CF Pacific Centre Developments - Page 10

Joat · #**181** Posted **Apr 28, 2012, 4:28 AM**

I'm going to go with whatever leftcoaster says.

The current building is pretty big already and the timing for a big office tower doesn't seem right, with so many others in the works. Id hate to see them build some mixed use building, instead of a big, pure office tower

GeeCee · #**182** Posted **Apr 28, 2012, 6:54 AM**

I heard that they're going to tear it down and build the world's largest Apple store!

red-paladin · #**183** Posted **Apr 28, 2012, 3:12 PM**

O.o

golog · #**184** Posted **Apr 28, 2012, 7:54 PM**

I did read somewhere, shortly after the buyout became public, that the city was going to require the facade be redone as a part of any renovation. Once they've got the space vacant all at once, it makes sense to use the opportunity to do a big renovation that can pay for itself with increased rents before any future re-development.

The structure is steel and 40-50 years old? Hopefully no asbestos worries or other complications.

Cadillac Fairview can only maintain so many priorities, in terms of people and money. I couldn't even guess when they might want to time it, other than they probably have other projects already moving forward.

Office space cycles between addition and absorption. It might take 4 years to go from intention to completion, 8 years between extremes of the cycle?

So what could they do that will pay for itself in 10/15/20 years?

Change facade to glass/metal, add windows.
Exterior LED screens, ticker, art.
Make use of rooftop.
Re-design entrances, street presence.

Sign an anchor tenant, leave interior design up to them.
Floors, lighting, whatever needed to service operations.
Update and relocate elevators/escalators.

One good question is the distribution of tenants and space. If the anchor tenant can't make good use of all the space, that might lead to an outdoor escalator straight up to the 2nd/3rd/4th floor. What other non-retail uses might there be? Location and parkade are great for a restaurant on the rooftop. Don't need another theatre really, but maybe some other entertainment like a high quality virtual reality golf simulator. Fan powered skydiving with a corner window. Artificial surfing. Already have schools, yoga and dance studios, gyms, and daycares, as non-retail & non-office uses downtown.

What do you guys think of how long this next era for the building will last, and what will be a part of it?

dreambrother808 · #**185** Posted **Apr 28, 2012, 10:20 PM**

They should put a bird on it.

Darren Tate · #**186** Posted **Apr 29, 2012, 12:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by dreambrother808

They should put a bird on it.

LOL

J. Will · #**187** Posted **Apr 29, 2012, 6:08 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

Does that site have height restrictions since it's along Robson?

Wonder if CF will go for the short-term gain -- new tenant. Or long-term profit -- build to suit WITH residential or office component?!

I don't know of any possible tenant that could make a go of the entire space and I don't know how you'd really chop it up without hurting the potential tenants... unless you cut it up vertically and gave at least two tenants access to most floors.

There's no way all of it becomes retail. You could try to turn some of the top floors to office space, but it would be anything but prestigious space with the lack of windows. I really hope they tear the ugly, near-windowless box down and build something more appropriate for a downtown environment there.

trofirhen · #**188** Posted **Apr 29, 2012, 8:23 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Will

There's no way all of it becomes retail. You could try to turn some of the top floors to office space, but it would be anything but prestigious space with the lack of windows. I really hope they tear the ugly, near-windowless box down and build something more appropriate for a downtown environment there.

I still think of the Crystal Court in Minneapolis. Of course, that's at the base of the 59-floor IDS Tower there, so I don't think we could expect anything as big, light, and airy for the Sears site.

jsbertram · #**189** Posted **Apr 29, 2012, 9:23 PM**

So who could use a 7 story building on a 3/4 block site in the heart of Downtown?

Perhaps the Vancouver Art Gallery can use this space instead of spending another decade of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars to build a brand-new building further down Georgia?

trofirhen · #**190** Posted **Apr 29, 2012, 10:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbertram

So who could use a 7 story building on a 3/4 block site in the heart of Downtown?

Perhaps the Vancouver Art Gallery can use this space instead of spending another decade of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars to build a brand-new building further down Georgia?

Good idea

LeftCoaster · #**191** Posted **Apr 30, 2012, 1:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joat

Any idea when we might see any renders? This project is probably the one I'm most excited for.

Probably mid to late summer. They don't even exist yet but with Sears out Oct 31st this project will be moving very fast.

Quote:

Originally Posted by J. Will

There's no way all of it becomes retail. You could try to turn some of the top floors to office space, but it would be anything but prestigious space with the lack of windows. I really hope they tear the ugly, near-windowless box down and build something more appropriate for a downtown environment there.

If the top floors are turned to office space they will be fully glass. The chances of this building NOT getting a re-clad are essentially 0.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jsbertram

So who could use a 7 story building on a 3/4 block site in the heart of Downtown?

Perhaps the Vancouver Art Gallery can use this space instead of spending another decade of planning and hundreds of millions of dollars to build a brand-new building further down Georgia?

The Art gallery can't afford the building. CF paid a large sum of money to get Sears out, and in turn need decent rents to make that payment financially viable. The VAG just cannot afford the rents needed to make CF whole.

officedweller · #**192** Posted **May 1, 2012, 12:49 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by golog

The structure is steel and 40-50 years old? Hopefully no asbestos worries or other complications.

TD Tower has/had asbestos.
It has been removed floor by floor from the tower whenever tenants renovate.
(Before we renovated, we weren't allowed to touch the ceiling tiles)
I would expect Sears to also have asbestos unless it was removed during past renovations.

Metro-One · #**193** Posted **May 1, 2012, 1:01 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Probably mid to late summer. They don't even exist yet but with Sears out Oct 31st this project will be moving very fast.

If the top floors are turned to office space they will be fully glass. The chances of this building NOT getting a re-clad are essentially 0.

The Art gallery can't afford the building. CF paid a large sum of money to get Sears out, and in turn need decent rents to make that payment financially viable. The VAG just cannot afford the rents needed to make CF whole.

That just sounds so beautiful! Again, I hope they go along the lines of major downtown department stores in Japan or even the Future Shop across the street, using a good amount of lights, signage, transit connections (Akin to Sear currently with Pacific Centre), etc...

officedweller · #**194** Posted **May 1, 2012, 5:04 AM**

I think it's safe to say that if the upper floors are office space, they will not be backlit with LEDs (although I suppose the bottom levels could be).
Strange, but a department store's blank facade would provide more of a blank canvas for an art installation that a building with vision glass.

Mininari · #**195** Posted **May 1, 2012, 6:36 PM**

How confident are we that it is Nordstroms coming to the site?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...es-canada.html

Either way, it looks like both Nordstroms and Bloomingdales are going to be entering Canada pretty quick here.

trofirhen · #**196** Posted **May 1, 2012, 6:54 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mininari

How confident are we that it is Nordstroms coming to the site?

http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/stor...es-canada.html

Either way, it looks like both Nordstroms and Bloomingdales are going to be entering Canada pretty quick here.

All well and good ... except that Bloomingdale's seem to have the long-term acquisition of HBC as part of the deal. And that would be a Canadian iconic loss.... although I'm sure nobody would care much any more.

Mininari · #**197** Posted **May 1, 2012, 7:01 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by trofirhen

All well and good ... except that Bloomingdale's seem to have the long-term acquisition of HBC as part of the deal. And that would be a Canadian iconic loss.... although I'm sure nobody would care much any more.

Considering that HBC is no longer Canadian-owned... yeah.
At least the Hudson Bay Company's biggest competitor, The Northwest Company, still exists, and is Canadian-owned.

Go Giant Tiger!
Go North Mart!
Gotta love those $12.00 jugs of milk at the Inuvik North Mart...

trofirhen · #**198** Posted **May 1, 2012, 8:37 PM**

... blew it again. Oh well, economic nationalism, even at the cost of historic commercial, industrial and financial icons of the history of a country, is oversentimentalized and démodé anyway

vanman · #**199** Posted **May 1, 2012, 9:44 PM**

NAFTA has its downsides.

s211 · #**200** Posted **May 17, 2012, 6:28 PM**

Saw a rough rendering at the NAIOP breakfast this AM, and ouch. I thought they had accidentally put up a rendering of a suburban office building a la Broadway Tech.

I realize it was only a hand-drawn elevation they showed, but zounds. After some of the glamour touches that have been hinted at, the rendering looked like anything but glamourous.