How Radia Block Lured This High-Tech Tenant

Hungerford Properties’ Radia Block, a two-storey, 47k SF building at 149 West Fourth Ave., in the burgeoning Mount Pleasant office hub, is getting a new lease on life—literally. Michael Hungerford tells us his firm will soon announce the signing of a new tenant for the building, “a significant company” in the high-tech media space. “Which is how Vancouver is positioning itself—as a market for high-tech talent.” Radia Block, built in the 1930s for heavy industrial use, was the HQ of Mountain Equipment Co-op until the end of October, when MEC moved into a new state-of-the-art space in False Creek Flats.

Radia Block (above)—which underwent green upgrades when MEC moved in back in the 1990s—will receive another facelift to accommodate its yet-to-be-revealed new tenant, Michael notes, a “total refresh” that will add the kinds of amenities and open-concept creative spaces tech firms desire, such as lounges, juice bars and ping pong tables (the building’s mechanical and electrical systems also will be upgraded). Mount Pleasant is becoming an increasingly attractive place for tech firms, Michael says, given the high costs of locating in neighbourhoods like Gastown and Yaletown.

Vancouver-based Hungerford has been focusing its energies on Alberta in recent years, with a half-dozen commercial projects under development there, including Icon Business Park in Calgary, a 761k SF facility; and Nexus Business Park (shown above), also in Calgary, with 100k SF of office and warehouse space. "We’re bullish on all Western Canada markets," Michael says.