[Surrey] GEC Education Centre | 165m | 49 fl | Proposed

[jollyburger]

Earlier this week. Not about Surrey but relevant.

CIBT SUBSIDIARY SIGNS AGREEMENT TO PURCHASE THREE PARCELS OF LANDS TO DEVELOP GEC OAKRIDGE FOR $103 MILLION
JANUARY 7, 2019

Vancouver, BC – January 7th, 2019 – CIBT Education Group Inc. (“CIBT” or the “Company”) (TSX: MBA, OTCQX International: MBAIF) is pleased to announce the signing of three property purchase agreements for an aggregate purchase price of $30.3 million. These lands will be the site of the development of a highrise serviced apartment (the “Project”) near the corner of Cambie Street and West 42nd Avenue in Vancouver, to be owned by GEC Oakridge Limited Partnership (formerly named GEC Langara Limited Partnership) in which a subsidiary of CIBT is an investor. The Project, named GEC® Oakridge, is situated at the centre of the City of Vancouver within the Cambie Corridor Plan (“CPP”), where the city has plans to allow for high-density rental zoning. The location is also approximately a one minute walk to the Oakridge SkyTrain station located at the corner of Cambie Street and West 41st Avenue.

The total development budget for this Project, including land, construction, FFE (furniture, fixture & equipment) and financing costs, is approximately $103 million. After construction, GEC® Oakridge will be an 18 storey, 125,000 square feet concrete highrise tower with the ability to accommodate up to 430 beds. The Project is subject to re-zoning and city approval.

http://www.cibt.net/blog/2019/01/07/cibt...-lands-develop-gec-oakridge-103-million/

And from their financials in November:

Further, GEC Education Mega Center® has received four out of five required re-zoning approvals from the City of Surrey. Construction of both projects is expected to commence in 2019.

[EhJay]

Construction for 2019 eh... I'll believe that when I see it. Fingers crossed as that'll really continue the kick off of cleaning up that street.

[Cypherus]

Thank you for finding the information from the financials. Looks like we will finally see some excavation work this year. Top out probably in 2021 now.

[Nites]

Originally Posted by Cypherus

Thank you for finding the information from the financials. Looks like we will finally see some excavation work this year. Top out probably in 2021 now.

According to CIBT it will be in "construction" this year...

[Cypherus]

Originally Posted by skymaster

According to CIBT it will be in "construction" this year...

The hole will probably be pretty deep to accommodate parking. I'd expect at least a year before it finally gets at grade (pushing that to 2020). Construction top out by 2021 (Weststone Group and MetroCan Construction pacing), then completion of the interiors by mid 2022.

[Flynn86]

If they ever build this tower how long do you think it will take to complete? I'm guessing 4 years

[Blease]

Originally Posted by Flynn86

If they ever build this tower how long do you think it will take to complete? I'm guessing 4 years

I read or heard somewhere yesterday that the largest number of foreign students in Canada are in the Greater Vancouver area, and within Greater Vancouver, Surrey is the base for the largest number of them (I was going to post the link but couldn’t find it). As such the demand fundamentals look pretty strong for the GEC development.

[Nites]

Originally Posted by Flynn86

If they ever build this tower how long do you think it will take to complete? I'm guessing 4 years

Probably 5-6 at the rate things are being built right now.

[Flynn86]

Originally Posted by skymaster

Probably 5-6 at the rate things are being built right now.

True with Evolve taking over 3 years I think you might be right at 6 lol.

[GMasterAres]

3 years minimum. The challenge you get is if development keeps current pace across Metro Vancouver, projects simply have a difficult time scheduling trades. You're at the mercy of available trades throughout a major project and you could easily get foundations up quickly but not be able to schedule the glaziers or the dry wall companies and be stuck and delay.

[ArmoredinRed]

Looks like this may take longer now that the tower is being shortened. Doubtful that construction begins this year.

CIBT PROVIDES UPDATE ON GEC FLAGSHIP PROJECT GEC EDUCATION MEGA CENTER
MAY 21, 2019

Vancouver, B.C., May 21, 2019 – CIBT Education Group Inc. (TSX: MBA, OTCQX International: MBAIF) (“CIBT” or the “Company”) is pleased to provide the following updates relating to its Education Mega Center® project in Surrey, B.C.

By November 6th, 2017, GEC Education Mega Center® (“EMC”) had received Advisory Design Panel and first, second and third reading approvals by Surrey City council. The meeting minutes of Surrey City council are available at www.surrey.ca/bylawsandcouncillibrary/MIN_RCPH_2017_11_06.pdf. Since the granting of these approvals, the Company has been working with the developer to complete the review and negotiation on a series of legal documents, usage agreements, as well as an increasing development cost and construction budget.

After nearly two years of working with project engineers, architects, construction professionals and a series of value-engineering efforts, the Company and the developer have executed a third amendment (the “Third Amendment”) to the original Purchase and Development Agreement that was signed on May 2nd, 2017. The Third Amendment modified certain business terms and provided for a modified design of EMC. The modified design allowed the height and square footage of the building to be modestly reduced, with the goal of constructing a within-budget and higher efficiency building.

EMC was originally designed as a high-rise with 55 floors, 550,000 square foot concrete mixed-use tower with schools, offices, hotels and market rental apartments. The modified design will result in a slightly shorter building and proportionately reduced square footage. By reducing the building height and square footage, complemented by value engineering, it is expected that there will be a reduction in the overall construction cost of the EMC project from that originally forecasted, and the Company anticipates meeting the original budget of approximately $275 million.

The Third Amendment also provides that GEC Education Mega Center Limited Partnership will acquire title to the land on or before August 15th, 2019 for $22.6 million or $41 per buildable square foot. As a comparison, a property adjacent to the EMC project was sold for $106 per buildable square foot in December 2018.

http://www.cibt.net/blog/2019/05/21/cibt...gship-project-gec-education-mega-center/

[vanman]

Thanks for the info.

Dissapointing that this is being scaled back. I wonder how many floors they plan on removing.

[Shift]

I'm actually fine with the height of this being scaled back. 3 Civic Plaza makes a better signature 'tallest' for Surrey. Although it may be surpassed some day, this GEC tower would look better shorter than 3 Civic Plaza, being so close to it. It was also an odd use for a 'tallest tower'.

The unfortunate thing is now even more delays. The project will need to go back through a new application process. Can't see this starting construction for at least another 2 years.

[Klazu]

Uh oh, them even mentioning value engineering is not a good sign...

I guess condo market in Surrey is not as hot as it has seemed to be?

[officedweller]

OLD Rendering for reference...

WRT value-engineering...
My guess is that the sky gardens have been deleted (losing 2 floors = "slightly shorter"?)
and the cast-in-place concrete grid (like Burrard Place) will be replaced by spandrel glass to form a similar pattern.
Anything tricky like the V-support may also disappear(?)

Originally Posted by Shift

[Metro-One]

This sucks, not much else can be said, but this project has always been iffy so if it were to happen to any I knew it would be this one.

[Cypherus]

Originally Posted by officedweller

OLD Rendering for reference...

WRT value-engineering...
My guess is that the sky gardens have been deleted (losing 2 floors = "slightly shorter"?)
and the cast-in-place concrete grid (like Burrard Place) will be replaced by spandrel glass to form a similar pattern.
Anything tricky like the V-support may also disappear(?)

Disappointing news considering the tower was nicely designed, but not surprising as everyone had a skeptical vibe about this tower as originally planned. I agree with Shift that 3 Civic Plaza is a better signature tower, but this new tower being right in the city core, I do expect revised height around One Central level.

[osirisboy]

This thing is never going to happen

And 3 civic is the signature tower? Ugh well that's depressing.

[Galaxy]

Very disappointing indeed! I am not surprised either. Wonder if they had considered creating or subdividing some of the extra space to lease out to other potential tenants? Would have loved to have kept the overall height and just lose the Sky Garden and that V column. It would have also been cool if that subdivided space idea of mine would have been leased to the likes of say Wework or something... We will just have to see what the revised design looks like though... Oh and I know some building owners don't want the hassle of subleasing so those of you that want to say that I totally get that.

[Shift]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Uh oh, them even mentioning value engineering is not a good sign...

I guess condo market in Surrey is not as hot as it has seemed to be?

This isn't a condo building. Zero condo's being sold..