Linked with aid society, mental health/addiction services

Andy Ivens
Province

The City of Vancouver and the province joined forces at a ground-breaking ceremony Tuesday on a new building that will provide 129 units of supportive housing when completed in 2011.

The 11-storey building is projected to cost $28.8 million. The provincial government will put up $22.8 million, with the City of Vancouver adding the remaining $6 million.

The project, on city land at 188 E. First Ave., is the fourth of 14 new supportive-housing developments the two levels of government have pledged to build in Vancouver.

Lookout Emergency Aid Society will manage and operate the building, which will house adults who are now homeless and may face a variety of challenges, including mental illness, physical disabilities, social dysfunctions and substance abuse.

Housing Minister Rich Coleman said his government “is committed to partnering with local governments so British Columbians have better access to affordable and supportive-housing options with integrated support services.”

While Lookout will offer residents life-skills training, such as cooking and budgeting, Vancouver Coastal Health will provide support services.

“A part of our mission is to partner with organizations to provide exceptional health and support services in Lower Mainland communities,” said Allyson Muir, VCH manager of mental health and addictions housing.

Karen O’Shannacery, Lookout’s executive director, said she looks forward to seeing the project completed.

“Finding stable housing has presented an incredible challenge to the people who will live in this development. Here they will find a safe place to slowly rebuild their lives,” she said.

Mayor Gregor Robertson, in Copenhagen for the conference on climate change, said the project will move the city closer to its goal of ending street homelessness by 2015.

“These housing units are desperately needed, and we will be continuing to work closely with the province to get the rest of our 14 sites of social housing funded, under construction and completed as soon as possible,” said Robertson.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

Larry Olmsted
USA Today

You might not find the Riviera Nayarit on a map, because the name was coined just three years ago to describe the 190-mile coastline north of Puerto Vallarta. But development began a decade earlier, and this is now one of the hottest vacation home destinations in Mexico.

Puerto Vallarta sits on the Bay of Banderas, one of the largest bays in Mexico, at the northern tip of the state of Jalisco. A popular cruise port, the city is heavily developed for tourism and day visitors. But just north across the border in the state of Nayarit, more than 30 miles of less-developed beaches line the bay.

Essentially a suburb of Puerto Vallarta, Nuevo Vallarta is the first community over the border in Nayarit, and as you head north things quickly become more rural. The bay ends with the Punta Mita peninsula, home to Mexico’s premier luxury residential community, but the Riviera Nayarit continues north for more than 100 miles.

While many developments are stalled or on hold these days, Punta Mita just celebrated its 10th anniversary and continues to expand, also fueling growth in surrounding areas. The 1,500-acre gated community has almost 10 miles of continuous beach, with ocean on three sides of the narrow peninsula. It opened in the late 1990s with homes and condos, a Four Seasons hotel and a Jack Nicklaus Signature golf course. This year Punta Mita got its second luxury hotel, a St. Regis, and its second Nicklaus course. Throughout are a broad mix of condos, townhomes and single-family homes, from $450,000 to more than $20 million.

“This newly minted Riviera is not just spas and luxury resorts. A half-hour drive north takes you to the funky clothing boutiques and beachfront surf shacks of Sayulita,” says Mike Stevens of Endless Vacation magazine, who has covered the region extensively. “If you drive a little farther north, you’ll need good suspension. Most beaches are reached only by dirt roads — for now.”

The beachfront town of Sayulita, with its cobblestone streets and taco stands, boasts one of the best surf breaks in Mexico, and it has a relaxed, almost hippy vibe. It also has become a popular day and night destination for the entire region, thanks to a broad array of good restaurants and artisan boutiques.

“As an American, if your budget is in the $200,000-$300,000 range, your best bet is to buy in Sayulita or San Pancho,” says Gary Pepin, vice president of sales for Punta Mita Properties. San Pancho is a less developed beach town 15 minutes farther north. Beyond it lies more than 100 miles of dirt roads and empty beaches, the future of Riviera Nayarit.

A look at three Riviera Nayarit neighborhoods

•Nuevo Vallarta: Just across the state line from Puerto Vallarta and Marina Vallarta, the appeal is proximity to the airport and the many shops and restaurants of Puerto Vallarta, plus a beachfront setting on the Bay of Banderas. While some pay a premium for the location, others are put off by it, an extension of the city with several all-inclusive resorts. Recent upscale development includes the new Villa La Estancia luxury condo-style hotel with apartments from $900,000 to more than $5 million (villalaestancia.com).

•Punta Mita: The 800-pound gorilla of the Rivera Nayarit, this community has driven much of the surrounding development. About 70% of the buyers are American, and while you can easily spend eight figures on mansions here, luxury condos start at $450,000. You can get a very large three-bedroom in the complex with private pool and beach club for $750,000. In addition to facilities such as spas, gyms, a large tennis center and beach clubs, buyers have access to the spas and restaurants of the two resort hotels (puntamita.com).

•Sayulita: The first destination in Nayarit to be discovered by Americans, Sayulita has long attracted surfers. More recently it has become mainstream, while preserving its authentic old-Mexico flair. Viable second-home options start around $200,000. Early adaptors can look north to San Pancho or even farther up the coast, where prices have not yet risen as much.

Be at home in the office

Province

THE FACTS

WHAT: Headwaters Club, 62 apartments, phase 1

WHERE: South Surrey

DEVELOPER: Treegroup

SIZES: 650 sq. ft. — 1,200 sq. ft.

PRICES: From $259,000

OPEN: Sales centre at 2215– 160th Street; hours noon — 6 p.m., Mon — Sat; 10 a.m. — 6 p.m., Sun

Work, play and live — without leaving home.

That’s the opportunity that awaits residents of South Surrey’s Headwaters, a 62-home project from developer Treegroup.

The homes, situated on more than six acres of land, represent a new and exciting concept of live-work space, reports Patti Caldwell of Placemaker Marketing, the company marketing the project.

“Headwaters Club residents have the unique opportunity to work from home with all the features and services of being in an office setting,” Caldwell says of the homes, which are a stone’s throw from lush regional parks and some of the best golf courses in the Lower Mainland.

“It has all the benefits of being at an office, without the commute.”

The neighbourhood will provide space for consultants and micro-business owners to meet, and even entertain, business clients.

There are many options when it comes to selecting a home. Sixteen configurations are available among the one, two, and three-bedroom units (all with additional dens, if desired.) As well, every suite comes with a dedicated office-den room and additional “flex space” that can be used for any number of things: a computer nook, a sewing area, an art niche, or simply as extra closet space.

The key to Headwater’s live-work residency potential is a two-storey, 6,200-square-foot building called the “Headwaters Club.” Staffed by a concierge, it is designed to serve, not only as a common area for socializing, but also as a business services facility.

Caldwell says the concept is not to isolate the free agent consultant or contractor in a spare bedroom, but to encourage networking and idea-sharing with other members of the Headwaters neighbourhood.

The level-entry ground floor of the club will house a gourmet demonstration kitchen where residents can take cooking classes, store business supplies, and book business rooms with the concierge.

The lounge will be perfect for small group activities like book club meetings, while the top floor will be given over to office space that even includes a coffee room. Residents needing a private meeting room to brainstorm some ideas with a client will find it here.

Steps away from the club will be a 900-square-foot fitness centre with a wide range of equipment. “Residents will have access to a personal trainer to help them meet their fitness goals,” says Caldwell.

Headwaters will also offer a limited number of live-work units built to commercial business-code standards, ground-floor units range from 818 to 1,100 square feet that will have separate entrances and exits for clients and guests.

Treehouse is offering many standard features made from high-quality naturally sustainable materials. Low VOC paint, bamboo island countertops, 100-per-cent wool carpeting, dual flush low-flow toilets and Whirlpool Energy Star-rated appliances come with every unit. Ceilings rise to nine feet, and 12 feet on the top floor.

Engineered wood floors, electric fireplaces, KitchenAid appliances and roll-out pantry hardware are also available as upgrades.

Right now, prospective purchasers can take advantage of two great promotions, including a 3.6-per-cent mortgage for three years, starting from the completion date. In the meantime, deposits are being held in a special trust account that is bearing seven-per-cent interest — well above current bank or term deposit rates.

Purchasers who act now will also not pay the extra portion of the HST if it comes into effect next year. Need more incentives? Purchase a two-bedroom unit and you’ll get the KitchenAid upgrade free of charge.

Caldwell notes that the sales centre will be closed for the holidays, from Dec. 22 until Jan. 4, but says the Headwaters’ website — headwatersclub.ca — is always keen to receive visitors.

© Copyright (c) The Province

 

Bob Ransford
Sun

As the year draws to a close, there is a collective sigh of relief that we made it through what could have been a much scarier year when it comes to real estate markets, housing challenges and urban development realities. In fact, the year turned out to be a period when a number of opportunities, issues, projects and challenges moved in a direction where they are now positioned at turning points, making the year ahead a pivotal one.

Metro Vancouver’s real estate market weathered the storm much better than most. Low interest rates, measurable bargains, combined with an improvement in local employment conditions, saw buyers flock to the new-home market over the last six months.

New housing inventory is dwindling and developers are beginning to look at new plans and restarting once-stalled projects. Pre-sales are in vogue again as nervous lenders want to prove out market demand before they finance a development. Only experienced developers able to risk a substantial portion of their own equity are going to be bringing projects to the market over the next year, which should provide some comfort to buyers who fear a project failing halfway through construction because the developer is inexperienced and overextended. Weeks away from the Olympics, we all seem to recognize that our saving grace from what could have been a much tougher ride has to be that boost of anticipation in welcoming the world. At the same time, there is an unspoken fear of the unknown post-Olympics. The post-Olympic doldrums will be a fear that’s unfounded if the current trend, based on market fundamentals of supply and demand, continues.

Those market fundamentals might be the saving grace for the Olympic Village project. This massive project, in what is an important experiment in sustainable urban development in Southeast False Creek, has seen its twists and turns, with Vancouver taxpayers on the hook for tens of millions of dollars. If the upward market trend continues, the condos on this site will fetch the prices the city and its private partner, the Millennium Group, need to call the project a financial success.

Over the next year, that experiment should be assessed as to whether it can rightly be called a model of sustainable urbanism. Certainly, the new development pattern set by the project, with midrise density, tight streets, ultra-green building technology and unique mix of uses, is a huge success and a template for the future evolution of what is called “Vancouverism.” But it can be deemed a model of sustainable urbanism only if it can be replicated; for it to be replicated, it needs to be financially successful.

The focus for planning new development will turn somewhat, in the coming year, away from large projects like Southeast False Creek and toward neighbourhoods farther from Vancouver’s downtown. This will present new challenges and opportunities for planners, politicians and citizens, who care about housing affordability and neighbourhood evolution.

Vancouver will begin to see the first laneway houses likely completed over the next year. Surrey will begin to see the emergence of a truly urban town centre and Metro Vancouver’s second downtown as substantial development is sparked in the Surrey City Centre area over the next year.

The region itself–Metro Vancouver’s regional government — faces a huge challenge as it grapples with updating the long out-of-date Livable Region Plan with a new regional growth strategy. Politicians who can’t seem to think beyond their parochial interests have ignored the real challenge of managing growth in Metro Vancouver — tackling the governance system and coming up with a workable model that sees land use and transportation governed by an accountable body that has real power to make long-range planning decisions. Housing affordability will continue to dominate challenges in Metro Vancouver next year if we can’t come up with a system of planning sustainable land use, making tough decisions that flow from those plans and financing the vital public transportation infrastructure that supports those land-use decisions. The next year is a turning point for this and many other important issues.

Bob Ransford is a public affairs consultant with CounterPoint Communications Inc. He is a former real estate developer who specializes in urban land use issues. E-mail: [email protected]

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

Residency on North Vancouver aboriginal reserve means ‘a lot of house,’ but not a lot

Claudia Kwan
Sun

THE SIGNATURE ESTATES AT RAVEN WOODS

Project location: Raven Woods Drive, Tsleil-Waututh Indian Reserve, North Vancouver

Project size: 48 townhouses

Residence size: 3-bed + den 3,337 sq. ft.; 4-bed2,287-2,491 sq. ft.

Prices: 3-bed + den $1,038,000; 4-bed $848,000-$928,000

Developer: TAKaya Developments

Architect: Howard Bingham Hill Architects

Interior design: False Creek Design Group

Sales centre: 590 Raven Woods Dr.

Hours: noon -5 p.m. Wed., Sat., Sun.; other viewing appointments available

Telephone: 604-929-1915

Web: ravenwoods.com

Occupancy: Immediate

—

His home, George Morrison cheerfully admits, is a hotbed of chaos at the moment.

“I’ve got boxes piled up six feet high in front of me right now!”

The disorder stems from the packing for a move to a new home in the Signature Estates at Raven Woods, located at the base of Mount Seymour on land that slopes down to Burrard Inlet and Indian Arm.

In less than a week, Morrison will turn the key of the front door. Over the past 12 years, the retired B.C. Hydro electrician and his wife Donna have purchased and lived in three other homes in different developments in the 19-acre Raven Woods community on Tsleil-Waututh land.

“I definitely had some concerns originally [about leasehold land on a reserve], but what convinced me was how genuine a guy [then] Chief Leonard George was when he was talking about the reasons for development.”

The Morrisons are upsizing from a three-bedroom-and-den apartment to a four-bedroom detached townhouse. It will have more room for a dog and the Morrisons‘ college-aged son.

“It’s a lot of house. The kitchen, especially, with those high-end appliances, it’s probably more than we need.”

That’s part of the strategy, says Signature Estates sales manager Michelle Rogers. Since purchasers are getting the homes and not the land, they’re getting exceptional homes for their money.

“It’s incredible value and lifestyle in a good community,” she says. “Everything’s top of the line.”

Rogers says the location allows ready access to Cates Park, the Baden Powell trail, skiing, kayaking and golfing.

An express bus service during rush hour takes passengers to downtown Vancouver. It’s an easy sell for Rogers; she has purchased a townhome at Signature Estates, which marks the 10th phase of the Raven Woods development.

Justin George is now picking up where his father Leonard left off. He was elected chief of the Tsleil-Waututh approximately six months ago, and it doesn’t take much prompting for him to reveal his high hopes for how the development will improve the quality of life for his people.

He paraphrases his father when he notes that where the Tsleil-Waututh were once hunters with bows and arrows who lived off the land, they are now immersed in a modern day hunt in the business arena, requiring tools like education and skills. The new chief also emphasizes, over and over, the importance of long-term relationships–with development partners, with the land and with the people living on it.

The issue of leasehold properties on First Nations land came under heavy scrutiny in the late 1990s, when there was a rent battle between the Musqueam and their tenants. The Raven Woods deal is structured differently; the rent on a 99-year lease is prepaid, and the sales literature says this means there will be no rent reviews or increases during that time.

The lease could be cancelled, but George says it would take a very serious breach indeed to even contemplate such a thing.

“Like any partnership, you have to commit to your partners, and think about what are the goals you want at the end of the day,” he says. “We’re here for the long term, as are our partners.”

George says the First Nations group is cognizant of its reputation, and of the good that can be done with the development funds. The Tsleil-Waututh have managed to buy back 800 acres of traditionally claimed land, built a gym, education and training centre, and cultural centre on the reserve, which offers day care for the general community. Unemployment is less than one per cent.

“Business is our lifeline. A healthy economy is the key to having a healthy First Nations community, and that’s good for all of B.C.,” George says. “We’ve had a lot of positive questions from other nations, asking how we’ve accomplished what we have.”

George says it would be up to the Tsleil-Waututh as a whole to decide whether to eventually take a step similar to the Nisga’a, who recently passed a law allowing members to sell individual parcels of treaty land. Even as the Tsleil-Waututh’s treaty process continues, George says TAKaya is busy looking ahead to other projects at Raven Woods, including two upcoming lowrise buildings.

© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun