The Post | 67m | 27 fl | Completed

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by connect2source

Guess this project isn't actually call The Post any longer, wasn't that the marketing term for the previous concept?

No, the branding hasn't changed. 'QuadReal welcomes Amazon to the Post' [April 30th 2018]

[Changing City]

For what it's worth, I think the 10,000 Amazon employees conversation on Reddit is wild speculation. Somebody is adding 2 and 2 and making 22.

It seemed to me that Amazon looked at Westbank's 400 W Georgia and instead chose the Post. Simpler and more flexible floorplates, although not available until mid 2023. It's not clear if Westbank have someone lined up for 400 W Georgia or not; they seem to do their own commercial leasing these days. One scenario would be for one or more of their Telus building tenants to move, leaving space for Amazon to expand for a while in the Telus tower.

Vancouver Centre II on Seymour is due for 2021 completion. When it first started construction (well, demolition), six months ago, there were no prelease deals, and GWL are apparently also using their own leasing agency. There's a vacant site between Telus and 400 W Georgia that could see another 350,000 sq. ft. plus office building, so there are other available sites nearby with no development yet indicated. The latest suggestions for the development of the Westbank Creative Energy site is that it will be all commercial too, so that's another potentially available significant office space.

The Theatre block is very, very unlikely to redevelop, The theatres are a civic asset, it's a heritage building, it's had major upgrades in recent years and there are far easier opportunities for some years to come. The VAG / Larwill site is expected to have a significant office component at the northern end. It's hard to see how there would be objections to that being a larger office project with the Art Gallery provided as part of the package, like the Seattle Art Museum, but it's entirely not what VAG have been trying to get. They want their stand-alone starchitect box, and mixing it with office space is an entirely different scenario. However it proceeds it would probably need a developer - so far Amazon are taking leases, not developing buildings, so someone else would have to take the lead.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by a very long weekend

^ If Amazon had firm expansion plans, you'd think they'd take the second tower in this post office project, not something at the VAG site. Remember, this office won't open until 2022, so any future expansion plans would be even further out, which seems unlikely.

That said, the needle has shifted so much in the US on immigration that expansion of programs like H1B or an increase in the number of employment based green cards seems unlikely for years to come, even if the Dems control the Congress for the rest of Trump's presidency. So, it makes sense for Amazon and other companies to send all their US-educated Indians up to Vancouver and promote the exceptional ones down to Seattle or DC after a few years. Canada itself also has an impressive well of affordable talent, as the graduating Canadians and the giant number of skilled immigrants coming in every year keep salaries for highly skilled people well below what they'd be on the other side of the border where immigration controls restrict the worker pool.

Man, if Vancouver would just upzone all those inner single family home neighborhoods to get the housing even remotely affordable, the economy would probably explode into a once in a 100 years expansion, as US companies flooded in. The rents are just too high to fully capitalize on the gift the US is handing the city. Whenever the US finally liberalizes highly skilled worker visas and the demand for Vancouver collapses, it'll be because the cost of housing was too high to ever get the right sort of infrastructure/ecosystem going to make Vancouver competitive with Seattle, the Bay Area, LA, etc. Hopefully, your new council gets that, or the Province steps in and takes the toys away from baby in sandbox.

Yes!

This is a once in a generation opportunity where a major house price decrease might actually prove bullish for the City.

We have other rapidly growing industries and need to get off our addiction to real estate speculation. This is such a remarkable opportunity to diversify and move away from that and parlay all the effort into Tech and Film.

I sincerely hope someone with influence is actually thinking about this.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It seemed to me that Amazon looked at Westbank's 400 W Georgia and instead chose the Post. Simpler and more flexible floorplates, although not available until mid 2023. It's not clear if Westbank have someone lined up for 400 W Georgia or not; they seem to do their own commercial leasing these days.

It looks as if Feathered Friend has an update on the leasing of 400 W Georgia - he quotes Norn Taylor of CBRE saying 54% is leased, and 33% under offer. That suggests more than one tenant - and it's unclear if Amazon has an interest in any of it.

[officedweller]

If Amazon outgrows its Telus Garden space, I could see it moving to 400 West Georgia, that would allow more conventional offices like BHT to expand at Telus Garden (and for which 400 West Georgia would be unworkable).
It's also closer to The Post and 400 Dunsmuir
(but I could see delivery issues between Amazon @ 400 West Georgia and 400 Dunsmuir)

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It seemed to me that Amazon looked at Westbank's 400 W Georgia and instead chose the Post. Simpler and more flexible floorplates, although not available until mid 2023.

While what you said above is true, and the Reddit discussion is using faulty logic, through sheer luck it seems their conclusion is correct. Amazon is likely to continue to expand in this area, with a total build out much closer to 1 million sqft vs their existing total announced of 750,000.

Originally Posted by officedweller

If Amazon outgrows its Telus Garden space, I could see it moving to 400 West Georgia, that would allow more conventional offices like BHT to expand at Telus Garden (and for which 400 West Georgia would be unworkable).
It's also closer to The Post and 400 Dunsmuir
(but I could see delivery issues between Amazon @ 400 West Georgia and 400 Dunsmuir)

For all we know Amazon has rights on the remaining tower at the post. Given the size of their tenancy I'd be surprised if they didn't. They could wrap up their Telus gardens tenancy in 2025 and move another big chunk into their campus in the Post.

[jlousa]

Yes 400 W Goergia has an anchor tenant, it should be announced shortly. And 2+2 is still just 4 as the anchor tenant can attest too.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

For all we know Amazon has rights on the remaining tower at the post. Given the size of their tenancy I'd be surprised if they didn't. They could wrap up their Telus gardens tenancy in 2025 and move another big chunk into their campus in the Post.

That makes sense.

Originally Posted by jlousa

Yes 400 W Goergia has an anchor tenant, it should be announced shortly. And 2+2 is still just 4 as the anchor tenant can attest too.

Are you suggesting there's a reason the renderings of The Post don't have a Deloitte sign like Feathered Friend's model pics
(i.e. as LeftCoaster suggests, Amazon had more bargaining power so Deloitte couldn't get renewal rights at The Post, so walked?)?
We know EY is moving to Oxford's Melville Tower (isn't it?).
Maybe KPMG is leaving 777 Dunsmuir?

But that floorplate!?!

[Vin]

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/amazo...conomic-impact

The mall atrium will be fronting Homer Street.

[logan5]

But when this space is combined with Amazon’s, there will be 7,000 office jobs within this redevelopment alone, making the old Canada Post building the largest office building project in the history of the city.

A huge game changer for the area. There are some fantastis old blocks to the east of The Post that will come alive with such a huge daytime population moving in. The Larwill Park site will add to this.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Vin

http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/amazo...conomic-impact

The mall atrium will be fronting Homer Street.

That was the main corridor under the old plans, too, because the xitsing escalators to the upper floors originate from that corridor.

Hopefully what is now planned is more of a mall than just a glorified lobby.

[scryer]

Originally Posted by logan5

A huge game changer for the area. There are some fantastis old blocks to the east of The Post that will come alive with such a huge daytime population moving in. The Larwill Park site will add to this.

Yep. Even for Vancouver, it's pretty dead in that area. This may not be the sexiest development that the city has seen but it will definitely be an anchor and a fertile foundation for some jaw-dropping redevelopments.

[csbvan]

Is QuadReal going to be landlord for the mall portion? If so, they may want to consider a large donation to help get the new VAG built and add a huge influx of foot traffic to the area.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Is QuadReal going to be landlord for the mall portion? If so, they may want to consider a large donation to help get the new VAG built and add a huge influx of foot traffic to the area.

Yes they will. I bet Quadreal would be actively involved in promoting the new gallery, but even they wont spend the kind of money needed to get that white elephant off the ground.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Are you suggesting there's a reason the renderings of The Post don't have a Deloitte sign like Feathered Friend's model pics
(i.e. as LeftCoaster suggests, Amazon had more bargaining power so Deloitte couldn't get renewal rights at The Post, so walked?)?
We know EY is moving to Oxford's Melville Tower (isn't it?).
Maybe KPMG is leaving 777 Dunsmuir?

But that floorplate!?!

KPMG isn't leaving 777, not any time for the next 3-4 cycles that's for sure!

Deloitte has been rumoured to be in final stage negotiations with 400 W Georgia, even though it wasn't their preferred location. It does match well with the green credentials their RE group strives for though.

[officedweller]

Thanks for the info.

WRT the Post's retail, the Amazon workers would provide a more steady stream of customers than the VAG.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Is QuadReal going to be landlord for the mall portion? If so, they may want to consider a large donation to help get the new VAG built and add a huge influx of foot traffic to the area.

The library visitors, workers from talus garden and the surrounding towers, and ease to get to 2 skytrain stations will get the foot traffic that the mall needs. There is actually high demand in retail and food/beverage space for high density neighborhoods.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Yes they will. I bet Quadreal would be actively involved in promoting the new gallery, but even they wont spend the kind of money needed to get that white elephant off the ground.

White elephant; so true. Geez, I hope they go with a different design. But that's another thread, excuse me. This is not intended as trolling; the new VAG is integrally part of that 'hood.

[Feathered Friend]

Vancouver Heritage Commission Approves Amazon’s Custom-Made Post Office, Despite Removal of Iconic Materials
349 W Georgia It is now common knowledge that Amazon will be moving into the former Main Downtown Post Office building. However, at the Heritage Commission meeting on May 14th, it was revealed that the deal for that property had been signed all the way back in spring of 2017. All of those involved were sworn to secrecy, and weren’t even allowed to inform their families. In fact Amazon required that all inquiries be answered by a firm of Amazon’s choosing, which I assume was Boldt Communications, given my prior correspondence.

Now that that veil of secrecy is over, a lot more details were made public at this meeting. For instance, it was revealed that Amazon will be taking almost all of the available space in the project, including 3 stories in the podium, 22 floors in the Georgia tower (which will have a dog park on the roof), and almost all of the 21 floors of the Dunsmuir tower. Clearly the model showing the Deloitte signage was just a red herring.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/0...nic-materials/

[SFUVancouver]

Interesting development on the retail portion of the building's program.

[...]

While the above ground parking remains in the podium, most of the large indoor retail space is gone. That said, there will still be a retail concourse along Homer Street, as well as shops that will ring the building. Unfortunately, that has made keeping the red granite along Homer, Georgia, and Dunsmuir impossible. As a result, only a small portion will remain along Hamilton with a retail front punched into it.

[...]

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/0...nic-materials/