Oakridge Park | 13 Towers | 154m | 52fl | 5M sqft | U/C

[GenWhy?]

I'm confused. We're upset that someone is building a town centre? Or that you personally cannot afford a specific unit there as they're currently being advertised?

Plenty of other condos out there for sale for less.

And Westbank is evil because they're making money, doing business, and not breaking the law?

[rofina]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I'm confused. We're upset that someone is building a town centre? Or that you personally cannot afford a specific unit there as they're currently being advertised?

Plenty of other condos out there for sale for less.

And Westbank is evil because they're making money, doing business, and not breaking the law?

Well put.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I'm confused. We're upset that someone is building a town centre? Or that you personally cannot afford a specific unit there as they're currently being advertised?

Plenty of other condos out there for sale for less.

And Westbank is evil because they're making money, doing business, and not breaking the law?

Well, remember the public at large is sold on these as "transit oriented development". At those prices, the buyers sure ain't taking transit.

It's just another typically Vancouver type of development fail. "We need more supply"! Of what, ludicrously overpriced condos on land that should have housed the middle class who would actually have used the transit to get to work?!

[GenWhy?]

I'm all ears to a tool that the City or province has that could force a private land owner and developer into building all condo units within their development for a local "middle class". Not sure why a more-than-the-average condo cannot be located at Oakridge instead of only downtown just as social housing cannot be located in Kits instead of only in the DTES, as an example for instance of their most common concentrations in Vancouver.

The entire area around the mall has a plan and is basically open for business for people to buy houses, townhomes, and/or condos or rent. The mall redevelopment itself has less expensive options as well.

[GenWhy?]

"Transit orientated" not "transit only". The TOD concept builds around urban design and around those visiting the area, as well as living there. TOD is about services, retail, office, and residential being within a well-connected short walk of transit options. Not sure the public was sold on a different concept.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I'm all ears to a tool that the City or province has that could force a private land owner and developer into building all condo units within their development for a local "middle class". Not sure why a more-than-the-average condo cannot be located at Oakridge instead of only downtown just as social housing cannot be located in Kits instead of only in the DTES, as an example for instance of their most common concentrations in Vancouver.

The entire area around the mall has a plan and is basically open for business for people to buy houses, townhomes, and/or condos or rent. The mall redevelopment itself has less expensive options as well.

More inclusive zoning is the easy answer to that. Are there any below market units included in this development. Maybe 20% of the units that are below market rental with the rents tied to income. No parking no frills units ( it is tod after all). All units for middle class would not work here. The rental only zone in the dtes I would consider all middle class/blue collar.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Let's keep in mind that we're only looking at the mall towers; there's still three other quadrants of mid and high rises in the planned Municipal Town Centre that could be rentals or affordable condos.

If they're $1.5M+ per unit too, then we break out the bricks and Molotovs. Not yet.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Westbank knows where to find a lot of corrupt money. It's their thing. They should be investigated.

Loving to make unsubstantiated claims eh? How elementary.

[WarrenC12]

Can't wait until these get built and those sweet property taxes start flowing in to reduce my bill.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Cities Aren’t ‘Unwritten,’ Despite Developers’ Ego-Driven Attempts to Rewrite Culture

Oakridge mall project part of a global pattern of imposing formulaic, placeless mega-developments.

By Melody Ma Yesterday | TheTyee.ca

...

https://thetyee.ca/Opinion/2018/11/16/Cities-Arent-Unwritten/

At first I saw this op-ed while looking up the exhibit as I stood in front of it and thought, wonderful. Another backwards thinking "progressive" NIMBYing any form of innovative and notable development in this previously architecturally dullard of a city (I'm familiar with this author/activist; very anti-development sentiments. I don't believe there is anything one can say to change her stance. Also, huge laughs on suggesting Samurai Sushi House is some sort of cultural icon worth preserving Give me Tractor any day.).


Then, of course, I saw this bullshit:

Originally Posted by bb1510

Brace yourselves

about sums up my reaction. That's beyond ridiculous. Treasonous to the local economy, at the extreme end.


Then of course, this comment makes perfect sense:

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

I'm confused. We're upset that someone is building a town centre? Or that you personally cannot afford a specific unit there as they're currently being advertised?

Plenty of other condos out there for sale for less.

And Westbank is evil because they're making money, doing business, and not breaking the law?

Funny how one page in a thread can change your sentiment towards a project a full 360 revolution.


I think the overall design and scale is neat and a great addition to Vancouver, which could use a jolt to continue the momentum put forth by the Butterfly and Vancouver House. Good on Westbank for taking the risk to embark on these projects and for making the city a little more interesting. They are within their rights to price it however they wish; there are plenty of other options for buyers in Metro Vancouver and to claim it's somehow displacing Oakridge renters is laughable.

All that said, it would be beyond all rational reason to see these towers selling out. It would really put yet another spin on the insanity that is Vancouver's RE cycle.

Also, the Unwritten sales center is pretty neat and worth a 5 minute pass through.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Can't wait until these get built and those sweet property taxes start flowing in to reduce my bill.

How has that worked out for you so far, with every other over priced condo development?

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by svlt

........
Funny how one page in a thread can change your sentiment towards a project a full 360 revolution.


........

You do realize that if you changed your mind a full 360 degrees, you'd end up exactly right back where you started, right?
In other words it would be like you never changed your mind at all.

You probably were thinking 180 degrees.


#MathIsHard
#SoIsPedanting

[PaperTiger]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

You do realize that if you changed your mind a full 360 degrees, you'd end up exactly right back where you started, right?
In other words it would be like you never changed your mind at all.

You probably were thinking 180 degrees.


#MathIsHard
#SoIsPedanting

So is reading, apparently. They did change 360, from free market to "Hey, maybe we should do something about this." to free market again.

[phesto]

If it were any other developer, I would say the pricing is crazy. But I can actually believe that people will be lining up to get these.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Let's keep in mind that we're only looking at the mall towers; there's still three other quadrants of mid and high rises in the planned Municipal Town Centre that could be rentals or affordable condos.

If they're $1.5M+ per unit too, then we break out the bricks and Molotovs. Not yet.

if people are willing to buy over priced condo's and their property taxes are based on this value, does not this mean that the property taxes go down for everyone else?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by phesto

If it were any other developer, I would say the pricing is crazy. But I can actually believe that people will be lining up to get these.

Oh they are. Some are holding back on other properties with some marketers that we deal with to get into Oakridge. It's a small group but they have money.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by djmk

if people are willing to buy over priced condo's and their property taxes are based on this value, does not this mean that the property taxes go down for everyone else?

Not exactly. Property Taxes are determined somewhat backwards. The city decides on a budget, and then everybody in that city gets the bill split based on their portion of assessed value across the entire city. This is tweaked by commercial vs. residential, but that % is commonly called the "mill rate".

The mill rate appears very low in Vancouver because our property values are so high. If the values tank, the mill rate will jump, but the absolute number would remain the same.

All that said, it will be up to BC Assessment to determine what these Oakridge condos are worth. They definitely use recent sales data as part of the calculation. But how could the per sf. value be twice as much as a reasonably new-ish Yaletown condo? I don't know.

[s211]

Originally Posted by seastar

The square footages quoted all include the balcony sizes as well. So the actual interior (excluding balcony) sizes are smaller.

S

Honest? If so, that's incredibly deceptive.

[e-clam9]

Don't give up yet. 10% of the units is for renting to "low" income. I may qualify based on their high standard. :-)

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by e-clam9

Don't give up yet. 10% of the units is for renting to "low" income. I may qualify based on their high standard. :-)

Haha, I was thinking the same. Teachers, community lawyers, full time nurses, middle management types, animators, etc... you know, all the scum that can’t afford to buy into a 10 tower project on top of what is essentially a suburban mall that is touting itself as the heart of a general community area...

Seems to me the idea of community involves all of the above, especially when heavily marketing the transit orientated aspect, yet seems like 90% of the population is priced out of this development.

If people can’t see how these price points for this project are a red flag regarding livability in Vancouver, then there is nothing else to say.

The Butterfly or Vancouver House, okay, I get it, those are iconic luxury towers downtown. This is a mass community redevelopment outside of downtown. Maybe, just maybe, the tallest flagship tower could justify some higher costs, but still not to this level.

For the record not against this project, but just disheartening to see that you have to be upper class to afford it. If the general working class can not afford to even live in a condo 8 km or so out of downtown, then our governments better start building more freeways out to the eastern burbs because we won’t be able to take transit