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ErickMontreal

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Vancouver aura une dizaine de trou de 20 mètres de profondeurs en béton pendant leurs Jeux Olympiques, et tu réussis à dire que ça SERA pire à Montréal?

 

On est vraiment un peuple de chialeux, c'est déroutant...

 

Non, ce n'est pas ce que je disais.

 

Ce que je voulais dire c'est que oui, Vancouver est propbablement en traîn de passer au travers d'une crise immobilière bien plus grave que ce que nous vivons à Montréal, par contre, quand la crise sera terminé, Vancouver va revenir en force et ces trous seront remplis avec des nouvelles tours d,ici 3-4 années(gros max)! Pendant ce temps à Montréal, des terrains vacants au C-V resterons des terrains vacants pendant plusieurs années encore.

 

Le boom à Vancouver a été tellement gros au courant des 20 dernières années que même si ils vivent des moments difficiles présentement, nous avons encore en masse de rattrapage à faire!

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Putting off the Ritz

Death of luxury Vancouver development reflects negative trends in demand and tourism

 

WENDY STUECK AND LORI MCLEOD

February 26, 2009

 

VANCOUVER AND TORONTO -- The downtown Vancouver site that was to be the home of a luxurious Ritz-Carlton skyscraper is now just a muddy pit, the empty frame of a parking garage that was to have been capped by a 60-storey tower.

 

The hole on West Georgia Street, surrounded by hoardings and ignored by most passersby, is a stark symbol of the end of billions of dollars' worth of spending plans blown apart by shifting trends in finance, construction and travel.

 

The Ritz project, a $500-million landmark that was to combine a 20-storey hotel with 40 floors of condo units, was cancelled by Vancouver-based Holborn Group on Tuesday, reflecting negative trends in both residential demand and the tourism sector.

 

And in being shelved, the hotel becomes part of what amounts to a nationwide spending freeze. In its key annual survey of what businesses and governments plan to do with their money, Statistics Canada yesterday said total investment in non-residential construction, machinery and equipment is expected to fall to $237.5-billion in 2009, down 6.6 per cent from 2008.

 

The biggest pullback is in the hotel and restaurant business, which is expecting a 37.7-per-cent drop in outlays.

 

That prospect is not surprising to James Askew, president of rareEarth Project Marketing, a Vancouver firm that specializes in recreational resort projects. Over the past few months, two of his clients - one in the Okanagan and one on Vancouver Island - shelved projects and he expects others may follow suit.

 

"It's a smart decision, because a lot of these [projects] are multiphased," Mr. Askew said. "The last thing you want is to jump into the marketplace just as it's starting to change and not knowing how long it will take to correct."

 

In Ucluelet, on Vancouver Island, the $50-million Black Rock Oceanfront Resort opened last month, squeaking on to the market before conditions deteriorated.

 

"We sold it when interest was at its peak," said Mike Duggan, co-developer of Black Rock and president of Boutique Hotels and Resorts, which manages several properties in British Columbia.

 

"I'm now focused on getting people out to the resort and letting them see for themselves - I think it has potential to draw people to a new destination in Canada.

 

"People are familiar with Tofino, but less so with Ucluelet," Mr. Duggan said.

 

The new resort will face tough conditions. A separate release from Statistics Canada yesterday showed that American tourists to Canada were at their lowest level in recorded history for this time of year.

 

The depth of the planned pullback in capital spending in these tourism-related industries is somewhat surprising because, until now, employment in the sector has held up fairly well, said Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns Inc.

 

"The big cutback suggests there is a much darker outlook for tourism, more broadly speaking, or at least that's the perception the industry is taking," Mr. Porter said.

 

With supply outpacing demand, it's not a bad thing for spending on new developments to decrease, said Neil Downey, managing director at RBC Dominion Securities Inc.

 

"It's probably hitting the wall, in some regards, because there's an inability to obtain financing. But frankly, it should hit the wall, because it's unlikely there's sufficient demand for the next two years to require any additional capacity. We don't need any more rooms is the bottom line."

 

The downturn should be seen as a prime opportunity for renovations, Mr. Downey said, adding that labour and construction costs are likely to become more affordable.

 

Those trends are being closely watched by Bruce Langereis, president of Delta Land Development Ltd., the developer behind the Residences at Georgia, another high-profile office, residential and hotel project destined to rise on West Georgia Street.

 

That project is being largely internally financed, Mr. Langereis said, with Delta Land committed to the tune of $100-million.

 

"We are pouring concrete," Mr. Langereis said, adding that he is balancing revised constructions costs with a planned completion date of 2011 or 2012. "I tell anyone who has doubts to come to the site and see it themselves."

 

***

 

Capital spending to plunge 6.6 per cent

 

Investment in non-residential construction, machinery and equipment to drop in most provinces.

Newfoundland and Labrador 12.7%

Nova Scotia 6.7%

Saskatchewan 2.3%

Quebec -0.4%

Ontario -1.6%

Manitoba -4.4%

Canada -6.6%

Prince Edward Island -8.5%

British Columbia -9.8%

New Brunswick -11.4%

Yukon -14.6%

Alberta -15.3%

Northwest Territories -33.8%

Nunavut -46.2%

 

KATHYRN TAM/THE GLOBE AND MAIL

 

SOURCE: STATISTICS CANADA

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  • 5 mois plus tard...

Ne vous inquiétez plus pour le trou du Ritz-Carlton Vancouver, tout est presque sous contrôle :

 

 

 

August 24, 2009

100.jpg

 

Work to resume on Arthur Erickson-designed Vancouver highrise

RICHARD GILBERT

staff writer

 

Construction of an Arthur Erickson-designed luxury hotel and condo project is set to resume after the developer rejigged the plans.

It was originally developed as the Ritz-Carlton Vancouver, but excavation work on the $500 million twisting tower was halted in October 2008.

The worldwide recession and the softening of the local housing market forced developer, Holborn Group to develop a new building strategy.

“After we looked at all the options, we realized the process would have been much longer if we had designed a new building,” said Joo Kim Tiah, president of Holborn Group.

“The fastest way to have everything move was to keep the structure and make the building more efficient. It hit us that this project was very important to Vancouver, Canada and the architectural society of the world.”

The World-renowned Canadian architect died in May of this year.

In a career spanning more than five decades, Erickson’s vision built landmark structures such as Robson Square, Simon Fraser University and the Canadian Embassy in Washington.

“It would have been a shame if the tower did not go ahead,” said Tiah. “It is exciting to do something like this. We aspire to be a company that can build an iconic landmark in Vancouver.”

The original 58-storey project included 123 luxury condos on the top 38 floors and 127 hotel rooms on the first 20 floors.

The condos were priced from $1.4 million to $13 million.

“We were stuck in a situation in which we had a site with a hole that was not doing anyone any good,” said Tiah.

“It took a lot to maintain the site and we had interest payments as well. We had to find the quickest way to get the building going again.”

Holborn’s new strategy is to design the building to appeal to a lower segment of the housing market.

“Before we had 30 to 40 different floor plans and the plumbing wasn’t stacked,” Tiah explained.

“Now we are going with smaller floor plans and a better price point. We are getting rid of columns in the rooms to provide more space and using a shear wall system.”

Tiah said another way to lower the cost of the building is to replace ten inch slabs with eight inch slabs, which is the industry standard.

“It will still be an Arthur Erickson design and will still be a twisting tower,” he said.

“We will not be doing any changes to the exterior of the building. Most of the changes will be to the interior. We are asking for more height and this would allow more residential density. We will also change the interior layout and the specs of the finishes.”

The commercial density of the project will remain the same.

According to Tiah, Holborn has finished its revised plans for the highrise.

They will apply for rezoning at the end of the month.

“We have already talked to the City of Vancouver planning department and they are supportive of the changes,” he said

However, it still must be approved by council.

“There will be a public hearing in November and, if it all goes well, we could have approval for the changes by the end of the year,” he said.

Holborn is working on both the approval for the project and the permits at the same time.

Therefore, the company hopes to get the permits for the project in November as well.

Negotiations are currently taking place to reach an agreement with Ritz-Carlton hotels for the commercial aspect of the project.

Tiah said he hopes construction will restart early next year, but this may not be possible because the city doesn’t want construction work taking place during the Olympics.

This means that work may not resume until after the Olympics in March.

When it does get underway, construction will begin with the underground parking, which could take two years to finish.

If all goes well, the rest of the building will be completed in four years.

 

http://www.journalofcommerce.com/article/id35035

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