North Shore Outlook – A new kind of grocery store to take over Safeway lot in West Van.

From the outside, it doesn’t seem like much is happening to the boarded-up former Safeway building on Marine Drive in Ambleside.

But crews are quickly working on extensive renovations to make way for Fresh St. Market, a grocery store that will offer 70 per cent veggies, fruit and meat and 30 per cent grocery items.

Read more: http://www.northshoreoutlook.com/news/170352856.html

Park Strand Apartments, located at 1999 Nelson Street, a 50-unit walkup apartment building in the West End of Vancouver has sold for $14,925,000, or $298,500 per unit. The building was built in 1951 and was purchased by a private local investor. The net operating income at the time of sale was projected to be $496,000, representing a 3.3% cap rate. The property had been listed for sale; click here for a brochure.

Anthem Properties recently announced the acquisition of the BC Electric Building, a 119,334 square foot office building located at in intersection of Hastings Street and Carrall Street.  The price was undisclosed.

Metro Vancouver commercial real estate sales reach record $1.42 billion.

Commercial real estate transactions in Metro Vancouver reached an unprecedented six-month total of $1.42 billion during the first half of 2012, breaking the previous record of $1.03 billion set during the first half of 2010, according to a report released Wednesday.

The figures point to a longer-term surge and confidence in commercial land investments, experts say, but belie anxiety over diminishing industrial land availability as it gives way to more apartments and office towers.

Valuations for office buildings in Burnaby have risen over the past ten years amid declining cap rates and rising rental rates. The average value for office building sales in the past two years has been hovering around $200 / SF.

This market is predominantly characterized by larger office complexes, interspersed with smaller local office and strata business park office. Newly built buildings in the core areas such as Glenlyon office park and Canada Way corridor have achieved values over $250 / SF, with older product in local residential areas and industrial areas reaching below $100 / SF.

Cap rates have generally decline from an average above 8.0% to decline below 6.50%; a trend consistent with other suburbs in Vancouver.

Investment activity in this market has been relatively constrained given a lack of available product. As we reported in July, Bosa acquired a sizeable office asset located just off Canada Way at Sperling Avenue, for $33,000,000.

In terms of new supply, Metrotower 3 is currently under construction and is expected to complete in 2014. The leasing market remains in favour of tenants with a reported Q2 2012 vacancy rate of 11.2% (source: Colliers).