La Maison Simons Inc. had been nestled in Quebec City for 159 years before fifth generation leader Peter Simons successfully expanded the retailer across the province.

But opening stores all the way to Vancouver is proving trickier for the president of the family-controlled business.

Simons is searching for prime locations in Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver as a new wave of foreign chains chases the most attractive retail spaces. And the privately held company can’t tap into the markets to finance its heavy investments amid rising borrowing costs.

The retail institution well known in Quebec for its unique mix of cheap-chic private labels and pricier designer lines must make a name for itself west of the Ottawa River. Outside its home province, it operates only one store, at the West Edmonton Mall.

Read more: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/simons-crashes-canada-one-door-at-a-time/article14148615/

The owners of the Stongs property at 4508-4560 Dunbar Street have applied to the City of Vancouver to rezone the property, and an adjacent single family lot from C-2 and RS-5 and to CD.

The proposed project includes:

• on the Dunbar Street site, a 6-storey mixed use building with new Stongs (20,124 SF) and two smaller commercial units on the first level and 72 condo units (74,935 SF) above the store.
• on the West 30th Avenue property, 11 3-storey townhouses (12,579 SF)
• a public plaza at the northeast corner of Dunbar Street and West 30th Avenue;
• a combined density of 2.51FSR
• 234 vehicle parking spaces, three loading spaces and 111 class A bicycle spaces (each site includes two levels of underground parking).

More information here.

An analysis of year to date resales for concrete condos less than 3 years old shows that average pricing is approx. $800 per SF.

At 3.1% growth since 2006, average pricing has outpaced inflation, but pricing has been relatively flat in 2013, up less than 1% year over year.

Marpole residents rally against proposed zoning changes.

Close to 1,000 residents streamed into Marpole community centre Sunday to sign petitions and pick up lawn signs protesting proposed zoning changes in their neighbourhood.

The City of Vancouver’s draft community plan for Marpole includes rezoning to allow more highrises, apartments up to 12 storeys, stacked townhouses and mixed-use buildings.

Community spokesman Mike Burdick said the draft plan, which goes to council for consideration on October 24, came as a surprise to most Marpole residents.

“We are not opposed to rezoning or densification,” said Burdick, “but we need to slow down.”

Burdick said the city wants to increase the density of Marpole by as much as 50 per cent.

“Do the transit routes first, then take a breath and see if we need to do more.”