By Frances Bula

Time for all of us to get up to speed here, as First Nations bands around the Lower Mainland and elsewhere are getting increasingly savvy about operating businesses, negotiating deals, and doing development on land they own or have a claim to.

In the wake of the announcement last week about an agreement among the federal government and three local bands to develop two large chunks of land, I went talking to the people behind the scenes who have been watching First Nations grow in the scope of their activities My Globe story here, with a lawyer, a development and a real-estate consultant who have worked with First Nations around the province.

Important for us, too, to understand the differences between developments on reserve land and developments on claimed land.

(One caveat. I referred to Block K as the Shuaghnessy gold club, but Block K, thanks to my informant on Twitter, is actually the chunk of lend just west of the golf club.)

…read more

Source:: Frances Bula

By ChangingCity

Here’s an office development on the 500 block of West Broadway that started construction just over 2 years ago. Designed by Studio One Architecture for Orca West (up to now a mainly residential developer) the project, initially known as the Neelu Barchra Centre, sits in the ‘Uptown’ commercial-only stretch of Broadway, close to the City Hall Canada Line station.

Initially marketed for lease, the scheme was switched to 127 strata office units and seems to have had far greater success as a result. The final building seems somehow more grey than the render suggested – although once the lights are on inside and the planting gets established it may be a closer match.

…read more

Source:: Changing City Updates

A federal Crown corporation and three Lower Mainland First Nations announced Wednesday a long-awaited and “historic” agreement to acquire and develop some of the most valuable real estate in the country.

Canada Lands Company and the three First Nations will be 50-50 owners of three properties, including the 21-hectare Jericho Lands in Vancouver’s exclusive West Point Grey neighbourhood.

While financial details of the sale weren’t immediately available, realtors speculated earlier this year that the re-development and sale of the Jericho Lands alone could fetch $1.1 billion to $1.7 billion, depending on how the city re-zoned the land for development.

The other two properties are the 8.5 hectare “Heather Street Lands” between West 33rd and West 37th avenues, and a former fisheries department-owned property located on two hectares of land in West Vancouver on Marine Drive near Burkehill Road.

The announcement was made by Canada Lands, a federal government-owned entity that buys and develops surplus federal properties, and the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/news/metro/Jericho+Lands+Vancouver+finally+sold+deal+develop+high+real/10252565/story.html