Gastown Can't Stop Dealing

Bisnow has learned of another deal involving the century-old heritage buildings in Vancouver's ever-evolving Gastown District. (Is nobody scared of ghosts anymore?)

The building in question is 328 and 332 Water St, which Salient Group bought for $8.5M. The building is 21k SF. All this Gastown news is spearheaded by the redevelopment in 2009 of the Woodward's building. Heritage is colliding with modern in a series of projects there. Construction on Century Group's Ormidale Block, located at 151 West Hastings, is one of the other newer projects, set for completion spring 2015.

Green Light For Harbourside
Concert Properties' rezoning application for Harbourside to the city of North Vancouver was approved this week, so work can begin on the mixed-use waterfront development over 12 acres. Concert president Brian McCauley says finding vacant land for development is "a rare opportunity."		The developers see the project—condos and rental homes, high-quality office, boutique retail, restaurants, parking, a full-service hotel and parks—as a call to action for people to come down to the area. Though based on the rendering, they have enough impressionist painters.

Tower Almost Filled

CBRE's director of leasing Chuck We reports plenty of action on the Oxford MNP Tower front. The 35-floor, 299k SF Class-A tower is now 75% leased, and is scheduled for completion this December. “With paper out on a few more transactions we hope to be closer to 90% on completion,” Chuck says. Recent deals involve Silver Wheaton and Vertex One, each taking two floors (16k SF each). Chuck says they are “most excited” about the restaurant they are working with for the ground floor. “We hope to have that announcement in the next month or so.” (We'll subsist on crackers until then.)

Three Books for Closers

You can't expect to make more deals by just doing your best Sam Zell growl or Donald Trump hair toss. (Just kidding, that stuff's made of steel.) Here are some outside-of-the-box books we've read that are generating huge buzz around the business community. Add them to your reading list to boost your performance at the closing table.

The Power Of Habit, Charles Duhigg

You won't improve your negotiating skills, management tactics, and relationship building without some serious self-reflection. This steeped-in-science read explains the mysteries of the habit loop (environmental cue, behavioral routine, reward), including how to drop your bad ones and pick up some winners. The hidden power of habits is they can influence group behavior and in turn, companies' profitability. (And Duhigg's engaging examples range from Rosa Parks to NFL locker rooms to the advent of Febreze.) The top takeaway: repetition breeds performance without thought (habit), a vital skill when selling a prospect on your property's cash flow and long-term upside.

Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell

“It is not the brightest who succeed,” Gladwell writes. “Outliers are those who have been given opportunities... and who have the strength and presence of mind to seize them.” Most of all, making it to the top in your field requires a huge time investment (for those of you too caught up in the work/life balance movement). It's the 10,000-Hour Rule: The Beatles shaped their sound after more than 10,000 hours of concerts played in Hamburg; Bill Gates began his 10,000-plus hours of programming at age 13; and you'll need to pick up the phone and pound the pavement more than you think to up your closings.

Drive, Daniel Pink

Here's a shocker. Even in real estate, people are motivated by more than money. Your prospective buyer, tentative seller, and broker on the other side of the table are also motivated by autonomy, mastery, and purpose, Daniel Pink writes. (Think Google employees' free time for personal projects, feeling a great flow, and the sense of a higher calling.) In real estate, it might mean a seller that will take less money if they truly believe in the development's community benefit (like affordable housing) or the buyer's creative adaptive reuse (who wouldn't love a warehouse-turned doggy daycare and cupcake factory?).

Calling All Reporters

We're looking for the Bisnow face of Canada (and it doesn't have to be as beautiful as Ryan Gosling's or Rachel McAdams'). We're in need of a Vancouver/Toronto commercial real estate reporter, with a strong journalism background and a passion for writing. You have the gift for delivering groundbreaking real estate news in our breezy but super-informative manner. You live to break stories, work a beat, travel, uncover market trends, and rub elbows with the most powerful people in the industry. Send your journalism-oriented resume to: matt.black@bisnow.com.