The story behind one of my stories.
For my third story of the month for The Globe and Mail, I dove deep into the growing trend of office show suites — fitting out suites before securing a tenant, instead of the traditional shell space model.
One of the first developers to adopt the strategy on a large scale was PCI Developments, so I spoke to PCI’s Jarvis Rouillard to get the landlord perspective as well as Janay Koldingnes of Edit Studios to get the planning and design perspective.
Koldingnes also told me that she’s currently working on show suites for 700-750 West Pender Street, the office complex KingSett Capital acquired from Cadillac Fairview and IMCo last year. Here’s the full story:
The big headlines.
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Vancouver City Council approved Mayor Ken Sim’s motion to calling for a review of the Vancouver Building By-law and pause of the Energize Vancouver Program.
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Before the meeting, Minister of Housing and Municipal Affairs, and former Vancouver councillor Christine Boyle, sent Council a letter recommending against the motion, which Sim called “an eleventh-hour attempt to intervene in an active Vancouver City Council debate” in a response.
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Sim and Boyle have a complicated history, with Sim having filed two formal complaints against Boyle when Boyle was still on Council.
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Prime Minister Mark Carney addressed the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade last week and said that an HST and DCCs deal for British Columbia, similar to what has already been announced for Ontario, is “in early stages of discussion.” UDI, BCREA, and several other organizations responded with a letter to Christine Boyle calling for faster action.
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The City of Surrey approved DCC reductions and endorsed a new ACC program, as I reported for Storeys.
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Hundreds came out to march in protest of the AI data centres announced earlier this month by Telus, Westbank, and the Government of Canada.
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Similarly, a legal challenge has arisen against the new proposed floating hotel next to the Vancouver Convention Centre, arguing that public consultation was inadequate because the renderings were misleading.
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FIFA is weeks away and hotel demand hasn’t been as strong as it was expected to be, says the BC Hotel Association, which blamed the messaging.
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After being founded in Toronto for women on the transaction side of commercial real estate, a group of women in Vancouver have launched the Vancouver chapter of CRE8. For Storeys, I spoke to Board members Bahareh Tabar of Cushman & Wakefield and Stephanie Yeargin of Avison Young about how it came to be.
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Oakwyn Realty is partnering with UBC’s Sauder School of Business to launch 10 bursaries supporting women entering the real estate profession.
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Sutton Group is continuing to expand with five new offices across the country, including three in British Columbia.