After more than 50 Vancouverites signed up to speak at a public hearing Tuesday night, city council planned to push back its vote by two weeks on a controversial plan to rezone a prime piece of waterfront real estate in the city’s West End.

Many of the planned speakers were locals asking city hall either to reject the plan or force affordable housing into a Beach Towers rezoning application that proposes the development of 133 units available at above-market rental prices.

“We want a third of these units to have a starting rent that’s targeted to the median income in our community,” said Christine Ackermann of the West End Residents Association. “I think it’s our job to push city hall for more affordability and I think they can get it.”

The rezoning hearing for the Beach Towers STIR project (click here to view rezoning application documents) is happening now. 

Click here to watch the proposal live.

The owners of 1551 Pemberton Avenue, located just south of the McDonalds parking lot, are proposing a 4 storey mixed use building, consisting of 5,642 SF of commercial floor space on the main floor and 30 residential units on the upper 3 floors. The residential units are a blend of 1 and 2bedroom units ranging in size from 530 square feet to 918 square feet. There will be 59 underground parking spaces.

Source: District of North Van

The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver has released their January 2013 stats. Generally, the market is showing continued signs of slowing, with both listings and sales down from 2012. The sales-to-active-listings ratio is currently at 10.2 per cent, in buyers territory. Some other highlights:

• Sales of condos reached 576 in January 2013, a decline of 12.3% compared to the 657 sales in January 2012, and a decrease of 19.2% compared to the 713 sales in January 2011.
• The total number of properties currently listed for sale  is 13,246, a 5.6% increase compared to January 2012 and a 4.5% decline compared to December 2012. This is the fourth consecutive month that overall home listings have declined.
• Single family prices are down 3.1% year over year (YoY). Vancouver Westside is down 7.5% during the same period.
• Condo prices are down 2.9% YoY. Richmond is down 5.2% during the same period.

Source: REBGV.

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