Here Comes Western Canada's Tallest All-Res Tower

Reliance Properties is partnering with The Jim Pattison Group, Canada’s second-largest private company, to build Burrard Place, a 1M SF mixed-use project boasting Western Canada’s tallest all-residential skyscraper.

Here’s Jim Pattison with his development VP, Michael Lee, and Reliance Properties president Jon Stovell. The most significant project to date for either partner, Burrard Place will cover an entire downtown block and include two residential towers. The first, One Burrard Place (60 floors, 444 units), is being billed as Vancouver's first true 5-star luxury condo. And at 550 feet, it will be the city’s third-tallest building after Shangri-La and Trump Vancouver. A second 35-storey tower will follow. “This is the largest active project downtown right now,” Jon tells us.

Burrard Place will have a three-storey Toyota showroom at the corner of Burrard and Drake, with service areas on five underground levels, the only full-service dealership in downtown Vancouver. This will replace the old Pattison Toyota, which had stood on the site for 42 years. Reliance, which owns the property adjacent to the dealership, is contributing 60% of the land holdings and equity to the Burrard Place JV. Integrated into the same structure as the dealership will be a 13-storey, 135k SF office building, and Jon says the JV partners plan to retain and manage it as a long-term holding asset.

Burrard Place will have 66k SF of additional large-floor plate strata office space across three floors in a seven-storey podium that will run through the base of both residential towers. “Strata office is a strongly emerging market in Vancouver,” Jon notes. The podium will also include a 45k SF Meinhardt Fine Foods and 35k SF amenity centre, with a pool, gym and dining rooms, and hotel-like services such as an on-demand caterer, sommelier, fashion consultant and event planner. All amenities will be available to commercial tenants (for a fee), not just residents. “We’re trying to mix people together in more of a collaborative way,” says Jon.

Jim Pattison Group, the country’s second-largest private company (annual sales: $8.4B), is a major commercial real estate player, with a portfolio of more than 12M SF of income-producing properties throughout North America. “Our goal is to own the real estate where our businesses are situated,” explains Michael. “That’s how we’ve been able to grow our portfolio.” Burrard Place is a “tremendous opportunity” for the company, he says, enabling it to maximize the value of a low-intensity auto-dealership property. “Integrating it into mixed-use development makes a lot of sense for us.”

Jon says the plan is to break ground on Burrard Place in January, and he expects the build to take 42 months. The podium of the second residential tower will include a full-size grocery store. Eventually there will be a fourth tower at the end of the block, at 902 Davie, where a 30-storey tower of mico-suites is planned. The Jim Pattison Group is a continental heavy-hitter, while Reliance is a family-owned regional developer. But the two companies have similar values, says Jon: they're both conservative, customer-focused, prudent, cautious and measured. “So it’s a real good cultural fit.”