Come together
Vancouver wowed and fascinated many of the 3,100-plus participants in the recent Urban Land Institute (ULI) spring meeting, with conversation after conversation expressing awe at the mountains visible from the Vancouver Convention Centre (visible, thanks to exceptionally good weather during the event).
But in individual sessions, such as the discussion of Vancouver as a gateway city, speakers looked beyond the mountains to see the region as more than just a great setting.
The port, for example, is a regional asset whose influence stretches east along the Fraser River, rail lines and highways to support more jobs than many other segments of the economy.
Yet Jim Crandles, director, planning and development, for Port Metro Vancouver, said: “I don’t know if the region really gets the importance of itself as a transportation gateway.”
Indeed, while the port and terminal operators pursue massive investments that will bear fruit over the coming generation – the new Roberts Bank terminal won’t be complete until at least 2030 – municipalities are busy addressing housing, job space in the form of commercial and industrial space, and any other number of issues independent of one another.
“The lack of a regional vision is really unfortunate,” said Michael Goldberg, professor emeritus, strategy and business economics, with the University of British Columbia’s Sauder School of Business. “The only people who really seem to coordinate anything are the brokerage community.”
Goldberg believes the Lower Mainland’s 23 members lose out by not capitalizing on their collective strength. Whatever their potential, an inability to think of it being in one place, except on a map, is a hurdle that needs to be leapt.
“I would like to see a regional strategy because there’s so much ancillary business to be had,” he said, pointing to the potential to attract regional headquarters rather than offices housing small teams servicing niches within the market.
Affordability challenge
San Francisco and other U.S. cities are facing upward pressure on rents and tenant displacement thanks to a booming tech sector.
Small surprise, then, that an Urban Land Institute spring meeting delegate asked if “intellectual capital” was hurting housing affordability in Vancouver. “No,” this columnist quipped. “Our concern is foreign capital.”
Whatever the cause, ULI participants expressed concern about the kind of housing the next generation would consider affordable.
With youth unemployment in the U.S. at 16.3%, more than double the rate for adults, and upwards of three million jobs for the 20-something set missing, there was keen interest in what Vancouver is doing to house people.
And, frankly, if there’s one shortcoming former co-director of planning Larry Beasley sees in the city’s urban planning, it’s affordable housing.
“This remains the outstanding urban challenge for Vancouver moving into the next few years,” he said, to applause from the hometown crowd.
Vancouver’s densification drew praise – “density is our friend,” “congestion is our friend,” Beasley said – and the city even beat to the punch one questioner who wondered if the city could do more with its single-family lots.
Done, said former senior planner Trish French, noting that all single-family lots in the city now allow up to three dwelling units through secondary suites and laneway homes.
French said Vancouver can’t supply the region’s affordable housing alone, however. It’s a regional issue, she said, echoing comments Goldberg made earlier in the day. Or, to riff off John Donne, no city is an island; it’s part of the main.
“Thinking of the ‘city of Vancouver’ is almost not relevant anymore,” she said, urging greater regional cooperation.
Going public
The initial public offering of City Office REIT Inc., a venture of Second City Capital Partners, is on track to close this week. The new office-oriented REIT seeks to raise US$72.5 million through an offering of 5.8 million shares trading on the New York Stock Exchange.
Proceeds from the offering will allow City Office to acquire six office complexes comprising 16 buildings and 1.85 million square feet from Second City, as well as pursue new acquisitions.
Speaking in February, Second City managing director Jamie Farrar said the company would target acquisitions valued at between $20 million and $50 million.
