SpongeG
Nov 14, 2007, 7:04 AM
Diamond in the making
Surrey's days as a diamond in the rough are quickly becoming passé.
Developers with big dreams are lining up to jump on Surrey's bandwagon with 15 large-scale condo towers in various stages of planning and development.
The most recent highrise project -- Sky Towers -- will bring another 2,900 apartments to the city centre area around King George SkyTrain station that oldtimers might remember as Whalley. The $1-billion development will feature two towers rising 40 and 36 storeys, with units starting at $180,000.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/a4b09470-31fe-420a-9bdc-9348816409b7/skytower.jpg?size=l
Construction cranes are at work to raise Surrey's profile as one of B.C.'s major cities.
Les Bazso - The Province
"We've got 15 towers right now under application [in city centre]," Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said from Ottawa, where she was meeting with federal leaders of various political stripes on crime issues.
"A lot of those [highrises] have sold out in an hour or under an hour."
Five towers now are under construction. It all adds up to a sustained boom for Surrey, where for the third year in a row the city will record $1-billion worth of development.
"We have about 1,000 people a month moving to the city," said Watts. "A large number are moving into the city centre area, we've got a large influx into the Cloverdale area, the south Surrey area and of course the Guildford area, as well.
"I think people are beginning to realize what a gem [Surrey] is," she said. "When people come out to Surrey and see the magnificent views especially from the city centre because that's one of the highest points in the city -- views of the North Shore mountains, Mount Baker and the Gulf Islands -- it's absolutely beautiful.
"The economy, of course, is very strong. We also have more children per capita than anywhere in the province so people are making a choice to raise their children in Surrey."
Still, the biggest challenge all the development has brought Surrey is transportation, said the mayor.
"I think there is still a thought that Surrey is just still a suburb, rather than trying to realize that we are a city of 440,000 people," she said.
Surrey has the second-largest border crossing in Canada, Surrey Fraser docks is the third-largest container port in the country, "and, of course, we've got lovely beaches, as well," she said.
"We have a very immature transportation system. We don't have the built-out bus service."
Watts said waits of a half-hour to an hour for a bus are common.
"People will get in their cars as opposed to having to wait in the rain for an hour for a bus," she said.
"A city the size of Surrey really needs to have robust transportation. When you look at the transportation plans for south of the Fraser, [TransLink is] not looking to give us a really robust system until 2031," Watts added. "I'll be an old lady or dead.
"Ourselves, Coquitlam, Langley and Abbotsford -- we'll be taking up 68 per cent of the region's growth over the next 10, 15, 20 years, so we really need to have these systems in place."
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=b802b478-02f6-4d06-bf8b-e590717f38e1
Surrey's days as a diamond in the rough are quickly becoming passé.
Developers with big dreams are lining up to jump on Surrey's bandwagon with 15 large-scale condo towers in various stages of planning and development.
The most recent highrise project -- Sky Towers -- will bring another 2,900 apartments to the city centre area around King George SkyTrain station that oldtimers might remember as Whalley. The $1-billion development will feature two towers rising 40 and 36 storeys, with units starting at $180,000.
http://a123.g.akamai.net/f/123/12465/1d/media.canada.com/a4b09470-31fe-420a-9bdc-9348816409b7/skytower.jpg?size=l
Construction cranes are at work to raise Surrey's profile as one of B.C.'s major cities.
Les Bazso - The Province
"We've got 15 towers right now under application [in city centre]," Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts said from Ottawa, where she was meeting with federal leaders of various political stripes on crime issues.
"A lot of those [highrises] have sold out in an hour or under an hour."
Five towers now are under construction. It all adds up to a sustained boom for Surrey, where for the third year in a row the city will record $1-billion worth of development.
"We have about 1,000 people a month moving to the city," said Watts. "A large number are moving into the city centre area, we've got a large influx into the Cloverdale area, the south Surrey area and of course the Guildford area, as well.
"I think people are beginning to realize what a gem [Surrey] is," she said. "When people come out to Surrey and see the magnificent views especially from the city centre because that's one of the highest points in the city -- views of the North Shore mountains, Mount Baker and the Gulf Islands -- it's absolutely beautiful.
"The economy, of course, is very strong. We also have more children per capita than anywhere in the province so people are making a choice to raise their children in Surrey."
Still, the biggest challenge all the development has brought Surrey is transportation, said the mayor.
"I think there is still a thought that Surrey is just still a suburb, rather than trying to realize that we are a city of 440,000 people," she said.
Surrey has the second-largest border crossing in Canada, Surrey Fraser docks is the third-largest container port in the country, "and, of course, we've got lovely beaches, as well," she said.
"We have a very immature transportation system. We don't have the built-out bus service."
Watts said waits of a half-hour to an hour for a bus are common.
"People will get in their cars as opposed to having to wait in the rain for an hour for a bus," she said.
"A city the size of Surrey really needs to have robust transportation. When you look at the transportation plans for south of the Fraser, [TransLink is] not looking to give us a really robust system until 2031," Watts added. "I'll be an old lady or dead.
"Ourselves, Coquitlam, Langley and Abbotsford -- we'll be taking up 68 per cent of the region's growth over the next 10, 15, 20 years, so we really need to have these systems in place."
http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/money/story.html?id=b802b478-02f6-4d06-bf8b-e590717f38e1