Vancouver planner wants to end ad hoc approach to developer fees.

Vancouver’s new director of planning wants to get rid of the city’s contentious method of negotiating with developers over fees they are required to pay for public services.

Brian Jackson, who starts his job as the general manager of planning and development Aug. 27, said the current “one-by-one” method of negotiating so-called community amenity contributions with individual developers is both unproductive and divisive. Instead, he wants the city to institute a system that allows developers to know up front what they’ll have to pay for parks, daycares and other needed community services.

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

1635-1637 West Broadway has sold to a local private investor for $5,150,000, or $445 per sq ft.

The building, formerly occupied by Liberty furniture, is a single storey retail building that had undergone renovations in recent years and was available for lease. The building totals 11,583 square feet.

Vancouver looks to Richmond in hiring new planning boss.

After an extensive international search in which it received 108 applications from all over the world, the City of Vancouver had to go no further than the municipality next door to hire a new general manager and director of planning.

On Tuesday the Vision Vancouver-led council ratified the hiring of Brian J.Jackson as the new general manager of planning and development. For the last four years Jackson has been acting general manager of planning for Richmond. He begins work August 27.

Resales of newer woodframe condos on Vancouver’s Westside (including UBC lands) has averaged $715 per sq ft over the past year. Pricing has remained relatively flat and has not shown a decline as of July 2012. University condos, averaging $740 per sq ft over the past year, typically trade at a premium to comparable Westside of Vancouver product, which averaged $677 per sq ft over the same time period. There are currently only a handful of active new woodframe projects on the Westside as sites are difficult to locate for developers.

Source: MLS Stats. (woodframe condo resales less than 10 years old)