Groundbreaking occurred yesterday for a project that has been in the making for years. Hollyburn Properties officially commenced construction of M2 (Marlborough Tower 2) yesterday, a 14-storey rental apartment building located at the corner of 14th and Chesterfield, directly adjacent City Hall. The project had originally been envisioned back in 2005 as part of a land swap with the City, but was left as a parking lot until now.

Thank you @CityOfNorthVan @DarrellMussatto, breaking ground w/ us on 14th & Chesterfield. Purpose built #rental pic.twitter.com/wLoB8xMuWA

— Hollyburn Properties (@HollyburnPpty) October 29, 2014

The building is expected to be ready for occupancy in Summer 2016 and will contain 130 units starting at $1,100 per month. The suite mix is as follows:

• 10 Townhouses
• 6 Penthouses
• 50 – 2 Bedrooms
• 70 – 1 Bedrooms

More info on the building can be found here: http://www.rentersguide.com/marlborough-tower-2 .

Another Metrotown apartment building has sold; this time at 6695 Dunblane Avenue, closer to Royal Oak Avenue. The 38 unit building is located on a 25,504 SF site and is zoned RM-3. The purchase price was $9,360,000, or $246,316 per unit.

Affordable mortgage rates and low numbers of residential vacancies are making 2014 “a breakout year” for sales of apartment buildings across Metro Vancouver.

The Goodman Report, a local newsletter covering multi-family investment property, notes that selling volumes have been robust, with prices per-suite in suburban Vancouver markets up 22 per cent over 2013, 13 per cent for buildings in the city.

“Sensing that business, political and economic signs remain positive, new buyers both offshore and local have been relentlessly pursuing older three-storey frame and highrise buildings for retrofit opportunities,” says the report.

Written by father-son realtors David and Mark Goodman, it predicts 125 apartment buildings will sell through 2014, with a total value exceeding $800 million.

With 61 buildings sold as of July, the pace of sales is 36 per cent ahead of a year ago, signalling what the Goodmans are labelling “a bullish breakout”.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/opinion/columnists/Barbara+Yaffe+Bullish+market+Vancouver+apartment/10253586/story.html

A walk-up apartment building in Metrotown has sold for $10,400,000, or $216,667 per unit. The building is located on a 32,500 SF site at 6425 Silver Avenue, just south of a number of large-scale developments on Beresford Street. The zoning for the property is RM-3 and it is not known if the OCP will permit a higher density when the new Metrotown Area Plan is released. The buyer was a local investor.

This article in the New York Times highlights some challenges in incorporating social housing in a higher-end market condo building. This is an issue that may become more prominent in Vancouver as the City tries to generate new social housing units by requiring social housing in new market developments; particularly in higher density areas like the West End.

‘Poor Door’ in New York Tower Opens Housing Fight

New York Times, August 27, 2014

A 33-story glassy tower rising on Manhattan’s waterfront will offer all the extras that a condo buyer paying up to $25 million would expect, like concierge service, entertainment rooms, and unobstructed views of the Hudson River and miles beyond.

The project will also cater to renters who make no more than about $50,000. They will not share the same perks, and they will also not share the same entrance.

 The so-called poor door has brought an outcry, with numerous officials now demanding an end to the strategy. But the question of how to best incorporate affordable units into projects built for the rich has become more relevant than ever as Mayor Bill de Blasio seeks the construction of 80,000 new affordable units over the next 10 years.

 The answer is not a simple one. As public housing becomes a crumbling relic of another era, American cities have grown more reliant on the private sector to build housing for the poor and working class. Developers say they can maximize their revenues, and thus build more affordable units, by separating them from their luxury counterparts.

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/27/nyregion/separate-entryways-for-new-york-condo-buyers-and-renters-create-an-affordable-housing-dilemma.html