Old Plaza 500 Hotel may turn into rental suites.

The former Plaza 500 Hotel and Convention Centre on West 12th will likely be converted to rental apartments. In an email to the Courier, Nancy Eng, communications coordinator for the City of Vancouver, confirmed an application by development consultant Brook Pooni Associates to convert floors three to 17 into rental units has been approved by the city subject to conditions. If approved, the second floor will also be converted — from hotel use to office space.

The iconic property, kitty corner to city hall, was home to the Plaza 500 for decades but closed several years ago. It was later announced the property would become part of the Indigo chain, operated by InterContinental Hotels Group, which also manages Holiday Inn and Crowne Plaza hotels.

Apartment building market remains strong in Vancouver.

Prices and total sales are up, but the number of transactions is falling. That’s the picture of Vancouver’s apartment building market, according to the Goodman Report, produced by David and Mark Goodman.

In 2012, both overall dollar volume and the average price per suite hit record highs, David Goodman said in the report. The number of building sales is down 17 per cent in 2012 from 2011, but Goodman said this is not for a lack of buyers.

Scott Brown, senior vice-president of residential project marketing at Colliers International, said potential buyers outnumber sellers for many types of property.

“Vancouver certainly has more prospective buyers for A-Class locations than sellers,” Brown said. “This is true for land and development sites in great locations too.”

We are pleased to have acted on behalf of the buyer in the sale of 1016 West 13th Avenue, an 11-unit apartment building in the South Granville area. The purchase price was $3,200,000 or $290,000 per unit, and a 3.0% cap rate.

The buyer was a local private investor.

New Westminster News Leader – New Westminster IGA to close.

The IGA Marketplace grocery store in New Westminster will close later this year.

Scott Coburn, vice-president for H.Y. Louie Company (operators of the store) said although the company would like to remain operating at the 1025 Columbia St. location, the decision was made to shut because it is no longer financially viable.

 On Jan. 17, the company gave six months’ notice to the property’s owner that it will be closing down. Coburn said for the last year the costs of labour, operating and rental exceeded the revenue generated.

“We have been unable to recover from this decrease in sales,” said Coburn. Read more: http://www.newwestnewsleader.com/news/187782891.html

Courtesy Financial Post

“Canadian real estate investment trusts have outperformed the Toronto Stock Exchange for four straight years and a fifth may be on the horizon.

In a year-end report, CIBC World Markets Inc. analyst Alex Avery says Canadian REITs are on pace for a total return of about 17% in 2012, which is 10 percentage points better than the S&P/TSX composite index.

This strong outperformance in 2012 was driven by a confluence of factors, including low and falling interest rates, strong property fundamentals, challenging outlooks for many other sectors, and strong demand for stable income-producing investments, representing a nearly ideal environment for real estate and REIT investing,” Mr. Avery said.”

View the full article HERE.