Concerns are emerging that a building boom of office towers in downtown Vancouver is creating far too much supply.

Only half the 2.18 million square feet of new office space in seven towers under construction downtown — a boom enabled by new zoning bylaws in 2009 — has been preleased, executives at the Vancouver Real Estate Forum said Thursday.

“I am not seeing a lot of office demand right now, and that is concerning to me,” Bart Corbett, senior vice-president of Cushman & Wakefield, said in an interview.

Corbett and other executives discussed office space development and economic trends at a panel discussion titled “The Vancouver Hangover?”

A common theme was that Vancouver’s commercial real estate market is slowing. The panel was asked how eager landlords are to offer inducements to would-be tenants, and which sectors among high-tech startups, resource industry offices, or “slow and steady” traditional businesses, are preferred.

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/business/real+estate+executives+gather+discuss+Vancouver+housing+trends/9530873/story.html

A 69,000 SF office building located at 618 6th Avenue in the Uptown area of New Westminster has sold for $32,471,500, or $471 per SF. The 6-storey office building is anchored by RBC and was acquired off-market by Value Group.

FDG Property Management has submitted a rezoning proposal for 161-165 E. Keith Rd. to allow the construction of a 93-unit 16-level residential building with 52 strata units, and 41 purpose built rental units secured in perpetuity and involving a density transfer/sale from adjacent City owned lands. The lands under consideration include Site B (12,598 SF) and the adjacent City Parcel Site A (7,600 SF) which have a combined area of 20,198 SF. This combined site shown below.

The existing rental building on the site, Park Lane Manor, was constructed in 1954 and has 12 units. As such, it is one of the older purpose-built rental buildings remaining in the City and is in relatively poor condition. It will be replaced by this proposal.