A growing population on the western edge of Abbotsford is prompting Vancouver investors Spire Development Corp. and Vermont Property Group to develop a new self-storage facility for locals.
Spire recently paid $3 million for a 2.28-acre site on the southwest side of the Mount Lehman interchange, north of Fraser Highway and within view of the Trans-Canada. The site, which is zoned for a self-storage facility, will be developed over the next year with 1,032 storage units and eventually operate as Trans-Canada Self Storage Ltd.
“The existing mini-storage market in Abbotsford is between 95% and 100% occupied, and these are all late-generation facilities,” said Spire president Lawrence Green. “[Ours] is really quite tailored to the consumer.”
And Green added that local consumers are not unlike those resident in Vancouver.
Approximately 55% of local housing is multifamily, and more multifamily development is coming. Quantum Properties Inc. is developing a 26-storey tower in the city core, while Polygon Homes Ltd. has announced the first phase of its 500-home Westerleigh community just north of where Spire is building.
The interchange is fast becoming the hub of the next major commercial corridor east of 200 Street in Langley. To the southeast of the interchange, Airport North Business Park is sprouting; to the north there’s Shape Properties Corp.’s ambitious High Street retail project. A new Sandman hotel is also planned for the area.
Green credits the city’s tax incentive program for new development with making the area a popular choice. The program exempts new construction from tax on improvements in the first year after construction, then gradually increases the tax at 20% a year till the full amount is owing in year five.
“There’s a very accommodating city in Abbotsford,” Green said.
Abbotsford isn’t the only place attracting the attention of Vancouver builder Polygon Homes Ltd.
Polygon will also be spearheading development of what’s now known as River District. A future for the old Vancouver mill site formerly known as the East Fraser lands was charted six years ago during a public charette that included the insights of American urban planner Andrés Duany.
The fate of local wildlife and access to the river were key components, so it’s perhaps no surprise the community has been christened “River District.”
The connection to the river is reinforced by the name of Polygon’s initial venture: New Water.
River District will ultimately have upward of 15,000 residents and will include green features such as district energy system fuelled by energy captured from Metro Vancouver’s garbage incinerator five kilometres east in Burnaby.
Vancouver-based Sunstone Opportunity (2007) Realty Trust and Sunstone Opportunity (2007) Mortgage Fund recently sold 7660 Vantage Way in Delta for $9.3 million. The trust now owns seven commercial properties in B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan and Ontario. It originally acquired the Delta property in September 2008 at a cost of $8.7 million.
The 74,000-square-foot industrial property is occupied by Tristar Industries Ltd., a heavy equipment manufacturer and rebuilder.
The sale is one of several industrial property deals to close in the opening half of 2011, reflecting investor appetite for industrial properties with good tenants.
It’s also the trust’s second sale in recent months. In August 2010, Sunstone sold 845 Marine Drive in North Vancouver for $46.7 million – more than 4.5 times the original purchase price.
The trust’s most recent financial results, for the quarter ended September 30, 2010, report quarterly revenue of $2.4 million from a portfolio totalling $72.4 million.
The trust’s parent, Vancouver-based Sunstone Realty Advisors Inc., has also been active south of the border. It acquired Xona Resort Suites Scottsdale in Arizona at the end of January for US$34 million.