“It took well over a year, but Mayor Gregor Robertson and his team has persuaded the explosively growing social-media company Hootsuite to stay in Vancouver.

On Thursday, the city announced it has struck a deal with Hootsuite to let the company buy a Vancouver-owned building in Mount Pleasant through a lease-to-own arrangement. And there will be more efforts like that, says the mayor, as the city fights to nurture fledgling head-office businesses to make up for ones that left over the last two decades.”

See the full article HERE.

Bets are still on that Edgewater Casino will relocate to a site west of B.C. Place Stadium.

Las Vegas-based parent Paragon Gaming has extended its lease with Canadian Metropolitan Properties for the Plaza of Nations casino until 2015 while Paragon and B.C. Pavilion Corporation hold their cards close to the vest.

In April 2011, Vancouver city council rejected a bid to expand the licence from 600 to 1,500 slot machines, but the city gave Paragon the green light to move the licence to a proposed $450 million casino/hotel complex on PavCo land. Company president Scott Menke told the Courier in May that he was expecting to announce the move by the start of August. That was before PavCo CEO Warren Buckley resigned and Jobs, Tourism and Innovation Deputy Minister Dana Hayden took over on Aug. 1.

Read more: http://www.vancourier.com/life/Community+Calendar/7475023/story.html#ixzz2D41OpoMf

“In the last year, industrial developer Ryan Beedie has moved into the more precarious world of residential development.

When asked why he’d bother, Mr. Beedie, who already oversees $1-billion in industrial real estate assets, agrees that it’s partly due to one simple reason. He’s bored.

“Absolutely,” he says, without hesitation, straightening up in his boardroom seat. “You are absolutely right. ‘What’s this shiny thing over here?’ Absolutely. We have also expanded industrial into Alberta – we have quite a few projects now going on in Calgary. Again, why do that? Good question. Because it’s fun – it’s a new experience.””

View the entire article HERE

 

VANCOUVER — Global investment banking giant Credit Suisse will move ahead with plans to construct a 30-storey office tower over top the historic Vancouver Stock Exchange building after city council voted Tuesday to approve a rezoning application that will more than double the maximum density on the site.

The Exchange project, worth an estimated $200 million, will add 369,000 square feet of premium office space to the downtown core and employ an estimated 400 people during construction.

City staff had earlier recommended council approve the application, reasoning that it will contribute to Vancouver’s job space, economic development, heritage and sustainability objectives.

Read more: http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Vancouver+Stock+Exchange+building+expansion+move+ahead/7542502/story.html#ixzz2CAsoGNIO