Vancouver House (1400 Howe St) | 151.5m | 52Fl | Completed

[mcminsen]

May 28 '19, my pics

[mcminsen]

June 1 '19, my pic

fullsizeoutput_803f by mcminsen, on Flickr

[Jimbo604]

photo source: me

[SpongeG]

is that a permanent bridge that connects the building to the granville street bridge?

[PopYourColla]

That would be cool and would make the development much more accessible. Must be what that giant staircase leading to Pacific is for.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

is that a permanent bridge that connects the building to the granville street bridge?

Nice!
Yes, there are two shown on the plans.
Good to see that they've followed through with them.

[idunno]

It will connect to a publicly accessible elevator. Though I'm quite certain it won't be available 24 hours a day.

[officedweller]

So now CMHC just has to allow 2 taller buildings (to bridge level) on the Granville Island side and the pedestrian connections will be complete!

[officedweller]

From an e-mail I received:

The Beach District at Vancouver House, set to complete in 2019, will create a new food & beverage destination in Vancouver. To bring the streetscape under and around the Granville Bridge to life, we are installing 5 Shipping Containers at the site, that will host rotating retailers, brands and concepts throughout the year.

http://vancouverhouse.ca/summer-pop-up-s...9289&mc_cid=5442487286&mc_eid=48fad03eeb

They are doing a "pop-up" series with a small container at the Shaw Tower as publicity, featuring limited runs by:

Dipped Doughnuts, Flourgirl Baking, Beth Richards, Tacofino, The Juice Truck, Ride Cycle Club, Sayhello Sweets, MerCuterie, FIG Facial, House Concepts, Madebymister and more!

So those retailers are potentially container tenants for the Vancouver House containers, too.

[retro_orange]

Still nadda with that old gas station... it would make such a cool pub or restaurant.

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

From an e-mail I received:


http://vancouverhouse.ca/summer-pop-up-s...9289&mc_cid=5442487286&mc_eid=48fad03eeb

They are doing a "pop-up" series with a small container at the Shaw Tower as publicity, featuring limited runs by:

Dipped Doughnuts, Flourgirl Baking, Beth Richards, Tacofino, The Juice Truck, Ride Cycle Club, Sayhello Sweets, MerCuterie, FIG Facial, House Concepts, Madebymister and more!

So those retailers are potentially container tenants for the Vancouver House containers, too.

Am I the only one who can't wait for this insane shipping container fad to drop back into hades, where it came from?

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by s211

Am I the only one who can't wait for this insane shipping container fad to drop back into hades, where it came from?

I wouldn't count on them going away any time soon. I think the real issue is where they're located. Not at the Shaw Tower, that's for sure. More normally in the industrial port areas.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by s211

Am I the only one who can't wait for this insane shipping container fad to drop back into hades, where it came from?

Hey, we are a container port city, with lots of used containers lying around, and they are very "human scale": something highly approved in this city. And with a city that loves anything "modular" due to a lack of funding and cheap lands, I'm not surprised to see more of them kicking around.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by idunno

It will connect to a publicly accessible elevator. Though I'm quite certain it won't be available 24 hours a day.

As long as they can maintain it unlike the urine & pop-infested sticky grimy elevator over at the downtown Costco, why not?

[whatnext]

What will Westbank ever do if their "insiders" list stops believing they can flip everything they build for a profit?

Controversial Vancouver property developer Westbank pre-sold at least 30% of all units of its Vancouver House project to flippers, with the vast majority going to offshore speculators, data sent to OpenHousing show.

A real estate industry insider shared details of nearly 200 listings showing at least 118 units out of 388 have been put up for sale as assignments of contract...

https://openhousing.ca/2019/06/12/westba...ouver-house-condos-to-offshore-flippers/

[Hmoob]

Originally Posted by whatnext

What will Westbank ever do if their "insiders" list stops believing they can flip everything they build for a profit?

Controversial Vancouver property developer Westbank pre-sold at least 30% of all units of its Vancouver House project to flippers, with the vast majority going to offshore speculators, data sent to OpenHousing show.

A real estate industry insider shared details of nearly 200 listings showing at least 118 units out of 388 have been put up for sale as assignments of contract...

https://openhousing.ca/2019/06/12/westba...ouver-house-condos-to-offshore-flippers/

They'll probably have to slow down their rate of development for lack of financing. And that's a shame in a city where we need more housing built.

Realistically, how many of us plan our next home years in advance? Inevitably buyers of preconstruction units are approaching their purchase as an investment. If they truly don't care about the investment value and only want a place to live they're better off finding a ready built unit for immediate occupancy. Eliminate the set of buyers who only want an investment and all you have for preconstruction sales is the more limited group of investors who are willing to move house.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Hmoob

They'll probably have to slow down their rate of development for lack of financing. And that's a shame in a city where we need more housing built.

Realistically, how many of us plan our next home years in advance? Inevitably buyers of preconstruction units are approaching their purchase as an investment. If they truly don't care about the investment value and only want a place to live they're better off finding a ready built unit for immediate occupancy. Eliminate the set of buyers who only want an investment and all you have for preconstruction sales is the more limited group of investors who are willing to move house.

You ignore the fact the investor does nothing but drive up the price, while adding nothing to the value. IE if Westbank offers the unit to investors in 2017 at $400k, and that investor flips it in 2019 at $700k to an end user, the end user "lost out" to the tune of $300k. If there is enough demand for flippers, there's enough demand to for the original offering at the pre-sale price.

[cov]

Originally Posted by whatnext

You ignore the fact the investor does nothing but drive up the price, while adding nothing to the value. IE if Westbank offers the unit to investors in 2017 at $400k, and that investor flips it in 2019 at $700k to an end user, the end user "lost out" to the tune of $300k. If there is enough demand for flippers, there's enough demand to for the original offering at the pre-sale price.

Presale buyers act to reallocate some of the risks from developers to individuals, which creates a safer environment for development. The people who bought presale units in 2017 most likely lost money to the proportion of 20% on their investment today, a risk they took and lost.

housing is housing. if it's not lived in by owners then its lived in by renters. It houses somebody which honestly makes no difference on the broader scale. I do have issues with units left empty and am broadly supportive of the vacancy tax.

[rofina]

Originally Posted by whatnext

You ignore the fact the investor does nothing but drive up the price, while adding nothing to the value. IE if Westbank offers the unit to investors in 2017 at $400k, and that investor flips it in 2019 at $700k to an end user, the end user "lost out" to the tune of $300k. If there is enough demand for flippers, there's enough demand to for the original offering at the pre-sale price.

Right.

But that means we will need to restructure how developments are funded.

Most people buying for end use want to be able to move into a ready unit, not wait 3-4 years.

Investors finance these units for developers, and as a result earn a return on their investment. It is however true that the end user typically has to pay a premium to own the unit.

Developers wont be taking a risk to put 100 million+ projects up on spec and I doubt the appetite is big enough by end users to sell out enough units.

So how do we finance the gap and incentive development?

For proof of this see the amount of units currently being shelved around Metro Van. Investors backed out, but its not like vacancies have soared, we are still near 0. It would seem locals are not willing to play in futures markets and finance development via pre sale.

The only way I see presales working is if the cost is lower than resale units. But that's not really viable in the Vancouver market because construction costs tend to outpace inflation.

[Hmoob]

Originally Posted by whatnext

You ignore the fact the investor does nothing but drive up the price, while adding nothing to the value. IE if Westbank offers the unit to investors in 2017 at $400k, and that investor flips it in 2019 at $700k to an end user, the end user "lost out" to the tune of $300k. If there is enough demand for flippers, there's enough demand to for the original offering at the pre-sale price.

The investors add value by assuming the risk to finance the project. Developers like Westbank could take on that risk themselves (assuming they're financially able) but they generally choose offload it. Do you think Westbank or any developer would (or should be required to) sell a $700k unit in 2019 for $400k because that was the prevailing market rates when they started the project in 2017? What if the market went the other direction during the course of construction? There's an entire industry built around pricing/valuing risk. It's called insurance.