David's thoughts on anything real estate related

I recently had the opportunity to interview Graeme Silvera, VP, Retail Development, Western Region for Ivanhoé Cambridge. Ivanhoe Cambridge is one of the ten largest real estate companies in the world and they are working to redevelop the shopping centre.

The Oakridge Town Centre is a regional shopping mall originally built in 1959 when Woodwards opened. In 1984 the “Gallery” was developed and the office component was added. It has remained in this form for the last 30 years.

Today the Oakridge Mall is comprised mainly of high end retail and is seeing competition from other regional shopping centres. With the new transit skytrain line stopping in front of the mall, the parking lots around the mall and in the parkade are only only used by 50% of the visitors.

After one year of public consultation, a public hearing is scheduled for Spring 2014 where plans for the mall could be approved for by city council for redevelopment.

The project is huge to say the least. It is as if Ivanhoe Cambridge is building a small city with millions of square feet of retail, office and residential space.

Presently the mall contains 500,000 square feet of retail space. The new development will contain 12M square feet.

The office component will increase from the 500,000 square feet that exists today to 1.2M square feet when the project is completed.

The residential housing will increase from the 50,000 square feet existing to 2.7M square feet in the future. 25% of this housing will be sustainable. Westbank will be responsible for this component of the development.

I imagine that the views from these residential towers will be spectacular. When interviewing Graeme from the 7th floor of the office tower, I got a taste for the views. Because the towers will be built on the podium above the retail and parkade, most of the homes here will have an amazing view, even from as low as the third floor.

Parking for the residential portion of the development will be approximately 0.9 stalls / unit and retail parking will be approximately 3.5 stalls / 1,000 square feet of space.

Because of the scale of this development, we can expect some substantial amenities. Graeme says that the future development could contain a massive water feature, kids playground, an outdoor yoga area, running loop, dog park, tai chi / wedding area, community garden and the possibility for a basketball court.

The big contribution is the 70,000 square foot Civic Centre including a new 25,000 square foot library, integrated Senior's Centre, Gym Mulipurpose Space and a 9,000 square foot Daycare facility.  The Willow Bike will also run through the site.

The entire development will be built to very high standards. It will follow the LEED guidelines and Graeme says the the project will be at the Platinum level. This is the highest standard under the guidelines which strive for creating a standard for building energy and water efficient buildings, healthy, environmentally-friendly cost saving buildings, homes and communities. The new development will incorporate geo exchange heating and cooling (heating and cooling will come from the ground) and will use waste heat (heating from raw sewage) also. An ENVAC zero waste system will also be incorporated into the development to handle solid waste (garbage).

If you want to show your support for this important Community Building project go to www.oakridge2025.ca

Have you ever thought about building your own single family home in Vancouver? This article will guide you through the four steps involved and hopefully give you a good overview so that the process does not seem as overwhelming.

Step 1 - Finding Land

The first step is obviously finding a nice piece of land to develop. There are many things to consider when searching for land. Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

1) How much do I want to spend? This question is directly correlated to where in Vancouver you would like to live which is the next question. A standard 33' wide x 120' deep lot in Vancouver West is trading at $1.4M to $1.6M depending on the exact location. In Vancouver East lots, can be found for $750,000 to $1M.

2) What part of Vancouver do I want to live in? This obviously ties back to the question, "How much to spend?" Consider your lifestyle, whether you want or need to commute, proximity to ammenities and where your recreational activities take place. Other things to consider when selecting your location is the school district the land is located in.

3) How large of a house do I want to build? The size of the property will dictate the size of the home based on a formula planners refer to as Floor Space Ratio (FSR). Single family homes are limited to a 0.7 FSR. As an example, a 4,000 sq ft lot would allow for a 2,800 sq ft home (4,000 x 0.7).

4) What aspect and do I need a view? Most people prefer a south or west facing backyard so that when they arrive home they can enjoy the evening sun. For some, a view is a must-have, but look into zoning to make sure it won't be blocked if a neighbour redevelops or if trees grow up.

Step 2 - Read the Zoning Bylaw and Visit City Hall

Before removing subject conditions on your offer to purchase the land, I would recommend that you read the zoning bylaw specific to the property and visit to city hall to confirm that you will be able to build a home that suits your needs.

The most important items to consider are the front and side yard set backs and the allowable FSR. The zoning bylaws are available on the City of Vancouver's Website.

Another great website to visit is Van Map. This Geographic Information System Database (GIS) website is a great place to start your research. Here you can turn "layers" on and off to display categories such as property dimensions, electrical and water services.

Zoning bylaws Iin particular) and GIS websites can be difficult to interpret, which leads to the next step of the process - hiring an architect.

Step 3 - Hire an Architect

An architect will be needed to help you get through the city building process and acquire a building permit so that you can start construction. You will want to make sure that you hire an architect that has experience in designing single family homes. An experienced architect will know the zoning bylaw inside and out and allow you to maximize the allowable density for the property (if this is your goal). The architect will also make sure that the elevation of the structure is appealing and not "another stucco box" that we often see in Vancouver. He or she should work from the inside out - in other words, make sure that the floor plan "works" before moving on to the elevation. When it comes to the building elevation, an architect will understand how to mix building materials and colour to make your home shine.

Step 4 - Hire a Contractor

A contractor will be able to interpret the drawings produced by the architect and make sure that the home wiill meet the building code. It will be his (or her) job to make sure that the home is built on budget and on schedule. He will be responsible for hiring the sub-trades (framers, electricians, plumbers etc). A typical single family home in Vancouver can be built in under 12 months at a cost of around $200 per square foot (depending on the quality of the finishes and site conditions). To put this in perspective, a home built on a 33'x120' lot will cost you approximately $600,000 to build. There are many steps involved in building a home which are beyond the scope of this article. For example, you may want to consider building a "green" home and incorporating newer energy saving building materials and technologies, for which there are incentives, especially if you plan to live in the home for more than five years and therefore see the return on investment.

Finally, don't forget to plan and budget for a place to live while you are building - and add a contingency to the mix!

Thousands of people have found this blog post by searching Google. If you found this information useful, please comment below or better yet give me a call at 604-808-9796. I would be honored to help you with your next real estate purchase.