Quote:
Originally Posted by Stingray2004
This thing will never get built, IMHO. Tooooooo far from major trade market areas in an already over-built Metro retail market.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Stingray2004
I still believe that it's a pipedream from an access/market/development/economic perspective.
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Trust me, Ivanhoe Cambridge has done their homework. And they aren't relying on the approx. 5,000 new residents planned for the adjacent TFN lands over the next 10+ years to materialize.
At 1.2M sq ft, it will be a large super-regional, and as Jlo said, people will go to it. I don't think the distance or access will be much of a factor, particularly given relatively short distance to Surrey, Richmond, and the ferries.
I find it funny when people argue that Metro Van has an overbuilt retail market despite the fact that it is among the lowest in NA, even moreso if you look at enclosed malls that many retailers prefer due to its predictability for traffic (unlike streetfront/strata/lifestyle retail which can vary wildly based on location).
Demand from retailers looking to lease will be the determining factor and given IC's due diligence on these large scale projects, they probably already have large-scale retailers lined up (think Walmart). The smaller retailers take more time and closer to actual completion, but they will follow.
Certainly the fact that they could get a large site easily and without the amount of red-tape from other municipalities was a plus, but they don't gamble on large malls without doing vast amounts of research on the market/trade area/demographics etc, and they already know the region based on their existing assets (Metrotown, Guildford Town centre, Oakridge, Richmond Centre).
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