GBL Architects has submitted an application to rezone a City of Vancouver owned property at 508 Helmcken Street (Southwest corner).  The rezoning would change the designation from DD to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District. The proposal is for a 36 storey mixed use building with 344 market residential strata units (including 5, 2-level townhouses at grade), 110 market rental units and a private school. The proposed building is 320 ft high with a floor area of 365,334 sq ft and a density of 17.4 FSR.

The current building, Jubilee House, is a non-profit facility containing 87 seniors housing units.

After multiple offers were received late last year, it has been learned that bcIMC has been the successful purchaser of the 2.98 acre Canada Post site located at Homer and Georgia Streets in Downtown Vancouver. Udpate: the purchase price was $159 Million.

Here is the press release from bcIMC:

“bcIMC is pleased to confirm that we have purchased the Canada Post site at 349 West Georgia, a 2.98 acre city block in downtown Vancouver from Canada Post.

We see the Canada Post site as a long-term investment that provides a unique opportunity for a large-scale mixed-use development in a desirable and strategic location in downtown Vancouver. The purchase of this property is consistent with our strategy to invest in prime real estate with the potential to provide steady and attractive long-term returns for our pension plan clients.

A redevelopment of this scale requires extensive and careful planning. Redevelopment will commence once sufficient planning has been completed, required approvals have been received and market conditions support it. We look forward to working with the City of Vancouver as we move forward with our planning.

bcIMC is one of Canada’s largest institutional investment managers and is responsible for investing the assets of public sector pension plans within British Columbia. bcIMC invests more than $95-billion of managed gross assets. bcIMC has a long and successful track record of property ownership and real estate development.”

A 7-storey office building at the corner of West Pender and Hornby has sold for $20,300,000, or $495 per sq ft. The 41,000 sq ft building was built in 1968 and had been marketed for sale in early 2012.

The purchaser was a local investor. The top floor has been vacant and can be renovated to allow use as office space.

A review of resales data for newer condos in Downtown Vancouver (2 years old or less) shows that sales activity has slowed since the beginning of 2012 but pricing has maintained an average around $800 per sq ft.

The vast majority of sales are between $600 and $1,000 per sq ft depending on the building/unit quality and location, with some sales such as units in The Erickson and Fairmon Pacific Rim showing sales values above $2,000 per SF. One can speculate that given a slowdown in sales activity, pricing will be affected eventually, particularly at the lower end of the spectrum where there are competing new developments in presales and/or under construction.

Source: MLS

With less than 200,000 SF of new office space built since the completion of Bentall 5 in 2007, and a vacancy rate hovering below 5%, there is finally some new supply on the horizon.  Only Jameson House and the Hotel Georgia offices, both commercial strata office space in mixed-use projects have been built since that time, adding approximately 130,000 SF.

In 2014-2015, over 1,000,000 SF will be added to the downtown market with the addition of 745 Thurlow, Telus Garden and MNP Tower (1021 West Hastings).  All three are at varying stages of demolition or excavation.