1867 West Broadway, a 3-storey B Class concrete office building more commonly known as The CGA Building, has sold for $16,125,000. The 31,000 SF building was owned by the Certified General Accountants Association of B.C., who will vacate it’s 26,000 SF this summer. The site the building is located on is 13,402 SF and is zoned C-3A. The property was listed for sale in late 2014 with no asking price.

The 2nd floor of the building is currently listed for lease at $22.00 per SF.

The purchaser was Austeville Properties who owns the adjacent commercial building. This appears to be a long-term strategic investment as opposed to any kind of redevelopment deal.

A rezoning application has been submitted for a 12,011 SF site in the Norquay Village area of East Vancouver. The site consists of three single family lots located at 2312-2328 Galt Street. It is currently zoned RS-1 single family and is being proposed for a 4-storey apartment building. It is located in an area of the Norquay Village Plan that is considered an apartment transition area. The proposal includes:

• 28 secured market rental units;
• a density of 2.25 FSR
• a building height of 41.5 ft.
• 24 underground parking spaces.

This application is being considered under the Norquay Village Apartment Transition Area Rezoning Policy and the Secured Market Rental Housing (Rental 100) Program.

Exterior work on Bentall/bcIMC’s 745 Thurlow project appears to be nearing completion.

Photo by 604 City on Flickr

Here is a summary of Metro Vancouver’s most valuable commercial real estate assets. The summary is based on a survey of the top 25 commercial properties ranked by the 2015 tax assessment value. While assessed values don’t neccesarily reflect market values, this analysis provides a fairly accurate snapshot of our city’s most valuable assets:

A few observations:

• Metrotopolis at Metrotown continues to hold its rank as by far Metro Vancouver’s most valuable commercial property, as it has for the last decade. The nearly 1.8M sq ft shopping centre is now assessed at over $1 Billion. This value does not include the adjacent office towers which would likely add another $200 Million, also owned by Caisse de depot, which is Quebec’s largest pension fund manager.

• The redevelopment of Sears into Nordstrom significantly bolstered its assessment value. Including the office towers, Pacific Centre is now valued at over $1 Billion.

• Renovations and improvements at aging regional shopping centres including Park Royal and Guildford Town Centre bolstered values significantly.

• Oakridge Centre’s value had a large increase likely based on it’s 2014 rezoning for over 2,000 residential units.

• Langara Gardens and Landsdowne Centre both fell off this list, but will likely return in the near future. Both properties are slated for redevelopment. Landsdowne in particular is speculated to have significant redevelopment value.

• Pension funds control the vast majority of these larger core/trophy assets. (77% to be exact)

• A group of 6 pension fund managers (some in partnership) control well over 50% of the top 25.

• While the top 3 are super regional shopping centres, 15 of the top 25 are Downtown office towers.

MYIE Group is forging ahead with plans for a site in the Bridgeport Area of Richmond that has been on the drawing board. They have now applied for a development permit for the proposed International Trade Centre. The project was originally conceived several years ago and recieved rezoning in 2013.

The site is a triangular, 71,350 SF piece of land at 8451 Bridgeport Road. The proposed uses include general retail, restaurant, hotel and office. The plan includes:

• A total density of 3.0 FAR (215,000 SF)
  
• Three towers of 9, 12 (office) and 14-storeys (hotel) with a common five-storey podium including retail
• Approximately 100 hotel rooms (Opus Hotel, managed by Trilogy)

In an effort to capitalize on the overwhelming success of Aberdeen Square, the office space will be strata-titled and sold. The developer is taking registrations through Magnum Projects.