I am pleased to announce the sale of 1290 Homer Street, a heritage style office building located at the corner of Homer and Drake Streets in the Yaletown area of Downtown Vancouver. The building sits on a 50.5 x 120 ft site and is an excellent candidate for repositioning and/or redevelopment.

The property sold for $9,750,000.

Please contact me at david.taylor@colliers.com for details.

The City of Vancouver has placed a 1.42 acre property up for sale at 601 Beach Crescent. The irregularly shaped site sits just East of the Granville Street bridge, and mirrors the Vancouver House site at 1400 Howe Street (though the site has a smaller site area).

City of Vancouver planning documents identify the currently vacant site for a similar height as the Vancouver House project, at 425 feet (though Vancouver House was subsequently approved at 497 feet).

The offer submission date is July 27th, 2016.

Chard Development has submitted a rezoning application for a site it owns at Main & East 5th Avenue in Mount Pleasant.

The proposal for the 23,261 SF site is  to rezone from the current IC-2 zoning to CD-1 under the Mount Pleasant Community Plan. The proposal consists of a 6-storey mixed-use building over three levels of underground parking and includes:

• A total of 51 market residential units
• 20 One-bedrooms, 27 two-bedrooms & 4 three bedrooms
• A floor area of 69,783 SF;
• Commercial uses on ground floor including a restaurant
• A total density of 3.0 FSR
• A building height of 6-storeys and 78 ft.;
• 68 commercial parking stalls and 54 residential parking stalls; and
• 82 bicycle stalls.

The architect for the proposed project is Proscenium Architecture Inc.

Chard has recently had success in the sales of their Ellsworth project just two blocks South at Main & 7th. The project’s 89 units are nearly sold out.

Plan A Real Estate has applied to the City of Vancouver to develop additional rental units on an apartment building they own at 1170 Barclay Street, The “Florida Apartments”. The proposal for the site includes:

• interior and exterior alterations, including a 2-storey plus roof deck addition,
• a Heritage Revitalization Agreement, to this existing two-storey plus basement, multiple dwelling building,
• increasing the number of apartment units from 16 to 28 units
  
• 7 surface parking spaces at the rear, having vehicular access from the lane
• total overall density of 2.07 FSR. (17,909 SF).

Under the site’s existing RM-5B zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Director of Planning.

Existing Building

The architect for the project is Hearth Architectural Inc. The application explains the design rationale:

“The development proposal for The Florida is to preserve and restore the existing Heritage Class “B” Art Deco building that has long been in disrepair and in need of a major renovation. An addition to the restoration of The Florida will take the form of two storeys that steps back from the face of the existing building to emphasize the original heritage massing and form. With a total of 5 storeys in the new development proposal for The Florida, the floor plans will be redesigned to house more functional living spaces and provide for a good mix of studios, one bedrooms and two bedroom apartments. A total of 23 apartments will provide livability options for West End residents.”

The building was acquired in 2010 for $3,360,000, or a 3.5% cap rate.

Later this week, the City of Vancouver council will consider a report recommending a revised rezoning application for the 28 acre Oakridge Centre site, being jointly developed by Westbank Projects and Ivanhoe Cambridge.

The project was originally introduced back in 2012, and was approved for rezoning over two years ago, to include 11 residential towers and over 4.6 Million SF of total building area including commercial. As was reported in the summer of 2015, the project faced a number of challenges since the rezoning approval, including:

• technical complications of constructing lower parking levels due to an aquifer
• accommodating continuous operation of the shopping mall during construction
• the need to maintain The Bay store in its current location due to lease requirements

The new rezoning proposal is summarized as “shedding 20% of the total density and delivering all of the public benefits from the previous application”. The letter of inquiry from Ivanhoe and Westbank outlines the following proposed changes to the project under a revised application:

• an overall reduction in the amount of new residential and commercial
  density (approx. 20%)
  
• larger park area at-grade
• maintaining the mall at one level with new mall space to be added at grade,
• keeping The Bay store in its current location,
• reconfiguration of the underground parking to avoid the existing aquifer,
• a Civic Centre and park at grade with further rooftop park and open space,
• comparable community amenities including affordable housing, and
•  building heights similar to the 2014 rezoning, but two fewer towers
• project construction in 6 years instead of 8 years
  

The new rezoning application will require a new negotiation on public benefits, and will require a full rezoning process with new public consultation. The total cost of the new application is $1.5M, which will be covered by the proponent.