Downtown Vancouver Updates II

[giallo]

I managed to make my way to the Keefer site.

[Changing City]

The developer of the new Chinatown (Keefer) hotel is also doing the conversion of the never-leased office space to hotel in the Smithe condo building.

[WarrenC12]

Hotels are set to make bank if these Airbnb restrictions pan out.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Hotels are set to make bank if these Airbnb restrictions pan out.

While fewer short-term rentals may benefit existing hotels immediately, I am sure there will be a correction in the long-term. Vancouver has had a shortage of hotel rooms for awhile, but the restriction on short-term rentals should motivate construction of new hotels even more so.

I hope new hotels will be built with a variety of rooms. People liked short-term rentals because they were often cheaper, but also because they could rent three attached rooms with a kitchen, or one room with a shared common area and washroom, or a house with a backyard for dogs. It seems Vancouver should not just prioritize building Holiday Inns and Marriotts, but should also seek to incentivize the construction of new hostels, family-orientated hotels with larger, multi-room units, and pet-friendly hotels with a green roof and other pet facilities.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

While fewer short-term rentals may benefit existing hotels immediately, I am sure there will be a correction in the long-term. Vancouver has had a shortage of hotel rooms for awhile, but the restriction on short-term rentals should motivate construction of new hotels even more so.

I hope new hotels will be built with a variety of rooms. People liked short-term rentals because they were often cheaper, but also because they could rent three attached rooms with a kitchen, or one room with a shared common area and washroom, or a house with a backyard for dogs. It seems Vancouver should not just prioritize building Holiday Inns and Marriotts, but should also seek to incentivize the construction of new hostels, family-orientated hotels with larger, multi-room units, and pet-friendly hotels with a green roof and other pet facilities.

I'm not sure who 'Vancouver' is in that suggestion, but if you mean the City, if it's a hotel (of any sort) that's proposed, they have indicated they support them - it's entirely the developers / operators choice to determine what facilities and unit mix they provide.

I'm not sure what's holding up the rezoning conversion of Onni's 'Level' on Seymour to hotel, but that should have some larger units, as it was built as condos (but retained by the developer as rental).

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

While fewer short-term rentals may benefit existing hotels immediately, I am sure there will be a correction in the long-term. Vancouver has had a shortage of hotel rooms for awhile, but the restriction on short-term rentals should motivate construction of new hotels even more so.

What correction do you mean? Vancouver continues to be a strong tourist draw. We've lost lower end hotel/motel buildings with numerous government purchases for shelters, and now we're set to lose thousands of Airbnb accommodations.

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I hope new hotels will be built with a variety of rooms. People liked short-term rentals because they were often cheaper, but also because they could rent three attached rooms with a kitchen, or one room with a shared common area and washroom, or a house with a backyard for dogs. It seems Vancouver should not just prioritize building Holiday Inns and Marriotts, but should also seek to incentivize the construction of new hostels, family-orientated hotels with larger, multi-room units, and pet-friendly hotels with a green roof and other pet facilities.

Yes I agree generally that the market demands more variety in these units, but many airbnbs are just used to party and sleep in, much like a hotel room.

Most big tourist spots in the world often have individual investor owned hotel-style accommodations. They work well to raise the capital and they are professionally managed for guests. I'm not sure if zoning somehow prevents this currently, but it should be allowed.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Changing City

I'm not sure who 'Vancouver' is in that suggestion, but if you mean the City, if it's a hotel (of any sort) that's proposed, they have indicated they support them - it's entirely the developers / operators choice to determine what facilities and unit mix they provide.

I'm not sure what's holding up the rezoning conversion of Onni's 'Level' on Seymour to hotel, but that should have some larger units, as it was built as condos (but retained by the developer as rental).

I guess by "Vancouver" I mean the entire ecosystem. I.e., the City needs to permit hostels or other non-traditional tourist accommodations that some cities have outlawed, while developers need to recognize the need and commit the capital to build these projects.

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

What correction do you mean? Vancouver continues to be a strong tourist draw. We've lost lower end hotel/motel buildings with numerous government purchases for shelters, and now we're set to lose thousands of Airbnb accommodations.

I may be wrong, but my understanding is Vancouver has not built a lot of new hotel rooms over the past couple decades. I know a lot of privately-owned hotels were turned into shelters during the pandemic. And all this has happened while the demand for short-term accommodations in Vancouver has only grown. By "correction" I mean developers will start building new hotels again (as we've seen with a number of recently announced projects), and hopefully some unique offerings will be proposed by developers and permitted by the City.

The Airbnb boom stepped into this gap between the demand for short-term accommodations and what the hotel market was providing. Some of the short-term rentals offered novel accommodations hotels do not offer (or offer at very high price points, such as multi-room suites), but I think a lot of the studio or one bedroom condos listed as Airbnbs were simply making up for a lack of hotel rooms in the city.

[Vancouver_Highrise]

Drive thru McDonald’s on main st sold.

On behalf of McDonald's Restaurants of Canada Limited, JLL Vancouver Capital Markets in collaboration with Vancouver Retail is pleased to announce the sale and leaseback of 1527 Main Street, Vancouver to an affiliate of Greystar Real Estate Partners - a global leader in rental housing. The 1.15-acre legacy asset is situated in the heart of Southeast False Creek and has been occupied by McDonald’s since 1972. It will soon provide much-needed market rental housing to the local community via a multi-tower mixed-use redevelopment. As part of the transaction, McDonald's will continue to operate out of the location until development begins and will occupy a new flagship retail location upon completion.

[madog222]

Well it was bound to happen eventually!

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Vancouver_Highrise

Drive thru McDonald’s on main st sold.

Unless there's a change or an exception to current policy, there goes one of the few remaining drive-thru locations in the city.

(It's not Downtown, though).

[madog222]

I wonder if that location was corporate or franchise, I'm guessing the latter.

[giallo]

Wow. The end of an era. It now joins Burger King in high cholesterol heaven.

*Main St memory*

The parking lots behind Burger King and McDonalds were so rat-infested in the 90s, we actually saw one jump on a seagull and go airborne with it before dropping to the pavement, and running away.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by madog222

I wonder if that location was corporate or franchise, I'm guessing the latter.

The quote says JLL sold and leased back the property on behalf of McDonalds Canada, so that suggests it was corporate.

[gaviscon]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Unless there's a change or an exception to current policy, there goes one of the few remaining drive-thru locations in the city.

(It's not Downtown, though).

It is downtown, basically. Also, downtown is expanding

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The quote says JLL sold and leased back the property on behalf of McDonalds Canada, so that suggests it was corporate.

McDonalds typically owns the restaurant building and leases to the franchisee.

Ron.

[WarrenC12]

It's still a rat infested area, believe me. I wonder if they are angling to buy the City owned parking lot to the north, which is extremely inefficient and awkward as a parking lot, and a prime location.

[Jimbo604]

It also has an upstairs, though I think it's been eons since that was open. And if I recall correctly it was once "the largest McDonalds in western Canada".

Also there is a new Granville Loops video. You see workers and equipment but you would hard pressed to see any visible site changes in the good number of months since the ramps were demo'd. https://youtu.be/Ih98mQmvzCo?si=Y5xiZeYfjZc1lqWq

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

McDonalds typically owns the restaurant building and leases to the franchisee.

Ron.

This reddit post supposedly says the Main & Terminal is a corporate location:

Totally. I used to work at that location. Grandview and Main & Terminal are also corporate restaurants.

I think all the other downtown locations have been sold to franchisees. I haven’t worked at Mcd since 2012 and I know there’s been a lot of change since then.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...ery_mcdonalds/

Six years ago on Reddit:

My friend used to work for McDonalds exclusively on their real estate acquisitions. He said as recently as last year that they’re not selling that site because it makes them a mint. They could make a massive lump sum from selling it but it sounds like they are loving that annual cash flow.

https://www.reddit.com/r/vancouver/c...g_area_across/

[vanman]

Originally Posted by Vancouver_Highrise

Drive thru McDonald’s on main st sold.

Finally! And it's within 400m of the skytrain station so would be great to see 20 flrs or higher there.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Changing City

Unless there's a change or an exception to current policy, there goes one of the few remaining drive-thru locations in the city.

i wonder if this new ABC council will be more accepting of new drive-thru's. its possible it could remain in a new development. i do hope it does, i find drive-thru's handy for quick things.