A controversial highrise proposed for Vidal Street is going ahead, following narrow approval by White Rock council Monday.

Zoning and Official Community Plan amendments that facilitate construction of the 12-storey project received final reading on 4-3 votes, with Mayor Wayne Baldwin and Couns. Al Campbell and Helen Fathers opposed.

Fathers said she couldn’t support the amendments after hearing from residents that the project is “too much, too dense, they don’t like it.” “I don’t believe this is the right time for it,” she said.

The project, proposed for 1467-1519 Vidal St., includes 12 townhouse units and 97 apartments, underground parking and public green space.

Read more: http://www.peacearchnews.com/news/230899631.html

The so-called International Trade Centre at Versante could bring 214,008 square feet of new commercial, hotel and office space to North Richmond, according to a report presented Tuesday at city hall.

Marketed as “Richmond’s next epicentre of business,” the proposed development consists of three towers—nine, 12 and 14 storeys—and a common five-storey podium. Included in the project is a 110-room hotel.

The proposal comes from Hotel Versante Ltd., which is seeking to rezone a 0.7-hectare (1.6-acre) triangular site at 8451 Bridgeport Rd. to build it. City council’s planning committee considered the project this week, 14 years after council approved a previous rezoning application that’s now being abandoned.

The site is located in Bridgeport Village, near the Airport Connector Bridge and next to Duck Island, where a multi-phase development of retail, entertainment, office, hotel and conference uses is in the early planning stages.

Read more: http://www.richmondreview.com/business/230718231.html

Sears Canada is closing its flagship location in Toronto’s Eaton Centre, as well as four other stores including Richmond Centre, in a move that will affect almost 1,000 employees.

The retailer says it’s selling the leases on five department stores, in a $400 million deal that amounts to the largest sale of leases since Sears (TSX:SCC) began shedding assets and cutting jobs in an effort to turn around its struggling operations.

The sale is especially notable because the Eaton Centre is one of the company’s most visible Canadian stores, located in a central tourist area.

About 965 employees across the company’s operations will affected by the move. Sears Canada says employees who are laid off from closing stores can apply for other jobs within the company.