Archive for August, 2007

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LoJack Device traces stolen vehicles

Thursday, August 23rd, 2007

Uses cellular technology, human trackers to find cars

Laura Payton
Province

Martin Trochez demonstrates how the LoJack Vehicle Recovery System, now available in B.C., can help find a stolen vehicle in a Vancouver underground parking lot. RIC ERNST — THE PROVINCE

A device that uses cellular technology to track stolen cars is now available in B.C,

The LoJack, already in use in Quebec and Ontario, is a small radio transceiver that allows your vehicle to be traced.

“It’s about the size of a chalkboard eraser,” said Craig Armstrong, general manager of Boomerang, the company that distributes LoJack in B.C.

“It’s a device that’s hidden in your vehicle . . . in one of about 20 or 30 spots, depending on the type of vehicle that you have, so that thieves do not know that there’s something hidden in the car.”

A car is stolen every half-hour in B.C., according to the Insurance Corp. of B.C. Calculated per person, that’s two and a half times the theft rate in Toronto.

But while Armstrong says the trend elsewhere is to strip cars for parts or ship them overseas, B.C.’s thieves still mainly use the cars for short-term transportation or to commit other crimes, said Kate Best of ICBC.

“We’re dealing with a bit of a different auto-crime problem than they see in other parts of Canada,” she said. “Generally speaking, about 90 to 95 per cent of stolen vehicles in B.C. are recovered.”

Best said most cars are found within a week.

ICBC suggests using an engine immobilizer to prevent the theft in the first place. They cost between $200 and $300.

The LoJack costs $699. After one year, there is an additional $12-a-month service fee.

For another $200, the company sells a key fob device. If the car moves without the fob being swiped, the company phones the owner.

Each time your car is stolen, the bill for tracing it and recovering it is $250.

When The Province tested the LoJack, the car was parked three levels down in the Pacific Centre to minimize the cellular signal.

The trackers found it in 20 minutes by looking at which cell tower last transmitted the car’s location and the direction in which it was transmitting. Then they drove around the area looking for the vehicle in underground parkades.

“Undergrounds are definitely more difficult,” said Bruce Funk, a tracker for LoJack and expert in cellphone security. “You just need to have more patience.”

ICBC advises prevention methods like investing in a good anti-theft device, not leaving anything inside your car and parking in well-lit areas. It also has a list on its website for most-stolen vehicles. The 1994 Dodge Caravan and 1995 Honda Civic top the list.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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The 77-room Loden Vancouver Hotel scheduled to open this fall

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

Edel Forristal, general manager of the Loden Hotel, to open at 1139 Melville. Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun

In the Forristal family, it’s like father, like daughter.

The Kor Hotel Group announced Tuesday that Edel Forristal has become the general manager of the 77-room Loden Vancouver Hotel scheduled to open this fall near Melville and Bute.

She’s clearly a chip off the old block as her father, Denis Forristal, was a popular and longtime general manager of the Westin Bayshore hotel in Vancouver. But it wasn’t always a natural progression from hotel manager’s daughter to hotel manager herself.

“He was so set against any of us [four children] ever doing this because of the hours you have to put in and the fact you get totally wrapped up in it,” Forristal said in an interview. “But once he knew I was really passionate about it, he became my biggest fan.”

She actually had to sneak behind her dad’s back to get her first hotel job in 1980, working in the kitchen at the Westin Bayshore while she was in high school. The chef offered her a summer job but she told him her father wouldn’t stand for it.

“The chef told me not to worry about that and just show up tomorrow and it all worked out,” Forristal said.

Her previous positions have included director of operations at the Terminal City Club & Hotel and food and beverage director as part of the pre-opening team at Four Seasons Whistler. She has also had stints with the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver, the Ramada Renaissance and the Vancouver Convention & Exhibition Centre.

Forristal has clearly earned her stripes on merit but said it didn’t hurt being the daughter of such a well known Vancouver hotelier.

“I’m so proud to be his daughter,” she said. “With his reputation in the Vancouver marketplace, it’s like I have a little golden halo that nobody else in Vancouver has.

“He’s an inspiring guy and I think a lot of that has to do with his traditional Irish approach to hospitality and his real love of people. He certainly shared that with our family.”

Forristal, 43, replaces former Loden general manager David Currell, who was recruited away from the Vancouver hotel project to rejoin his former employer — San Francisco-based Joie de Vivre Hotels.

“You work your whole career for the opportunity to either open hotels or be a general manager and the fact I get to do both here is hugely exciting,” she said. “I’m thrilled at the opportunity.”

Forristal said her mandate is to bring a “new, untraditional approach” to the Vancouver hotel market. She said California-based Kor Hotel Group is well known for creating urban retreats for travelers who don’t want to walk into another “nameless, faceless, cookie-cutter hotel” where they’re just another guest.

“We’re going to create an edge and a contemporary vive that the young dynamic is looking for today — they don’t want to be at the Marriott,” Forristal said.

She said she’s excited at the prospect of three new high-end boutique hotels opening in the same part of Vancouver — Loden (2007), Shangri-La (2008) and Ritz-Carleton (2011).

“It’s absolutely fabulous for Vancouver when you have that kind of luxury product coming into this market and driving room rates. It will really showcase Vancouver as the international destination that it is.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Loden luxury boutique hotel in downtown Vancouver

Wednesday, August 22nd, 2007

Luxury hotel management ‘never boring,’ says former pantry girl

Ashley Ford
Province

Edel Forristal is in charge of opening Vancouver’s upscale boutique Loden Hotel. Arlen Redekop – The Province

Like father, like daughter.

Edel Forristal, daughter of legendary Vancouver hotelier Dennis Forristal and former manager of the Bayshore Hotel, has been named general manager of the Loden luxury boutique hotel in downtown Vancouver.

She is one of a small band of women who have managed to rise to the top in Vancouver‘s luxury hotel industry. The 43-year-old did it the old-fashioned way: working her way up from the bottom.

“I started as a pantry girl at the Bayshore, much against my father’s wishes. The chef hired me behind my father’s back and cleared the way for me,” she said yesterday.

It was the start of an enduring romance with wine and food and, finally, the opportunity to run her own hotel.

“And, yes, I really did peel spuds. That is what pantry girls did. But my real forte was carving radish roses. It’s what we did on a Sunday afternoon. You took your paring knife and sat down at a table with others and carved up a 25 pound bag of radishes,” she said.

She also learned how to guarantee that no one claimed the bus seat beside her as she returned to the North Shore after work. “Shortly before I left work each day I would peel the garlic for the next.”

While the food and beverage side consumed her early days in the business, Forristal showed a flair for getting new properties up and running. The Loden will be her third hotel launch and this time she gets to do it on her own.

Forristal vows it will open its doors in late October to early November.

She was active in opening the Pan Pacific Hotel Vancouver and the Four Seasons Whistler.

Other senior roles saw her working at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, the Ramada Renaissance Hotel, the Vancouver Convention and Exhibition Centre and as director of operations at Vancouver‘s Terminal City Club & Hotel.

It was at the Pan Pacific where she crossed paths with Susan Gomez, who broke new ground in becoming the first female general manager of a major Vancouver hotel.

Forristal learned a great deal from the skilled and respected Gomez, regarding her as a mentor.

Behind the glitz and glamour of luxury hotels the work can be long, grinding and frenetic.

Forristal knows she will be putting in 18-hour days over the next few weeks to bring her new charge to the market. She is more than up for the challenge. After all, it’s her bread and butter.

“You never clock-watch in this business, because you don’t have time to,” she said. “The one thing about this industry is it is never boring. You never know what or who is going to walk through the door.

“We get that chance every day. It is a vibrant exciting industry and it is a rare day I get everything done I think I will,” she said.

“Getting the chance to build something is simply an amazing opportunity,” she said.

The $35 million, 77-room, 14-storey property includes seven suites, a 1,600-square-foot penthouse suite and lobby restaurant and bar. It’s the first Canadian venture for California-based Kor Hotel Group and is being developed by the Amacon Group of Vancouver.

And does her father offer any advice? “Not much, but he is very proud of me.”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

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B.C. housing market defies odds, heats up

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Strong sales numbers in recent months confound analysts’ expectations

Anne Howland, with files from Derrick Penner
Sun

Exceptional strength in Canada‘s resale housing market in the first six months of the year prompted the Canadian Real Estate Association on Monday to more than double its forecast for sales increases in 2007, the second time this year the association has revised its predictions upward.

The news comes amid a growing crisis in the U.S. housing market, with prices falling and the number of defaults rising. The situation helped create the meltdown of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, which made loans to high-risk people who are now unable to meet their financial commitments. The resulting investor unease spread from the subprime market to other areas of the American financial system and to markets worldwide, sending indices on a freefall last week.

In Canada, national home sales are now forecast to rise by 8.1 per cent in 2007 to 523,100 units and set new annual records in most provinces, the association (CREA) said. In May, it had forecast a 2007 sales increase of 3.6 per cent, which was an update on its original 2007 forecast issued in February. At that time, CREA had predicted that sales activity this year would drop 1.6 per cent from 2006.

In British Columbia, CREA is forecasting that sales will increase 4.6 per cent over 2006, which is not something analysts expected.

“The number of unit sales as well as price levels that have been achieved this year have been a surprise to just about every analyst or economist who is looking at the province of British Columbia,” Cameron Muir, chief economist for the B.C. Real Estate Association said in an interview.

And in B.C., Muir said, “The real difference has been the last three months, where we’ve seen really strong sales numbers throughout the province.”

Muir attributed some of the strength to baby boomers beginning their hunt for retirement homes or using the equity in their primary homes to buy recreational properties.

CREA chief economist Gregory Klump added that “the housing market has caught everyone by surprise. Everyone expected a gradual cooling in the second quarter, but [the market] heated up instead.

“We’ve changed our forecast to reflect reality,” Klump said, adding the market has now seen two consecutive record-breaking quarters.

“Resale housing activity was a juggernaut in the second quarter of 2007.”

Next year, sales activity is forecast to edge slightly lower, but still reach the second-highest annual level on record in almost all provinces. CREA had initially called for sales activity to cool 2.8 per cent in 2008, but is now calling for only a two-per-cent decline.

Prices are also forecast to set records in every province this year and next, but price increases will be smaller in 2008, the association said. It is now looking for a 10.4-per-cent price increase for 2007, up from its previous forecast of 9.5 per cent. The price increase forecast of 5.5 per cent for 2008 has remained the same, Klump said.

The Canadian housing market has shrugged off the problems that have been experienced in the U.S., said Ann Bosley, CREA president.

“Canadian lenders have launched some alternative mortgage options in the past year, but they appear to be more conservative and are unlikely to overdo any subprime lending, which has been the problem affecting the U.S. housing and borrowing markets,” she said.

According to CREA’s most recent forecast, the national resale housing market will become more balanced next year, but will continue to favour the seller in most provinces.

Resale housing markets in the Western provinces will remain the tightest in the country and annual increases will be greatest in that region, CREA said.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Housing market’s strength catches forecasters by surprise

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Despite U.S. crisis, Canada’s home prices will rise

Province

OTTAWA –Exceptional strength in Canada‘s resale housing market in the first six months of the year prompted the Canadian Real Estate Association to more than double its forecast for sales increases in 2007, the second time this year it’s revised its predictions upward.

The news comes amid a growing crisis in the U.S. housing market, with prices falling and the number of defaults rising.

The situation helped create the current meltdown of the U.S. subprime mortgage market, which made loans to high-risk people who are now unable to meet their financial commitments. The resulting investor unease spread from the subprime market to other areas of the U.S. financial system and to markets worldwide, sending indices on a freefall last week.

In Canada, national home sales are now forecast to rise by 8.1 per cent in 2007 to 523,100 units and set new annual records in most provinces, CREA said.

In May, it had forecast a 2007 sales increase of 3.6 per cent, which was an update on its original 2007 forecast issued in February.

Prices are also forecast to set new records in every province this year and next. CREA is now looking for a 10.4-per-cent price increase for 2007, up from its previous forecast of 9.5 per cent.

The price increase forecast of 5.5 per cent for 2008 has remained the same.

In B.C., prices will increase 9.9 per cent this year and 5.7 per cent in 2008.

Alberta will see price increases of 24.6 per cent this year, and 6.6 per cent in 2008, while Ontario will see prices increase 8.6 per cent this year and 4.8 per cent in 2008.

“The housing market has caught everyone by surprise,” said CREA chief economist Gregory Klump. “Everyone expected a gradual cooling in the second quarter, but [the market] heated up instead.

“We’ve changed our forecast to reflect reality,” Klump said, adding the market has now seen two consecutive record-breaking quarters.

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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Sub-prime mortgage debacle is the result of super-sized greed

Tuesday, August 21st, 2007

Alan Ferguson
Province

Stock traders negotiate in the future dollar pit at the Mercantile and Futres Exchange in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The ripples from the struggling U.S. housing market have spread outwards to every stock exchange in the world. —AFP/GETTY IMAGES

Wordy explanations of the credit crunch that has brought the western world to the brink of a meltdown might fool you into thinking it’s all very complicated.

But the only unexplained phenomenon is how an advanced economy like that of the U.S. could have allowed its financial integrity to be undermined by an orgy of unregulated greed.

It’s only a decade or so since the Savings and Loan scandal in the U.S. bilked thousands of small investors out of their life savings.

This time, it’s the exploitation by the financial elite of gullible, wannabe homeowners.

In a booming economy, people on the fringes of society were cruelly encouraged to aspire to a dream of home ownership they could ill afford.

Lenders, eager to squeeze every last cent from the real-estate bonanza, paid a criminal lack of heed to the ability of their clients to pay. They offered so-called subprime mortgages whose initial, tempting terms were hard to refuse.

But, unlike in Canada, where mortgages generally stay with the institution issuing them, in the U.S. they were passed around like hot potatoes at a barbecue.

Wall Street brokers bought them wholesale, to be parcelled out in job lots for global investors scenting a high return.

Neither the identities of the original mortgagees, nor their ability to pay, were spared a thought. As long as the money kept coming, who cared? It seems to have occurred to very few people that even a minor hike in interest rates would topple this house of cards.

Wall Street financiers seemed oblivious to the risks, and kept flogging the mortgage bonds long after their weaknesses should have been apparent.

Investors who bought them were equally stunned to suddenly find themselves out millions, holding worthless paper.

A few smart guys saw what was coming and made small fortunes betting against the misplaced optimism. Their profits, legal enough, are nevertheless tainted with the misery of those now facing ruin.

With the U.S. housing boom now a bust, prices are tumbling and thousands of low-income owners face foreclosure.

They will be turfed on the orders of faceless, nameless officials in cities perhaps thousands of miles away, still owing money they don’t have.

The fallout from this folly is spreading around the world, with financial markets reeling like a drunk.

Money that could be borrowed for a song a few months ago now is hard to come by.

Canada‘s central bank is just one among many having to pour millions into the system to try to stem the panic.

The good news for Canada is that, for now, our housing market is showing resistance to the downward spiral in the U.S.

In fact, both prices and sales are projected to keep rising.

But I’d be very leery of anyone who says: “Have I got a mortgage deal for you.”

© The Vancouver Province 2007

 

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Permit values rise sharply

Monday, August 20th, 2007

B.C. is on track to set an annual record

Sun

The value of building permits in B.C. is on track to set a record this year, Credit Union Central of British Columbia predicts, with residential and non-residential permits forecast to total $12 billion.

Permit values for both classes of buildings for the first half of the year were $6.246 billion, a 23- per-cent increase over year-to-date figures last year.

At this rate, permits are expected to top the previous record of $10.8 billion set last year.

Total building permits in June dropped three per cent to $1.305 billion in June, down from a record high in May of $1.344 billion.

Non-residential building permits increased 19 per cent to $497.9 million, the second-highest monthly level for non-residential on record.

In the non-residential sector, commercial permits were up 19 per cent over May, institutional-government permits increased by 22 per cent and industrial permits rose by 9.3 per cent.

These gains were offset by a 13-per-cent monthly drop in residential building permits, to $807.6 million in June.

However, year-to-date permits in the housing sector are still up 25 per cent to $4.063 billion over the first six months of 2006, and are expected to top out at $8 billion, which would be another record.

The previous record for housing permits was last year’s $6.9 billion.

On a year-to-date basis, non-residential permits are up 19 per cent to $2.183 billion and are expected to top $4 billion, besting last year’s record of $3.9 billion.

All this comes with a shortage of skilled workers in the building trades.

“Construction employment is up, but the demand is even greater, hence the shortage of workers,” said Helmut Pastrick, CUCBC chief economist. “Volume is up, and that contributes to these numbers.”

However, the Vancouver civic workers’ strike, which prevents contractors from getting building permits, was not figured into the forecast. Should it go on much longer the strike will likely put a crimp in the forecast.

Last year, almost $2 billion in building permits were issued in the city of Vancouver, making up about 17 per cent of permit activity in the province.

“If this were to be a protracted event, then it would knock back the provincial numbers to some extent,” said Pastrick.

Peter Simpson, CEO of the Greater Vancouver Home Builders’ Association, said that while total value of permits is up, that’s because land, construction and civic costs have risen, and that the number of housing building permits is actually down 10 per cent from last year.

Once the strike is settled, Simpson expects a big rush in permit applications but also for inspections.

“When the strike is resolved, there won’t be any magic day when everything gets back to normal because there’ll be a backlog that the city will have to deal with,” said Simpson. “Nobody’s going to get their permits right away.”

The job action by CUPE 1004 and CUPE 15 comes during the prime summer building season, the problem exacerbated by a backup in work due to last winter’s heavy rain, wind and snow storms.

“The storms in November, December and January had us playing catch-up throughout the year,” said Simpson. “We were just starting to get on track, and then the Vancouver strike stalled things.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

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V-Phone, printer priced for student budgets

Saturday, August 18th, 2007

Sun

VONAGE V-PHONE

BELKIN WASHABLE MOUSE

CANON PIXMA MP470 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER

KENSINGTON FLYLIGHT USB NOTEBOOK LIGHT

VONAGE V-PHONE — $30 CDN

Vonage is billing its V-Phone as the students’ pizza-priced solution for keeping in touch with anyone around the world. It’s facing tough competition from Skype but the little USB plug-and-play device fits on a keychain and lets students take their phone service and their number wherever they go. The phone plans are extra.

BELKIN WASHABLE MOUSE — $40 CDN

We’re certain our grimy computer mouse carries roughly as many germs as the real thing so perhaps a mouse that you can wash isn’t a bad idea. And the folks at Belkin aren’t just talking about a little drop of water — they put the mouse under the tap. So perhaps that little drop of coffee won’t destroy this water-resistant rodent. Plugs into a USB connection.

CANON PIXMA MP470 ALL-IN-ONE PRINTER — $150 CDN

For the photo-taking-challenged among us, Canon’s new all-in-one printers have “autoimage fix,” a feature that analyzes and categorizes scenes and optimizes them according to their type — whether it’s portraits, scenery or something else. The MP470 and the MP210, both new releases and sharing the autoimage fix and “quick start,” a feature that fires up the machine for use without a delay, are expected on store shelves this summer. The MP470, which has a 4.6-cm flip-up LCD panel making it easy to view photos straight from memory cards before printing them, has an optional Bluetooth adapter for an extra $100. The MP210 all-in-one, an even more budget-student version is $100.

KENSINGTON FLYLIGHT USB NOTEBOOK LIGHT — $20 US

It used to be we only needed a little book light to keep reading after everyone else was asleep. Now we need the laptop computer version to see the computer when the lights are out. Also helpful for those road trips where someone else has to do the nighttime driving and you want to check e-mail or play games without blinding the driver. It plugs into the USB port on your computer, delivers an LED light and doesn’t drain your battery.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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New office tower to adjoin GM Place

Saturday, August 18th, 2007

Businesses hope location will help lure the best employees with Canucks perks

Bruce Constantineau
Sun

GM Place will soon be the site of a 22-storey office tower

GM Place owners plan to build a 22-storey office tower that will connect to the arena’s northwest corner, Vancouver Arena Limited Partnership announced Friday.

A formal application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver for permission to build a 312,000-square-foot building designed by architect Peter Busby.

Busby said the building will become a signature Vancouver office tower because of its design and plans to make it among the most energy-efficient commercial buildings in North America.

Sustainable features will include using “energy synergies” between GM Place and the connecting office tower. Heating and cooling systems between the two buildings will work together so waste heat from one building will be used to heat the other.

Part of GM Place‘s underground parking, which is used mostly at night, will be used for the new office tower.

Vancouver Canucks chief executive officer Chris Zimmerman, who was uncertain about the project’s cost and potential opening date, said the new building will enhance the fan experience by providing new amenities like restaurants and retail shops.

He noted office tower tenants will be able to walk from their lobby straight onto the concourse level of GM Place for hockey games or concerts.

“We always want to have more concourse space because it gives us the opportunity to create more food and beverage options,” Zimmerman said in an interview. “It will allow for better flow throughout the arena.”

He expects the new tower will attract a lot of potential new tenants who will enjoy the unique opportunity to be directly linked with an NHL venue.

“In a highly competitive job market, I think it gives the primary tenants some wonderful recruiting tools,” Zimmerman said. “We’ll be able to provide some unique benefits around utilization of the building, the ice surface and probably some inside access to certain team events. It will be a great way for companies to differentiate themselves.”

He said the current high demand for Vancouver office space makes it an ideal time to build the new tower. The downtown Vancouver office space vacancy rate is currently at an all-time low of 3.5 per cent, according to CB Richard Ellis Ltd.

© The Vancouver Sun 2007

 

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Local company makes life easier for home stagers

Friday, August 17th, 2007

Other

Vancouver, BC — Ready Set Show, a company offering a full range of rental furnishings to home stagers, will celebrate its official grand opening on September 10. 

 

Founded by two North Vancouver-based entrepreneurs, Trisha Scott and Grace Sikich, the company fills an under-serviced niche in the burgeoning home staging industry by providing monthly rentals of a spectrum of furnishings, including everything from sofas and tables to toss cushions and vases to artwork and lamps.

 

Until now, most home stagers — design professionals who redecorate houses on the market to appeal to the broadest number of prospective buyers — had little option but to purchase their own furnishings. This amounted to a significant expense which, unfortunately, often mitigated much of the resulting profit. 

 

But that was before Scott and Sikich entered the scene. As working mothers, the dynamic duo is pleased to have filled a market niche while indirectly assisting other women in the predominantly female-dominated field of home staging.

 

“We’re offering a service that will help other women to succeed, many of whom are also trying to make a living while juggling full-time family responsibilities,” says Scott. “Our rental prices are the best in town, which will go a long way toward helping them realize maximum profit.”  

 

Ready Set Show is also well positioned to offer value-added service to its clients. Before shifting its focus to rentals, the company provided home staging services to a large contingent of clients across the Lower Mainland. Sikich, a registered interior designer and BCIT instructor, is happy to continue the tradition, offering design consultation on request to home stagers. 

 

“Interior design is my passion, and we’re a service oriented company so that’s one of the extra perks Ready Set Show is happy to provide to its clients,” she says.

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