BC Place stadium in downtown Vancouver, which recently re-opened after a $563 million retrofit, could prove the catalyst for downtown redevelopment.
A site adjacent to the stadium was earmarked for a giant new Paragon casino project, but that has apparently been shelved after public complaints.
Vancouver City Council had approved the movement of Paragon's existing Edgewater Casino to the stadium site, but rejected expansion plans for up to 1,500 slot machines and 150 gaming tables. The city also placed a moratorium on the expansion of gaming in the city. Still, Paragon could proceed with a smaller casino.
Meanwhile, Vancouver-based Aquilini Investment Group has unveiled plans for up to three mixed-use office-retail-residential towers, including a 22-storey, 236,000-square-foot office building, close to the stadium. Aquilini has also proposed a new $22 million community centre and ice rink near the stadium and Rogers Arena.
A study from Avison Young commercial realtors, however, shows the Aquilini office tower proposal could face fierce competition by the time it completes in 2014. The study notes that Oxford Properties will finish 270,000 square feet in a new building on West Hastings by 2014, and that a further 130,000 square feet of new office space has already been completed downtown this year. In the planning stages is a 365,000-square-foot office tower by Bentall Kennedy on Thurlow Street, and two other office towers totalling 700,000 square feet on Burrard Street and Richards Street in the downtown area, all of which could come on stream within four to five years.
"Developers are grappling with whether or not to proceed on a speculative basis," Avison Young concluded.
from Western Investor November 2011
