From the LA Times:

Vancouver developer building $100-million apartments downtown

A Canadian developer has started work on a $100-million luxury apartment building in downtown Los Angeles, the first of three high-rise residential complexes it plans to build in the booming neighborhood.

Vancouver-based Onni Group is erecting a 32-story tower on a former parking lot at the northeast corner of Olive and Ninth streets. The site is next door to a well-known 12-story office building that opened in 1926 as the headquarters of Pacific National Bank.

Onni’s building, to be known as 888 Olive, will have 283 units – each with a private balcony — over street-level shops and restaurants. It will have a swimming pool and fitness center, Onni said. Completion is set for early 2015.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-apartments-downtown-20130201,0,2345668.story

Colliers has acted on behalf of the Vendor in the sale of 5895 Barker Avenue, a 48-unit apartment building in Metrotown, that represents a 31,520 SF development site. The purchase price was $12,500,000, representing about $117 per buildable SF based upon anticipated rezoning to allow a high-density residential project. The RM-3 zoned site is located about l 100 metres from Patterson Skytrain Station.

As reported in the Financial Post today, Best Buy Canada will be closing 15 stores nationwide, following the lead of it’s counterparts in the US in an effort to reduce costs and focus on outlets with a smaller footprint.

Best Buy…”, which is closing stores in the British Columbia, Quebec, Manitoba, Alberta and Ontario markets, will open a substantial, but unspecified number of its smaller Future Shop web stores and new Best Buy Mobile locations over the next three years across the country.”

The two Metro Vancouver locations affected are as follows:

• Queensborough Landing in New Westminster
• Morgan Crossing in South Surrey

UPDATE: District tries, again, to sell Steveston site.

The Richmond school district is hoping a poor economy and a desperate need for a city centre school will entice the Ministry of Education to finally approve the sale of the former Steveston secondary land to a non-government or profit entity.

The Richmond Board of Education has okayed district staff’s bid to once again approach the ministry about selling the site in order to use that money to build a new school in the fast-growing city centre.

12.58 acre Steveston Secondary Site

The property was put up for sale in 2007 with the caveat the buyer had to be a government or nonprofit organizations. However, after a deal with the city (the only entity to make an offer) fell through, the district opened the sale to the highest bidder later that year.

Richmond Review – Sportstown redevelopment proposal gets sent back to the drawing board.

A bid by the owner of Sportstown to flatten the longtime East Richmond recreation hub in favour of townhouses has hit a roadblock at city hall.

A city council committee has ordered planners to dig up more information and consider other development options for the long-and-narrow site, located parallel to Highway 91 at 4991 No. 5 Rd.

Coun. Bill McNulty said council’s planning committee, which he chairs, wants to maximize the potential of the land and wants commercial and retail uses explored, along with the possibility of a mixed-use development.

Read more: http://www.richmondreview.com/news/188934651.html