Sound hearing
The fourth night of the public hearing regarding rezoning of the Rize Alliance Properties Ltd. site at the corner of Kingsway and Broadway in Vancouver yielded some of the most trenchant observations yet – from the likes of UBC Sauder School of Business professor emeritus Michael Goldberg – on what's right about the application and what's wrong with the process.
With a total of 278 registered speakers as of April 4, the stances have typically fallen into two camps:
•Supporters see the site as the right place for density because a transit hub is planned on the property across Watson Street at the corner of Main and Broadway, and adding more homes will surely bring the price of housing down by virtue of the laws of supply and demand.
•Opponents don't like the 19-storey tower and associated development planned under the rezoning and are skeptical all the promised benefits will materialize. With rental units and artists studios cut in favour of a $6.25 million cash contribution (at the direction of city staff), the project already faces financial constraints.
Mount Pleasant resident Alyssa Myshok may have summarized local concerns the best, however, when she told council: "This site is too small for the programmatic requirements being placed upon it, resulting in over-scaled massing on the small site."
Margaret Sutherland, who left the city's planning department to work as a consultant since 2006, said the community's concerns couldn't be ignored, given that many of the 278 people had been involved in planning exercises for the neighbourhood and yet apparently felt "disenfranchised" by what was being proposed.
"This is so right," Sutherland said, noting a respect for Rize based on her involvement in its Central project in Richmond. "It transforms a gritty commercial series of buildings into housing and small-grain retail. … So what's going on?"
She recommended that better relationships with the community be built, proponents be up front about what residents will be getting as amenities and a comprehensive planning process be undertaken so that residents and developers know what to expect at the neighbouring Kingsgate Mall site – also tagged for high-density development – should Beedie Group initiate its redevelopment.
Council will decide on Rize's rezoning application on April 17.
Jones Lang LaSalle expands
A new Jones Lang LaSalle report focusing on Vancouver office properties marks a coming-out of sorts for the firm, which launched a Vancouver office last year.
While the LaSalle Investment Management division has long had a presence in Vancouver, Jones Lang LaSalle opened its office here in January 2011 to provide brokerage services (both leasing and sales), project management and building repair and maintenance services. The office now has nine staff.
Jones Lang LaSalle hopes to expand its landlord representation activities and its project management portfolio. This past January, it scored a coup in winning the facility management contract for the two million square feet HSBC Bank Canada occupies in Canada, significantly boosting its operations in this segment of the Vancouver market.
The new stand-alone Skyline report is modeled on similar reports for centres across the U.S. as well as Toronto and Montreal in Canada. It focuses on 18 triple-A and A class buildings in Vancouver's downtown core, each with more than 200,000 square feet of leaseable office space. The report provides an overview of options for tenants, including future developments.
One of the opportunities the report mentions is the prospect for office space at 701 Granville Street – the Sears location at Pacific Centre. Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd. recently bought out Sears' lease and is considering renovations that would give the exterior a new look and create roughly 300,000 square feet of office space across the top four floors of the existing complex.
Jones Lang LaSalle pegs the completion date at 2015.
Royal LePage returns
Another new entrant to Vancouver's commercial real estate market is Royal LePage Real Estate Services – not to be confused with the commercial brokerage known as Royal LePage Commercial Inc. that Cushman & Wakefield Inc. acquired in 2005.
Owned by Brookfield Real Estate Services Inc., the new Royal LePage commercial division boasts 160 brokers nationally. There are six offices in B.C., including Royal LePage City Centre and Royal LePage North Shore in Metro Vancouver.
Eugen Klein, a broker with Royal LePage City Centre, says the Royal LePage brand will serve the new commercial division well.
"I moved my practice over to a primarily residential office even while Royal LePage Commercial was still around," said Klein, who was previously a broker with NAI and Colliers International. "This gives us the ability to leverage on the Royal LePage brand that was previously very strong in commercial real estate. … This resurrects a national brand, with services behind it." •
