Apartments to spring up around future Walmart – Richmond Review.

The road to Walmart is about to get more crowded.

Polygon is moving ahead with plans to build an apartment complex with 547 homes on Alexandra Road, across from the proposed SmartCentres retail mall. A development permit panel considered the application for Alexandra Court, from Polygon Development 269 Ltd. at Richmond City Hall.

“The proposal responds well to creating a strong, street-oriented building frontage character and the continued development of the pedestrian Alexandra Way corridor through the neighbourhood,” noted planned David Johnson in a report.

Four buildings, each with five to six storeys, along with a separate amenity building, would cover a one-level parkade on the 2.5-hectare (6.2-acre) development site near Garden City Road.

City council approved rezoning of the site earlier this year. Two residents complained over the growing density of the Alexandra neighbourhood, but the project is within the projected population targets under the West Cambie Area Plan.

Read more: http://www.richmondreview.com/news/227910411.html

From Business in Vancouver – Avison Young has announced the listing of 815 West Hastings Street, a 106,943-square-foot office block built in 1976. The property last sold in December 2010 for $45.3 million, when a private buyer acquired it from Investors Group.

815 West Hastings

 According to RealNet Canada Inc., office properties valued in excess of $10 million enjoy an annual compound growth rate of 7.2%. Documentation Avison Young circulated last week suggests a “pricing guideline” for 815 West Hastings of $60 million, though a formal list price has not been set.

Read more: http://www.biv.com/article/20131015/BIV0320/310159888/us-debt-shenanigans-stand-to-boost-local-borrowing-costs

In a blockbuster cross-Canada deal of more than $60 million, Madison Pacific has bought 12 office/industrial properties, including three in Langley. With the Agricultural Land Reserve severely limiting development closer to Vancouver, the Fraser Valley township is fast emerging as a B.C. commercial real estate hotspot, according to industry experts.

“The Langley site in particular is strategic in that it represents 21 contiguous acres of land with over a kilometre of frontage on the Trans-Canada Highway,” says Robert Gritten, principal at Avison Young, which led the 12 deals for Madison Pacific. “As Madison Pacific invests for the long term, the opportunity this site offers for redevelopment is dramatic.”

Like all properties in the deal – to a total of 540,000 square feet of office/warehouse/enclosed storage space on 98 acres of land – the Langley ones have only 13-per-cent site coverage, compared to traditional industrial averages of 40-50 per cent. All are tenanted by Burnaby-based Taiga Building Products.

Referring to “the stifling effect” on Metro Vancouver of the ALR restrictions established by the Barrett NDP government starting in 1973, Gritten says: “As a result of this supply-demand imbalance, yes, we are more expensive than most, if not all, markets in North America. The geographic advantages that make this city such a great place to live actually work to a disadvantage when we attempt to meet the demand of our industrial manufacturers and distributors. They want and need to be here. We are the gateway for Canada to Asia, but it is so difficult to secure suitable premises for most of our user clients.”

Shoppers Drug Mart successfully outbid any 3rd party investors and purchased a building they occupy at 1583 Marine Drive in West Vancouver. The property, which was acquired by the City of Vancouver through their involvement with Millennium Development in the Olympic Village deal, was offered for sale by tender earlier in June 2013.

The 8,100 SF single-tenant retail building sold for $8,600,000, or $1,050 per SF.