Vancouver Condo Info

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.

Another condo repair shot for the gallery, this one sent in by ‘anon’ who includes the following note:

This townhouse is on the corner of 7th and Vine in Kitsilano. This is a shot of repairs happening at the back and on seventh avenue. Currently the front of the building on Vine street looks much clearer, not sure if they’ve already done repairs there or if they’re still upcoming. This building also has addresses at 2302, 2304, 2306, 2308, 2310 & 2312 Vine Street.

Send your tarp and scaffolding covered condo repair photos in to vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com for inclusion in the photo gallery.

This unit in the building located at 960 west sixth avenue looks a bit like its got a shower cap on.. As if its just gotten out of the bath and is getting ready for a night on the town.

Send your tarp and scaffolding covered condo repair photos in to vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com for inclusion in the photo gallery.

The fairview slopes has its fair share of leaky condos judging by the number of photos sent in. This shot from the batch that kingleaky sent in a few weeks ago is located at 948 West 7th Avenue, right in the heart of Fairview.

Send your tarp and scaffolding covered condo repair photos in to vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com for inclusion in the photo gallery.

update: here’s an additional close-up shot sent in by Doug R:

This is the backside of a development on west 7th ave, the ‘Casarosa’. Once the scaffolding and green netting is removed this is the side that will have the good view of downtown (unless that mushroom studios building in front is developed into something taller).

Photo credit to ‘kingleaky’. Send your tarp and scaffolding covered condo repair photos in to vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com for inclusion in the photo gallery.

Ah, the Granville Island Village. This condo development is looking a little shy, hiding from the rain this winter under a clean white sheet of plastic sheeting. This development is across the street from the previous post and was also submitted by ‘king leaky’.

Got a shot of a condo undergoing repairs? Send it in for the condo repair gallery to vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com

‘king leaky’ sent in a batch of condo repair pictures from Fairview, a neighborhood particularly hard hit by the leaky condo debacle.  I’ll be posting the others over the next couple of weeks, This first one is located at 1350 west sixth avenue and looks sort of majestic with its soaring scaffolding.

Ahoy there! This building at 1201 Lameys Mill Road has great views out to false creek near Granville Island and a somewhat nautical / pirate theme to the way its scaffolding and tarpaulins drape. Going by the name ‘Alder Bay Place’ these condos use a mix of traditional Vancouver green mesh and white tarps.

send your leaky tarp covered condo pictures for the repair photo album to: vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com

Asun sent in this shot of the residential tower at 1188 Richards currently under the leaky condo raincoat. Apparently this building was constructed with rainscreen technology.

The most recent info I can find on these apartments is in this post on pricetags from september:

on the matter of whether the designers and contractors of 1188 Richards have paid for the repairs, the answer is… not yet. Legal action is being initiated, which involves restoring many of the entities involved to the provincial corporate registry as they were evidently dissolved to try to avoid liability. I wouldn’t anticipate a settlement until the $8 million job is pretty much complete.

So its not just woodframe and stucco buildings that have water problems, concrete towers leak as well, and they’re expensive to fix.

send your leaky tarp covered condo pictures for the repair photo album to: vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com

This little unit on west 7th in Fairview is looking sassy in blue with a bit of an ‘over the shoulder’ effect working for it. The flat roof says ‘I don’t give a damn about the weather’ while the stucco says ‘let the sun shine!’. This is a stylish and daring look, but I can’t imagine that the fully blue view from inside would be all that great.

send your leaky tarp covered condo pictures for the repair photo album to: vancouvercondo.info@gmail.com