MAINTENANCE I Richmond builder creates software to help keep everything shipshape

Sun

A Richmond entrepreneur who bills himself as the “home doctor” has come up with a product to take the guesswork out of home maintenance.

Timo Kellokoski of Premso Systems says his unique software-based home-maintenance organizing system is the answer.

“Homeowners can save money in home repair because they have a better knowledge of their homes and can catch problems in the early stages before they need big repairs,” says Kellokoski, a builder and renovator.

He’s devoted the past two years developing the system. The tracking/educational system consists of a binder and software program that helps teach homeowners what they need to know to do proper, preventative home maintenance.

“Think of a car with good maintenance records compared to one that doesn’t have them. Which car would you want to buy? This can provide the same benefit to homeowners who want to sell their homes,” says Kellokoski.

The easy-to-follow software program requires users to input information about their home and keep their records updated. This can be challenging for many busy people, but Kellokoski noted the software’s extensive file for personal addresses would be a motivation for homeowners to refer regularly to the program to keep it current.

Topics to be entered include basic information about the home such as square feet, financial information such as yearly mortgage rates, insurance information and a personal property inventory. This particular feature allows a homeowner to enter items of value room by room and the software automatically calculates their total worth.

He said this feature, which allows images of the items, is of particular value for insurance purposes if the items were ever lost in a fire or stolen.

Another topic in the software is a “material list” that reminds homeowners of home details, such as what paint colour they used in a room, or whether their fridge has an extended warranty.

Other categories include maintenance tracking that is divided into fall and spring with information on what to check, common problems if it is not done and a place for the homeowner to note when they completed the work.

He says the product makes an ideal gift as a house-warming present and noted many of his clients have been realtors. Realtor Kenny Au is one customer.

“I want to help people get organized about maintenance and they really feel good about that,” Au says in a press release. “Women especially like the product because they know how difficult it is to keep track of maintenance over the long term. But the Premso Maintenizer is like having a live-in expert, who not only keeps track of all details but teaches homeowners what they need to know to do proper, preventative maintenance.”

Kellokoski says while maintenance software has been around for some time for businesses, this is the first easy-to-use software for consumers.

”They can’t believe nobody thought of this before,” he says.

The product is currently only available through the company’s website at www.premso.com. It costs $60 for the binder, $100 for the software or $120 for both.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Michael Sasges
Sun

POMARIA

Presentation centre: 1460 Howe, between Pacific and Beach streets, Vancouver

Hours: 12 p.m. – 6 p.m. daily, except Friday.

Telephone: 604-696-0800

Web: www.pomaria.com

On offer: 138 townhouses and apartments

Prices: $339,900 (one bedroom) – $2.9 million (two-storey penthouse with roof-top deck)

Developer: Qualex-Landmark

Architect: Rafii Architects

Interiors: Robert Ledingham Designs

Landscape architect: Durante Kreuk

LEED consultant: Resource Rethinking Building Inc.

Warranty: St. Paul 2/5/10

What follows is one man’s early nomination for novel sleeping experience, downtown Vancouver category, 2007 calendar year: It might occur in at least a dozen apartments in the Pomaria residential tower on Howe at Pacific.

A floor-plan notation for one of the apartment schemes, “glass wall levels 19 to 21,” was my first intimation of the nightly novelty a lucky few will experience in the 30-floor building on its completion two years from now … a wall of glass, however eventually executed, separating one of the bedrooms in at least three apartments from the adjacent three-storey “skygarden.”

Where do you put the bed? What do you do to sleep past daybreak, if that wall of glass is not a wall of windows? Where do you buy blackout curtains these days?

At least a dozen apartments will either overlook the two “skygardens” in Pomaria or share floors, the 16th and 19th, with the gardens. None may have my hoped-for walls of glass, but will certainly have windows from which to view the gardens.

Common property, but limited common property, the gardens will be accessible only to residents of apartments on those two floors.

The three 19th-floor apartments have been sold, Pomaria’s Chris Colbeck reports, but two of the four 16th-floor apartments were unsold, as of earlier this week.

“Additionally, three homes [of nine] remain that look onto the skygardens. The ones that look onto the skygardens are priced at more than $730,00.”

As of this week, of the 138 Pomaria residences, 66 have been sold. The developer only opened the Howe Street preview centre last Saturday, but started selling over the Christmas holidays, in response to word-of-mouth interest.

Of all the features of this tower, and they include its landmark location “between the bridges,” the variety and largesse of the homes and the amenities ownership accrues, the gardens stand out for their contribution to Pomaria’s relative singularity and as the latest expression of the emerging “green” sentiments of local developers, builders – and new-home buyers..

Those gardens are both explanation for and emblematic of an ambitous, pioneering commitment by the Pomaria developer, Qualex-Landmark, the pursuit of LEED certification for the building.

They signal expense undertaken and revenue foregone and marketing foray, of urban oasis or sanctuary. (Pomaria was a town in Roman Africa, named for nearby orchards.)

Short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED’s purpose is recognition “of leading edge buildings that incorporate design, construction and operational practices that combine healthy, high-quality and high-performance advantages with reduced environmental impacts,” in the words of LEED Canada.

“In every project we do we try to do something that differentiates us from everybody else,” Chris Colbeck responds to the question, why bother?

“That effort here started with the architectural style of the building, with the skygardens. We had the skygardens set into the 16th to 18th floors and then into the 19th to 21st floors. The city liked it . . . So some of it came from the city collaboration. It helped us with our rezoning. It was an evolution of what we saw coming down the pipe for urban living in downtown Vancouver.

“And, you know, there were certain stages at which we considered pulling out the 16th to 18th floor skygarden because we could put three more homes in there and get money for that.”

There are at least a couple of approaches to healthy, green buildings, the engineer’s and architect’s and builder’s and the average home-buyer’s approach. Kim Davis, a Vancouver environmental consultant and architectural researcher, covers off the former elsewhere in today’s Westcoast Homes. Chris Colbeck covers off the latter with this observation:

”We say to people, you’re getting a new home without the new-home smell. People like that. It puts LEED in understandable terms.

”They walk into a new home and they smell the off-gassing of the carpets and cabinets and the glues. We don’t have that.”

Pomaria buyer Ali Hakimzadeh (with wife Shahrzad) expects residency in an ”environmentally friendly” building ”will make for great dinner conversation when we have guests over.”

”Living in the 21st century we all need to be environmently aware,” the Canaccord Capital Corp. executive says. ”To the extent that the developers had the foresight to make the environment a major theme of their builing they should be applauded.”

The Hakimzadehs bought a townhouse facing May and Lorne Brown Park (on Beach) for about $800,000, ”very well priced, given the neighbourhood and quality of the building and materials being used.”

He’s lived in the neighbourhood since 1987 and they current reside on Hornby ”just down the road from Pomaria.”

”We were not planning on buying, but when we saw all that this building had to offer, the three- bedroom townhomes, the large bedrooms, the spacious living areas, a fantastic kitchen design and amenities – this one sold my wife which in turn put my mind at ease that she would be very happy here – plus the opportunity to stay in the area.

”No other product could really compete for our dollars since we immediately got pretty much all that we wanted and needed right here.”

At the opposite end of the project from the “parkhomes” are four live/work residences (on Pacific). All are three-floor homes, two of them total 1,700 square feet and the other, more than 1,500.

In between are the apartments, at least three one-bedroom-plus-den schemes; three two-bedroom schemes; and three two-bedroom-plus-den schemes.

Amenities that come with residency include a second-level garden and spa.

Granville Island abstract artists masterPomaria’s ‘asymmetrical . . . spaces’

Vancouver Sun

March 5, 2005

A weathervane by Vancouver‘s Rodney Graham for the Pomaria site makes the downtown residential tower the latest subject for an occasional Westcoast Homes feature by members of the local visual arts community. Painter Michael den Hertog and photographer Gillian Lindsay (top right) looked across False Creek from their Granville Island gallery and report:

“We encourage our customers to choose art with their heart, for it is easy to get lost being too analytical. We meet many people who have spent months searching for art that somehow goes with the furniture and are confused by the well-meant advice of others and frustrated.

“We encourage people to buy art that moves them, influenced only by their budget and their wall space and trusting that they will know the right piece when they see it.

“The Pomaria “skyhomes‘ seem to us to be the quintessential new urban Vancouver residences.

”Asymmetrical architecture creates interesting off-square interior spaces and the contemporary fixtures and finishes to which those spaces lend themselves in turn lend themselves well to the more abstract type of artwork that Gillian and I enjoy.

“The function of the room in which the artwork will hang is one consideration.

In the bedroom, something soothing and contemplative encourages a sense of peaceful retreat. Top right, in the gallery photograph: Trinity, acrylic on canvas, 60 x 48 inches, behind Michael. In a den or studio used for creative activity something more stimulating would help set the tone. Top left: detail, Capilano, acrylic on canvas, 48 x 36 inches.

“Size is another consideration. If there is only one large wall in the living room, a single large painting has a cleaner, stronger impact than several smaller ones.

“On the other hand, in a predominantly open plan with large expanses of glass, the living area may offer very little usable wall space. In that case, we would use two or three small but strong pieces to serve as visual punctuation marks in a room otherwise dominated by exterior views. Above: detail, Residuum, photograph, 24 x 18 inches.

“If one has a long hallway, this is a wonderful opportunity to create a small galleria, using either a series of works designed to hang together, or by choosing one’s own grouping of smaller individual pieces. Above: Intersections, photographs each 14 x 18 inches.”

MICHAEL DEN HERTOG GALLERY

Address: 1315 Railspur Alley, Granville Island, Vancouver

Hours: 10:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. Thursday to Monday.

Tel: 604-731-0068

Web: www.michael-denhertog.com

www.gillianlindsay.ca

B.C. LEEDs Canada in gold-status green building

ENVIRONMENT I 3 of Canada‘s 4 structures with top certification are in Vancouver

Kim Davis

Special to the Sun

March 5, 2005

You recycle, you love hybrid cars, and you generally consider yourself environmentally responsible. But have you ever stopped to think about the buildings in which you live and work?

Buildings have a profound impact on the environment as well as on the health and well-being of their occupants.

Material selection, construction waste, water and energy efficiency, and indoor air quality are just a few of the issues at hand. To address these issues a number of green building programs have emerged that seek to transform the building market by promoting an environmental agenda. Chief among them is LEED.

WHAT IS LEED?

It’s an environmental report card for commercial buildings. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) ”Green Building Rating System” is a measurement tool designed for rating new and existing commercial, institutional and highrise residential buildings.

LEED was created in 1999 by the U.S. Green Building Council. It was initially a single rating system that focused on new exterior construction.

It now consists of a family of standards that examine, or propose to examine, existing buildings, commercial interiors, homes and neighbourhood development.

Buildings can achieve LEED certification using a variety of measures — geothermal systems, energy- and water-efficient appliances (like dual-flush toilets), maximizing natural light.

They may also create healthy interiors through careful selection of interior finishes, improved air circulation and access to natural ventilation.

Here in Canada, after a review of existing rating systems, LEED Canada for commercial buildings was launched last year by the Canada Green Building Council. This adaptation takes into account Canadian climates, construction practices and regulations.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

Adding up the points. LEED awards credits for satisfying elements of five categories — sustainable sites; water efficiency; energy and atmosphere; materials and resources; and indoor environmental quality.

There is also an additional innovation and design category which addresses measures and expertise not covered under the other categories.

Applicants for LEED certification must achieve at least 26 points to be considered for LEED certification. Total credits earned generate different levels of certification — silver, gold and platinum.

The first step toward earning LEED certification is project registration. The registration fee ranges from $1,000 to $5,000, depending on the size of the project and whether the applicant is a member of the Canada Green Building Council.

The applicant then needs to satisfy all of the LEED prerequisites, demonstrate the minimum number of points, and submit a certification fee — ranging from $2,000 to $10,050- before it can be independently reviewed and considered for a LEED rating and certification.

LEED also has rigorous documentation requirements. Projects will often employ a LEED ”Accredited Professional.”

WHY IS IT POPULAR?

It draws attention. Pursuing a LEED rating legitimizes a project’s commitment to sustainability and superior building performance. It provides an independent yardstick against which the building’s environmental claims can be measured.

For developers, this legitimacy can help facilitate access to a growing number of funding incentives in both the public and private sectors. It can also be used as a valuable marketing tool to attract the growing number of ecologically concerned people interested in buildings that reflect their values.

One small word of caution, though. Helen Goodland, a LEED ”Accredited Professional” and manager of the Greater Vancouver Regional District’s BuildSmart program, notes that while projects can register and thus market themselves as pursuing a LEED rating, they are under no obligation to complete the certification process.

A project may register for LEED but in the end fail to meet certification requirements. Conversely, a project may be eligible for a LEED rating but choose not to go through with certification because of the high administrative costs.

WHO IS USING IT?

Federal, provincial and local governments, private developers and soon your next door neighbour.

In 2001, Seattle became the first city in North America to adopt LEED as a municipal design standard and performance measurement tool.

Since then, a number of cities including Boston, Chicago, Portland, and Calgary have established a LEED rating as the goal for municipal building projects and in some cases even private developments.

Dale Mikkelsen, a planner with the City of Vancouver, feels that British Columbia is at the forefront in the implementation of LEED in Canada. Of the more than 100 buildings registered under LEED in Canada, nearly half are in B.C. Of the 10 LEED-certified buildings, six are located in B.C.

Last year city hall announced the adoption of LEED for all new civic buildings with a floor space greater than 500 square metres. New public buildings must also achieve at least a gold certification and meet specific energy points to ensure a 30-per-cent energy reduction. Only four buildings in Canada have qualified for LEED gold to date, and three of them are in British Columbia. They are Vancouver‘s National works yard, the Vancouver Island Technology Park and the White Rock Operations Building.

The city expects LEED gold will save Vancouver taxpayers millions of dollars in long-term operating costs and encourage other municipalities to take similar action in support of the environment.

Further, Tuesday’s vote by city council in favour of the massive urban green development in southeast False Creek will usher in a veritable showcase of LEED design: All buildings — market and none-market — must be designed to LEED silver standards.

New homebuyers are also benefiting from LEED’s influence here in British Columbia, as the number of new mixed-use and residential high rise buildings targeting LEED has risen dramatically in the last year. The Silva, recently completed in central Lonsdale and currently completing the LEED documentation process, will likely be the first LEED certified multi-unit highrise residential building in Canada.

Other LEED targeted mixed-use and highrise residential buildings in Canada include the Pomaria; the Cornerstone at Simon Fraser University; Vancouver‘s soon to be tallest structure, the Shangri-La; Winnipeg‘s the Strand on Waterfront Drive; and the Parkside Victoria Resort & Spa in Victoria.

WHERE CAN I GET MORE INFORMATION?

The Canada Green Building Council offers one-day courses around Canada. For more information about LEED Canada, the CaGBC, LEED Accredited Professionals, and the green building industry in general, go to www.cagbc.org.

Other resources for green building, particularly for single-home residential (not currently addressed under LEED) include:

Greater Vancouver‘s BuildSmart at www.gvrd.bc.ca/buildsmart.

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. at www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca.

Natural Resource Canada, office of energy efficiency at oee.nrcan.gc.ca

Kim Davis is a Vancouver environmental and architectural researcher. E-mail:

[email protected]

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

OPINION I Vancouver council’s revised plan for the last substantial piece of waterfront land available for development is committed to all three aspects of sustainability — social, environmental and economic

Raymond Louie
Sun

COUNCILLOR, CITY OF VANCOUVER

Walk over the Cambie Street bridge on its west side and 30 years of planning sits right before your eyes. On both sides of False Creek, obsolete industrial areas have been transformed to mixed use, highly liveable neighbourhoods with very different flavours.

On the south side, the city of Vancouver created a new focal point for the city from abandoned industrial land. The South(west) False Creek project includes in equal amounts high, medium and low-income housing, Granville Island Market, Emily Carr College of Art, a community centre, parks and a concrete plant.

On the north side, Concord Pacific’s development on the Expo lands took a different direction, with towers that rise up with the backdrop of the North Shore mountains, a housing mix of 80 per cent market and 20 per cent non-market, community amenities and lively commercial enterprises like Urban Fare.

Both of these developments stand out today as visionary for their time and are a big part of Vancouver‘s reputation for planning excellence and innovation. They set a high bar for city council as it debated the official plan for our city’s next major development.

Southeast False Creek, spanning Cambie to Quebec streets and False Creek to Second Avenue, is the last substantial piece of urban waterfront available for re-development.

With it comes an opportunity to put to work all we’ve learned to create a community that future generations will come to see as even more visionary, liveable and sustainable than its predecessors.

Planning for Southeast False Creek has been going on for about eight years, always with the view to creating a sustainable community. There were repeated public consultations. But after countless meetings, hearings and reviews, citizens, planners, architects and developers were agreed: The conflict between maximizing profit and good planning made it impossible for this project to achieve its full potential.

On Tuesday, Vancouver council approved a revised plan that responds to public demand for a better vision.

This plan will come to life over the next 15 to 20 years, starting with the Olympic village.

What has changed to make this plan so much better than its predecessors? Commitment to all three aspects of sustainability — social, environmental and economic — and a willingness to invest in our future.

All the previous plans envisioned high-rise towers, like those of the north side of False Creek. This form of development has proven popular, but doesn’t fit the south shore. Towers on the south side would form a wall on the water for the neighbourhoods on the slopes above.

The approved plan, on the advice of residents and some of Vancouver‘s top architects, takes on a low to medium rise form of development that fits and respects adjacent neighbourhoods, while maintaining the originally planned density.

The approved plan proposes a mix of housing affordability, one-third low, one-third middle and one-third high income, on the city lands.

This follows in the tradition of the city’s developments at South False Creek and Champlain Heights in the 1970s. The low income sites will be developed using already committed federal and provincial social housing funds. The middle income sites will come through a variety of market mechanisms, such as market rental and modest ownership options, reduced parking requirements and other design adjustments. The end result will be a community accessible to all regardless of income.

All Vancouver’s residents will benefit from an active waterfront with a new street close to the water that will include retail, restaurants and community use, as well as increased wharfs, boardwalks and walk/bikeways. A full-sized community centre and non-motorized recreational boating facility, five childcare centres, and a K-7 school are also planned.

New parks will be created. Pedestrians and bikes are the focus with two east-west bike routes, a connection onto the Ontario Street Greenway and lots of walkways. It is estimated that 60 per cent of trips in SEFC will be by walking, biking or skateboarding.

Heritage buildings like the Salt Building will be retained and creatively reused in their original sites. A green building strategy, LEED Gold standard for city buildings, LEED silver on private lands, and the requirement for all development sites to reduce energy, greenhouse gases, water use and waste and promote urban agriculture are also incorporated.

Citizens have brought forward ideas for social enterprise, a kids’ museum, a multi-faith centre and innovative partnerships with First Nations, all of which are possible under this plan.

All of this will result in one of the most innovative communities in North America from an environmental and socially sustainable perspective. But to be successful, the plan must also be economically sustainable.

To achieve this goal, the city will invest all the expected $50 million return from the development back into enhancing the project instead of putting it into the city’s Property Endowment Fund, or PEF. The PEF includes hard assets of city-owned land and buildings (such as social housing), as well as cash.

At the end of 2003, the total fund sat at $1.2 billion with about $200 to $300 million in cash. It is expected to be much more in 2004 as property values have risen dramatically. The investment in SEFC is a small fraction of the fund’s total value, hardly the gutting forecast by Vancouver Sun columnists and editorialists.

It is also consistent with what previous councils, of all political leanings, have done when they used PEF to develop Champlain Heights, the south side of False Creek or invest in non-market housing.

These expenditures from the PEF will purchase city owned net capital assets, such as the 26 acre park, the 30,000 square foot community centre, 684 much needed childcare spaces. These are amenities that will be used by adults and kids from across the city. As Mayor Campbell asked during the council meeting, how do you put a price tag on a child learning to kayak or a single parent taking a job because she has childcare?

This approach and this plan have been hailed by the community, the architectural profession and even many in the development sector. Of course it has to be financially viable and sustainable. Of course there are risks. And of course, there will be review and refinements as the plan becomes reality over the next 15 to 20 years.

However, SEFC will be a model for how to create a truly sustainable community and will provide benefits to all Vancouverites for generations to come. I call this smart investment and a vision worth supporting.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Bob Ransford
Sun

Vancouver isn’t the only place where house prices have soared in recent years. The revival of the B.C. economy is resulting in new levels of in-migration and job creation in population centres and rural areas throughout the province, pushing house prices up almost everywhere.

Despite this upward trend, our little corner of the world, where we like to think we live in a special Lotus Land, is neither the world’s highest priced real estate market nor a price-curve leader. Soaring housing costs are a reality in most western world population centres today.

Someone suggested to me the other day that the answer to housing affordability in the Vancouver area is simple. Stop the supply — bring a halt to growth. I reminded them the next step would be shutting down our airports and border crossings if they wanted to avoid the highest home prices in the world.

People will continue to migrate to this part of the world and other quality urban centres because of the quality of life they believe they will enjoy. Stopping growth only means increasing the cost of housing, not lowering it.

Smart growth, more compact communities, smaller houses–these are a few of the answers to lower housing costs.

There are others ways to lower the cost of housing as well.

My prediction is that, as housing prices continue to increase in North America, we will see a new consumer activism begin to develop. This activism will begin to get to the root cause of increasing housing costs — or at least suggest ways of mitigating housing costs.

Let me point to a few of the obvious areas where the economic costs of housing — the real, physical costs of producing the home as a product — could be lowered.

Construction labour costs can be mitigated through the contribution of sweat equity. In the 1960s, many starter homes were sold with unfinished basements or partially finished space in the upper floors. Homeowners invested their own human capital in finishing the home.

This not only lowers the labour component in the cost of new housing, it also reduces the over-all finance charges by lowering the original amount financed.

I predict you will soon see builders construct more partially finished homes where homeowners have the opportunity of buying at a lower price and then investing their own human capital in finishing the home.

Another way of lowering the cost of housing is designing and building more durable housing with a longer expected lifecycle. It is difficult to envisage a home more than 100 years old in our part of the world, but in Eastern Canada and throughout most other parts of the world it is not uncommon to be living in a home more than a century and a half old.

The longer a building lasts, the smaller the economic costs per generation of homeowner. Today in this part of the world, we’re tearing down homes built less than 40 years ago, replacing them with buildings that probably won’t last even that long.

Imagine using more durable materials than wood to construct a home.

For example, a slate roof might last 50 years instead of the 20 years a cedar roof lasts. Initial costs might be higher but long-term costs would be lower by increasing the lifecycle extension and lowering the replacement costs for owners through the generations.

Another idea that has been floated as a trial balloon in the past is lowering the cost of selling a home by replacing the real estate industry’s multiple listing service with a non-profit cooperative housing exchange.

An exchange certainly wouldn’t replace the services offered by a professional realtor and this concept needs some serious evaluation before I would advocate it.

Lowering the selling cost is certainly worthy of serious study though, considering that an average home is bought and sold every eight years and the average homeowner pays a realtor a percentage commission at least six times during their lifetime. If even a portion of those fees could be applied to reducing the mortgage on the home, it could result in substantial savings in interest charges.

As housing prices continue to climb the upward trend line, consumers will become more savvy, looking for innovative ways to cut the cost of housing. These are just a few ideas. Perhaps there are others.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

Buyer response to city’s tallest tower overwhelming

Ashley Ford
Province

Construction began yesterday on Living Shangri-La, Vancouver‘s tallest building, which will eventually rise 195 metres at the corner of Georgia and Thurlow.

The spectacular James Cheng-designed sheer glass-skinned, $250 million tower will take three years to complete and house the luxury Shangri-La Hotel and 227 upscale live-work condominiums, most of which have already been sold for between $400,000 and $1.2 million.

In addition, the developers will restore the heritage Coastal Church which sits next door to the tower.

It is is being developed by Westbank Projects and the Peterson Investment Group and will occupy the 1100 block of West Georgia and Alberni streets.

The tower will be the dominating architectural feature of the downtown core. The fact the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group, Asia‘s leading luxury hotel company, has chosen it for its first expansion into North America speaks volumes about its quality.

“The construction marks the first phase of the mixed-use development that will showcase the architectural excellence of James Cheng,” said Ian Gillespie, Westbank president. “We estimate completion in the summer of 2008,”

By any measure it is a big project.

It will provide 3.1 million man-hours of employment, see 123,000 cubic metres of earth excavated (15,000 truckloads), 51,000 cubic metres of concrete and 7,000 tons of reinforcing steel. The project has caught the interest of international and local investors.

Bob Rennie of Rennie Marketing Systems, which is marketing the project, admits even he has been overwhelmed with the buyer response from local and international clients. Ledcor Construction Ltd. is the general contractor.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

School of Contemporary Arts home to 1,200 students

John Bermingham
Province

Woodward’s extreme makeover just keeps getting better.

Simon Fraser University has now committed to being the anchor tenant for the redevelopment of the former department store on West Hastings Street in Vancouver.

It will open a 150,000-square-foot School of Contemporary Arts with room for up to 1,200 students in dance, film, music, theatre and the visual arts.

The $45-million school will feature theatres, exhibition space, studios and performance space when it opens in 2008.

“We see this project as one of the most exciting and innovative inner-city urban redevelopment projects in North America,” said SFU president Michael Stevenson yesterday.

He said SFU will borrow the money and is embarking on a fundraising campaign that could bring in a major corporate sponsor for the arts school.

SFU came on board after developers swapped land at the old Woolworth’s site next door, worth $6 million, in return for heritage density from Woodward’s that can be used on a future project.

“Redeveloping Woodward’s is key to revitalizing the Downtown Eastside,” said Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell.

“Just imagine, when they come here for the [2010] Olympics, when they see what we’ve done.”

Coun. Jim Green, who spent 20 years trying to save Woodward’s, said after a “long, torturous road,” it’s amounting to “a perfect deal.”

“We will be finished for the Olympics, and that’s what people are going to see — a city that cares about everyone.”

Next week, the City of Vancouver is putting together a community advisory committee for Woodward’s.

The $250-million project already has earmarked 200 social housing units in addition to hundreds of market condos and live-work units.

Construction is set to start this fall.

[email protected]

– – –

WOODWARD’S INFO

Location: Corner of Hastings and Abbot streets.

Cost: $250 million.

SFU: $45-million School of Contemporary Arts.

Construction: Set to start fall 2005.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

Strong jobs market and low interest rates continue to be the story, industry spokesman says

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

The Greater Vancouver housing market showed its traditional February surge last month, with Multiple Listing Service sales jumping 80 per cent over January activity to 3,068 sales.

The February rebound mirrored last year’s market, when a slow January sales period of 1,954 sales was followed by 3,067 sales the following month.

“A strong jobs market and low interest rates continue to be the story,” said Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver president Andrew Peck. “A good economy can only be good news for the housing market.”

Peck said prices continue to rise this year after levelling off last fall.

“As long as we have these conditions, lots of people will continue to put their money in real estate,” he said. “We saw price increases of 20 per cent in the past two years so it would not be unreasonable to see a 10-per-cent increase this year.”

The board said the benchmark price of a detached Greater Vancouver home has increased by 9.4 per cent in the past year to $491,800. The benchmark price of a townhouse has increased 11.9 per cent to $314,100 while the price of an apartment rose 11.4 per cent to $242,400.

Bright spots in the Greater Vancouver market last month included Burnaby, where the number of apartment sales rose 56 per cent from a year ago to 186 units, and East Vancouver, where the number of apartment sales increased 29 per cent from last year to 143 units.

Total Greater Vancouver MLS house sales during the first two months of this year are down about five per cent from last year’s levels to 4,768 sales. The board reported nearly 7,500 listings appeared on the MLS in January and February, a seven-per-cent increase over the listings inventory a year ago.

The Fraser Valley Real Estate Board reported that February MLS sales rose by 74 per cent over January to 1,464 sales, down about 10 per cent from February 2004.

Board president Jake Siemens said the market is steady now and he doesn’t expect a huge increase in prices this year. The board’s housing price index has increased by about 10 per cent in the past year.

He said single-family homes priced below $300,000 are very popular among buyers now and noted the listings inventory of homes for sale remains healthy, giving potential buyers more options. The board said nearly 2,200 new listings were added in February, creating more than 6,000 active listings.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005