Olympic Village & Southeast False Creek Updates Discussion

[entheosfog]

A coworker pointed out that news story to me. I was flabbergasted. NIMBY-ism at a whole new level, sheesh...

[Scruff Bucket]

Lol ... Speers Funeral & Cremation Services on College Ave. in Regina's downtown area is in a mixed commercial/residential area and is around the corner from a major condo redevelopment site -- developed in the 90's from an old high school site. Speers was there even before the condos were developed! And you know where Regina's house prices are going! ... (higher!)

[Jebby]

“A funeral home can be any place. It does not have to be here...”

That's not contradictory at all...

[EdinVan]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Another "OMG dead people are bad for property values" case, as condo dwellers in SEFC try to stop Kearney Funeral Home from moving into the heritage building at Cambie and 2nd:

...Albert Chang, who lives in the new Maynard’s building across the street, said no one knew a funeral home might be coming in.

“People have put a lot of money into their property,” he said, adding property taxes in the neighbourhood have almost doubled in the last four years. “The whole area is becoming more expensive.

“A funeral home can be any place. It does not have to be here...”

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/business/Fals...ourhood/7968064/story.html#ixzz2KxA5hEfG

They also claim it will negatively affect their "mental health." Clearly, these people are already mentally ill. I was so disgusted I couldn't even finish reading these articles.

http://bc.ctvnews.ca/false-creek-residents-infuriated-by-funeral-home-1.1157810

[Porfiry]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Another "OMG dead people are bad for property values" case, as condo dwellers in SEFC try to stop Kearney Funeral Home from moving into the heritage building at Cambie and 2nd:

Everything in a neighbourhood affects property values. If some percentage of people perceive a particular element to be negative, then it really is negative for property values because those people will enter the market elsewhere.

I'm not saying people are rational about what they like or dislike, but it doesn't matter because people define the market and the market sets property values.

[spm2013]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Another "OMG dead people are bad for property values" case, as condo dwellers in SEFC try to stop Kearney Funeral Home from moving into the heritage building at Cambie and 2nd:

...Albert Chang, who lives in the new Maynard’s building across the street, said no one knew a funeral home might be coming in.

“People have put a lot of money into their property,” he said, adding property taxes in the neighbourhood have almost doubled in the last four years. “The whole area is becoming more expensive.

“A funeral home can be any place. It does not have to be here...”

Read more: http://www.theprovince.com/business/Fals...ourhood/7968064/story.html#ixzz2KxA5hEfG

I hope they cancel the funeral home and make some social housing.

[officedweller]

There's a funeral home near 12th & Kingsway - doesn't seem to affected all the condos around there, and I think one of the condos even provides parking spaces for the funeral home.

[Jimbo604]

Source: The Province, Feb 17th, pg H10

[entheosfog]

I know some of these projects have their own threads but I just thought I'd throw down a couple shots of the area while I was strolling by:

[vanman]

That Main street view looking north has drastically changed for the better in the last few months.

[spm2013]

I guess you really do have to pay someone to say something nice about the The Olympic Village:

http://www.biv.com/article/20130214/BIV0...illage-pays-off-for-local-webzine-editor

I'm just waiting to hear that Rennie is secretly behind the funeral home and going for the whole home-to-grave package deal.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by spm2013

I guess you really do have to pay someone to say something nice about the The Olympic Village:

http://www.biv.com/article/20130214/BIV0...illage-pays-off-for-local-webzine-editor

I'm just waiting to hear that Rennie is secretly behind the funeral home and going for the whole home-to-grave package deal.

Actually... you don't have to pay people to say something nice about the village. I have been a resident for over 2 years now and 98%+ of the people I meet that live here absolutely LOVE IT!

And as for that little piece of "news"... you'd have to be living in a hole to miss the fact that Bob, i.e. VancouverIsAwesome.com, has had a sponsorship arrangement with Rennie. Welcome to the world, BIV... Usually, quite a reliable "news" source

[giallo]

^ I was hanging around in the Olympic Village last month, and I really liked it too. Actually, my wife liked it so much that she's pretty much got her heart set on buying a place when we eventually move back to Vancouver.

[WarrenC12]

Living across False Creek from the OV, I've been around and through the area a lot. It's awesome. The fact that it's priced above Yaletown psf is crazy, but that doesn't take away from how nice it is.

[sacrifice333]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Living across False Creek from the OV, I've been around and through the area a lot. It's awesome. The fact that it's priced above Yaletown psf is crazy, but that doesn't take away from how nice it is.

What do you think newer stock in Yaletown is priced at PSF? The Village is actually fairly reasonable. I would even argue that the Canada House buildings, now nearly SOLD OUT, were the MOST REASONABLE luxury real estate condos in Vancouver... starting under $1000 PSF for "forever" waterfront?!

And that's the most expensive stuff in the Village... more reasonably priced units can be had. But one thing I would say, is that WCFC right across the street is considerably more reasonable PSF.

[VanK]

Originally Posted by sacrifice333

What do you think newer stock in Yaletown is priced at PSF? The Village is actually fairly reasonable. I would even argue that the Canada House buildings, now nearly SOLD OUT, were the MOST REASONABLE luxury real estate condos in Vancouver... starting under $1000 PSF for "forever" waterfront?!

And that's the most expensive stuff in the Village... more reasonably priced units can be had. But one thing I would say, is that WCFC right across the street is considerably more reasonable PSF.

I would have to agree. I am not sure what the "OV- Village at False Creek" is priced at PSF because it's a bit of a unique beast & prime waterfront real estate, but all of the other surrounding developments in the Village area including Bosa,Wall,Pinnacle,Executive,Onni,Cressey,Aquilini,Bastion... etc... are priced around the +/- $650 PSF mark. New Yaletown condo's = $700-$800 PSF. I would argue that OV is under valued at the moment VS Yaletown prices.

[WarrenC12]

You guys are funny. Does that explain why they still have hundreds of condos for sale 3 years after opening?

[jlousa]

I really doubt that the Village still has hundreds of units availble, there might be hundreds throught SEFC but not within the Village proper. The issues with the Village is that the layouts for a lot of the units are less then optimal. They also tend to be abnormally large, so although the psf isn't unreasonable the total price is too high when you can purchase a 1bd elsewhere for 20-30% less.

[VanK]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

You guys are funny. Does that explain why they still have hundreds of condos for sale 3 years after opening?

When you build out all 1000+ units at OV at the same time in a softer market, that is what happens. You get left with inventory... Because of the Olympics, the could not phase & pre-sell the units.... If a developer went in and did the same thing in Yaletown, build all units at once with no phasing then Yaletown would suffer the same consequences. It's pretty tough to sell out that much standing inventory. Given the circumstances & price points of these waterfront homes at OV, I would argue that they did a decent job. I live in Yaletown and love it but Yaletown is not for everyone.. where as OV is more of a full mix of young, families and downsizers. There is tons and tons of inventory in the Olympic Village AREA and thus why OV is $50-$150/psf less than Yaletown. My point is there is more future upside in OV vs Yaletown going forward.

[officedweller]

The other factor with OV is that it's an awkward distance from downtown. CityGate and Fairview suffer the same problem.
A bit too far to walk to the CBD on a daily basis, too close to drive, and it seems silly to pay for transit for just a 2-3 station trip (when you can put that monthly pass cost into your mortgage instead).