Design approval for the Rize Alliance Properties Ltd. development at Kingsway and Broadway is another small step towards the makeover of Mount Pleasant. A development permit, allowing construction to move forward, is yet to come.
Yet northwest of the site, on the slopes leading down to False Creek, there's a foretaste of the future.
“People want to be in Mount Pleasant, whether it's commercial, retail, industrial,” said Matthew MacLean, a vice-president with Cushman & Wakefield Ltd. who handles leasing in the area with fellow CW broker Chris Newton. “I would characterize it almost as a melting pot at this point, where it once was a textile-driven industrial node. Now we're seeing so many different types of user groups – which is the beauty of it – creating this very vibrant, exciting mix of people.”
Rents are often $10 a square foot less than those downtown, while city policies have encouraged select commercial uses alongside light industrial, a move that has allowed craft breweries to open tasting rooms that provide gathering spaces for the new class of industrial workers.
The latest addition is Calgary-based Big Rock Brewery Inc., which opens this October in 21,000 square feet formerly occupied by a production studio at West 4th and – appropriately – Alberta Street.
Combined with longtime denizens of the area such as Milano Coffee on West 8th and noodle-maker Toko Foods Ltd., breweries provide the social amenities workers desire.
And more workers are coming.
The departure of Mountain Equipment Co-op (MEC) from its headquarters on West 4th this fall is opening 45,000 square feet, and has already prompted two offers from well-established downtown firms.
MEC, meanwhile, is heading over to new purpose-built digs on Great Northern Way that will double its space and give it room for a second expansion if needed.
The kind of shift taking place in Mount Pleasant is seen on a larger scale on the North Shore, where Avison Young reports strong deal activity in 2013 thanks to the transformation of neighbourhood hubs into hubs of development.
“With growth no longer focused solely along the Lonsdale and Marine Drive corridors, the municipal town centres on the North Shore that were designated in the Regional Growth Strategy (adopted by Metro Vancouver in July 2011) have been subjected to heightened development pressure,” the report states.
The activity supported the North Shore's greatest-ever tally of deals in 2013, a whopping 93, up from the previous record of 84 deals done in 2007.
Polygon and Staburn and other developers have assembled land in Lower Lonsdale, building on Pinnacle International's successful development of the former Versatile shipyards, but the activity also extends to Lower Capilano, where redevelopment projects are planned north along Capilano Road from Marine Drive, as well as Lower Lynn Valley.
Avison Young vice-president Matt Thomas said Lower Lonsdale's appeal is clear: “It's central, you've got beautiful views of downtown Vancouver, you've got access to the SeaBus and you've got a little retail hub with all the amenities you require.”
Those amenities are key, Thomas said, and the district wants to make sure the new hubs have them from the get-go.
“Amenities are huge for the end buyer,” he said. “[The district] wants to have the retail core, they want to make sure there's daycares, the coffee shops, access to transit and close proximity to the highway.”
Seylynn Village is taking things a step further, with Keith Road being rerouted to run parallel to the Trans-Canada and take pressure off the Mountain Highway corridor.
“The developer paid a lot of attention to what the neighbours were wanting, and their worries about more congestion adding 700 units in just that development alone,” Thomas said.
Westbank Projects Corp. takes great pride in the Bjarke Ingels Group-designed Vancouver House project, which received its development permit last week. But when the project hits the market later this year, expect top-end prices to be equally high.
Sources scouted by the Roundup indicate that the tower will command record pricing for the city, at $4,000 a square foot. If so, this would top last year's headline-making sale of the penthouse atop the Fairmont Pacific Rim (another Westbank project). Originally offered at something closer to $4,500 a square foot, the deal closed at approximately $3,800 a square foot.
