A Wall Street Journal article today continues to reinforce what we’ve been seeing in the Lower Mainland with real estate purchases by Government agencies lately including BCIMC’s acquisition of the Canada Post site downtown as well as Surrey City Development Corporation’s acquisition of two Surrey retail centres last year.  Recent real estate purchases by quasi-government entities are explored in the article which can be read HERE:

“At the start of 2010, the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund had no property investments to speak of.

The fund manager has stated that it will invest up to 5% of its $690 billion fund in real estate by 2020, coinciding with a corresponding decrease in its bond holdings. It declined to comment for this article.”

A controversial Onni development that will see two towers built in the heart of North Vancouver’s Lonsdale neighbourhood has been given the go-ahead by city council Tuesday.

The razor thin result comes after a two-and-half year process that sparked much opposition in the community.

The “1308 Lonsdale” project by Onni will see condo towers go up on the Safeway site at 13th Street and Lonsdale Avenue.

Council narrowly passed the development with a 4-3 vote after significant revisions.

Read more: http://www.news1130.com/2013/03/12/condo-proposal-in-north-vancouver-gets-green-light/

The City Council in Vancouver has approved a development by Blue Sky Properties at Main and East Georgia in Chinatown which will “rezone 633 Main Street from HA-1A (Historic Area) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District. The proposal is for a 16-storey mixed-use building with ground-level commercial uses and 188 residential units. The proposal includes a floor space ratio (FSR) of 8.86, a height of 146 ft. (44.5 m) from Main and 152 ft. (46.3 m) from the lane, 72 parking spaces, and 235 bicycle stalls.”

View the full rezoning application HERE.