Vancouver’s Olympic Village development and Surrey’s Quattro city centre towers are a study in contrasts.
In 2007, the 140 units in Quattro 1 sold out in four hours. Two weeks later, the 116 units in Quattro 2 sold in 67 minutes, with some suites priced at $139,900.
Quattro 3, with 164 residences and under construction currently, has suites ranging from 425 square feet to 998 square feet, priced from $149,900 to $399,900.
Sixty-seven suites at Quattro 3 have been sold since it went on the market in May.
During roughly the same time frame, 35% of condos at the Olympic Village were sold. Half of the 450 unsold condos have $1 million-plus price tags.
Last week, the developer of the Quattro towers, the Tien Sher Group of Companies ramped up marketing for Quattro 3 in SkyTrain stations, community newspapers and other locations to catch the eye of first-time buyers and new families.
When the first incarnations of Quattro 1 and 2 were heavily damaged by fire in 2008, Tien Sher put sales at Quattro 3 on hold and returned owners’ deposits (70% of units had been sold).
Charan Sethi, Tien Sher’s president, told BIV, “The price range [of units in the Olympic Village] is very high, but out in the Fraser Valley, especially in Surrey city centre, we’re getting a lot of interest from all over the place basically because of our affordability.”
He declined to offer advice to Olympic Village marketer Bob Rennie.
“I’ll leave it to the downtown experts,” he said.
“One day the Olympic Village will be fully occupied,” he added. “But when you put that many units in one area up in the market place, it’s going to take a little time to sell.”