2300 Kingsway | 22fl | Completed

[officedweller]

The Hills (El Dorado site at Nanaimo & Kingsway) has a display centre going up at Georgia & Seymour downtown (in the old Compucentre store).

The Georgia Straight has a story with rendering:

http://www.straight.com/article-113433/the-midas-touch

Georgia Straight Living
The midas touch
Georgia Straight Living By Charlie Smith
Publish Date: October 11, 2007

Developers struck gold selling east side condos with a west side feel; Kingsway’s the hills takes the stakes a little farther and a little higher.

Vancouver's reigning condo king, Bob Rennie, likes to joke that he was raised in the posh area of East Vancouver. "I grew up at 5th and Nanaimo," he said. "We always used to think that because the lots were 42 feet instead of 33 feet that we lived in a privileged area."

Rennie's mother worked for a while at the Eldorado Hotel, which is up the street at the corner of Nanaimo and Kingsway. Now, his company, Rennie Marketing Systems, is overseeing the marketing of a major mixed-use development that will be built on that site. The Holborn Group, headed by Simon Lim, is developing the project, which still awaits final approval from the City.

It's called The Hills, which refers to its position on the east side of the ridge going up Kingsway toward Renfrew Heights. The development will include a 22-storey high-rise, along with low-rise and townhome units. "We wanted to reinforce that there was a view," Rennie said.

Back in the old days, Rennie said, East Vancouver was almost like a suburb of Vancouver, and even if he felt he was living the high life on Nanaimo Street, most residents of the city's West Side probably didn't agree.

Today, however, high real-estate prices are wiping out that east-west divide. As Rennie likes to say, the city is moving east because there's nowhere else to go. He said this trend began in the 1970s when Daon Development Corporation, cofounded by Olympic boss Jack Poole, built the upscale Langara Estates on the east side of Cambie Street at 49th Avenue. Rennie said that at the time, people in the real-estate industry thought it was "insane", because it was an East Side address in most people's minds. But it worked.

"Cambie became the new Oak [Street]," Rennie said. "And Oak became the new Granville. And now Main Street is the new Cambie."

What this has meant is that a development such as King Edward Village, which offered a West Side feel, was able to succeed at the corner of Knight and Kingsway because units were so much less expensive than similar projects downtown or on the West Side, where land prices are astronomical. He said that condominiums at King Edward Village were sold for $100 less per square foot than similar units in other areas of the city.

"Now, we're probably saying $250 a foot less than downtown," he said, referring to The Hills. "They're really valid projects, and there's a reason why they work."

After a public hearing in January 2006, Vancouver city council unanimously approved a rezoning application to allow for approximately 350 units in a townhouse, low-rise, and high-rise project with commercial and live-work units. Plans call for a daycare facility, a food store, and a drugstore, which will transform this area of Kingsway into a lively destination.

"I would think that 40 to 50 percent of our buyers will come from within a three-mile radius," Rennie said. "That was proven out at King Edward Village. Not everybody wants to live downtown."

He cited the project's appeal for younger families, who will find the price range of $500 to $600 per square foot to be more affordable than what units are selling for in other areas of the city. The suites should appeal to younger buyers with a hankering for rich wenge woods, and colourful patterns featuring grass greens, whites, and chocolates.

Rennie said the key to high-rise living is ensuring there is sufficient access to good food outlets and drugstores. And a Starbucks, he quipped.

"It's no different than Concord Pacific's site," Rennie said, referring to the neighbourhood created on the north shore of False Creek in the 1990s. "It really didn't work until Urban Fare went in."

[raggedy13]

Looks pretty nice. I like the circular windows running up the building.

[agrant]

Looks like it would be one of the taller buildings in the area by far. Perhaps this is the start of a trend - a string of condo towers along Kingsway in the city proper.

[officedweller]

Yeah, but that strings of towers should really be along the Expo Line, not along Kingsway - or at least parallelled by a string of towers along the Expo Line.

[SpongeG]

yeah not good tie ins to the mass transit

but nice to see some of kingsway being made denser

[WarrenC12]

That site is only about 4-5 blocks from Nanaimo station.

Its not a great area though.. but that is probably because of the El Dorado, which will obviously be gone.

[mr.x]

i love it.

[Canadian Mind]

I like it. How many other highrises are in the area, or will it be paving a new district for highrises. I can't wait for False creek to be surrounded on all sides by towers... I'd even advocate sticking one in the middle of false creek by science wold, with pedestrian walkways leading to downtown, the olympic villiage, and to science world for access to mass transit.

as far as transit for this tower is concerned. with another 3 or 4 towers within a 1=2 block area, forming a little cluster, I'm sure the city would look into a streetcar network in that direction... who likes the idea of a streetcar along kingsway?

[mr.x]

^ there are quite a few corridors in Vancouver that are quite suitable for streetcar, and Kingsway is one of them. the others being Hastings, 41st Avenue, 4th Avenue, Main Street, and maybe Fraser Street?

[giallo]

I always welcome density outside of the core. This looks decent.

[squeezied]

Originally Posted by giallo

I always welcome density outside of the core. This looks decent.

agreed.

[agrant]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ there are quite a few corridors in Vancouver that are quite suitable for streetcar, and Kingsway is one of them. the others being Hastings, 41st Avenue, 4th Avenue, Main Street, and maybe Fraser Street?

I'd imagine a 4th Avenue streetcar line being ultra slow. Both 41st and Main lines would be my first choices.

[Canadian Mind]

does this location happen to be on a hill?

[androo3]

a lot better than I was expecting, very nice tower

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

does this location happen to be on a hill?

what are your 1st clue?

[vanman]

Originally Posted by androo3

a lot better than I was expecting, very nice tower

Yeah I was impressed when I first saw the render in the straight.

[squeezied]

it looks a bit tacky like some of the ones along the m-line in burnaby, but i'm not complaining.

[vanman]

^What's tacky about it?

[Canadian Mind]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

what are your 1st clue?

Well the name of course. But usually names are all marketing, and not always representative of the location. I'm not familiar with the area, so what can I say?

[jo67sh]

looks like before the Holborne group got involved in the Hills, the eldorado site was previously owned by the Chandler group now involved in pending legal law suit, according to the article below...
---------------------------
Court takes action against Mark Chandler

Susan Lazaruk, The Province
Published: Tuesday, October 16, 2007

B.C. Supreme Court has frozen $35 million of a developer's assets after investors alleged he misrepresented real-estate deals and forged a multimillion-dollar mortgage document.

Mark Chandler, whose developments include the second phase of the Garden City complex about to go on sale in Richmond, the sold-out Tribeca Lofts in Yaletown and the Homer and Helmcken development in Vancouver, is being sued by investors Theodore "Ted" and Susan Freeman.

They and their company, Susan Richards Investments, are suing for a return of their investments and a share of ownership and profits from the residential complexes or compensation up to $35 million.

The freeze order prohibits Chandler from selling or diminishing the value of $35 million of his assets.

The Freemans' lawyer, Katherine Ducey, said if units are still being sold, "we certainly don't want [the lawsuit or court order] to prejudice any of the sales of the unsold units."

She agreed it is a buyer-beware situation.

Ken Fraser of B.C.'s superintendent of real estate, which regulates the industry, said developers are required to amend disclosure statements if material changes are made.

"A lawsuit may affect the financial stability of the property," he said, adding it is up to buyers and their lawyers to check for liens.

Earlier this year, the superintendent scheduled a hearing into Chandler's developments after Vancouver condo marketing king Bob Rennie complained about improper disclosure statements on some of the same properties. That complaint came after a separate lawsuit from a former investor.

It was settled out of court and the superintendent's hearing was cancelled after Chandler agreed to amend the disclosure statements.

The Freemans' writ says Chandler told Ted Freeman in May 2004 he was expecting to make a $30-million profit on Homer and Helmcken and he needed an equity partner.

Freeman invested $12.3 million for a 40-per-cent interest and Susan Richards Investments made a $6-million investment.

Two years later, Freeman invested $4 million in another joint-venture partnership with Chandler for, in part, 50 per cent of a development on the yet-to-be-developed 1000-block Richards Street, on which Chandler said he expected to make a $40-million profit. SRI contributed about $2 million for the other half.

The lawsuit details other deals involving the Richmond Garden City project and the Eldorado property on Kingsway at the site of the Eldorado Hotel in Vancouver.

The writ alleges Chandler made the representations regarding the deals "knowing they were not true or were made recklessly."

It claims Chandler gave Freeman a written mortgage for $19 million registered against the Eldorado property that "was in fact a forgery and has never been registered against the Eldorado property."

It also alleges Chandler sold two Tribeca units to the Freemans for $800,000 but the title documents were forgeries.

The plaintiffs allege breach of contract, saying Chandler failed to provide accurate financial information and his representations were "designed to deceive."

The allegations have not been proven in court. Chandler has yet to file a statement of defence. Calls to his office weren't returned and yesterday an employee answering the phone said he had just stepped out.

slazaruk@png.canwest.com

© The Vancouver Province 2007