Richmond office market shows ‘slow but steady’ rebound – Richmond Review.

Richmond’s sky-high office vacancy rate has fallen to a five-year low but remains the highest in the region, according to a new report from Avison Young.

The firm’s Mid-Year 2013 Metro Vancouver Office Market Report pegs the vacancy rate at 17.3 per cent—4.5 per cent less than one year ago—demonstrating the local market’s continued slow recovery.

“Continued tightening of the Richmond vacancy rate remains a good news story for the market, which has seen a slow but steady rebound since 2010,” said Darrell Hurst, Avison Young principal, in a news release.

Surrey’s vacancy rate is close behind, at 16.7 per cent. The lowest rate belongs to downtown Vancouver, at 4.6 per cent, while Metro Vancouver’s average stood at 7.5 per cent after the first six months of 2013.

In its semi-annual survey, Avison Young noted vacancy in the Richmond market is at its lowest point since 2008 after peaking at 24.6 per cent.

Guildford Town Centre’s $280-million renovation driven by bid for young shoppers.

METRO VANCOUVER — The kids have wallets, and they don’t want to wait. As Surrey’s Guildford Town Centre unveils a $280-million expansion this week — with 70 new stores and a 1,034-seat food court — general manager Peggy White says that online shopping does not pose a real threat to modern shopping centres like hers.

When fashion-conscious 15- to 25-year olds go shopping, “they want to take (their purchase) home and wear it that night. Sometimes they wear it right out of the store,” White said.

Guildford owner/developer Ivanhoe Cambridge has assembled a sparkling new mix of stores — including Forever 21 (at 23,000 square feet), H&M (25,000 square feet), Victoria’s Secret, Sephora, Aritzia, The Lego Store and Disney Store — to woo young shoppers back from the glitter of downtown Vancouver’s Robson Street and Burnaby’s Metrotown.

The expansion increases retail space to 1.2 million square feet from 980,000, and includes a facelift for the existing mall, with waterfalls, soft seating, a much larger food court, and a giant 10,000-plant living wall that covers a connector straddling 104th Ave.

I’m pleased to announce the sale of 2116 West 41st Avenue, a 2-storey retail/apartment building on West 41st Avenue in Kerrisdale. The purchase price was $6,650,000, representing $542 per SF and a 4.2% cap rate.