Yesterday evening Vancouver City Council unanimously approved Manulife Financial’s proposal to rezone 980 Howe Street from DD (Downtown District) to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development).  The proposal was for a 16 storey office building with a total floor area of 268, 908 square feet, a floor space ratio of 11.2 and a height of 200 feet.

The East Burnaby area is generally the area bordering New Westminster, and includes the areas of Edmonds Town Centre, moving East towards the Burnaby crest area and Cariboo Road.

This area is typified by existing single family housing stock, some newer townhome developments, and higher density forms of development, particularly in the Edmonds Town Centre area. Major high density projects in this area include Ledingham McAllister developing the 40+ acre Safeway site, and Amacon developing the site currently occupied by Mott Electric.

Pricing in the area for resales reflects the current mix of units. The below table illustrates all resales over the last 12 months for specific unit types (max. 30 years of age).

Source: MLS Data

Villa Leah Apartments in Port Moody has sold for $6,600,000. The 32-unit lowrise walkup apartment building located near the city centre of Port Moody was extensively renovated prior to the sale. The price per unit is $206,000.

First Capital Realty has announced the acquisition of The Plaza at New Westminster.  The property consists of 194,000 square feet of gross leaseable area and a 422 stall paid parking garage.  The project is fully integrated with Skytrain and a bus terminal.  Tenants include Safeway, Landmark Theatres, Shoppers Drug Mart, Dollar Tree, CIBC, RBC, Starbucks and A&W.

The acquisition price was approximately $100 million with the potential for furhter performance incentives.

Vancouver’s downtown Bay store to get a major facelift.

VANCOUVER — Downtown Vancouver’s iconic Hudson’s Bay Co. store will undergo a multimillion-dollar facelift inside and out beginning this spring in a bid by the U.S.-owner retailer to become the city’s fashion headquarters.

“It’s going to be absolutely beautiful, world-class,” said Bonnie Brooks, HBC president, of planned renovations to the 86-year-old structure at the intersection of Granville and Georgia Streets.