HOSPITAL: Had wanted approval to renovate or relocate this year

Don Harrison
Province

Providence Health Care said its plans to renew or replace St. Paul‘s Hospital have been delayed while it also denied a land deal with a shadowy group fronted by private clinic directors is sinister.

The Roman Catholic organization, which owns several health-care facilities in Vancouver including St. Paul’s and Mount St. Joseph hospitals, had hoped to go to the ministry of health in 2005 to get initial approval for its plans to either renovate or move the iconic St. Paul’s on Burrard Street.

“We don’t have a firm time” now, said Providence spokesman Shaf Hussain on Friday.

Hussain said “a business case” has not been completed by Providence to pitch to Victoria.

“No decision has been made,” he added. But “even if we rebuild on the current site, we would have to comply with city” regulations.

Vancouver re-zoning bylaws require public consultation, and early opinion from West End residents has been strongly opposed to moving or downgrading the 111-year-old facility.

Meanwhile, the B.C. Health Coalition is concerned that Providence‘s $24.8 million “right of first refusal to purchase” deal signed with a virtually-unknown non-profit group called the Vancouver Esperanza Society is a step to privatization. The site is on railway land north of the Pacific Central bus depot and south of Prior Street.

“Who provided the money to purchase the new site?” asked coalition co-chair Joyce Jones.

CEO Carl Roy refused to answer directly, saying only at a Vancouver Coastal Health public meeting last week that the purchaser was a “third-party interest.”

Two of the society’s three directors have connections to the controversial Cambie Surgical Centre, while spokesman/surgeon Brian Day has repeatedly called for quicker care for those who can afford it and a law change to allow surgical overnight stays at clinics.

And although its constitution states a VES purpose is to “purchase property and construct a public health care facility,” it later admits that provision is “alterable.”

But Hussain downplayed any for-profit link, saying “there are lots of connections” in health care to private individuals such as doctors.

That did not satisfy the coalition’s Alice Edge, who said a St. Paul’s with a profit component would deliver service based first on shareholder, not medical, need — a reality studies claim has generally been the case with private-public hospital partnerships in the U.K.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

 

GULF ISLAND LIFE: 123 cottages built beside resort lodge

Jeani Read
Province

Is Saltspring Island, long famous for having been a Gulf Island hippie haven, finally selling out to a Whistler-style time-share resort mentality?

Looks like it may be, as plans for the toney Cottages at Saltspring Island Resort roll along, due to be unveiled this Friday at the Metropolitan Hotel, 645 Howe Street, second floor, 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

But just as Saltspring resident types have always demonstrated a special, laid-back turn of mind, the cottages also have some unique elements that set them apart.

Situated on 14 hectares of waterfront on Saltspring’s Bullock Lake, the resort will consist of 123 strata Cottages and a full-service resort lodge.

New developments like Sidney’s Residences at the Pier and downtown Vancouver’s L’Hermitage are setting a local trend of incorporating hotel luxuries into daily life by building actual hotels into the developments and offering residents full access to their services.

In the same vein, the Cottages have access to their hotel amenities including a 120-seat restaurant, a spa, fitness facilities, conference rooms and reception hall, swimming pool and Jacuzzi.

An onsite vineyard and winery are also in the works.

With prices starting at $359,900 these promise to be creme de la creme type cabins, and the developers expect to lure both local and international buyers.

We’re not sure what the island’s artisan community will think of the new neighbours, but the artisans themselves, the organic farms, farmers market’s and gallery hops (through the island’s many galleries) are definitely among the selling points, as are the rest of the community services, easy island access and natural beauty.

And maybe it’s a match made in heaven after all.

The resort is the first one in Canada to be designated “Econeutral,” in accordance with United Nations guidelines.

The Cottages’ developers earned the title with a tradeoff: They planted trees in Manning Park, thereby offsetting the resort’s environmental impact.

This nifty balancing act, back in the day, may have been described as — groovy.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

 

URBAN LIVING: No white picket fences here, just one of the city’s hottest neighbourhoods

Jeani Read
Sun

STELLA

WHAT: Stella is 89 condominiums and seven townhomes in the South Main area of Vancouver

WHERE: 350 Kingsway

DEVELOPED BY: 350 Kingsway Ltd.

SIZES: One-bedroom, one-bedroom and den and two-bedroom condominiums as well as two-bedroom townhomes and two-tiered penthouses, 584 sq.ft. — 1515 sq.ft.

PRICES: $252,000 — $799,000

OPEN: Every day except Friday, 604 677-1099.

www.liveatstella.com

Location is Stella’s strong suit. There’s little doubt that the South Main area, down from the Kingsway and 12th intersection and all along Main Street from Broadway, is one of the city’s hottest new urban neighbourhoods, and Stella is right smack in the middle of all those hipper-than-hip shops, cafes, restaurants and retailers.

It’s hard to go wrong when just a few steps outside your door you can find Barefoot Contessa, Eugene Choo, Twigg & Hottie, Soma, Monsoon, Aion Gallery — it goes on and on.

One of the nice things too, is the way Stella is marketing itself, as an integral part of this area. There’s some eye-catching, in-your-face urban attitude on the windows of the presentation centre — “No White Picket Fences” it says on the glass. “No Suburban Malls.” “No One-Hour Commutes.” “No PTA Meetings.” “No Desperate Housewives.” Thank you, marketing smartie-pantses, we totally get that this is not the suburbs. Add that to the great way they show off the urban streetscape, from the images in the windows of the display home to the digital bank of images that reveal the views from every home, and the package looks even better: Yes, there are the mountains in the background (SoMa is on a surprisingly high rise) but mainly what we see are the rooftops, streets, shops, traffic — we’re definitely IN the city, and liking it that way. You could think of it as Yaletown The Sequel — just maybe with a few more brakes on the population boom in the future.

This is maybe the time to tell you that Stella doesn’t open its doors officially until Oct. 29 — mark your calendars — but for preview viewing, call or register on the website for an appointment before then.

What will you see? A suite where “urban” is written all over the inside, too. It starts with this very cool kind of built-in Corian dining table on your right as you enter. Trust us, this Corian rocks, it even looks like some kind of rock but thankfully not granite — smooth, pure, white, flat, very contemporary. In the display suite the “table” (they call it a multi-functional island) is set for dinner but the area could just as easily be used as a work surface. Great idea. The white Corian extends throughout the rest of the kitchen with a big square white-tile backsplash making it all really fresh and clean. The wide-plank engineered flooring takes you through to the living room (please factor in the cost of a thin plasma or LCD TV to the cost of most of your new city digs; we’re just all going to have to bite the bullet on this one) and big deck. Off the master bedroom is a flexroom solarium that’s been set up as a study/reading area, and beyond the walk-through closet a sleek bathroom with double sinks, deep soaker tub and glass-walled shower awaits.

We do like the way Stella is likely to appeal to city dwellers who are becoming skilled at living large in small spaces, right down to the handy pull-down soap tray below the kitchen sink that opens up right where you were sure there wasn’t any space at all. That Vespa in the entryway? That’s the Stella spirit.

FIVE FAB FEATURES

– The Corian. Thank you. We have seen so much granite, we never want to see it again (although, of course, somebody will find a way to make it look good again, we’re sure).

– That multi-functional island, so Euro, so practical, so totally slick.

– Lots of greenspace on the third floor, plus a public park out front. OK, it’s urban but don’t forget, urban Vancouver is unique for its greenspace. Yay.

– Gas lines to decks and patios are an option. BBQ anyone?

– We have to say it again: location, location, location.

Ran with fact box “Five Fab Features”, which has been appended to the story.

© The Vancouver Province 2005

Concert transforming nurses’ residence into apartments

Michael Sasges
Sun

TAPESTRY

Project location: West 12th Avenue, between Heather and Willow streets, Vancouver

Presentation centre address: 715 West 16th, Vancouver

Telephone: 604-675-9600

Web: DiscoverTapestry.com

Project size: 230 apartments, two buildings

Residence size: One bedroom; One +den; two bedrooms; two +den

Prices: One bedroom, from $339,900; Two, from $425,900

Warranty: St. Paul Guarantee 2/6/10

Developer: Concert Properties Ltd.

Architect: Nigel Baldwin Architects; landscape, Durante Kreuk Landscape Architects

Interior design: BBA Design Consultants

Tentative occupancy: February, 2008

To locate the Tapestry new-home project at the southwest corner of Heather and 12th in Vancouver is to report a literal truth. To locate it at the intersection of our collective historic and future aspirations is to report a figurative truth.

Here, for years and years, in a building started in 1947 and completed in ’52, young Canadians prepared themselves over the years for professional employment, as nurses, parents and grandparents, brothers and sisters, lovers and friends, cheered them on.

Here, for years and years to come, in two replacement buildings, buyers will find a relatively affordable home “in town,” to borrow from the sales literature legend.

Concert is calling the two buildings Heather and Avenue.

Heather will be constructed behind the Heather Street and West 12th Avenue facades of the Vancouver General Hospital nurses’ residence. Avenue will be constructed perpendicular to Heather. Avenue parallels West 12th; Heather, Heather street.

Not an over-my-dead-body item in city hall’s heritage inventory, the old nurses’ residence is, nonetheless, worthy of preservation in one form or another, the various permitting agencies, including council, have decided.

Its streamlined facades and curvilinear form make it a memorial to the influence of Modernism or Art Moderne in our city’s institutional architecture and, in the middle of the 20th century, our relative isolation. (Modernism’s trek from the Bauhaus college of design in Dessau, in Germany, to Vancouver, in the new world, took a quarter of century, one depression and a world war probably adding to the journey’s duration.)

If the built history of the site has influenced the outside of the buildings, and it has, it will also influence the inside of the buildings, the homes. Although there will be no “student residence referenced,” in designspeak, some of layouts will certainly be Art Moderne ”referenced.”

There are 50 home plans on offer, a remarkable number in a 230-home development. ”It [50 floorplans] definitely offers variety,” Concert Properties’ executive Rod Wilburn comments.

Marrying the original facade on two sides with a new facade on the other two sides on the Heather building makes it inevitable ”suites change,” he said in an interview. The suites on the preserved Art Modern entrance level are different from those above and the penthouses are different from those below.

The Avenue building is a ”fairly articulated building which drives a lot of suites” and its steps skyward ”create different suites as well.”

The different ”orientations, views and layouts” available are foundational components of a ”unique opportunity for individual expression in a wonderful neighborhood-setting,” BBA Design Consultants’s Sharon Bortolotto comments.

“Offering a variety of unit types reflects the diversity of lifestyle and tastes of the individual purchasers. No cookie-cutter, in-the-box units here.”

Jill White and Kenta Goto will make their next home in a Heather apartment, behind the preserved Heather Street facade.

She’s a 24-year-old retail buyer and a Calgary native who has lived in Vancouver since 1998. He’s a 30-year-old designer. He was born in Tokyo and grew up in New York City and Toronto. He has lived in Vancouver for 10 years. They currently rent a loft in Yaletown.

Tapestry’s neighbourhood and regional proximities figured in their decision to cross the Cambie Bridge. Getting out of town is one bridge easier and green space is accessible without crossing busy downtown streets. The loft qualities of their new home put them in Tapestry’s Heather building.

Their home

”Kenta’s big thing was an open space with higher ceilings,” Jill reports of the reasoning behind their $355,900 purchase, before GST.

”He did not want to live in, or purchase, a condo-type layout with a closed-in feeling with broken up rooms. He wanted one big space with lots of room.

”This layout offers both – 10-foot ceilings and a very open feel. Our choice of units in Tapestry with 10-foot ceilings was limited. [As well] I wanted as much natural light as possible and our unit is a corner unit with six large rounded windows.”

The neighbourhood

”A huge selling feature was the park,” Jill said in an interview. ”Seeing as we have a dog it was hard to pass up the opportunity to live so close to an open space for him to run around in, not to mention all the green space so close to our home. We don’t have much green in Yaletown, especially for dogs.”

Heather Commons is the name of the new park that has Jack and Jill and Kenta looking forward to Tapestry residency. Willow Street between 12th Avenue and 13th Avenue is to become a greenway and Willow Park just to the west of the new greenway will be redesigned. As well, Douglas Park is a few blocks south.

”With more and more condo towers going up, downtown is getting more crowded,” Jill says.

”Tapestry gets us out of the busy downtown vibe and into a more relaxed-neighbourhood feel but still with all the luxuries of living in the city.”

Two groceries and too-many-to-count coffee shops and restaurants are nearby, for example. Downtown is a 25-minute walk away, Jill reports, and the South Granville, Broadway, Main and Cambie shopping districts are all within walking distance.

The region

”Because we both travel frequently for work, Tapestry’s location is great, as we can get onto Oak [Street] and it will take us directly to the airport.”

Ask anybody involved in the marketing of a new-home project about the colour schemes their projects put in front of buyers and the inevitable answer is dark and light.

At Tapestry, however, Concert is putting three choices in front of buyers, “ash,” ”ebony” and “teak.”

Jill White and Kenta Goto selected the ash scheme. Sharon Bortolotto explained the ash choice with these words (and I shared nothing with her about Jill and Kenta):

”The ash scheme was created to cater to the professional or professional couple looking for a beautifully finished westside home without the westside price.

”The setting is simple, but elegant, reflecting the image of a well-travelled individual or couple whose eclectic travel-acquisitions blend with their love of simple Italian cooking and sophisticated wines. The open dining room and spacious kitchen provide plenty of opportunities to entertain.

”The scheme was designed to attract those who appreciate down – to- earth design that would work with their artwork and personal acquisitions.”

Sharon‘s mother-in-law, by the way, is a Tapestry buyer, of a garden apartment overlooking the park.

She decided on the ebony scheme, ”designed with a professional woman in mind and hinting at a touch of elegance,” Sharon reports.

[email protected]

shopping districts are all within walking distance.

The region

”Because we both travel frequently for work, Tapestry’s location is great, as we can get onto Oak [Street] and it will take us directly to the airport.”

Ask anybody involved in the marketing of a new-home project about the colour schemes their projects put in front of buyers and the inevitable answer is dark and light.

At Tapestry, however, Concert is putting three choices in front of buyers, “ash,” ”ebony” and “teak.”

Jill White and Kenta Goto selected the ash scheme. Sharon Bortolotto explained the ash choice with these words (and I shared nothing with her about Jill and Kenta):

”The ash scheme was created to cater to the professional or professional couple looking for a beautifully finished westside home without the westside price.

”The setting is simple, but elegant, reflecting the image of a well-travelled individual or couple whose eclectic travel-acquisitions blend with their love of simple Italian cooking and sophisticated wines. The open dining room and spacious kitchen provide plenty of opportunities to entertain.

”The scheme was designed to attract those who appreciate down – to- earth design that would work with their artwork and personal acquisitions.”

Sharon‘s mother-in-law, by the way, is a Tapestry buyer, of a garden apartment overlooking the park.

She decided on the ebony scheme, ”designed with a professional woman in mind and hinting at a touch of elegance,” Sharon reports.

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

 

PROPERTY I September sales topped $3 billion in total for seventh straight month

Derrick Penner
Sun

Provincewide real estate sales topped $3 billion in total value for the seventh month in a row in September, the B.C. Real Estate Association reported Friday, putting B.C. on track for an annual record for property transactions for the second year in a row.

British Columbians bought and sold 84,410 homes worth some $27.6 billion, the association said in a news release, which is just shy of the $27.8 billion in transactions completed in all of 2004.

In September, the association added, 9,148 homes changed hands, which was 15.4 per cent more than the same month a year ago, and the value of those transactions hit $3.2 billion, 40 per cent higher than September 2004.

“It’s a confidence bill in the economy,” association president Dave Barclay said in an interview. “The economy just seems to be rolling right along. We’re seeing lots of immigration and lots of migration.”

And mortgage rates, Barclay added, have remained low, although they are beginning to creep up.

Barclay added that buyers can still obtain longer-term mortgages at below five per cent interest, and “consumers don’t seem to be concerned at all.”

Barclay said September sales were strong throughout the province with 11 of the 12 regional real estate boards the association represents reporting double-digit percentage increases in prices.

Even in Smithers, where Barclay is a realtor, activity has been brisk with the high-quality properties selling within 60 days, on average, compared to about 200 days in previous years.

Barclay said the region’s economic recovery has lagged that of the province, but “the [local] ski hill, [Hudson‘s Bay Mountain] just changed hands, and there are lots of positive economic things in the whole of northern B.C.”

Carol Frketich, regional economist for the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation, said the B.C. Real Estate Association’s numbers are consistent with what CMHC is seeing in the market “and what we would expect given low interest rates and strong demand fundamentals.

Frketich said that B.C.’s real estate resales in 2005 are running higher than she had predicted in 2004, but mortgage rates are still lower than she had anticipated they would be.

She added that the fall 2005 numbers also appear strong compared with 2004 because sales tapered off toward the end of last year as interest rates began to rise, which Frketich expects will happen in 2006.

Frketich said the Bank of Canada raised its key overnight lending rate Tuesday by a quarter of a percentage point to three per cent, and signs are that it will make further hikes into the new year.

She added that in its latest monetary policy, the central bank said the Canadian economy is running at capacity and “the monetary stimulus has to come out.”

“I’m forecasting a decline in resale activity in 2006, but still at very high levels,” Frketich said.

However, she believes the Bank of Canada will remain cautious about how quickly it raises interest rates because the economy is still dealing with the higher exchange rate on the Canadian dollar and “oil shock” over higher energy prices.

“The rise is going to be gradual, and I don’t anticipate it will have any dramatic effect,” she said.

Redevelopment will mix housing, office and retail space and may include the Yale and Cecil hotels

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

Vancouver city officials are working on guidelines to shape the transformation of the area around the north end of Granville bridge — including the creation of a neighborhood market on city property under the bridge and the possible redevelopment of the Cecil and Yale hotels on Granville Street.

At least one roadway approach to the bridge — the westerly loop — is likely to be removed to make room for a “gateway development,” Vancouver city co-director of planning Larry Beasley said in an interview.

City planners and area land owners are studying development options and Beasley said the subject will likely be one of the first items a newly elected city council deals with next year.

He said architects representing the Cecil and Yale hotels have approached the city about redeveloping the properties but no specific plans have been developed. Beasley said development in the area will include a mixture of housing, office, hotel and retail projects.

“There’s no question we’d prefer to save any historic buildings that are identified as important,” Beasley said.

The Yale Hotel, built in 1888, is a registered building in the city but not a designated heritage building. The Cecil Hotel, built in 1908, is not a heritage building either but some Vancouver residents feel it has heritage value because the founders of Greenpeace conducted much of their business there before they got a public office.

Beasley said city planners envision a neighborhood commercial centre on city land under the Granville Bridge extending south from Pacific Boulevard to at least Beach Avenue and possibly down to False Creek. He said the project would have outlets like a food store, drug store, deli and coffee bar to serve the area’s growing population.

Condo builder Cressey Development Group, meanwhile, plans to build one or two residential towers on a site now occupied by the 66-room Travelodge Hotel property at Howe and Drake streets near the Granville Bridge.

Cressey vice-president Hani Lammam confirmed the company bought the property for an undisclosed price in a transaction that closed Friday.

“There are very few development parcels left in the downtown core and this is definitely one of them so we pursued it very aggressively,” he said in an interview. “The property will allow for great views to the south.”

Lammam said Cressey wants to build 215 residential units on the 33,000-square-foot site and expects it will take at least a year to get the necessary approvals to begin construction. He said the project will have to complement city plans for the area around the north end of Granville Bridge.

Vancouver hotel industry broker Angus Wilkinson said he’s concerned about the loss of hotel sites for condominium projects. He noted properties that used to be zoned for commercial use have been rezoned primarily for residential use in recent years — including sites at Dunsmuir and Granville and 900 Burrard.

“We’re seeing hotel properties coming off the market and becoming condominiums at a time when we have a new convention centre opening in 2008,” he said. “We’re going to have triple the number of convention people coming to the city. Where are we going to put hotel rooms?”

© The Vancouver Sun 2005