The Executive Group expects to get final rezoning approval May 15 to build the 190 residential units and 20,000 square feet of street level shopping and retail between Columbia and Manitoba streets on West 2nd Avenue.
If sales are brisk at the project, dubbed the Residences and Shops at WEST, the company will proceed with a second phase, which is expected to include 298 residential units and 23,000 square feet of retail space.
The news comes soon after MPC Intelligence and Strategics released their Condominium Market Opportunities Report, which projected that Metro Vancouver presale condominium prices are set to drop approximately 10% in 2012 as marketers grapple with rising inventory in pockets across the region.
Jeff Hancock, MPC’s senior manager, recently told Business in Vancouver that the projected price dip is likely partly because of an “oversupply” of concrete units in 15 southeast False Creek developments – enough sales inventory for 23 months. (See “Condominium glut to drive prices lower in 2012” – issue 1172; April 10-16.)
But Executive Group president Salim Sayani told BIV Tuesday that he doubts such a glut exists.
“I’d say the absorption has been very good there and, at the right price point, there’s a tremendous amount of demand,” he said.
“Part of the appeal for our project is that about 75 units will be priced around the $300,000 mark. That’s a strong offering to entice first-time buyers.”
He added that the project has already lined up a bank and a coffee shop to take some of the retail space.
Sayani expects that between 15% and 18% of the homes will still be for sale when the project is completed in fall 2014.
@GlenKorstrom
