Scaling up
A dozen years since Finning International Inc. handed 18 acres of prime land on the False Creek flats to UBC, SFU, BCIT and Emily Carr – which oversee the property via the Great Northern Way Campus Trust – redevelopment of the property is picking up steam.
The recent completion of a 76-unit student residence, and the retrofitting and leasing of the former Finning buildings to international digital media heavyweights including Japan’s Namco Bandai Games Inc., is being followed by ambitious development plans.
Government funding of $134 million will fuel construction of a new 300,000-square-foot home for Emily Carr University, and CBRE Ltd. brokers Blair Quinn, Kevin Nelson, and Zach Wittenberg are seeking tenants for a 60,360-square-foot office building – the first step toward what could be a cluster of 300,000 square feet of new commercial space.
Onni also recently acquired two sites for development with up to 600 live-work units, artists’ studios and apartments.
“Our goal was to bring some vibrancy and some more energy to this part of the city that would support the kind of mixed-use community we envision,” explained Matthew Carter, president of the trust. “We think it can play a really important role and be something of a catalyst that can influence the future direction of the redevelopment of the False Creek flats.”
Nelson said digital media companies are prime tenants for the new office building. The campus is adjacent to the main fibre optic cable coming into the city, key infrastructure that supports StudioCloud, a server farm on campus that supports digital production at Rainmaker Entertainment Inc. and its partners in the Vancouver Studio Group.
“It’s well connected, and then you’ve got cheaper industrial zoning property tax,” Nelson said. “You drop your operating expenses from $18, $19, $20 down into the $8, $9, $10 range.”
Net rents are projected to be $26 a square foot, less than at competing developments.
Surrounding amenities also look bright. Mark James’ new Red Truck Beer Co. facility is rising to the west of the site and will likely enjoy patronage from gallery-goers visiting shows at the various galleries. A rapid transit station is also under discussion, promising a link with UBC’s Point Grey campus.
Non-core space
The pending transformation of the south side of the False Creek flats reflects the shift of digital media companies from Yaletown, once the epicentre of all things tech in Vancouver. One of this columnist’s first interviews in the province – back in July 1998 – was with George Hunter, then executive director of the BC Technology Industry Association, in the association’s old HQ on Mainland Street.
“There’s a lot of hill to overcome,” Hunter said, summarizing the challenges facing local tech companies from high taxes and the lure of U.S. jobs.
Today, tech companies have found themselves a new hill – “Mount Pixel,” said broker Kevin Nelson of CBRE Ltd., aka Mount Pleasant.
“It’s really becoming like we looked at Yaletown,” he said. “It’s the next big hunk beyond Southeast False Creek.”
Facebook may have found digs in Coal Harbour, but other international companies like HootSuite, Method Studios and Industrial Pixel have set up in Mount Pleasant between Main and Cambie. Zoning changes have made the area open to a broader array of office uses, lending a new identity to an area home to all strata of society.
Prime resort
CBRE Ltd. recently announced the sale of the Harrison Hot Springs Resort and Spa for $32.3 million to Aldesta Hotels Group. The former owner, Delaware North Companies Parks & Resort, will continue to manage the 337-room property.
This is the first hotel purchase for Aldesta, a Vancouver-based company reported to be backed by investors from China.
The deal is B.C.’s largest hotel transaction of the year, topping the $23 million sale of another troubled property, the Parkside Victoria Resort and Spa. •
