Quote:
Originally Posted by jhausner
I think the issues are:
1) it's a difficult area still. Even though commercial lease rates will be lower around Gateway than many other areas regionally, it still has a stigma and will be a good 10 or more years before that eases enough imo.
2) With all the perceived plans around Surrey Central station and the new city hall, I can see some major tenants waiting to see what happens around there. It's more central.
3) Out of the larger commercial centers in the region Surrey is still at the bottom of the heap. The perception thing is big and will take some time.
I think this will eventually get built, maybe not as designed. But not until you start to see the next phases from Concord, Bosa, and others under construction. The more residential base you get, the more dense, and the higher 'class' you get moving in, the increase in commercial demand.
And let's face it, you knew this was going to have a tough time when the Metrotown Tower #3 stalled. I mean how many new office towers have been constructed in Vancouver itself recently? Some can point to the Telus project but really is that new? It's a new building but it's 1 business basically moving so you're pretty much net 0. We're still in difficult economic times. I wouldn't call it a swing and a miss in a sense of Surrey being at fault for anything. It's just how things are.
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The only way this complex will be built is if the developer builds it anyway, with or without tenants. That is how Central City got built, and the end result is what you see today.
You kinda have to ask this question if you were the developer....why would I expect prospective tenants to make a leap of faith on the area when I myself wouldn't?
Its all about confidence, really. Yes, there is the stigma and all, but if the developer was so confident in, say Dianne Watts turning Whalley around, he should be so confident to TAKE THE RISK, signalling to the prospective tenants that they too should have confidence in the area.
Its really about taking risks, and if developers will continue to have this never ending wait and see tactic, hoping for some miracle that some white knight tenant would get the ball rolling, then nothing ever gets built. This despite the fact that Surrey is poised to become the most populous city in Metro Vancouver, and with a young population to boot. The market conditions for such workplaces are there, unless you expect them all to cram into Skytrain and work in Vancouver and Burnaby...
While this tactic sounds crazy, one would only see 1021 Hastings and PWC Place in downtown Vancouver, as well as the Eight Avenue Place in Calgary (which in many publications such as the Globe and Mail, was deemed the symbol of overbuilding recklessness by real estate analysts) as an example that the saying, "If you build it, they will come", simply simply simply works!