[Surrey] Park Place | 2*36fl Phase 1 | Completed

[SFUVancouver]

Taken by SFUVancouver, November 28th, 2010.


Taken by SFUVancouver, November 28th, 2010.

[CoryHolmes]

Doesn't look to be that different or much progress made. Of course, I'm basing this against the flying progress on the Library just down the street

[invisibleairwaves]

Big update on the commercial building: http://www.surrey.ca/bylawsandcounci...05-0323-02.pdf

[Gaijin Punch]

"The proposed commercial building will contain 1,522 square metres (16,400 sq. ft.) of floor area, which is substantially less than the 5,255 square metres (56,500 sq. ft.) commercial building envisioned under the original 2004 development proposal for the site."

What a joke. They should be building critical mass around the Skytrain. If the current market conditions do not warrant 50,000 + square feet of commercial space, then sit on the land. Constructing 16,400 sq. ft. on prime space around a major transit hub is not enough. 10 units at an average 1,600 sq. ft. a piece with no major anchor...

[allan_kuan]

Agreed. They should wait... no major tenants... and it's sitting beside the SkyTrain station. That doesn't sound like a good use of space.

[officedweller]

Plus the report says:
- That Phase 1 was to have 10,560 sq ft of commercial space in two one storey commerial building flanking the tower, but Jung did not build them due to market conditions (proably where the pth of grass is located in the rendering)
- That Concord reduced retail space from the podium of the Phase 2 towers from 16,400 to 15, 200 sq ft.

I don't think that Concord likes to build commercial space. That's the catch-22 of having a big residential developer in there - they'll build the residential, but that's about it. This certainly isn't worthy of being in a "downtown core" location and isn't much of a transit oriented retail/commercial node (how about a small 10 storey office tower?) They should have space for at least one or two anchors. Maybe they can expand out onto the [massive] plaza that's in front of the commcerial building in the future? But that would be unlikely if residential strata consent is required.

Renders from the Surrey report linked above:


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Compare to the original render from the dys architecture website:


http://www.dysarchitecture.com/proje...infinity-1.jpg

[VanCvl]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

Agreed. They should wait... no major tenants... and it's sitting beside the SkyTrain station. That doesn't sound like a good use of space.

I'm actually glad that they are proceeding with the commercial space now for a couple reasons. There is still a lot of land to the south of King George to provide more office when it gets redeveloped. Plus lets be realistic - 16,000 sqft will be tough to rent as it is. Cental City Mall is still not at capacity! Better to build it now than wait potentially 10 years.

[paradigm4]

Originally Posted by VanCvl

I'm actually glad that they are proceeding with the commercial space now for a couple reasons. There is still a lot of land to the south of King George to provide more office when it gets redeveloped. Plus lets be realistic - 16,000 sqft will be tough to rent as it is. Cental City Mall is still not at capacity! Better to build it now than wait potentially 10 years.

I agree. People are pouting far too much. There's just no market demand! Why do you think Ultra hasn't started? Why do you think the Berezan project fell through? This is better than an indefinite pit in the ground.

[invisibleairwaves]

With a mall a block away and most of the major big-box players already having locations in the city centre, it shouldn't be surprising at all. It's great that there will be some retail next to the station and along King George, along with the retail at the base of the under-construction towers. It looks like the project is going to be far more street-friendly than the first phase made it appear to be. I've got my fingers crossed for a Timmy's right next to the bus bay

I'm also glad that they still seem to want to build the other two towers where the sales centre is.

[SpongeG]

what can they use it for? tim hortons? mcdonalds? subway? fruiticana?

I can't imagine what or why a major tennant would want to move in there

[officedweller]

In terms of proximity to Central City, I would compare it to Madison Centre (Winners & Save-on-Foods) at Brentwood Town Centre.
In terms of proximity to SkyTrain, it's in a better location than Central City and is comparable to Plaza 88 (although Plaza 88 doesn't have a big mall competing next door).

Sure I think there's a big Safeway and a big Save-on-Foods on King George Boulevard right now, but those stores will have to move somewhere in order for Surrey's City Centre plan to progress.

[geoff's two cents]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Sure I think there's a big Safeway and a big Save-on-Foods on King George Boulevard right now, but those stores will have to move somewhere in order for Surrey's City Centre plan to progress.

Indeed, this is why I'm disappointed with the plan. One can't expect a city like Surrey to transform overnight, but this would have been a fantastic spot for one of the large big-box anchors whose current buildings Watts wants to get rid of - Staples, London Drugs, Price-Smart, etc. I would also like to see more extensive retail frontage for the new commercial building along King George; it would raise my hopes that the ground floor of the first Infinity tower could eventually be repurposed into something more useful and fitting.

[Gaijin Punch]

Originally Posted by geoff's two cents

Indeed, this is why I'm disappointed with the plan. One can't expect a city like Surrey to transform overnight, but this would have been a fantastic spot for one of the large big-box anchors whose current buildings Watts wants to get rid of - Staples, London Drugs, Price-Smart, etc. I would also like to see more extensive retail frontage for the new commercial building along King George; it would raise my hopes that the ground floor of the first Infinity tower could eventually be repurposed into something more useful and fitting.

Exactly. While a Safeway/Price-Smart probably would have been too big for that exact parcel of land, a London Drugs / Staples of 30,000 sq. ft. would have been perfect for relocation. With the a multi-modal transit hub and a large residential project all right there, it would be prime commercial space to lease out. Great frontage along KGB as well.

I wonder if the City of Surrey has done a gap analysis for the City Center area, to figure out what retail is currently leaking out of the area.

[jhausner]

The city can't force developers to build something they won't make money with. If the market isn't demanding it, they won't build it. The notion of having land just sit there too is a bit crazy. You have to build _something_ to attract more people to a market. It's a chicken and egg situation if you build nothing not to mention with the residential towers being right there, you'll see a little transit hub created with this commercial space. You better believe a Timmies or Starbucks will be going in there + some little retailers which are more in need of space than the big box locations.

There's still space available for phase 3 and the other side is prime for the taking.

In all honesty I'd rather see some of the places from across 100th move into this retail space and then the 1 storey ancient retail space there be rezoned and densified more than straight around Skytrain. Remember, residences drive market need for retail/commercial space. People may knock Concord for being residential focussed but what this will do is drive up the demand for their residential properties in that area which in turn will increase demand for commercial around.

Finally people seem to forget that in all of downtown Vancouver's density glory, it has a _LOT_ of 1/2 storey retail still. Vancouver isn't wall-to-wall 50 storey towers like some people seem to think Surrey should be.

Let them do what they do best and leave the commercial redevelopment of the former Berezan lands to the commercial experts.

[officedweller]

It' really the same issue of whether a commercial office building is built on speculation or built because they've got the required tenants in line.

In this case, I just think it's a shame, because it's in a prime location for transit oriented development and because its part of a mixed use project, I suspect that it will be very difficult to expand in the future (due to objections of residents).

[Whalleyboy]

Personally I'm just glad to see the huge hole in the ground finally getting filled up. This project should have been done a long time. we should be glad to see things rolling

[invisibleairwaves]

*bump* This thread still needs to be renamed...

Progress on the commercial building, courtesy of shitty cellphone cam:





Towers 2 and 3 podium:



Towers:



Pics by me, taken on Saturday.

[jlousa]

I'll change it to Park Place later tonight, do we know if there will still be 5 towers and what height the other towers are?

[Bockboy]

After speaking with a Concord Pacific Sales rep earlier this week I was told they will be starting on the old Sky Towers prior to starting Towers 4 and 5. The new Sky Towers will be renamed Parkview or something like that (It has "Park" in the name to be consistent). She stated that they would be clearing the old Sky Tower site at the end of this year and would start construction shortly thereafter. The main thing is that these projects are moving forward. Concord seems to be interested in starting construction first without worrying so much about the financing rather than other buildings like the Urban Village who have to fill a certain quota of presales prior to even beginning on the site.

[Whalleyboy]

go concord go lol