745 Clark Drive in East Vancouver has sold for a reported $4,000,000. The 21,000 SF office building is located on the northwest corner of Clark Drive and East Georgia Street. Recently renovated with exposed timber beams, the building is in excellent condition with potential for expansion on the 15,030 SF lot. Gated parking facilities are available on site. The price represents $191 per SF.

A development permit application has been submitted for 179 Main Street, located directly North of the Fire Station at Main and Powell. The zoning for the site is DEOD and the plan is for a 9-storey residential building including the following:

• A total area of 35,828 SF
• A density of 3.98 FSR
• Ground floor retail
• 9 social housing units
• 47 market rental units

More information: http://former.vancouver.ca/devapps/179main/index.htm

The Central Presbyterian Church in partnership with Bosa Properties has applied to rezone 1155 Thurlow Street from RM-5B  to CD-1 to allow development of a 22-storey mixed-use building including market and non-market rental housing, retail space, a church and a preschool.  The proposal, which precedes the recently adopted West End Community Plan includes:

• proposed density of 9.45 FSR
• proposed floor area of 163,365 SF
• the proposed height of 206.3 ft
• 168 market rental housing units
• 45 non-market rental housing units; and
• 133 parking stalls

The application was made under the Policy on Consideration of Rezoning Applications and Heritage Revitalisations Agreement During Community Planning Processes and the Mayor’s Task Force on Housing Affordability.

Learn more here: http://former.vancouver.ca/commsvcs/planning/rezoning/applications/1155thurlow/index.htm

As we ring in the New year, an analysis of the REBGV’s Housing Price Index for apartment/condo’s on Vancouver Westside, including Downtown, shows that pricing has been flat for over two years now.

Resales values have likely been suppressed amid a large amount of new inventory coming to market; particularly in areas like Southeast False Creek and Cambie Corridor.

2013 has been relatively quiet for the sale of office buildings in Metro Vancouver. There were no major downtown office buildings sold in the past year; though there were a number of sizable deals elsewhere in the region.

Here are the top 5 office deals in Metro Vancouver in 2013 (ranked by purchase price):

1. Discovery Parks Building, 887 Great Northern Way – Dundee REIT acquired the building through a share sale in May for a total purchase price of $66,135,000. The 165,000 SF building was developed in 2002 by Discovery Parks. It is fully leased and includes tenants such as QLT Inc., and 1-800-GOT-JUNK. The cap rate was reported to be 6.2%.

 
2. Surrey Central Business Park – Concert Properties‘ sale of Surrey Central Business Park was one of the larger deals of the year at $59,700,000. This five building, 350,000 SF portfolio was bought by a local investor. This sale was linked with another of Concert’s assets in Burnaby.

 
3. 1770 West 7th Avenue – just a few weeks ago this sale was announced. Chip Wilson, former CEO of Lululemon acquired this 5-storey, 75,000 SF office building located at Burrard and West 7th. The building, built in 1985, was sold for $32,625,000, or $430 per SF.

4. 3500 – 3650 Gilmore Way – this sale was part of Concert’s portfolio sale of suburban office assets. The $30,700,000 purchase price equates to $295 per SF.

5. 33991 Gladys Avenue – this newly constructed 3-storey, 71,500 SF office building was sold by the developer to a local private investor for $20,250,000. The building was 85% leased to the Federal Government.