Metro Vancouverites’ enthusiasm for Granville Island, Lonsdale Quay and other public markets has helped convince investors to sink $5 million into revitalizing the former New Westminster Quay and draft a proposal for a public market on Ladner’s waterfront.
But analysts warn that investing in New Westminster and Ladner quays might not yield major market success because neither site is next to a major transit hub.
Mark Shieh bought the New Westminster Quay for an undisclosed price in mid-2008 when the struggling market was listed at $11.25 million.
He renamed it River Market at Westminster Quay and sunk roughly $5 million into gutting the 172,000-square-foot site, upgrading its heating and cooling systems and adding new interior walls.
Renewed interest from local small-business owners followed.
Julie Ramirez, the quay’s community services manager, said about 90% of the space has been leased, leaving only two empty sites: one in the quay’s retail hall and the other set to be a second-floor restaurant.
Vancouver-based independent grocer Donald’s Market opened its third location in the quay in late 2010, and more than a dozen other tenants have since taken space.
None are international chains.
New tenant Andrew Wong, for example, had for years wanted to open a second Wild Rice restaurant to capitalize on the success of his Pender Street location.
He brought in partner Todd Bright, and the two officially launched their New Westminster Wild Rice restaurant on January 7.
“We’ve been looking for a few years for a location that has the potential for a patio. We absolutely don’t have that on Pender Street,” Wong told Business in Vancouver.
“We also wanted a place on the water, whether ocean or river. This came up, and I liked that the whole complex’s main floor was going to be centred on food.”
Ramirez declined to reveal what incentives Shieh has offered potential tenants.
But retail analyst and Dig 360 owner David Gray said retailers and restaurateurs setting up shop in a quay need to ask the same questions as they would if they were moving into any other location.
“The basics still apply,” Gray said. “How much traffic is there? Is it your shopper base that is part of that traffic? What is the deal on the table at the quay? How is the quay marketing itself? Who is adjacent to your business? These are basic location questions, and they apply the same at a quay as if you were to locate at a mall somewhere.”
He said the River Market at Westminster Quay will have to be marketed to people outside New Westminster if it’s going to be a success.
That is partly because the site is a bit of a walk from SkyTrain and, for most people, is not on the way to another destination.
“They may be waiting for the right time,” he said. “You don’t want to be premature with a story and have people come out and be disappointed.”
Gary Mathiesen, who has developed several public markets, believes quays are popular because they’re an alternative to malls and traditional groceries.
“Retailers at a quay are going to be owner-operators,” said Mathiesen, who owns Quay Property Management. “They’re usually accessible on water and have events happening in and around it. It’s more than just going to Park Royal centre and shopping. It’s more of a family and social experience.”
The Corporation of Delta announced December 13 that it had selected Mathiesen’s company to submit a detailed proposal to redevelop Delta-owned properties along the Ladner waterfront. Ladner is part of Delta.
Mathiesen helped develop Lonsdale Quay Market in the mid-1980s and then bought it in 1994.
In 2005, BC Ferries partnered with him to develop the Tsawwassen Quay Market at its ferry terminal. Soon afterward, BC Ferries expanded its relationship with Mathiesen and hired him to build and manage the quay market at Nanaimo’s Departure Bay ferry terminal.
Mathiesen has thus far focused his six-employee business on B.C., but he hopes to expand to other provinces. •
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