I am pleased to have acted on behalf of the Vendor in the sale of Cranberry Lane, an 88-unit apartment complex in the Hamilton area of Richmond.

A rezoning application in North Vancouver intends to replace two low-density apartment buildings with a new 6-storey rental apartment building and could be a good model for other rental projects in the City of North Vancouver and elsewhere in the Lower Mainland.

The proposal for the 12,014 SF site at 362-368 East 3rd Street is to replace two older apartment buildings with a combined total of 11 apartments, with 40 rental units in a new 6-storey building. The proposed density is 2.6 FSR per the recently adopted OCP for the area. The plan includes only 9 parking stalls on the surface at the rear of the new building.

The unit mix includes:

• Nine 3-bedroom units
• Ten 2-bedroom units
• Six 1-bedroom units
• Fifteen studio unit

Because the proposed project is 100% secured rental housing, there will be no community amenity contribution.

Current Site Condition

The application is still preliminary and requires council approval to move through the standard rezoning process.

A 45-unit Richmond apartment complex known as Cook Place Apartments has sold for $11,700,000 to a local investor. The price represents $260,000 per unit and a cap rate of 3.3%. The property is ideally situated near the City Centre area of Richmond, just one and half blocks East of Richmond Centre Mall and a short walk to the Canada Line.

The building itself is a 3-storey woodframe building built in 1979, with underground parking. There are 30 Two-Bedroom units and 15 One-Bedroom units. Rents were approximately 10% under market. The property was listed with an asking price of $11,888,000.

Here’s a building that had sold in 2012 that recently resold for a substantial gain. The 43 unit, 8-storey concrete building located at West 5th Ave and Alma sold for $14,495,000 or $337,093 per unit, representing a 12% price appreciation from 2012 when the building sold for $12,800,000.

Reliance Properties has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop the Northeast corner of Bidwell and Davie with a 22-storey secured market rental building with commercial retail units at grade. The site is 12,970 SF and is zoned C5-A, therefore it does not require rezoning but is a conditional approval that requires the decision of the Development Permit Board. The West End Community Plan includes design guidelines that facilitated this proposal, which includes:

• 108 residential units (all secured market rental);
• total gross floor area of 102,927 SF, including 5,000 SF of commercial retail;
• Total density of 7.4 FSR
• 77 underground parking spaces on 4 levels
• Replacement of 12 existing rental units and older commercial space

More information on the development application can be found here.