The CBC is reporting that two Concord Pacific condo towers in downtown Vancouver have developed leaky condo problems requiring millions in repair work. The ‘leaky condo issue‘ is very familiar to Vancouver residents, and apparently still very much a concern.

Governor’s Tower at 388 Drake St has required replacement of all windows, exterior walls and bricks which has cost owners at least $100k per unit:

The cost of repairs to the tower was estimated at $29 million, and each of the 237 condo owners had to fork over at least $118,000, with the cost depending on the size of their apartments, Fox said.

Governor’s Tower was built 14 years ago and the 10-year warranty had expired.

The Parkview Tower at 289 Drake street is the other Concord Pacific tower reported with this issue:

All the windows on the 14-year-old tower were replaced because they leaked, said Alan Cadwell, whose Langley-based company, The Condo Advocate, repaired Parkview Tower.

Cadwell’s company specializes in restoration management for leaky condos in B.C.

“With one good push, the window wall system, in theory, could be kicked out and could be travelling to the floor,” Cadwell said of the condition of the windows.

The cost of the repairs for Parkview Tower amounted to more than $8 million, he said.

Thanks to LaLaLand and Bizznitch for the story tip and link.

UPDATE: In a bit of synchronicity the Vancouver Sun has this article in todays paper: Leaky condo crisis far from over.

By 2012, when the leaky condo era enters its fourth decade, as many as one-third of the defective units will remain unrepaired, said the report, prepared for the province’s Homeowner Protection Office (HPO) by private consultants.

At least 45 per cent and possibly as many as 68 per cent of leaky buildings have not been repaired yet, according to various scenarios explored by the consultants.

…

The consultants made no attempt to estimate the total cost of the damage, but concluded that early estimates of the repair cost per unit – $10,000 to $15,000 – were way low.

“Based on the HPO experience, it would appear that the actual average repair costs are approximately five times or six times higher,” they said.

By last September, repair loans the HPO makes to leaky condo owners had grown to an average of $62,000 for wood-frame apartments, and $72,000 for those in concrete buildings.