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Office space and office building development in Greater Victoria/south Vancouver Island


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#61 G-Man

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Posted 14 December 2007 - 09:02 AM

So it has been stated elsewhere but anyways:

The 15 storey Gateway Green has been approved for the corner of Blanshard and Fisgard.

Also in office news:

St. Andrews Square has added another sign atop the lower of the two buildings Northern Bank or something...

#62 Mike K.

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Posted 14 December 2007 - 01:24 PM

In addition to that National Bank sign that's already up?

#63 G-Man

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Posted 14 December 2007 - 04:32 PM

No that is the one...

#64 Mike K.

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Posted 14 December 2007 - 05:18 PM

Oh, ok. I'm pretty sure that's been up since the Spring/Summer.

#65 G-Man

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Posted 14 December 2007 - 05:47 PM

Shows how much attention I'm paying

#66 Holden West

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Posted 18 December 2007 - 12:12 PM

Interesting clip from August 15, 1900:

"Besides the numerous brick buildings in course of erection at the present time in Victoria, local architects are preparing plans for a number of others. In conversation with a Colonist reporter yesterday a prominent architect conveyed this information expressing further the opinion that the building record of 1900 would eclipse that of the years since the boom days."

"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#67 Rob Randall

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Posted 17 April 2008 - 06:53 PM

Update: Developers are still anxiously awaiting the Province's Request for Proposals for new office space. It's been promised as coming "any time now" for weeks. Once it's released we will likely see several Downtown office projects greenlighted and a major reshuffling of Ministry offices when they are built. This will create an enormous amount of churn and I think it will be a golden era for smaller companies and start-ups wanting to set up offices in lower-end buildings in the Downtown core.

#68 gumgum

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Posted 15 May 2008 - 08:16 AM

Bay Centre to offer top-floor office space
Darron Kloster, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, May 15, 2008


#69 Holden West

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Posted 15 May 2008 - 08:58 AM

^That mall never got the critical mass of retailers on the top floor to make it viable, probably due to the high rents. I don't think they ever got past 75% capacity but they came pretty close to filling it up at one point. Remember there were two record stores, an art gallery, hair salon, sport clothing, a couple of food joints, even a live theatre. But there were enough empty spaces to make it dull and lifeless. They should have reduced the rents to kick start it and I bet it would be full today. It's worth discounting because the whole point is to bring customers up to the food court and the top floor of the Bay.

When they converted the space to CDI they sealed the fate of the retail and guaranteed its failure because now you can't promenade around--it's a dead end. How sad to see all that empty real estate sit vacant, unused for 19 years! What mismanagement!
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#70 aastra

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Posted 15 May 2008 - 10:03 AM

I'd say the closed design of the top floor and the fact that there's no escalator on the west side are the main reason it (and every other top floor in every other mall that follows the same model) doesn't work. It doesn't matter if it's the 3rd floor or the 5th floor, if you screw the top floor right out of the box then it's destined to be a turkey.

#71 Coreyburger

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Posted 17 May 2008 - 10:44 PM

The issue is quite simply that people were not forced to walk through the fourth floor to the food court. Instant audience.

#72 Holden West

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Posted 01 June 2008 - 04:07 PM

If that rumour of the RCMP headquarters moving north yet again to Saanich is true; what might happen to the current headquaters between the Wellesley and the Finishing Touch on Blanshard? It would make a fine new headquarters for a four-core-municipality amalgamated police force, heh heh...
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#73 G-Man

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Posted 01 June 2008 - 04:29 PM

Yup it would!

#74 amor de cosmos

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Posted 25 July 2008 - 08:22 PM

No mention of the new Kirk Hall building? :confused:

Region's office space scarce, vacancy rate hits 13-year low

Plenty of projects in the works, but not enough to meet demand, says Colliers

Andrew A. Duffy, Times Colonist
Published: Friday, July 25, 2008

An increase in demand, coupled with new supply of office space still at least a year if not two away from being complete, has driven the office vacancy rate in Victoria to a 13-year low according to a mid-year report from Colliers International.

Overall office vacancy in Victoria dropped to 2.3 per cent from 2.9 per cent over the first six months of the year according to the commercial real estate firm. There are expectations it could hit two per cent by the end of the year.

"The vacancy rate was as high as nine per cent in 2004 and it's now approaching two, and I believe we will hit that or go lower by the end of the year," said Colliers' Bob Law, one of the authors of the report. "It's come down from 2.9 in six months, and that's a really significant change -- demand is far exceeding supply at this point."

And that's not about to change anytime soon.

The report notes there is no new supply expected to hit the market until 2009 and 2010, and in fact 35,000 square feet of office space was taken out of the market recently with the demolition of offices on the 800-block of Yates Street.

The demolition work on Yates will eventually yield a 180,000 square foot, seven-storey office tower but it won't be ready for occupancy until 2010.

Other office space in the pipeline includes 10,000 square feet on two floors at 732 Broughton St. to be completed in 2009, 24,000 square feet at Dockside Green's first phase of office space also to be delivered in 2009 and the Raven Building at 4396 West Saanich Rd. that promises 18,000 square feet in late 2009.

The stalled, $160-million Radius project, which developer John Schucht vowed earlier this summer to resurrect, was to offer a mix of residential and commercial space over 350,000 square feet.

...

"The rental rates the majority of the market have been willing to pay over the last few years have not been sufficient to get people to build new buildings," he said, noting the tight market Victoria finds itself in should come as no surprise. "It's like any market, it has to get to a point where it's almost in crisis before something happens."

Predictably, a tight market has yielded an increase in rental rates for office space both downtown and in the suburbs.

Law said the average rate for existing supply of Class A space is between $21-25 per square foot with Class B rates closing in on $20 per square foot. New buildings are able to command $30 per square foot for both Class A and B space, based on the cost of construction.

Law noted government, which makes up about 50 per cent of the office market in Victoria, is really driving the market and is actively seeking in excess of 300,000 square feet of space.

"Our economy is in good shape and when the economy expands government seems to grow," he said. "The private sector is growing along with it, but at a slower rate."

Colliers report notes there is some relief ahead as there is as much as 600,000 square feet of proposed office space being planned which could, if developed, bring Victoria's vacancy rate back to its 25-year average of five per cent.

http://www.canada.co...28-3c606f1b96a5

#75 Nparker

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Posted 25 July 2008 - 11:16 PM

Or Gateway Green. I am beginning to think this project is just a myth.

#76 spanky123

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 09:11 AM

I have always wondered how Colliers gets their numbers. Do they only look at properties listed for lease with them I wonder?

There always seem to be a fair number of "for lease" or "for rent" signs downtown but I have no idea what % of the total market they represent.

#77 Marilyn

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 09:28 AM

Anecdotal evidence:

Ministry of Forests' offices are on the ground floor at Yates & Quadra in a space with huge windows. It's such a waste of retail space to have an office in that location missing thousands of pedestrians (passing trade) walking by every week. It's also very boring for the neighbourhood to have those tall blanked out windows. When I asked a developer about it he said there is virtually no office space left in Victoria.

#78 Holden West

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 09:39 AM

^I hate, hate, hate that usage. I hope it's temporary until new Class A space is created.

The offices on the ground floor of the Terasen building at Douglas and Fisgard look awful, too. Some day when the Hudson is completed retail might take off and the glassy curved corner entrance (currently offices) might be used as it was originally designed.

Nothing ruins sidewalk vibrancy like walking past tatty old venetian blinds and a row of cluttered, cramped, paper-strewn desks.
"Beaver, ahoy!""The bridge is like a magnet, attracting both pedestrians and over 30,000 vehicles daily who enjoy the views of Victoria's harbour. The skyline may change, but "Big Blue" as some call it, will always be there."
-City of Victoria website, 2009

#79 gumgum

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Posted 26 July 2008 - 02:18 PM

That ugly commercial/ office lowrise at May & Moss which housed the now evicted Moss Rock Cafe, now has blacked out windows at street level. It pisses me off.
It is soon to be BC Government office space.

#80 amor de cosmos

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Posted 27 July 2008 - 07:10 PM

How can there be any shortage of office space when there's stuff like this in the city:



There's enough room for 3 more of those buildings, or more than a whole other Van Island Tech Park!

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