A12 | LOWER MAINLAND WESTERNINVESTOR.COM | MARCH 2015 Tri-Cities: transit, land forge suburban power centre CLOSE-UP | Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam and Port Moody have the land, the transit and the critical mass to create an investment destination developers and the City of Co- that includes 37,000 square feet By FRANK O’BRIEN quitlam were on board early to of office/retail space. [email protected] take advantage of the $1.4 billion With the opening of the ex- Evergreen. In 2012, a transit-ori- panded Port Mann Bridge and ented development strategy was related Highway 1 upgrades, Co- oquitlam, Port Coquitlam already in place, with specific quitlam has cemented itself as an and Port Moody/Anmore plans for higher-density hous- industrial hub. Cform the Tri-Cities, an ing and mixed-use commercial The industrial vacancy rate area with the land, the population projects within 400 metres of the is in the 3.6 per cent range and growth and the type of open-for- transit stations. net lease rates average $4.20 per business leadership that is creat- Innovative residential zoning square foot, slightly higher than ing a powerful economic base in now allows laneway housing on in Burnaby, its bigger neigh- the Lower Mainland. the city’s large single-family lots bour. There is about eight million Taken together, the region rep- and the high rise density quickly square feet of industrial space in resents the third-largest popula- attracted some of B.C.’s biggest Coquitlam, but industrial deal tion in Metro Vancouver, with developers. volumes were running at $4 mil- 220,000 residents. These include: lion a month through 2014, ac- Each of the cities, however, has Bosa Development’s 195-unit cording to Avison Young. its own trump cards to play: Co- Westwood Village complex in The $1.4 billion Evergreen SkyTrain rapid transit line opens next year Bare land is virtually non-exist- quitlam has the best transporta- the City Centre; Cressey’s M3 and has already triggered the biggest building boom in Tri-City history. ent, with the only major new in- tion links and largest population; residential towers, with a total | TRANSLINK dustrial projects in the pipeline Port Moody /Anmore boast tran- of 313 units; Bosa’s Uptown with the addition of some flex indus- sit and a massive land inventory; two residential towers and retail; rise residential towers and a nine- trial as part of Beedie’s on going and Port Coquitlam has the low- and Beedie Living’s 26-storey floor office complex near the Lin- Fraser Mills project. est housing costs and a nimble Crown condo tower that starts coln station. Money well spent, administration taking full advan- construction this spring close to Lammam believes. “Transit is tage of its key location for com- the Burquitlam station. crucial,” he said. Port Moody mercial developers. A unique funding arrangement In all, 4,790 new homes have between the province, the City started in Coquitlam since 2012, By the summer of 2016, the first of Coquitlam, Morguard Real including nearly 1,600 last year Evergreen trains will be pulling Coquitlam Estate Investment Trust, which alone. Total building permit into the Inlet Centre station in owns Coquitlam Centre mall, and values of residential and non- Port Moody. A drive along the Coquitlam cor- residential developers was used to residential have topped $1 billion And overlooking the transpor- ridor for the Evergreen Skytrain cover the $28 million cost of an since 2012. tation hub opening up around the extension is to drive through a extra stop, the Lincoln station, Current commercial con- same time will be Onni Group’s non-stop construction zone, on the Evergreen. struction includes Onni Group’s nine-storey office tower in Suter from the Lougheed Town Cen- “We wrote a cheque for 50 per Oasis, at 250,000 square feet; Brook Village. tre through Burquitlam to the cent of the land lift,” said Hani Bosa’s 320,000-square-foot Downtown Port Coquitlam: with Once completed, the build- Coquitlam City Centre. Lammam, vice-president of de- Evergreen project; and Cres- the second-lowest housing prices ing located at 220 Brew Street Unlike earlier SkyTrain lines, velopment and acquisition with sey’s 20,000-square-foot retail in Greater Vancouver, the city is will have 25,000 square feet of where development was slow Cressey Development Group, complex, all at City Centre; and attracting young families. commercial space and 140,000 to start and remains spotty, which is completing three high Beedie’s Austin mixed-use tower | JON BENJAMIN square feet of office space on the c c c NATURE livable engaging CENTRAL ACTIVE SPIRIT PROGRESSIVE growing happy vibrant charming connected www.portcoquitlam.ca MARCH 2015 | WESTERNINVESTOR.COM LOWER MAINLAND | A13 Coquitlam Invest, Innovate, Grow Be Strategic: Locate Your Office on the Evergreen Line The $1.4B Evergreen Line project, • Transit-Oriented Development Strategy guiding slated for completion in summer development to maximize opportunities around station areas. 2016, is driving investment and • Opportunities for mixed use and office development development into the Burquitlam, near residential areas and amenities. • QNet - a 60 km fibre optic network that provides Lougheed and City Centre areas of businesses with low-cost, high-speed broadband Coquitlam. The extension of SkyTrain services. rapid transit will enable residents and • Easy access to the Metro Vancouver, US and Asian markets. businesses to connect quickly with • Large, skilled, highly educated labour force. communities across Metro Vancouver. • Open, accessible, progressive municipal government. Economic Development 3000 Guildford Way, Coquitlam, BC, V3B 7N2 Phone: 604-927-3442 | Email: [email protected] coquitlam.ca/economicdevelopment A14 | LOWER MAINLAND WESTERNINVESTOR.COM | MARCH 2015 Port Moody from Imperial Oil in past seven years. This year two January. new condo/retail buildings are “This is the last frontier,” said Port Coquitlam going up in Onni’s Freemont Vil- Anmore councillor and Port lage; the newly opened Oxford Moody realtor Ryan Froese, Port Coquitlam will not have a Landing retail and office centre is adding that the 150 forested and direct Evergreen link but its prox- expanding; and more homes are mostly sloped acres of Anmore imity to the stations and under- being built in the Freemont Blue land included in the sale to Bril- lying strengths – which resulted development. liant Circle Group (BCG) of Van- in the city winning the 2014 Conwest Developments Ltd. is couver “will prove a challenge for Open for Business Award from also expanding industrial in the any developer.” the Union of B.C. Municipalities Riverwood Business Park. Port Brilliant Group has never de- – make it prime for investors. Coquitlam’s industrial vacancy veloped land before, said Vancou- The benchmark detached rate is around 4 per cent, with ver architect James Cheng who is house price in Port Coquitam is net lease rates of $3.46 per square representing the developer and $588,000, compared to $778,000 foot. will be the lead architect for any in Coquitlam and $922,700 in Part of Port Coquitlam’s lure development. The principal of Port Moody. The typical condo for developers is lower develop- BCG, David Caiis,is a Canadian apartment price in Port Coquit- ment cost charges than in neigh- citizen with homes in both Hong lam, at $230,400, is second- bouring Coquitlam, according Michael Hind (Tri-Cities Chamber of Commerce), Mike Clay (Port Moody Kong and Canada. lowest in Greater Vancouver, to NAIOP, a developer industry mayor), Brendan Yee (development manager with Onni), and John It is estimated that the parcel according to the Real Estate Board organization, though they are Middleton (VP of retail leasing for Onni) at the groundbreaking of a nine- sold for around $40 million. of Greater Vancouver. well above Port Moody, which storey tower on Brew Street in Port Moody. The 82 acres in Port Moody Port Coquitam building permit has the lowest development cost | JEREMY DEUTSCH/ TRI-CITIES NOW NEWS include the old Ioco townsite, a values last year hit $130 million, charges in the Lower Mainland.■ waterfront property with a mar- nearly double the pace over the top eight floors. “Everybody is out looking for ina at the gates of the Imperial “With the Evergreen Line office space – their No. 1 thing compound. Cheng said his only coming in, it’s a definite game- on their list is [locating] near preconceived idea is to provide Total Building permit values (millions of dollars) changer,” said Brendan Yee, de- transit,” he said. “This is what some retail in the townsite. velopment manager with Onni. we have here.” “We have a blank slate,” Cheng 2013 2014 Coquitlam $347.3 $351.5 Port Moody Mayor Mike Clay Port Moody and neighbouring said. “This is one of the most ex- Port Coquitlam $71.7 $130.6 said the office tower would never Anmore are also on the radar of citing projects in [Metro] Van- Port Moody $7.8 $19.6 have been built at the Brew Street a China-linked developer, which couver. Sites this large are very location without Evergreen. bought 232 acres in Anmore and rare.” SOURCES: CITY OF COQUITLAM, CITY OF PORT COQUITLAM, CITY OF PORT MOODY FALKLA Commercial building Vancouver E. 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