|
CREDIT:
Photo Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun, Graphics Vancouver Sun
Construction is underway on the large
site between the off ramps of the Georgia viaduct; an artist's drawing of a
city-approved development including a Costco, office and residential space,
all in a downtown tower
City sets record for building permits
Vancouver set a record in June for the
value of building permits issued in a single month and is headed for an
all-time high for the year as a regional building boom keeps perking along.
The value of building permits issued is
running at about double last year's pace, Rick Scobie, Vancouver's director
of development services, said Monday.
The boom, which extends across Greater
Vancouver, is putting pressure on the ability of municipalities to process
permits and is forcing builders to fine-tune their building schedules so
they don't lose skilled workers between jobs.
Scobie said he thinks the hot pace is
being driven mainly by low interest rates, and possibly by optimism about
the state of local and provincial economies.
"And who knows, maybe it is already
being fuelled somewhat by anticipation of the Olympics," he added.
In June, with large residential
developments around the downtown core leading the way, Vancouver issued
building permits for $518 million in construction value -- the highest for
any month on record.
That includes a permit for a major
Concord Pacific Group project with 900 housing units in four residential
towers atop a 145,000-square-foot Costco store to be built between the
Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts near GM Place.
"June is one of our busier months
historically, and this year it's just been phenomenal," Scobie said.
The six-month Vancouver building-permit
total of $1.04 billion is nearly up to last year's full-year figure of $1.06
billion and the city should easily pass the 2002 record of about $1.1
billion.
Residential construction was the biggest
contributor, Scobie said in a memo circulated to city councillors, with
permits for 4,865 new housing units issued so far this year, up from 1,718
by the same time last year.
Large residential projects accounted for
54 permits totalling 4,041 housing units for an average of 75 units per
project.
Some of the building permit applications
were likely filed in June to beat a July 1 increase in Vancouver's
development cost levies, and some of those projects may not be built
immediately.
"Nonetheless, all of that
construction will happen," said Peter Simpson, chief executive of the
Greater Vancouver Home Builders' Association. "That's a great sign for
jobs and for economic development in the city of Vancouver."
Simpson emphasized that the boom extends
far beyond downtown Vancouver, which gets much of the attention.
"There's activity right across the
Lower Mainland," he said. "We've got single family homes, we've
got town houses, three- to four- storey condominiums. ... Some builders have
multiple sites going at the same time."
Scobie said the demand for development
and building permits is putting a strain on city hall's ability to process
applications.
The city is approving more overtime,
calling in temporary staff and deferring vacations, but is still having
trouble processing applications for development permits.
A development permit for a major project,
which normally takes 12 to 13 weeks, is now taking up to 18 weeks, Scobie
said. But the city remains on schedule with building permits, maintaining a
five-day turnaround.
Costco anchors $200-million downtown development in
Downtown Vancouver
Costco Wholesale Canada
Ltd. announced it would open a 147,000-square-foot location in 2004 as part
of $200-million retail-residential development at Concord Pacific
Place.
A $200-million project
featuring a new Costco store and four residential towers is part of a new
plan to transform the area around the north end of the Cambie Street Bridge.
The plan also envisages a
civic plaza surrounded by offices, business and shops that would extend
Yaletown and hide the blank concrete wall of B.C. Place.
The Costco development,
is scheduled to open in 2004, is a critical component of the redevelopment
of the area between the Cambie bridge and the east end of False Creek, which
is owned by a combination of Concord Pacific, a few other private owners,
and the B.C. government.
Under the plan, the
Costco development will help link the isolated International Village and
struggling-to-revive-itself Chinatown to the central city.
Downtown and Chinatown
streets will be extended down to the waterfront, which will be lined with
housing, parks, and walkways. And pedestrians will be made to feel more at
home along the highway-sized Pacific and Expo boulevards, with bikeways and
tramways contributing to the new approach.
"This is the next
wave for downtown Vancouver," says architect James Cheng, who has
coordinated the planning in the area on behalf of Concord and the city. His
plans will be presented to the city's urban-design panel next Wednesday and
will go to a public hearing after that.
Announcing Costco's plans
Friday, Concord Pacific Group Inc. executive vice-president Henry Man said
the giant U.S. retailer is proposing a 147,000-square-foot warehouse-club
store.
"As our downtown
population increases, there will be more of a need for retail services like
Costco," Man said. "There's a need for it, just like there was a
need for Home Depot on Terminal Avenue. People were skeptical when that
store opened, but it has turned out quite well and they have extended their
operating hours."
The proposed
Costco/residential development, with four levels of parking, is slated to be
built on a Concord site located between the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts,
adjacent to GM Place.
Costco has been
interested in the downtown Vancouver site for three or four years, Man said.
The area, the last of the
old Expo lands, has attracted flickers of interest over the past 15 years,
but nothing concrete until recently. Now, in addition to the Costco
development, architect Peter Busby is working on a building for the
high-tech company Pivotal on Beatty Street to the west of B.C. Place, which
has just been rezoned.
Pavco, the B.C.
government entity that manages B.C. land and buildings, is planning a new
building on the land next to B.C. Place that will include a community
conference centre to replace the space lost at Robson Square.
"B.C. Place has been
too inwardly focused. It needs to engage with the community again,"
Cheng says. The city still has to agree on how much extra floor space it
will grant Pavco to build there, in exchange for other changes the city is
asking for, like extending Georgia Street down to the water and creating a
pedestrian entrance to B.C. Place on the Pacific Boulevard level.
One of the difficulties
Cheng had to deal with was the viaducts that dominate the area.
"My personal
interest was how do you deal with the underside of those viaducts,"
says Cheng.
His idea is to turn them
into features, using them as natural roofs for pedestrian areas, with
uplights that illuminate them and attractions underneath, like a sculpture
park, to make them more appealing.
But other pedestrian
overpasses -- one that crosses Smithe and two that cross Expo Boulevard --
will be removed to open up the area and make it more ground-oriented.
In general, the whole
plan emphasizes trying to make the future neighbourhood, which is currently
part of the Molson Indy track, comfortable for pedestrians.
The seawall will be
extended east from where it ends now, Cheng hopes, through the privately
owned Plaza of Nations site.
"This will complete
the missing link for the walkway," he says.
There will be an
"activity node" with wharves created on the waterfront where the
new extensions of Georgia and Abbott will meet, specifically focused on
non-motorized neighbourhood activities like dragon-boat racing. And the city
will encourage designers to include mews and courtyards in all the buildings
in the neighbourhood.
The new Costco store that
will serve the area will be comparable in size to the six other Greater
Vancouver Costco outlets, but retail consultant Peter Hume expects it will
have a different merchandise mix than typical suburban Costco stores.
"I can't see the
downtown work force being huge Costco buyers, because the nature of Costco
purchases tends to be pretty bulky," he said. "I suspect they will
focus more on the businesses concentrated in the downtown area. Businesses
tend to buy bulk items like office and cleaning supplies and food
products."
Hume believes the new
Vancouver store will be Costco's first downtown outlet in Canada. He said
the company has opened a "handful" of downtown stores in the U.S.
Hume said the area around
the new Vancouver Costco is not served by many stores offering grocery and
mixed merchandise, and noted the closest Costco for many Vancouver residents
is located on Grandview Highway in east Vancouver.
He expects the new store
will be extremely flexible in the merchandise it offers to customers.
"They typically have such a high turnover in merchandise that they can
shift it around to suit whatever is moving."
Retail consultant said Costco has acquired a good site in downtown Vancouver.
"Costco
has a lot of non-food products like computers and electronics and the prices
are quite competitive
|
