Seaspan is seeking development permit approval to construct an office building to provide the necessary office facilities for their ship building operations at the foot of Pemberton Avenue in North Vancouver.

The new central facility will house the office component of its ship building and marine service operations. The location on the site offers both overview of the shipyards, and easy access for staff moving back and forth between on-site facilities. The proposal includes:

•  a new 4-storey building with offices, meeting rooms, change rooms, and a canteen for the Seaspan staff
• Total floor area of 84,000 SF
• 122 parking spaces on an adjacent lot

In 2011, Seaspan was awarded a contract to build 17 non-combat ships on the adjacent site.

8010 Saba Road in Richmond has sold for $24,250,000. The property is improved with a 33,456 SF retail and office building whose main tenants include HSBC and National Bank Financial. The purchase price equates to a 4.4% cap rate, or $722 per SF. The building was sold by bid process in June with no asking price.

Here is a video overview of the property by the listing agent, Cushman Wakefield:

8010 Saba Road, Richmond BC from Cushman & Wakefield | Vancouver on Vimeo.

A new light industrial/office building is being planned for a mid-block site on Railway Street, in an area East of Main Street along the CN Rail tracks. The plan for the 132′ x 53′ (6,584 SF), M-2 zoned site is for a 6-storey building including:

• retail on the ground floor, manufacturing on floors 2, 4 & 5, wholesaling on the third floor and office space on the 6th floor
• a total density of 5.0 FSR
• a building height of 100 ft.
• 3 levels of underground parking
• no building setbacks

Considered Design Inc., the landscape architect for the project, has some renderings on their website, including the one below.

Oxford Properties has formally applied to rezone their property at 1133 Melville Street; a 30,510 SF site currently occupied by a 7-storey parkade and office building topped with two floors of vacant multi-residential.

The project, rumoured for the last couple of years, calls for a 33-storey office building with retail at grade, including:

• a building height of 524 ft.;
• 658,687 SF of office and retail space;
• a density of 22.65 FSR; and
• 287 underground parking spaces.

This rezoning application is being considered under the Rezoning Policy for the Central Business District (CBD) and CBD Shoulder, General Policy for Higher Buildings and Rezoning Policy for Sustainable Large Developments.

Once completed, it will be one of the tallest and largest office buildings in Vancouver. Comparable nearby shorter towers include Bentall 5, which contains 583,000 SF of office space; Park Place at 596,000 SF; and Bentall IV at 548,000 SF.

The architect team of KPF and Kasian, describes the project in the application:

The project stands at 33 storeys. Typical floor plates are approximately 20,000 SF with a five storey bustle on the west side of the tower separating the tower volume from the adjacent Loden Hotel and providing 5 floors with a 23,000 SF floor plate. The ground floor is programmed with both lobby and active retail space.”

Oxford acquired the property in 2010 for $27,650,000. The property was previously owned by Amacon who developed the Loden Hotel next door. Amacon had originally planned a hotel and office tower project on the property, but later elected to sell it.

A highly coveted office building and adjacent development site has sold to Peterson Group for $41,000,000. The property, located at the corner of Granville and West 10th Avenue, was owned by BMO and offered for sale by BMO through Form Retail in the spring of 2015.

The offering included the 5-storey, 45,000 SF office building built in 1973 on the corner anchored by BMO, and the adjacent 16,000 SF parking lot, which can be developed under the current RM-3 zoning. It was anticipated that BMO would enter into a 10-year leaseback as part of the deal.