Pressing matters
The confidence in the future of print media that marked the late 1990s – when yours truly made the shift from the confines of academia to newspapers – has been replaced by much soul-searching in recent months. The spread of mobile devices has directly challenged the existence of traditional media; we may not be reading off electronic newsprint as some envisioned, but screens are everywhere.
What, then, to do with a printing plant that opened in July 1997 at a cost of $180 million?
That's the challenge confronting Colliers International brokers Randy Heed and Malcolm Earle, who have the listing for Postmedia Network Inc.'s 195,960-square-foot facility in Surrey's Kennedy Heights neighbourhood.
Hailed as "the fastest, most advanced operation of its kind in North America" when it opened, the plant consolidated printing of the Vancouver Sun and Province newspapers in one location. Now, printing will be contracted out as the company cuts back on expenses.
"I don't think it's any secret that it's a declining business – the actual physical newspaper aspect of it," Heed said. "This facility doesn't produce as many papers on a daily basis as it once did."
The list price is $19.9 million for a property assessed at $25.2 million. Heed said the chief value of the property is in the land. While the building itself may be ideal for a high-tech manufacturer, approximately 10 acres of the 13.8-acre site is undeveloped – an attractive opportunity in Vancouver's land-tight industrial market.
"You've got almost 14 acres of land in an area where land prices are $1.5 million an acre plus," Heed said. "There's a deal to be had on it for somebody."
Postmedia has also returned office space to the market at 200 Granville Street, adding to sublease offerings in the downtown core. However, interest in the printing plant, which will be free for occupancy in spring 2015, has been decent.
"We are getting good interest," Heed said. "There's a number of tours that we've had already and a number more that are scheduled."
Boundary of supply
Vancouver's tight supply of developable industrial land brings to mind martial arts master Bruce Lee's counsel to see "no limitation as limitation" – or in this case, to see no boundary in Boundary Bay, where Dayhu Group is proceeding with the second phase of Boundary Bay Industrial Park.
Dayhu recently completed a 450,000-square foot warehouseand work is starting on a second structure of the same size.
Speaking at the Vancouver Real Estate Forum last month, Dayhu COO Paul Tilbury said building the facility – which boasts 36-foot ceilings and a dock for every 6,000 square feet – made sense because so little high-quality warehouse space is available to buy. It's a long-term hold for Dayhu, which sees the lack of land limiting new construction for the foreseeable future. A lack of land, and in turn new development, promises to support property values in what Frito-Lay executives told Colliers International broker Stu Morrison is "the most expensive and challenging industrial market in North America."
Tilbury noted that even if land were released from the province's agricultural land reserve, values probably wouldn't drop much because the region lacks the contiguous acreage that would allow it to compete effectively with Calgary. "The land concern will continue to be a concern in this marketplace," Tilbury said.
Record volume
B.C. logged a second straight year of record investment volumes in 2013, according to Avison Young – and that includes industrial properties.
A total of $2.1 billion in properties worth more than $5 million changed hands in 2013, with the second half of the year witnessing more than $1.4 billion in sales.
While office sales languished for lack of available product, industrial sales set a new record with 43 transactions totalling $663 million. This topped the 2012 tally of 38 deals worth $548 million.
The biggest industrial deal of 2013 was the $72 million sale of Capilano Business Park.
