc. et.c just go way to far, this place feels like a totalitarian state, I mean in this city we have less freedom then people in a communist state where the control of the people is one of the main objectives to achieve its goals. I mean its way worse here then a communist state...I should know. I mean im really starting to have enough as I feel like a little child at times, no freedom, nothing, there are so many god dam rules that I cant live a day without technically braking one or many of them.

I guess my point is that the city is going way to far and although I hate advertisements I dont want the city making more bylaws and rules, I dont like them someone else might, I do something I like and someone else might not, its all about compromise because we all loose when the city or country go overboard trying to protect everyone from everyone.

[jlousa]

REceived the flollowing mass mailing from the mayor, in case anyone is interested.

Dear friends,

Let me begin my first communiqué of 2008 wishing you and your family all the best for the coming year. It promises to be an exciting one around City Hall!

For me, 2008 will be a year of delivering on initiatives to support the five goals we have established for Vancouver. I look forward to keeping you up to date on our progress and hearing your ideas.

One of the five goals we have established for our government is to make Vancouver a world leader in sustainable development and transportation. One of the key elements of our plan to achieve this goal is completion of the Millennium Line to central Broadway and UBC.
With over 60,000 passengers each day, Broadway is one of the busiest bus corridors in North America. Transit ridership on Broadway has doubled in the past decade and despite increased service, overcrowded buses often leave passengers waiting.

Last summer, our government identified Millennium Line completion as Vancouver's top transit infrastructure priority. Shortly after, Metro Vancouver and the City of Vancouver confirmed more than $2 million to develop a plan to consult stakeholders regarding the project's design - in partnership with Translink.

As part of that process, Councillors Suzanne Anton, Peter Ladner and I have initiated an outreach campaign to local Broadway businesses, students at UBC the provincial and federal governments. In October, we made the case for Millennium Line funding in our pre-budget submission to the BC Minister of Finance.

We followed that up with a November visit to Victoria and a December visit to Ottawa where we put the case for Millennium Line completion directly to Ministers and senior officials.

And to support all of this, I released a special survey on my website inviting local businesses, residents and community organizations to give us their ideas about the plan to complete the Millennium Line. Over 1800 people have responded to the survey, and support for completing the line to UBC was overwhelming.

Today, Premier Gordon Campbell and Transport Minister Kevin Falcon confirmed that they have been listening to all of us. They have confirmed that the Province of British Columbia will invest in a new $2.8 billion, 12km UBC rapid transit line from Broadway station to UBC by 2020.

The UBC Line was not the only bit of good news for Vancouver today. As part of the new province-wide transit plan we will see more new buses and a significant expansion of the Expo Line starting next year.

I want to thank Premier Campbell and Minister Falcon for listening to us and helping us achieve the goals we have established. I also want to remind you that you can still fill out the Millennium Line survey until the end of the month. We will be publishing final results in February.

Today's announcement is an historic one for the province – and our city. In addition to complementing our EcoDensity plan and the commitments we have made for more bike lanes in Vancouver, it is an example of what can happen when governments work together constructively.

We look forward to more progress in the months ahead.

City Council Motion Will Improve Animal Service Facilities & Licensing
This past weekend I had the pleasure to visit the Vancouver SPCA shelter with Councillors Kim Capri and Suzanne Anton. We were joined by Park Board Chair Korina Houghton and Commission Marty Zlotnik to thank volunteers and announce our plans to support a City Council motion to improve animal service facilities and licensing in Vancouver.

The motion will be introduced at City Council tomorrow. The new plan calls for:

development of a self-sustaining funding model for dog licensing, urban animal education, by-law enforcement & related programs in Vancouver
request for a new animal services facility for Vancouver in association with the 2009-2011 capital plan
community partnerships to assist in the City's delivery of services
Councillor Capri's motion builds on the work of various committees involving stakeholders, City Council, School and Park Board officials. It is based on other innovative animal licensing models in North America.

Responsible pet ownership contributes to neighbourhoods and communities that are safer, more enjoyable and more livable for everyone. I want to thank all the members of City Council, School and Park Board who have been working on the Dog Committee for the past year. These proposals are a tribute to their hard work and love for animals.

Expanded Street Cleaning Program Proposed in Downtown Eastside
Also this week, City Council will consider an expanded street cleaning project in the Downtown Eastside (DTES). This initiative will focus on lane cleaning, education and enforcement covering 4-6 blocks bordering Columbia and East Hastings Street in Vancouver.

Expanding street cleaning services in the DTES is another step toward achieving the goals and objectives of Project Civil City. In addition to delivering large investments in social housing, addiction treatment, mental illness and policing, we need to implement grassroots, street level solutions to public disorder.

My colleagues and I will be supporting a proposed investment of up to $200,000 in the 2008 municipal budget to significantly enhance street cleaning services. While many of the solutions to our social challenges fall under the jurisdiction of senior levels of government, street cleaning is a municipal responsibility.

I want to thank our community partners and the Clean Streets Task Force for their important contribution to make Vancouver a more civil city in all our neighbourhoods.

The proposal to expand street cleaning activities and enforcement in the DTES builds on a 2006 pilot project and on other initiatives to support Project Civil City goals and objectives that have been announced in the last 60 days, including:

development of over 1100 units of social and supportive housing on 12 city-owned sites across Vancouver
expansion of Downtown Ambassador program
plan to establish dumpster-free zones downtown
Granville Street closure on New Year's Eve
employment opportunities for inner city residents as part of Athletes Village construction in Southeast False Creek
Olympic Legacy Fund for public realm improvements in inner city neighbourhoods
proposal to relax height restrictions for new construction on signature sites in Gastown, Chinatown and Downtown Eastside

Sincerely,
Sam Sullivan
Mayor

[raggedy13]

^Thanks for posting that jlousa, some interesting stuff there. I'm really interested in finding out the actual dates surrounding construction of the M-Line extension. I would hope it would be completed several years before 2020, otherwise it would essentially be two decades overdue.

proposal to relax height restrictions for new construction on signature sites in Gastown, Chinatown and Downtown Eastside

Interesting. :hmmm:

[Coldrsx]

I used to work for Pattison Outdoor in Vancouver and i think outdoor advertising can be done right or very wrong. For the most part Vancouver does it right and i love the LEE building ad space.

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver January 15-21, 2008; issue 951

Real estate roundup: Peter Mitham

Metro Vancouver residential real estate prices projected to rise again in 2008

Ontario property management company bullish on Victoria office market

Housing boom

The news last week that Bob Rennie is listing the penthouse atop the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton on West Georgia for $28 million is stunning, yet merely the most extreme tip of the upward trend in residential prices most brokerages were reporting last year.

Royal LePage Real Estate Services, for one, reported last week that home prices rose 10.8% in Vancouver last year and projected a further 4.8% gain this year (below Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. estimates but still firm). That sets Vancouver on track to see an average home price this year of $587,500.

Meanwhile, the CMHC reports that vacancies in rental units across the province fell for a fourth straight year, hitting 1% in October 2007. While conditions remained steady in Vancouver (CMHC didn’t consider the increase in vacancies to 0.5% from 0.3% an improvement), conditions tightened in centres close to the city core – most notably Richmond, where vacancies last year dropped to 0.7% from 2.4%. This had a knock-on effect on rents, which rose 4.5% across the region.

With power in the residential market remaining firmly in the hands of sellers and landlords, expect to see development plans holding steady this year, too.

The fact that Vancouver councillors approved plans for 1,200 new units of social housing across the city last month is as indicative of market conditions as it is good news for the people it will accommodate. As municipal homeless advocate Judy Graves remarked in this space last year, vacancies for the least fortunate throughout Metro Vancouver have been zero for quite some time. The next forecasts for the residential market will come at the January 17 Urban Development Institute luncheon (watch this space for a summary).

Investing in tight markets

Dropping office vacancies on the West Coast have drawn Mississauga-based TransGlobe Property Management Services Ltd. to Victoria.

Colliers International reports that Victoria office vacancies in 2007 dropped to 2.9% from 4%. With very little new product being built to serve the demand, TransGlobe president Daniel Drimmer believes the region is ripe for investment.

“We’re very bullish on offices in Victoria,” Drimmer said. “There’s not much new construction. … We like the fact that there’s not new property coming on board, we like the tight vacancy rate for office, and it’s a very good long-term investment to own offices in Victoria.”

TransGlobe acquired 31 Bastion Square last month for an undisclosed sum, a deal that followed the purchase in August of Upper Harbour Place II, the first new A-class office project built in Victoria in five years. Together, the two buildings account for 134,000 square feet of space.

TransGlobe is also interested in adding to its portfolio of three commercial properties in Metro Vancouver and continues to scout opportunities. While a lack of new product gives Victoria an edge from an investor’s point of view, Drimmer believes the environment in Vancouver is also strong.

While new projects are more common in Metro Vancouver, Colliers reports that regional office vacancies stand at 4.1%, while downtown Vancouver is tighter than the capital with a vacancy rate of just 1.9%. Analysts project further tightening in the market in 2008.

Pending further office acquisitions, Drimmer is focused on residential units.

TransGlobe acquired two apartment buildings in New Westminster on January 4 with a total of 69 suites. It also expects to close on two more transactions in Burnaby and New Westminster in the coming weeks, which will add a further 99 rental units to TransGlobe’s portfolio.

UniverCity wins award

Kudos to SFU’s UniverCity development, the sole project from Canada to win an award of excellence last month from the American Planning Association.

UniverCity was one of nine recipients of the 2008 National Planning Excellence, Achievement and Leadership Awards, taking home honours for “innovation in green community planning.” The award will be presented at the APA’s April 30 conference in Las Vegas.

[mr.x]

Didn't know where to put this....


During the News Hour, they showed Chevron Burnaby plant doing a routine burnoff:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4517/96201820te0.jpg

They got a bunch of callers thinking it was some kind of big fire. :D

[entheosfog]

I used to work for Pattison Outdoor in Vancouver and i think outdoor advertising can be done right or very wrong. For the most part Vancouver does it right and i love the LEE building ad space.

I heard the owners made something like $8000 a year from that ad space. I could see why they fought to keep it.
But now the Lee is ad-less, unfortunately...

[quobobo]

I heard the owners made something like $8000 a year from that ad space. I could see why they fought to keep it.
But now the Lee is ad-less, unfortunately...

The CBC says $8000 a month, which seems a bit more likely.

This is such a ridiculous case, and an example of NIMBYism at its worst. One person's desire for aesthetic perfection shouldn't interfere with another person's right to do whatever they want on their property.

If anyone truly feels that they would be better off without the billboard, they should compensate the owners of the Lee building accordingly.

Cornholio's rant might be hyperbolic, but I agree with the general sentiment.

[mr.x]

I don't have pictures, but work on the 2010 curling venue at Hillcrest Park, adjacent to Nat Bailey Stadium, is rapidly progressing. The roof of the building is already taking shape, half of it has been erected.

[SpongeG]

Didn't know where to put this....


During the News Hour, they showed Chevron Burnaby plant doing a routine burnoff:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4517/96201820te0.jpg

They got a bunch of callers thinking it was some kind of big fire. :D

i was driving home from downtown just before 6 and i could see it for a long ways off

was kinda weird

a pulsating orange glow

i wondered what what was going on

[SpongeG]

The CBC says $8000 a month, which seems a bit more likely.

This is such a ridiculous case, and an example of NIMBYism at its worst. One person's desire for aesthetic perfection shouldn't interfere with another person's right to do whatever they want on their property.

If anyone truly feels that they would be better off without the billboard, they should compensate the owners of the Lee building accordingly.

Cornholio's rant might be hyperbolic, but I agree with the general sentiment.

yeah i heard they were making $100,000 a year off it so $8000 a month is about that

stupid idea - huge loss of income for the building

[TwoFace]

The CBC says $8000 a month, which seems a bit more likely.

This is such a ridiculous case, and an example of NIMBYism at its worst. One person's desire for aesthetic perfection shouldn't interfere with another person's right to do whatever they want on their property.

If anyone truly feels that they would be better off without the billboard, they should compensate the owners of the Lee building accordingly.

Cornholio's rant might be hyperbolic, but I agree with the general sentiment.

Oh no, poor Mr. Lee. Not to worry, you will be able to champion the Native cause once they erect giant billboards on the Burrard and Lions Gate Bridge

[Aylmer]

Didn't know where to put this....


During the News Hour, they showed Chevron Burnaby plant doing a routine burnoff:
http://img237.imageshack.us/img237/4517/96201820te0.jpg

They got a bunch of callers thinking it was some kind of big fire. :D

I first thought it was somthing photographrd by Hubble or somthing...


:)

[quobobo]

Oh no, poor Mr. Lee. Not to worry, you will be able to champion the Native cause once they erect giant billboards on the Burrard and Lions Gate Bridge

If they own the property, I'll do that.

[TwoFace]

If they own the property, I'll do that.

I own my property, maybe I will erect a 20 x 15 Burger King sign on my front lawn.

If they fined people for stupidity, you would be declaring bankruptcy.

[djh]

I own my property, maybe I will erect a 20 x 15 Burger King sign on my front lawn.

If they fined people for stupidity, you would be declaring bankruptcy.

There is a point there, but I don`t understand why the 2 of you had to degenerate into childish insults.

Owning your own property doesn`t mean you can do *anything* you want on it. I would be offended if my neighbour installed a giant billboard on their lot. It would interfere with my quality of living, and would be an eyesore for the whole neighbourhood, which, not surprisingly, would affect the value of his and my house, let alone generate bad blood with all the other neighbours, affect sight lines, affect sunlight, and all that stuff. So there are reasons why you cannot do absolutely anything you want on your own property, and the city bylaws are there for those reasons.

Having said that, I don`t think the Lee Building`s billboard was ever an eyesore to anybody. Granted it is a subjective opinion on aesthetics, but I think it has been there so long that it has become a landmark rather than an eyesore - it`s no more or less ugly than the Jumbotron on BC Place or the giant signs above Futureshop/Winners on Robson/Granville. Plus, because of the building's height and mass, it can't be seen from ground level or even with in the immediate blocks anyway.

I wouldn't mind if that particular billboard, due only to its landmark status, won an exemption to the rule. But all of the other ones the city has identified as being outside of the bylaws, I would be OK with them being removed - gradually and with the least impact on the property owners (I'm talking about the ones that have been there a long time and are not affecting their neighbours such as the one on South Granville).

[SpongeG]

Pottery Barn Kids Is opening up On Granville Street - next to or just one down from Williams-Sonoma - the space where Pottery Barn had a temp store last year...

[quobobo]

There is a point there, but I don`t understand why the 2 of you had to degenerate into childish insults.

Owning your own property doesn`t mean you can do *anything* you want on it. I would be offended if my neighbour installed a giant billboard on their lot. It would interfere with my quality of living, and would be an eyesore for the whole neighbourhood, which, not surprisingly, would affect the value of his and my house, let alone generate bad blood with all the other neighbours, affect sight lines, affect sunlight, and all that stuff. So there are reasons why you cannot do absolutely anything you want on your own property, and the city bylaws are there for those reasons.

Having said that, I don`t think the Lee Building`s billboard was ever an eyesore to anybody. Granted it is a subjective opinion on aesthetics, but I think it has been there so long that it has become a landmark rather than an eyesore - it`s no more or less ugly than the Jumbotron on BC Place or the giant signs above Futureshop/Winners on Robson/Granville. Plus, because of the building's height and mass, it can't be seen from ground level or even with in the immediate blocks anyway.

I wouldn't mind if that particular billboard, due only to its landmark status, won an exemption to the rule. But all of the other ones the city has identified as being outside of the bylaws, I would be OK with them being removed - gradually and with the least impact on the property owners (I'm talking about the ones that have been there a long time and are not affecting their neighbours such as the one on South Granville).

In my defence, I haven't insulted anyone yet (at least not intentionally).

I wasn't really talking about cases like this - all the billboards we've been discussing are in high-volume transit corridors. However, even if your neighbour erects a massive sign in his yard:

A) The chances of this happening in a suburban neighbourhood where it would actually matter are slim to none, because of the reasons you mentioned
B) Even if it did happen, it's their property - if you want to do something about it, bring it up with them. Gather all your neighbours together and bring it up. If they're uncooperative and covering your house in shadow, nuisance bylaws or small claims court would probably do the trick. But if it's just an eyesore and it bothers you that much, move to a subdivision with a strata council to protect you from these things.

At any rate, this isn't what I was talking about and it's clearly not what this bylaw is being used to stop. If you want a bylaw that clearly states "Thou shalt not put huge signs on your lawn in residential areas", lobby for that. I wouldn't agree with it, but it's better than a catch-all bylaw that's depriving property owners in high-traffic locations of some extra revenue.

It may sound a little strange to defend advertising, but does the average billboard downtown really reduce your quality of life that much? I used to live in Japan, and I loved the neon and advertising downtown - it made it feel much livelier and city-like.

I'm done, sorry for the threadjack.

[SpongeG]

i don't think anyone here is anti-billboard

i think most people want the billboard to stay as is

its the city who seems to want it gone

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver January 22-28, 2008; issue 952

Real estate roundup: Peter Mitham

Asia-Pacific trade centre for City of Vancouver ruffles feathers in Richmond

Meanwhile in Delta: golf club redevelopment plan raises ire of conservationists

Richmond laments Robson plan

A planned multimillion-dollar makeover of Robson Square is not sitting well in Richmond.

A renovation of the downtown Vancouver plaza has been discussed at various times over the past decade, but discussions now underway in Victoria could be the real deal.

A final decision on the project hasn’t been made, but the B.C. Ministry of Economic Development says an Asia-Pacific trade centre would be a desirable element.

There’s just one hitch: it’s the kind of thing tourism officials in Richmond have been seeking for that municipality, a fact that sparks some concern among backers of the Richmond project.

Since 1999, Tourism Richmond has collected about $6 million from a 2% tax on local hotel accommodation towards the development of an Asia Pacific Trade and Showcase Centre, originally envisioned as a media centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

The media centre went to Vancouver, and now the trade centre seems set to go to Vancouver, too.

A spokesman for the province said Richmond wasn’t considered for the Asia Pacific centre touted for Robson Square, prompting Tracy Lakeman, executive director of Tourism Richmond to wonder why not.

“We still believe that Richmond is the ideal location for an Asia Pacific centre, culturally as well as business-wise,” she said.

Shato faces challenge

The exclusion of 28.5 acres of land in Delta from the agricultural land reserve in exchange for the inclusion of 4.5 acres that are farmed is under fire from conservationists.

The arrangement was approved by the Agricultural Land Commission in November 2007 and removes an obstacle to Shato Holding Ltd.’s reconfiguration and redevelopment of the Tsawwassen Golf and Country Club with upwards of 450 units of housing. Shato has also committed 150 acres for rezoning from industrial to agricultural use as part of the arrangement.

But the apparent benefits to agriculture are drawing serious criticism from the Boundary Bay Conservation Committee, which has secured a grant from West Coast Environmental Law allowing it to retain North Vancouver lawyer William Andrews.

Andrews filed a petition on behalf of the Boundary Bay committee and its representative Kent Warmington in B.C. Supreme Court on January 10, days after Delta council sent Shato’s proposal to public hearing.

The petition seeks orders “quashing” the two resolutions of the Agricultural Land Commission that cleared the way for Shato to present its redevelopment application to Delta council.

The conservation committee contends in court documents that the land commission “exceeded its jurisdiction” at several points, and argues that the exclusion violates the spirit of 1989 decision allowing a golf course on the lands.

The planned residential development is not a legitimate golf course use, it believes.

“A new application for golf course use of ALR land and an application for exclusion of ALR land for residential development is certainly not a benefit to agricultural land,” Andrews told the land commission in a letter last fall, prior to being retained as counsel for the conservation committee.

Industrial strength

A reader asked last week how things had changed with industrial land over the past decade.

A glance back at BIV’s list of the “Biggest industrial business parks in Greater Vancouver” (April 1998) shows that land in the biggest park, Annacis Island, was selling for $375,000 to $400,000 an acre, while in Gloucester, parcels could be had for as little as $205,000 an acre. The cheapest property was in Bontebok Holdings Ltd.’s Nelson Road Industrial Park in Richmond, where sites began at $175,000 an acre.

Today, prices are well above those decade-old values.

Vacant land sales on Annacis are as rare as hen’s teeth, but estimates at Colliers International last fall pegged current values at between $1 million and $1.2 million an acre. In Gloucester, buyers can expect to pay between $900,000 and $1.2 million an acre.

The rise in prices – there’s lots of other examples besides these two – correlates with demand.

A decade ago, Colliers reported a regional vacancy rate for industrial properties of 4.6%. Today, the brokerage shows vacancies sitting at 1.5%. With quarterly absorption over the past two years averaging 1.35 million feet and new supply lagging behind it by an average of 600,000 square feet a quarter, the market doesn’t appear set to slacken.

[officedweller]

Richmond laments Robson plan

There’s just one hitch: it’s the kind of thing tourism officials in Richmond have been seeking for that municipality, a fact that sparks some concern among backers of the Richmond project.

Since 1999, Tourism Richmond has collected about $6 million from a 2% tax on local hotel accommodation towards the development of an Asia Pacific Trade and Showcase Centre, originally envisioned as a media centre for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Hmmm. A business / trade centre isn't really the same as a trade and convention centre - maybe they have their wires crossed. Isn't the facility at Robson Square supposed to be like an economic development office focussing on trade with Asia.
i.e. something that shouldn't be spearheaded by tourism officials?

[Rusty Gull]

Hmmm. A business / trade centre isn't really the same as a trade and convention centre - maybe they have their wires crossed. Isn't the facility at Robson Square supposed to be like an economic development office focussing on trade with Asia.
i.e. something that shouldn't be spearheaded by tourism officials?

That's what I was thinking. Richmond can still go ahead and build what it wants to. I hate to throw cold water over both plans, but the benefits of the trade centres is probably quite negligible.

The way to foster increased trade with Asia is to continue fostering the growth of the Canadian economy; make the country more attractive to invest in; and focus on research, innovation and value-added products.

[LeftCoaster]

Nothing really, but a new Tim Horton's coming to Commercial Dr.

Specs:
1932 sq ft.
Corner of E 1st and Commercial
Construction will start late April and finish Canada Day.

[djh]

Nothing really, but a new Tim Horton's coming to Commercial Dr.

Specs:
1932 sq ft.
Corner of E 1st and Commercial
Construction will start late April and finish Canada Day.

Isn't that the Vancity corner? It's quite a well-occupied corner, so where would it go?
There is that old empty McDonalds spot a little to the West of the VanCity, I guess it could be in there?

[LeftCoaster]

Actually a salon, restaurant, shoe repair and convenience store will all be kicked out to make way.

Kind of a bad trade I'd say.

[djh]

Actually a salon, restaurant, shoe repair and convenience store will all be kicked out to make way.

Kind of a bad trade I'd say.

Hmmm. Can't see the "brothers and sisters" on the Drive taking to that too well - a "big" corporation pushing out the independent "anti-corporate warrior" merchant. When I first moved here and lived near Commercial I kept hearing stories of how people not only boycotted Starbucks when they opened on the Drive, but they were getting their windows muddied and other unpleasant things. Perhaps that's why the McDonalds on 1st/Commercial closed in the first place (before my time)? So Tim Hortons could face the same fate.

[SFUVancouver]

That's my neck of the woods and yet I cannot quite picture where this will be built.

[SpongeG]

could you imagine if it replace red burrito :O

[TwoFace]

Hmmm. Can't see the "brothers and sisters" on the Drive taking to that too well - a "big" corporation pushing out the independent "anti-corporate warrior" merchant.

I think it may slip under the radar, as most still associate corporate ownership to be Canadian and not Wendy's International.
Personally I prefer a strict code of Bohemian funk on the drive.

[jlousa]

AS far as I know Wendys no longer holds shares in Timmys, they spun them off as a seperate company about 2 years ago and while they retained a good chuck of shares at that time I think they have sold those off by now as they are in some serious trouble and need the cash.

Found some info

"However, as part of a deal with several key investors announced late Thursday, Wendy's will spin off all of those remaining shares in Tim Hortons to shareholders no later than Dec. 31, 2006.

So while I'm sure there are still lots of american investors with Timmy shares it's probably safe to assume it's mostly canadian owned now, as I remember the frenzy during the IPO.

I imagine the location as either the old McDs or that old bank (CIBC?) on the NE corner. While a Timmys will probably do well there regardless, I think everyone can agree that the population living there is not their typical customer base.

[TwoFace]

I imagine the location as either the old McDs or that old bank (CIBC?) on the NE corner. While a Timmys will probably do well there regardless, I think everyone can agree that the population living there is not their typical customer base.

I would think that the Corporate heads never took the neighborhood into consideration, but only saw a major traffic artery to downtown, parking, and a large commercial/industrial client base just a couple of blocks west.

[Jared]

I live 3 blocks from commercial and I'm trying to figure out which corner the Timmys will be on?

You've got:

NW: Vancity
SW: Parking lot + Royal Bank
SE: Red Burrito
NE: A household goods shop or something?


Anyways, as is typical of this neighborhood, there's sure to be plently of calls for boycott, but it will die down. The Starbucks on Commercial and 2nd is always busy, Tim Hortons will do fine.

[SpongeG]

Ethical Addictions is opening up on the drive too

it's a coffee chain from the valley

[jlousa]

Busby Perkins + Will leads design team for VanDusen Botanical Garden refurbishment project

Budget for first phase estimated at $6.5 million
A long-awaited $20 million refurbishing of Vancouver’s VanDusen Botanical Garden has begun.
Upgrades for the attraction, located at 37th and Oak, have started with Busby Perkins + Will, a B.C. architectural firm known for it’s green focus.
The firm was selected in December to lead the design team.
John Ross, Vancouver park board project manager for the city-owned garden site, said that the two-phase refurbishment is being undertaken because the activities and popularity of the gardens has outstripped the capacity of the current buildings onsite.
Since opening in 1975, buildings at the gardens have not been renovated.
The gardens sprawled over the 22-hectare (55-acre) site will remain untouched as it is home to about 255,000 plants.
The city garden is managed in conjunction with the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association, which works to raise funds for the garden’s development and the refurbishment is a joint-venture between the association and the parks board.
“In Phase 1 we are looking at improving access to the garden and (to) improve the visibility,” Ross said, adding that the garden’s entrance is now low-key and many motorists drive by it.
The goal is to make the whole entrance area more user-friendly.
“We want to enlarge the gift shop and do some work to the interpretive centre where groups gather,” he said.
“There are also plans for a separate pavilion from the facility, which could be used as a large meeting, reception and rental area.”
The first phase is projected to cost about $6.5 million.
Phase 2 will look at areas such as the administration building, library, volunteer centre and the seed collection area.
While Peter Busby will be the managing director of the architectural design team, the project leader is Jim Huffman, who said the design team would be meeting over the next three months to look at design possibilities.
“We will look at their specific needs and try to develop a program,” he said, adding that one of the themes discussed at an early meeting was to try to have the building work with the garden, rather than just be located in it.
Huffman said that possibilities for such a plan exist with designing ways that the building works in an organic sense.
The plan could include capturing water and reusing water and even growing the vegetables used in the on-site restaurant.
He said that the project is currently one of the smallest in his office today, but is considered one of the most high-profile as the design team includes individuals such as Cornelia Oberlander, a North American landscaper with impressive credentials.
She was one of the first women to graduate Harvard University’s School of Design with a degree in landscape architecture in 1947 and she is currently working in New York with world-class architect Rezo Piano.
Once the design needs have been established, the actual design will be drawn up during the summer months and construction could begin this fall after tendering, depending upon the timing.
However, Ross said that if there are delays, it might have to be postponed until spring as it could interfere with the Festival of Lights, a major December attraction at the gardens.
Mary Butterfield, capital campaign director and a building committee member for the association, said that the $20 million is an over-all goal. There is a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in place between the park board and the association that each will contribute half of the needed funds.
Butterfield said that the association has raised more than $6 million, so it has about $3.7 million left to meet its obligation.
Butterfield said that the building committee did have a concept design in place, but now is meeting with the architectural and landscape team to reconsider much of that original design.
“The main message is that the design is starting,” she said.
Anyone wishing to donate to the refurbishment project can contact Butterfield or the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.

[worldwide]

Nothing really, but a new Tim Horton's coming to Commercial Dr.

Specs:
1932 sq ft.
Corner of E 1st and Commercial
Construction will start late April and finish Canada Day.

nice. its hard to find a tim hoes in this city


also. whats going on with the tower proposal on main at 33rd. anyone have a link?

[jlousa]

There's a project in the Main and 33rd area called therai? Not to famaliar with it though, you might also be thinking about the little mountain redevelopment, which will be a huge project, hopefully I can share some news about that in a few months.

[officedweller]

nice. its hard to find a tim hoes in this city


There's also a new one at Broadway & Fir - across from Earl's. Seems to close early though.

[cornholio]

The old London Guard motel that got torn down on Kingsway by Nanaimo is going to get a 4 story residential building with 85 units and the bottom will be retail. There will be a one level underground parkade for for 120 or so spaces. There was no back alley behind the motel but one will be built. Nothing spectacular I guess but its yet another development that will only improve this area. I live by the way a 2 minuit walk from there so I know how bad this area really is thanks to the motels that used to be here. Now they just have to tare down that motel 2400 and maybe one day they will also get rid of the Quality Inn, though that ones not as bad as the others which are/were hooker and crack head magnets. Eldorado should also be torn down very soon.
The city of Vancouver should have more info as its not approved yet but I dont see it not being approved. Its by Thynd development.

As far as the Hills development goes there has been nothing new for a while, I havent really looked in to it but the staff at Eldorado dont know when they will close yet. Im kind of going to miss that sleezy bar, always felt really comfortable in there unlike these new pubs like all over downtown where there is no feeling of community and all the people seem really stuck up and high on themselves. The King Edward development also looks like it will be finally finished in a few months, about time.

[jlousa]

The civic strike slowed down the Hills development quite a bit, the show suite is at Georgia and Seymour (Bayparkade building) it will be opening shortly, sales will begin in the spring. It'll be a 22 storey tower on the corner of Kingsway and Naniamo, the back tower is only 9 stories, the front podium will be 7 stories and there will be townhouses along the back strech. Their will still be a neighbour pub in the new development.
The project by Thind will be two phases, the 84/85 condos overs 14CRUs will be the front half, like you mentioned they will reintroduce a back lane, on the north side of the lane will have rows of townhouses. As part of the plan they are including a passageway that will connect Kingsway to the park behing it, Brock Park, The passage will most likely connect to an existing lane that is there. I agree those two developments will really help that area.
As far as 2400 Motel goes, it's acutally owned by the city, they just extended a contract with the property mangement firm for another 5yrs though, so it doesn't appear we'll see anything soon. It really pisses me off when I hear people trying to save the motel because it's heritage, the place is a dump it ruins the neighbourhood and almost all the locals hate it, it's a dead block that offers nothing and attracts undesireables. The only ones that appear to want to save it are people that don't live anywhere near it.

Can you tell I live in the area as well.

[officedweller]

7 storey podium - that's quite tall - esp. for a non-core area. Ditto for the King Edward podium.

[vanman]

I dig the taller podiums going up these days, so long as they are not parking garages.

[cornholio]

^^^Yeah my patio/backyard faces the Kingsway back alley near the Quality Inn
I often get needles and crack pipes and used condoms under the patio and have had crack heads and hookers camping out under there. Not to mention being asked if I want a bj when I walk out my back door at 7am is rather annoying. This is all thanks to all these motels that always were around this part of Kingsway.

Didnt realize their going to have a passage way through there, personally I think thats a bad idea because it will be mostly used by all undesirables. Theres a small passage in that area a block down and all its used for is smoking crack and shooting up and for the hookers to meet their pimps in the alley.

[jlousa]

my understanding is the passage way is owned by the developer and will be used as a patio for a coffee shop (maybe the area will get a starbucks) so it's quite possible it'll be locked up night if they notice undesirable using it. It might work as intended though, once all the motels begin dissappearing the amount of undesireable will follow. Do you remember the other motel that used to be at Kingsway and duchess, it had an RV park in the back, that development turned out quite nice. Hopefully this one does too.

[Jared]

Good to hear the tower @ Nanaimo and Kingsway is still going ahead, I hadn't heard much about it recently and was beginning to think it was going to be scrapped.

[jlousa]

Some news for outside the core.
First 2 are pre-bid the last one is out for tender.

Ospal Steel Project

2 Buildings, 18 Storeys, 3 levels u/g parking, 125,000sqft, ~115 condo units,
both towers connected to the restored Ospal Steel building which will be commercial. Update May08

UBC expansion Phase 1-3, $100Million, 15 Buildings over 7Ha, 38,550M2, including DNA (day/night area) Square glass canopy sheltered area connecting Student Union building, aquatic centre, underground transit station, and future retail and student residences. Update later/08


Broadway Tech Building 5+7 (building6??)
3 Storeys, 2 level u/g parking, 164,000sqft, 82K/each, Start Mar/08 Finish 09.

[officedweller]

I gather that the Opsal Steel Building will be shifted on its site?
Renderings that I've seen (can't recall where) showed a tower at the corner of Quebec and 2nd Ave., and the existing building butts up to Quebec St.

Here it is from the Bastion Developments website (this must be old as it doesn't show 2 x 18 storeys):

http://www.bastiondevelopment.com/images/opsal-blu1.jpg
http://www.bastiondevelopment.com/images/opsal-blu3.jpg

[jlousa]

Not sure of the orientation, it's listed as W 2nd ave from Ontario to Quebec so it's a large site, it also mentions labelling each piece which will be stored offsite during construction of the towers before bringing them back to re-assemble, so it's quite possible they could shift it.
It is possible that only one of the towers is 18 storeys, I've found in the past they only list the taller tower, might be the case here, as ~115 units isn't very much for 2*18storeys.

[djh]

^Bastion started plans to do that with the building several years ago, when those plans first circulated (think it was 2005/2006). I think they said the wood was in really good condition and of a length and girth that you can't find any more, so they wanted to restore the whole thing (seem to remember talk of storing it under water?)
What's been the hold-up? There was a heritage issue and I think a density transfer issue. Any more details?

[officedweller]

Makes sense that if they are labelling and storing the pieces that they could shift the building. Thanks.

[vanlaw]

[QUOTE=jlousa;

Can you tell I live in the area as well.[/QUOTE]

jlousa, cornholio - we obvioulsy all live right near each other - My kitchen looks out over the demolished London Guard site. I always joke with my friends - if you look out the front you see Brock Park and mountains, you would think you were on the West Side, but if you look out the back, its pure East Side - best example of a mullet house I have ever seen. Looks like my back alley will finally be widened to become Galt St. It was always strange that Galt ends, turns to alley, then 12 lots later becomes Galt again, but I guess the hotel was there before the street.

I really hope Thind does a good job with the building - the 4th floor North facing units will have great views of downtown and the mountains. And it will be nice to see Brock Park utilized more - other than a few regular dog walkers and the odd soccer practice, the park is devoid of any activity.

[jlousa]

I'm not too far, I'm live on top of the hill right across from the 2400 Motel, one of the last remaining houses on Kingsway. It's funny how many real estate agents have knocked on my door in the past 2 years letting me know there are developers looking at buying my house. They don't get it when I tell them they're too late.:tup:

[vanlaw]

I'm not too far, I'm live on top of the hill right across from the 2400 Motel, one of the last remaining houses on Kingsway. It's funny how many real estate agents have knocked on my door in the past 2 years letting me know there are developers looking at buying my house. They don't get it when I tell them they're too late.:tup:

I could only wish I owned my house. Moved there 6 years ago and the rent seemed a little on the high side at that point. Now that market value has pretty much close to doubled in those 6 years, the rent is less than half of what mortgage would be on the house. I'm sticking around until they boot me out.

I really think that whole are is going to change for the better. People knock Kingsway, and rightly so, it looks like a shithole (no offence). But once you get a block off either way, there are some really nice little neighbourhoods. If they can build some quality projects on Kingsway proper, I think it will turn around. And you cant beat location for convenience - 20-25 minutes to downtown whether you drive, cycle or skytrain, and only a 5-10 minutes to Highway 1 if heading east.

[dreambrother808]

AWhile a Timmys will probably do well there regardless, I think everyone can agree that the population living there is not their typical customer base.

No shit. Such a bad idea. One of the lamest Canadian corporations comes to Commercial? Expand your base in Maple Ridge, etc. where you're appreciated and you "belong".

[Rusty Gull]

People knock Kingsway, and rightly so, it looks like a shithole (no offence). But once you get a block off either way, there are some really nice little neighbourhoods. If they can build some quality projects on Kingsway proper, I think it will turn around. And you cant beat location for convenience - 20-25 minutes to downtown whether you drive, cycle or skytrain, and only a 5-10 minutes to Highway 1 if heading east.

I always liked Kingsway. It slices right through the city, and you see a side of Vancouver you can never get downtown or in the West Side. Unlike so many other neighbourhoods, it's uniquely Vancouver, for better or worse.

If the city paid it a bit of respect, it might be our version of Santa Monica Boulevard.

[LeftCoaster]

No shit. Such a bad idea. One of the lamest Canadian corporations comes to Commercial? Expand your base in Maple Ridge, etc. where you're appreciated and you "belong".

Haha funny you bring that up, there is a new tim horton's going in at lougheed and 224th in maple ridge.

They are taking over....ahhh!

[jlousa]

2402 E Broadway
4 Storeys, 2 levels of u/g parking, 25,000sqft, 30 units, CRU at grade, start Jun/08

[Yume-sama]

Haha funny you bring that up, there is a new tim horton's going in at lougheed and 224th in maple ridge.

They are taking over....ahhh!

There should be more Tim Hortons, really. I don't like Starbucks... I just can't go to them in North America. They have much better drinks in Asia along with a selection of fresh food and cookies that don't have mold growing on them, somehow? :koko:

[jjjb]

There should be more Tim Hortons, really. I don't like Starbucks... I just can't go to them in North America. They have much better drinks in Asia along with a selection of fresh food and cookies that don't have mold growing on them, somehow? :koko:

That's cause the food at TimHo is laced with formaldehyde.

[Yume-sama]

That's cause the food at TimHo is laced with formaldehyde.

:haha: Well, I don't eat their food either. But I did have a dangerous iced cap obsession awhile back. It'd just be nicer for there to be more of them... the nearest one to me is in the Pacific Centre and I have to pass about 6 Starbucks on my way. :P

[jjjb]

:haha: Well, I don't eat their food either. But I did have a dangerous iced cap obsession awhile back. It'd just be nicer for there to be more of them... the nearest one to me is in the Pacific Centre and I have to pass about 6 Starbucks on my way. :P

I went to visit someone at Royal Centre yesterday and to my amazement there is a new Starbucks across the way, not to mention the one in the Bentall food court (the one behind the BMO with the DiscoDiner or whatever it is).

However, if you ever visited Toronto, Ottawa or the Maritimes, you'd see a Tim Hortons on every corner.

[Yume-sama]

I went to visit someone at Royal Centre yesterday and to my amazement there is a new Starbucks across the way, not to mention the one in the Bentall food court (the one behind the BMO with the DiscoDiner or whatever it is).

However, if you ever visited Toronto, Ottawa or the Maritimes, you'd see a Tim Hortons on every corner.

Same as in Calgary, though Tim Hortons is becoming a bit more rare. My old neighborhood just got their first Starbucks, then their second, then their third... and a fourth express one is on the way all within a few block radius. My folks were so proud, as now its officially an up and coming neighborhood after 60 years. :haha: The scary thing is they plan to open 10,000+ locations a year worldwide, still.

[jjjb]

Same as in Calgary, though Tim Hortons is becoming a bit more rare. My old neighborhood just got their first Starbucks, then their second, then their third... and a fourth express one is on the way all within a few block radius. My folks were so proud, as now its officially an up and coming neighborhood after 60 years. :haha: The scary thing is they plan to open 10,000+ locations a year worldwide, still.

Yeah, their new plans are to slow down domestically (US/Canada) and concentrate on new markets. They are closing down some underperforming outlets and pulling out of some developments (even here).

[dreambrother808]

Haha funny you bring that up, there is a new tim horton's going in at lougheed and 224th in maple ridge.

They are taking over....ahhh!

I'm from Ontario originally so I've seen enough of Tim Horton's to last me a lifetime.

[dreambrother808]

I went to visit someone at Royal Centre yesterday and to my amazement there is a new Starbucks across the way, not to mention the one in the Bentall food court (the one behind the BMO with the DiscoDiner or whatever it is).



There's a new Starbucks going in at the corner of Main and 12th too, just down the street from the one already at Main and 15th. I wonder about the decision-making there though. JJ Bean, also at Main and 15th, clearly trumps Starbucks in terms of popularity and neighbourhood cool factor. Maybe opening further down the street at a busy intersection is intended to profit from some kind of distance. At 12th, there is a block in either direction without a coffee establishment of some kind, so shocking for that area, gasp!

[officedweller]

Maybe the Main&15th Starbucks will close.

[dreambrother808]

Maybe the Main&15th Starbucks will close.

Possibly but does Starbucks ever close locations? It seems to me that they tend to add rather than subtract. I could see the building it's currently in being demolished and turned into new condo/retail though. Maybe their lease is up and this is the preparation.

[jjjb]

Possibly but does Starbucks ever close locations? It seems to me that they tend to add rather than subtract. I could see the building it's currently in being demolished and turned into new condo/retail though. Maybe their lease is up and this is the preparation.

They claim they don't have to but of course they've had to. Usually when it happens every trace of a Starbucks having been there disappears within 24 hours. Or so I've read in Starbucked.

[SpongeG]

Possibly but does Starbucks ever close locations? It seems to me that they tend to add rather than subtract. I could see the building it's currently in being demolished and turned into new condo/retail though. Maybe their lease is up and this is the preparation.

starbucks has closed a few stores - the biggie was the one on denman - they closed it and a new one opend at davie and denman

that old denman store was a unionized location - and starbucks has a habit of closing down the unionized ones and opening nearby - a dirty tactic but a sure way if busting the union

[officedweller]

From the Seattle P-I - but it may not apply to Canada

Thursday, January 31, 2008
Last updated 1:03 a.m. PT

Starbucks to close some stores, stop selling breakfast sandwiches
By CRAIG HARRIS
P-I REPORTER

Starbucks will say goodbye to its breakfast sandwiches, close about 100 underperforming U.S. locations and slow down the number of domestic openings as the once-go-go coffee company retools itself amid a slowing economy.

The changes, announced Wednesday along with modest first-quarter earnings, also include putting more emphasis on overseas expansion. Few stores will be closed in the Pacific Northwest, and employees at the shuttered stores will be transferred to other sites, said Chairman Howard Schultz, who took over as chief executive Jan. 7.

"It's important to understand a new day is here," Schultz said in an interview with the Seattle P-I after the earnings release. "We want to put the customer at the forefront of every decision we make, and we want to exceed their expectations at what we are doing."

Schultz, who replaced fired CEO Jim Donald, said a five-point plan on a "catalyst for change" would be revealed at the company's annual meeting March 19. While still growing the company, Schultz wants to return Starbucks to its roots of intimate coffee houses with unique drinks where baristas connect with customers.

Problems became public nearly one year ago when Schultz sent out a Valentine's Day memo, called "The Commoditization of the Starbucks Experience," lamenting challenges within Starbucks and the "watering down" of the company.

One way to turn back the clock is getting rid of the breakfast sandwiches, even though they bring in significant revenue and were seen as a way to compete for morning sales with McDonald's Corp., which is going head-to-head with Starbucks on coffee sales.

Starbucks employees had long complained the smell of egg-and-cheese sandwiches overpowered the aroma of coffee and cheapened the store experience, and Schultz agreed. He said input from baristas during the past three weeks influenced his decision.

The move to eliminate the sandwiches, which bring in more than $100 million in annual revenue, was "a tough decision, but it's a very easy decision on what is at stake," Schultz said. "For 35 years we have ethically sourced and roasted high-quality coffee by passionate people, and we should not do anything in the stores that is in conflict with that."

Schultz also said China remained the big prize for international growth, but the company also plans to move into Hungary and Poland. In 2009, Starbucks for the first time is planning to open more international stores than U.S. outlets.

"International will offset some of the weakness in the U.S. market," Schultz said.

Starbucks Corp. said profits for the quarter ended Dec. 30 totaled $208.1 million, a 2 percent increase compared with $205 million in net income a year ago. The earnings of 28 cents per share beat by a penny the estimate of Wall Street analysts. Revenue increased 17 percent to $2.77 billion, compared with $2.36 billion for the first quarter of 2007.

Schultz, who took Starbucks public in 1992 and was CEO from 1987 to 2000, is trying to resurrect the company's slumping stock price. Last year, shares dropped 42 percent, and the stock price closed Wednesday at $19.22, a nearly 4 percent drop from the previous day, on the Nasdaq stock market. Shares dropped slightly in after-hours trading, after the company's announcements.

Some analysts said they were disappointed more specific details weren't released.

"It's very difficult to get excited about the story," said Patricia Edwards, a retail analyst at Wentworth, Hauser and Violich in San Francisco. "It's one of those 'trust me' stories, but it (Starbucks) hasn't earned the trust in the last year or two."

Schultz said stores would begin phasing out breakfast sandwiches through the current fiscal year, which ends Sept. 28, and they would be replaced with a healthy alternative.

"Customers have told us they want a healthy breakfast alternative, and no one has responded to that need," Schultz told analysts in a conference call.

Schultz didn't say what the company would sell in place of the sandwiches, which bring in about $35,000 in annual sales per store. But he told the P-I the company's food group would deliver a product that "wouldn't dilute the integrity or romance of coffee."

The company declined to disclose the precise number of stores selling the sandwiches, but it said the sandwiches were in 3,000 to 4,000 stores.

Based on those figures, the company could lose $105 million to $140 million in annual revenue. Schultz said the sandwiches had a small profit margin compared with coffee, but he did not disclose figures.

The company, which during the last quarter opened about eight stores a day, said it would open about five stores a day for the rest of the fiscal year.

Despite the slowdown, Starbucks still is the largest gourmet coffee chain in the world with 15,756 stores in 43 countries, including the U.S.

In November, the company started feeling a pinch from a slowing economy, and it lowered its estimated 2008 worldwide openings by 100 stores to 2,500 net new stores. That figure was lowered again Wednesday to 2,150 stores. The number of projected U.S. store openings will drop from 1,600 to 1,175, while the number of foreign stores will increase from 900 to 975.

In 2009, the company for the first time is projecting to open more stores overseas than in the U.S., which will have fewer than 1,000 new stores.

[SpongeG]

speaking of starbucks - at that new big bend shopping place and that marine way shopping place - there is a starbucks on each side of marine way

[hollywoodnorth]

Business in Vancouver January 29-February 4, 2008; issue 953

Real estate roundup: Peter Mitham

We’re not immune to fallout from U.S.

Commercial investors may not be as lucky as consumers following bank’s cut in rates

It’s good news, really

Depending how you look at it, the Bank of Canada’s cut to its target interest rate last week and parallel moves to trim prime lending rates at banks across Canada offered the good news that speakers at the Urban Development Institute’s (UDI) annual industry outlook luncheon discussed just a few days before.

First, the good news: So far as the Bank of Canada’s 25-basis point cut to its target lending rate – now 4% – sets the pace for prime rates at retail banks across the country, it’s good news for consumers and the residential developers seeking to serve them. Parklane Homes Ltd. president Peeter Wesik, discounting the impact of the U.S. subprime mess in B.C., told the UDI audience that he expects interest rates to stay lower for the next 12 to 18 months. This certainly won’t dampen sales, he argued.

But don’t think the real estate market in B.C. is immune to fallout from the U.S. crisis, cautioned David Podmore, president and CEO of Concert Properties Ltd.

The bad news, as Avtar Bains, senior vice-president of Colliers International, explained, lies in the fact that commercial investors don’t stand to be as lucky as consumers. While interest rate cuts may buoy the hopes of home buyers, Bains said lenders are being more discriminating and paying close attention to the fundamentals of deals. In short, a cut to target interest rates won’t necessarily get passed along to investors seeking financing.

Spreads on bond rates mean properties such as the site of the Marketplace IGA in the 2000-block of West Broadway in Vancouver didn’t attract the dozen offers it might have a year ago. Six bids were on the table when the deadline for offers passed in early December. Still nice, but it’s not 2006 anymore – or 2005, 2004 or 2003.

“We’re going to be treating real estate assets on their own merits going forward,” Bains said. “We’re back to cash flow, back to fundamentals – and that’s a good thing.”

B.C. Place recommendation

More than a few ears perked up at the recent UDI luncheon when moderator David Negrin introduced David Podmore as the man with the keys to B.C. Place, someone people in the audience would want to talk to in the near future.

A rustle of voices swept through the room at the prospect, but Podmore, who serves as chair of B.C. Pavilion Corp. in addition to heading up Concert Properties Ltd., said that prospective buyers aren’t about to be invited to submit bids on the landmark stadium. “They might be eager to, but I won’t be talking with them,” Podmore said after the luncheon.

He added that recommendations on the future of the stadium, including whether or not it should be sold, aren’t about to be released.

“Not immediately, that’s for sure. We’re just evaluating all of the options,” he said. That’s not to say that a heightened sense of anticipation doesn’t exist. The property would be a lucrative development site, but Podmore wasn’t about to give away any secrets. “Just stay tuned!” he advised.

Courting buyers

One of the themes running through the various UDI outlook presentations was the presence of opportunities, regardless of market circumstances.

It’s something B.C. resort developers have seen. While the much-publicized woes of the U.S. housing market have dominated headlines, U.S. buyers are still buying resort properties in Canada. The new Revelstoke Mountain Resort, for example, has seen approximately half its condo units sell to U.S. buyers. Meanwhile, at Bear Mountain on Vancouver Island, sales to international buyers are strong, as many seek an alternative to softening asset values in the U.S. The real estate markets in Canada may not be entirely independent of markets south of the border, but buyers do feel they’re more resilient.

“We’ve seen a marked spike in interest in U.S. investors. They view Canada as a safe economic, safe lifestyle purchase – safe in many ways,” said Dale Sproule, director of real estate for Bear Mountain Master Partnership.

While U.S. buyers account for no more than 7% of buyers at Bear Mountain, Sproule expects to see more. A new marketing centre that opened in Arizona on January 11 has boosted inquiries from the U.S. by 42%.

Approximately 90% of the units Bear Mountain has offered to the market have sold, Sproule said, with a further 3,000 units set for release over the next 10 years.

[osirisboy]

so im at home this afternoon relaxing and i look at of my window and see this, and i thought WTF, anyone know what this is? im assuming its for the olympic village.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x89/osirisboy22/IMG_4193.jpg
http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x89/osirisboy22/IMG_4192.jpg

[SFUVancouver]

Very odd.

Cisterns maybe? Or perhaps something to do with the neighbourhood energy utility?

[bils]

they look like giant warheads.... they must be taking this olympic security seriously!