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Hopewell Development's acquisition of 38 acres in Surrey's Campbell Heights Business Park represents the biggest deal done there to date. (Mom always said, "it's not bragging if it's true.") Avison Young's Michael Farrell tells us what a transaction of this magnitude says about the park's growing regional importance.  The property is currently zoned agricultural; the seller is a private farmer who's run a poultry operation on the site for years, and lived there, too, says Michael (pictured here), who worked on the sale. The land will need to be rezoned before the deal closes (while it's currently agricultural, the site is not in the ALR; it's earmarked for industrial use in Surrey's official community plan). Hopewell plans to do a four-building development, with spaces to accommodate tenants up to 200k SF.  Waite Air Photos Inc. Hopewell liked that it was able to go out and purchase a site of such scale (38 acres) that had excellent geotechnical conditions and, because it's square-shaped, would be easy to work with. “You can build whatever the heck you want here,” Michael says. He notes it would be difficult to assemble another site this size at Campbell Heights; the City of Surrey and federal government own large swathes of 1,900-acre region and the rest is smaller lots between five to 10 acres.  The only other development Hopewell has done in Metro Vancouver, its distribution centre in Richmond (shown above), was “probably the largest spec project ever completed” in the region, Michael notes. So it says something that the company's next move is to Campbell Heights. “It's a big vote of confidence." |
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How Cactus Club Transformed English Bay |
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 Malcolm Parry | Vancouver Sun Cactus Club at English Bay has won the City of Vancouver's first-ever Urban Design Award for a commercial building. The 6,200 SF location, Canada's first LEED-Gold certified restaurant, replaced an old concession kiosk. Architect Mark Ostry (pictured left with Acton Ostry Architects partner Russell Acton) says their glassy, airy design does a better job of connecting the city to the beach and heralds a new era for waterfront design. |
 The transparency and openness of the building—with a green roof, triple-glazed curtain wall and patios that terrace down to the beach walkway—helps to seamlessly transition the city into the waterfront, says Mark. The site's challenges were immense, though. It's bound by city streets, pedestrian walkways, and bike paths. There's also a height restriction above and a 200-year floodplain below to be avoided. Plus there were mature trees butting right up against the property. It wasn't easy building Cactus Club at English Bay, but Mark says the end result is a good template for the redevelopment of subsequent concession buildings on the city's beaches. |
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Commercial Building Permits Dip While building permits across Metro Vancouver hit the highest levels since summer 2012—driven by a sharp increase in multi-unit residential permits—the region's commercial sector experienced a decrease. New figures from Statistics Canada show commercial permits dropped by 4% (to $151M) compared to the same period last year. Industrial permits fared better, jumping 148% to $23.8M.  Vancouver Regional Construction Association president Fiona Famulak notes that the launch of construction on the Tsawwassen Mills (rendered above) and Tsawwassen Commons mega-mall projects will improve the situation some for commercial permitting, but that a market-wide investment resurgence in further commercial real estate is "not likely” until the economy picks up pace. |
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Time Travelling To Support Trades |
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 Concert Properties had its annual charity golf tournament Sept. 18, a fundraiser for trades training in Canada. “Everyone had a lot of fun getting into the '80s theme,” event spokesperson Chelsea Moore tells us. Indeed, Ghostbusters Darren Mewha, Jeff Juhala, Cam MacGregor, Emily Cragg, and Leslie Marta were right into the spirit, strapping on proton packs and setting out to light up the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man. |
 Concert president and COO Brian McCauley (pictured here in shades and a sick Dave Mustaine-esque mullet, along with employees Carla Fassbender, Karen Neveu, Bev Greene, Steven Schmidt, Colleen Haugen, and Jason Korolu) says his company has a “vested interest” in seeing the trades thrive. Concert has raised $2M for trades training programs across Canada already this year, the multifamily developer's 25th anniversary. The '80s-themed golf tourney was offered as a fun way to confront a serious issue: the looming shortage of skilled workers in the construction industry, Brian says. |
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