Commissioning change
Bids to subdivide or exclude lands from B.C.?s agricultural land reserve stand to become more difficult and expensive thanks to proposed changes in how the province?s Agricultural Land Commission (ALC) works.
Released in tandem with a report submitted a year ago regarding the land commission?s operations, the changes include a five-year moratorium on resubmitting applications following a rejection.
?We want to make sure that they actually bring forward the best application possible, that they do the work in advance to know that it?s going to meet the mandate of the ALC,? B.C. Agriculture Minister Don McRae told media during a conference call to discuss the changes. ?Then if they don?t meet the test, that?s just the reality they face.?
The moratorium isn?t the only change proponents face.
Service fees are also possible as Victoria seeks to increase the commission?s funding. The province will raise the commission?s budget to $2.5 million this year (from $1.9 million) and to approximately $2.9 million next year. By 2013, fees will augment provincial funding.
But when reporters asked McRae who would bear the burden of those fees, he was coy.
?In a farming analogy, you?re putting the cart before the horse,? he said. ?[Fees] require extensive consultation, not just with the ALC but with communities in general and individuals in general to make sure that we get a sense of what they?re looking for or not looking for.?
His answer neatly avoided the question of whose trough the provincial commission will be feeding at, to use another agricultural analogy.
But chances are that if the province aims to wean the commission away from a $2.9 million budget, it will be looking to applicants and fines from increased enforcement to fill its coffers.
Greener pastures
Tenants can look forward to greener pastures with the raising of new office towers in downtown Vancouver, according to the latest market report by global tenant representation firm Newmark Knight Frank Devencore.
?As 2014 approaches, there may be a good deal of churn,? the report states. ?With the pending delivery of new space, landlords are also beginning to be more open to negotiating longer-term commitments with their key tenants.?
Jon Bishop, vice-president and general manager of Devencore Co. Ltd., the firm?s local office, said the economics of leasing in one of the new towers for the long-term is attractive versus renewing in many existing top-tier premises.
?I believe you?re going to see a new flight to quality that we haven?t seen for a few years,? he said last week.
But exacerbating the churn is that no major new tenants are coming to town to take advantage of the space. While the city is popular with investors, the tenants are largely familiar faces.
?All we?re doing is getting companies that are displacing or relocating themselves to different inventory, different product types,? Bishop said.
The good news is that as the churn picks up, this could change. Talent and tax incentives for new companies are spurring interest in companies keen to use Vancouver as a base in North America. Bishop expects to see more foreign companies scouting space here in the next 12 to 24 months. Companies that want to re-evaluate their real estate needs in the meantime, should make a move.
?This is a really good time to do an evaluation on where your business is going and how real estate is going to support that over the next five years,? Bishop said. ?The landscape for office inventory is going to be changing dramatically.?
Deferred reservation
Reopening of the former Plaza 500 hotel under the Hotel Indigo banner was expected by this fall, but it hasn?t happened – and word is that reopening could be some way off.
KBK Ventures Ltd.?s redevelopment of the 153-room property at 12th and Cambie has stalled, according to industry sources, leaving the property a shell and the site quiet. While one source suggested financial woes were to blame, a call from the hotel?s administration office was more optimistic.
Opening is now scheduled for spring 2012, with renovation delayed by the sheer volume of work to be done. Redevelopment may be taking longer than expected, but what renovation doesn?t? Given the spring opening date, however, reconstruction will require a tighter timeline. ?
