The live/work balance.
City staff are considering ways to allow for more office space in Vancouver despite the opposition of some residential developers. Options include allowing for taller buildings and expanding the boundaries of the ‘office only’ central business district. City planner director Brent Toderian points out the need to consider what sort of office space is appropriate for the type of Jobs vancouver typically creates:
Skyscraper-type office buildings in Vancouver’s central business district are typically attractive to head offices or high-end professional firms. “There is still a question about whether Vancouver can be that kind of downtown,” said Toderian. “The fundamental question is are we going to attract the jobs to this city that require high buildings.”Toderian says there won’t be much point in allowing tall office towers in the central business district if there aren’t enough large businesses to occupy them. “We don’t want to kid ourselves by saying we have created capacity simply by allowing more height. We want to make sure we create real capacity.”
Instead, the city might produce more useable office space by allowing more height and density in areas such as Yaletown and Broadway, which tend to serve the “smaller users” that are more typical of the city’s downtown businesses.
Residential developers seeking space for new condos developments are concerned that the city is over-estimating how much office space it will need.
Condo marketer Bob Rennie, who is involved with key projects all over the city, warned in May there is a risk condo prices will skyrocket if the city constricts too much the amount of land available to them.
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July 3rd, 2007 at 9:57 am
“Toderian says there won’t be much point in allowing tall office towers in the central business district if there aren’t enough large businesses to occupy them.”
And why aren’t there enough businesses to occupy them? Could it be that the cost of living here is so exorbitant that these businesses can’t get employees to move here? Might as well build condo’s in the business district to atrract more speculators.
It’s all a flipping joke (pun intended). And the joke’s on us.
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:14 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 12:49 pm
I respect the detailed planning approach that has made Vancouver the city that it is, but sometimes there’s a little too much over-analysis when some action is needed.
July 3rd, 2007 at 1:50 pm
Don’t forget excessive property tax for business.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:18 pm
The rest of us won’t have to worry about going downtown to work, all other businesses will be forced to move to the suburbs, closer to where their employees live. Maybe not such a bad thing. Downtown Vancouver will become a fortress for the rich.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:26 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:42 pm
If planners are worried that only large businesses will occupy towers, the solution is to require small office suites to be included in approved designs. There are examples of sucessful buildings crammed with small offices already in Vancouver at places like the Guinness Tower, or the Oceanic Plaza, which sit cheek by jowl with big condo towers.
July 3rd, 2007 at 2:53 pm
Given our wet climate and lack of available land, this sort of development makes sense.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:16 pm
But I guess the 2.5 million people are rich international, drug dealing flippers and British Columbia has such a puny land mass, that the comparison may not be fair, and of course Vancouver is the best place on earth.
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:43 pm
“They” are shifting that onerous burden to residential, in my understanding.
Oooh, my knee just jerked…
July 3rd, 2007 at 3:48 pm
bear translation:
we have to do everything possible to keep this party going…..
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:05 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 4:43 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 7:43 pm
Rents in LA are pretty reasonable (read HBB). It’s just prices that are unaffordable (i.e. it’s a bubble).
Rents in Manhatten and much of the rest of NYC really are high, and a lot of people live in 3rd world standards of occupancy, just as they have for most of the history of the city.
I guess you’d have to have some (extremely) subsidized rental housing for Starbucks employees, etc.
Well no. That is an outright subsidy for the minimum wage employers. They can damn well pay what is needed to get employees to work for them and take a cut in their profits, or pass on the cost to their customers.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:05 pm
god bless you swirlyman,I am a warehouse worker and I have one unit in tv towers 2 on 201 robson which fall in the said article.I would say city or rennie can take their time to think about it because that unit will complete in 2009.so rennie or city both are good for me,I will rent my unit to worlds best hottest secretary and her ug boss.by the way when warehouse worker can own a unit there then whats your problem go for this new project called robson living infront of the vancouver public library go jump over.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:23 pm
They’re making minimum: which works out to around $1300 before taxes (and union dues). Not much downtown that works in that price range when you’ve got other responsibilities.
July 3rd, 2007 at 9:32 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:02 pm
July 3rd, 2007 at 11:24 pm
July 4th, 2007 at 12:39 am
A homestay pays around 700/month per student. Some even have 2 or 3 students in the house. One friend for example has been hosting foreign students for more than 6 years now. A student usually stays for about 3-6 months and then after they leave, you usually get a new one right away.
When we were looking for a property to buy, the realtor was even telling us that it doesn’t matter if the monthly mortgage is high bec we could get a homestay and it will help us with the payment. It didn’t convince me because if we have a 25+ year mortgage how long are we gonna be having a homestay to pay the mortgage. This realtor then told us that we don’t have to live in the property forever but we could sell it after a few years and we could already earn a profit. And the truth is, most of the time the people believe this. That’s why my husband and i are always asked why we haven’t bought a house yet.
Now, i think most of you here are university educated, have high paying jobs or blue collar jobs but for immigrants like us who work as caregivers, janitors, in the foodcourts, homecleaners, etc. it’s a totally different world of real estate dealings, perception, business.
Most of these people i know have 2 jobs or more. Most of us are the people who clean your offices, restaurants, banks, at night as part-time jobs. For these people, owning a house or condo is a statement. It means, they’ve “arrived” in Canada. It’s like success.
I should know bec even among us, people look at you like a loser if you’re still renting. My own sister even said that so and so’s sister is smarter and more responsible bec she already owns a a t/h and has 2 homestays. It’s a 3 bdrm t/h and she has 2 kids with her husband so the thought of how they all fit
in the house, beats me.
I’m not saying these about all of the immigrants but i’m not making this up either. These are real people I know.
July 4th, 2007 at 8:31 am
I should know bec even among us, people look at you like a loser if you’re still renting. My own sister even said that so and so’s sister is smarter and more responsible bec she already owns a a t/h and has 2 homestays.
Hey spolde thanks for your insight into your community. Being an “average Canadian” I’m not a part of any specific culture, but I can tell you that people look down on me for the same reason as a renter, or for that matter driving an older car, not wearing $100 shirts, etc.
The worst thing you can do is fall into the trap of commercialization and consumer spending. Unless of course you like working 12 hour days for the next 40 years. You and your husband should be happy that you have the foresight not to jump into a 25 year commitment with so much uncertainty.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:49 am
Some people take pride in money they spend, while others in money they save.
July 4th, 2007 at 9:51 am
“Don’t wait to get into the real estate market”
I won’t go into it, you really just need to read it yourself with a vomit bag close at hand.
sorry pope i’m such a loser with the tiny url… i thought you had directions but i can’t find them on your site!
http://www.canada.com/findit/r.....66b2121699
July 4th, 2007 at 9:58 am
July 4th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Now do you think articles such as this just might be a response to the growing carnage south of the border which is getting too big for the media to ignore? Or am I getting too cynical?
July 4th, 2007 at 10:36 am
spolde those 7\10 +realtor if they were encouraging you 5 year ago you should have pile up atleast 250k on just 100k purchase.
thats why we make friends,so we can proceed into right direction by helping each other.this conflict of interest can happen between friends,reletives,husband and wife.
if husband wife are honest towards each other they most likely to buy investment for future.when there is diffrence of attitude’s,economic policy,spending habits,distrust,husband most likely to buy excuses instead of investment.
do you know in usa,canada,and uk if there is a conflict between husband and wife almost 80% portion goes to wife,there are more than 85 million singles in usa and lots in canada and uk for the same reason.a survey shows most of real estate owners are womens.
if you did not buy anything because of good sense of humor, I appriciate that,otherwise I do not buy your comment I give edge to your friends, who were telling you to purchase.and those mortgage helper are common things to estimate your purchase,you are talking about “homestay”people are renting their garage and closet’s if you don’t beleive me you will find out soon most of this closet rental can be seen over whistler
July 4th, 2007 at 11:29 am
Next time I see your name at the top of a post, I’m just going to skip your tortured prose and read the next post…
July 4th, 2007 at 11:30 am
Bill Morrison has been selling North American residential and recreational properties for more than two decades. He is a principal in Pilothouse Real Estate Marketing.
How much does it cost to get an ad printed as an article?
July 4th, 2007 at 11:34 am
“…but some only end up purchasing in the back row with the rest of the kids from the wrong end of the gene pool…”
Amazing…
July 4th, 2007 at 11:55 am
July 4th, 2007 at 12:15 pm
Stated affordability numbers can be misleading when you look at what some families are prepared to do to own - multiple jobs, homestays, multiple generations, etc.
It will be very scary when there are more people than jobs.
July 4th, 2007 at 2:14 pm
thanx to post that artical it is eye opner and great source to estimate how to succeed.I also thanks Bill Morrison for this artical,those facts and source are mind blowing and very expensive financial tools.
July 4th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Please tell your friend Rob, that because some bears are not nice to him, I have decided to start a blog with the sell list ratios so that the bears wont need to visit him and be rude.
Just click on my blogs name