METROPLACE 6309 Telford Avenue, Burnaby Metrotown - Intracorp shines with well run Realtor preview

I attended the Realtor Preview for Intracorp's METROPLACE Tower this afternoon, and I must admit that the event went very well. I think Intracorp learned a great deal from BOSA's experience marketing SOVEREIGN Tower one month ago, and they put that knowledge to good use. These two "super-towers" are a new experience for Burnaby, and it is gratifying to see that every attempt is being made to ensure that sales go smoothly and fairly. There is such incredible interest in METROPLACE that the fear exists that a select few Realtors would be given privileged access, and their colleagues shut out. This has happened in the past but we are seeing a much fairer and more manageable environment of late. The smooth marketing of "skyscrapers" like SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE could do much to foster Buyer confidence in all the other proposed developments in the Metrotown corridor. . At the event I addressed my questions to Brett Anderson, an Intracorp sales rep on the floor. I learned that METROPLACE Tower is up for Third Reading at the next meeting of Burnaby City Council - Monday, April 4th. Coincidentally, the CHANCELLOR Tower, being developed by POLYGON, is also on Council's agenda the same night. There is huge interest in the CHANCELLOR development, located next to Bonsor Community Centre. That building will be family oriented, with nothing smaller than two bedroom units. Realtors are shown lined up in front of the METROPLACE presentation centre on McKay Avenue in Metrotown, at 1PM, March 31, 2011. INTRACORP clearly learned a great deal from how BOSA handled the recent marketing of SOVEREIGN Tower. Hired security did a superb job of managing - a business card and a B.C. drivers licence was required of every entrant. Dozens of gatecrashers were turned away with no fuss at all. (R. Jack photo) The scale model for METROPLACE Tower, 6309 Telford Avenue, Metrotown, was unveiled at the special preview for Realtors held on March 31, 2011. At least 250 Realtors attended the opening, which was very well run and tastefully catered. One of the design features of METROPLACE tower which might leave non-Chinese visitors a tad bemused, is the absence of the number "4" which reminds the Chinese of death. None of the apartment units employ the number four, there is no 14th, 24th or 34th floor, and floors 40-49 also do not exist. The three penthouse units are not on the "47th floor" but rather on the 6oth "level". Western superstition is though, totally ignored. There is a 13th floor. I noticed in the METROPLACE discussion thread over at SKYSCRAPERPAGE.COM that there were plenty of comments on the Chinese numbering system for the building. Here is one of a series of photos I took in the Sales Centre, in case anyone doubts that ten floors disappear in METROPLACE numbering. An expatriate reader noted that even in China the towers retain floors 40 thru 49. The only thing avoided is, for example, an "Apt. 40 -04" or an "Apt 41 - 04". Susan Rutledge, who is the Vice President of Sales for METROPLACE Tower, ran the ever popular prize draw for Realtors.

METROPLACE Tower, 6309 Telford Avenue, Burnaby Metrotown - the scale model shows the town houses and parking ramp at the base of the 47 floor structure. The smallest of the one bedroom units will not have an assigned parking space. The developer, Intracorp, will offer a two year transit pass. (R. Jack photo)

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Shooting holes in the sky - METROPLACE - Prices that give local buyers pause, don't scare wealthy Chinese. But should they?

METROPLACE - PART TWO

"Sustainable" this, "sustainable" that, "sustainable" everything. Sustainability... it's the most annoying catchphrase in B.C. since NDP Premier Glen Clark had EVERYBODY in the province mouthing his pat phrase at every interview, "At the end of the day". Well now, doesn't it begin to look like some of our condo developers and our municipal governments are counting on BIG Chinese money, or rather an endless stream of Chinese real estate Buyers, to become a "sustainable resource"? It seems obvious that the Chinese are becoming a natural resource to be exploited, right up there with mining and forestry.

I don't want to pick on the folks at Intracorp, but their 46 storey METROPLACE Tower will be the next venue for a feeding frenzy. I'm sure they can rationalize their pricing a dozen different ways - "Quality", "Demand", "Location", "Development Fees"...take your pick. But what they can't explain away is the fact that they are squeezing people into ever smaller units, while jacking up the prices. Bottom end units in METROPLACE tower are 491 sq ft and 500 sq ft, with one open room shared as a kitchenette and living room. Townhouses at the base, are another matter. How about putting in one less unit per floor, and giving people some leg room?

METROPLACE Type B - 491 sq ft "All starting from the $250's". Well.... yeah, there will be a dozen of these given away, if only to make the advertising legal. But for most bottom end units, teensy weensy units you can expect to pay a cool $300K when you've covered everything, including your lawyer and other incidentals.


What do super towers like SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE do for us in Metrotown, besides shooting holes in the sky? They offer us fewer chips in the bag, while boasting of the flavour.

I call it the "Cherry Blossom Syndrome". Few immigrants know it, but Canada once used Imperial measurement, as the Americans still do. One of the economic "legacies" of the Trudeau Era was the imposition of the metric system. Canadian children suffered the metric conversion even more than adults, because it allowed the greedy businessman to victimize us. Candy, potato chip and pop makers were very quick to reduce our favorite treats to much smaller sizes (offered in grams) but not one reduced their sell price. My weekly sugar fix was the Lowney Cherry Blossom, a delicious mound of chocolate with a whole cherry in its centre. The metric Cherry Blossom was a pitiful thing, and I never bought another one. With real estate being what it is, an added advantage to current runaway prices is, the kids won't notice you made the candy smaller.

Ten years ago 700 - 730 square foot units were the average sized, one bedroom condos being sold in Metrotown. I do fear the arrival of these 490 -500 sq ft units at SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE are establishing a benchmark low, which will persist. We'll soon see, as new designs for shorter towers will be approved over the next 36 months. This morning I had a look at measurements for the MONARCH, a popular condo tower on Hazel Street. BOSA built it, and it has one of the best reputations in Metrotown. For one thing, it's not a "leaker". The MONARCH was built in 1999 and its one bedroom units averaged 712 -722 square feet. A one bedroom and den usually measured 769 square feet ("All measurements subject to Buyer verification.") The point is, the shaving down of unit size is just a significant factor in repulsing local Buyers as the sky high prices fueled by offshore money. Chinese VIP customers brought in on purchasing junkets may not care, but the rest of us have to. If you are at all curious about Price History to go with the MONARCH floor measurements, you can have a look. [MLS Search result]

I suppose we can consider another time, what government-imposed costs (GICs) are doing to drive up local condo prices. That's also a scary subject. Now on the lighter side...

Here we see Metrotown, Burnaby as depicted in Microsoft's Flight Simulator X. That is Deer Lake down slope, (the redeveloped site of the former Oakalla Prison), and the runway shaped Burnaby Lake in the distance.
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METROPLACE - 46 floor Burnaby skyscraper is intended to spearhead mega-development south of Metrotown Mall

PART ONE
Is it just me, or have you too noticed that life on the Pacific Coast is getting truly, truly surreal? I don't refer merely to the skyrocketing cost of living, but to all of the little things. The fixation on hand-held electronic gadgets, the mania to be a Facebook "friend", and the high school science teachers who prefer to screen BACK TO THE FUTURE in their classrooms, rather than bore their pupils with the Periodic Table. In Burnaby high schools even the Chemistry teachers show Hollywood feature films.
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Recently I decided on purchasing an investment condo, and suddenly I began to notice plenty which I used to put on ignore. An example is our shared race to adjust to a massive and significant demographic shift in our resident population. I welcome it, but there is no doubt it will be even more consequent than the many social changes we underwent during the "Countdown to Hong Kong 1997". Twenty years ago BCTV News used to impress us with images of quaint Chinese urban lifestyle. Remember those video clips of Beijing streets awash with hordes of commuters on bicycles? Remember those shots of pencil-thin Hong Kong apartment towers where whole families lived like rabbits in less than 500 square feet? Where are we today? The "people's cadres" running Vancouver City Hall are tenaciously tearing up the traffic grid and installing bicycle paths. Utopia demands its concessions. In "suburban" Burnaby in 2011, ALL new towers offer affordable "homes" of less than 500 square feet. Extraordinary! Come to think of it... we are rushing back to the future!
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Last month I had the opportunity to interview Maurice Pez, who is SVP Development at INTRACORP. He is spearheading the development of Burnaby's second new skyscraper - METROPLACE. In my preliminary research I read the Municipal website and the newspaper archives. Only one paper had been covering the project. Wanda Chow of the BURNABY NEWSLEADER attended council meeting and provided a thumbnail history in her story filed on November 4: 46-storey highrise pitched next to Metrotown station Much of the tower site is currently operating as BURNABY STORE - ALL, renting storage lockers. Intracorp has "been in partnership" with the owner of the property for about six years. Big projects have a very long time-line.

Mr. Pez exuded confidence in his project, which has passed Second Reading and was eager to give a great deal of credit for its genesis to City of Burnaby staff. I wanted to know if he felt well received when he presented METROPLACE at a meeting of open council, but he had no impressions to offer. "We were asked not to present." Who then had "pitched" the proposal to the city and the television audience? Basil Lufkin - Burnaby Director of Planning, a man whom Intracorp meets with regularly. Pez was also very generous in his praise of the Planning Committee. They intend that Intracorp's 46-storey tower be the catalyst for a sweeping redevelopment of the entire Maywood neighborhood, south of Metrotown Skytrain station. "It's their vision...their committee has driven this... they told us - 'You have to hit this out of the park - or we won't bring it forward'." This will necessarily entail the demolition of a few older apartment blocks but Pez doesn't see this coming over the horizon for 5 to 6 years. METROPLACE Tower will front on Beresford, and Pez revealed that Intracorp is already working on a second, shorter tower which will also front on Beresford. It's too early to discuss that project, but I predict that if METROPLACE sells out in a day, emulating the success of Bosa's SOVEREIGN, there is no doubt METROPLACE'S little brother will be fast-tracked.
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I asked Pez how they had come up with such a bland name as "Metroplace", and he assured me that it was the result of very careful deliberation. I was reminded of the name "Centrepoint", an earlier Intracorp project in Metrotown, of which I'll have more to say in PART TWO of this Blog article. The architect for METROPLACE tower is Busby Perkins + Will, which is no surprise, as they have been working for the City on planning Maywood's future and other transit-centric proposals. Mr. Pez, who is himself an architect, assured me that METROPLACE is going to turn heads when completed. Pez disdains the "cookie cutter" designs of Intracorp's rivals and wants to present designs which are fresh. [Mr. Pez explains what makes a great building on an Inttracorp video, here.] The municipality he says, has always been self conscious of Burnaby's lack of a pedestrian friendly "High Street" and they envision Beresford after a 2011-2014 growth spurt, as morphing into something akin to Vancouver's Robson Street where "ceremonial events" can be staged. I enjoyed our conversation.

This CGI rendering of MetroPlace Tower shows the building looming over the current Metrotown Skytrain Station. Beresford Street and the station will each be getting a total rebuild. [Image courtesy of Intracorp]

The METROPLACE Tower site is currently hosting the Burnaby Store-All, located at 6541 Telford Avenue (not "Street" as I mis-labeled this photo). In the background squats the Metrotown Skytrain Station. That much criticized station is a pedestrian bottleneck, and also a constant magnet for the drug trade and assorted petty crime. The train station and the adjacent bus loop will be completely rebuilt, in concert with the construction of METROPLACE Tower. Buses will get curbside access on the south side of the station. [Image via Google Street View]

. "M" for Metroplace Tower - in 2007 a much less ambitious tower was proposed for the corner site. The current commercial building at 6541 Telford will be demolished in mid-2011. METROPLACE Tower will front on Beresford Street (address not yet assigned) and some of the townhouses at its base will get numbers on Telford Avenue. "S" in the upper right corner of the photo is the site of Metrotown's other great landmark - SOVEREIGN Tower, soon to rise at 4509 Kingsway.

THE SOVEREIGN - Chinese Money fuels the launch of Burnaby's first skyscaper

Where were you on June 20, 2010? That was day NEWS 1130 flashed the announcement that the ambitious RIVER GREEN development in Richmond had SOLD OUT in a single weekend. Imagine the scale of that accomplishment - pulling in $145 MILLION DOLLARS and breaking a Richmond, B.C. sales record, in a weekend. I remember driving out to the site, after the hoopla had died, and walking across the abandoned parking lot of the Olympic Speed Skating Oval. It looked like lunch-break on the sound stage of a dystopian Science Fiction movie. The Oval is still a sad 'white elephant', but for a few years (I give it 30 max) the glass giant will graze contentedly among some of the wealthiest people in Canada.

A TVNews clip on YOU TUBE. The June 2010 video reports that the RIVER GREEN project in Richmond achieved a monster Sales Record. The clip has had only 1,902 hits in eight months. Surprising, as the Internet is now the primary source of Real Estate news and information in our region. The reference to "ASIAN HOT MONEY" is kind of amusing. FINTRAC knows it as Chinese "Black Money" and certainly RIVER GREEN attracted plenty of it.

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THE SOVEREIGN - a post mortem

Metrotown's first skyscraper project took in $98 million, setting a single-day sales record for Burnaby

I was, and still remain, impressed with how the staff at Bosa Properties handled the sale of the SOVEREIGN Tower on February 19th. This is not a paid endorsement. Yes, I ate the free food at the first night Realtor Preview, but I was there as a prospective purchaser. (In the end, I passed on buying a condo at 4509 Kingsway, but that decision is another matter.) In fairness to the helpful comments submitted by readers of this Blog, I think we need to bring some perspective to the issue of how tall buildings are touted in our part of the world.

I began following SOVEREIGN two months before the Sale event, and BOSA staff were always frank in answering my queries. If you reread my second article on SOVEREIGN, in which I raised the issue of the "infamous" marketing of The Crystal Mall one decade ago, you will see that I was broaching the possibility that local Buyers would get the shaft, as they often do, when BIG offshore money buys condos in bulk. When super-scale projects are hustled offshore it is not merely that first-time Buyers get frozen out, but rather that the "lucky" winners, those often ill-informed, pay far too much. I was selling real estate when the residential and retail units at The Crystal were being flogged to the gullible. As a result of how the developer marketed CRYSTAL components, many Buyers were burned and the Mall remained a stagnant embarrassment during its first few years of operation. The only interesting thing that went on at the Crystal residences were the comings and goings of fugitive Chinese billionaire Lai Changxing.

Daryl Simpson, a senior staffer at BOSA PROPERTIES, steps out into the steady Burnaby rain to help erect a tent. BOSA did it's best to stay ahead of a very fluid situation, as the excitement for THE SOVEREIGN project spread over Vancouver.

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Many of the readers of this Blog were potential Buyers at the SOVEREIGN event. Two of them were eyewitness to events and submitted helpful comments. The lineups did cause a few to lose their cool, and there were a few bristling encounters with sales staff. The fact that BOSA staff were overwhelmed by the rush of Buyers, is obvious - after installing a prefab Sales Centre on site, the demand became so great that they brought in a tent and heaters to handle the crowd on February 19. Sales Manager Jean Openshaw told me... "we didn't have any idea to expect this kind of response when we started marketing Sovereign. ...We had not even considered that the tower would sell out until we saw the response on our first preview night." I believe her.

More to the point - I detect no bulk sales of units at SOVEREIGN. If there were "insider" sales, they were minor in scale. Too often in Greater Vancouver this is not the case. I can think of several projects where hopeful Buyers never had a chance. Instances in which hard working realtors stood in line, waiting patiently with their pre-registered clients, only to learn that everything was gone. It can get worse when, not long after, large blocks of units are put on the market as ASSIGNS, and many of those assigns are controlled by Sales Persons employed by the project developer.

The reason why so many were willing to line up for so long at SOVEREIGN is obvious. If local market conditions persist, apartment units at 4509 Kingsway will 'flip' at a handsome profit in 2014. The Buyers I met and mixed with are almost exclusively young and well educated Chinese, who are looking for opportunities to make money. A few will opt to take up residence in THE SOVEREIGN, but not many. In fact, when a Strata Council is organized for the building in 2014, it will be nearly impossible to achieve an Owner's quorum at monthly meetings.

I do care that all residents of Burnaby benefit from several large scale projects which are coming to fruition after years of co-operative planning with City Hall. They will change the skyline and boost the mix of goods and services available in Metrotown. It's equally important that newly arrived Chinese Buyers are well informed before they invest in our city, and that some hold their investments for a few years beyond completion of each tower. We have achieved 'proof of concept', that a true residential skyscraper is not only feasible in Metrotown, but that investors are demanding more of them. The Intracorp Management Team, which is bringing a 46 floor METROPLACE Tower to market, is just as forthcoming as BOSA staff, and I will share their comments in my next Blog.

An artist's rendering of the grand residential entrance to the 45 floor SOVEREIGN Tower, soon to begin construction at 4509 Kingsway, Burnaby. Delivery of entry keys to the individual apartment Buyers is expected early in 2014.

And finally, a Bosa Blast from Past... nobody I know can afford to buy dirt in Burnaby in 2011. This is what Bosa offered premium building lots for back in 1979 !!!

Dueling Towers in Metrotown - the race into the sky

The balloon went up at 12 Noon. On the ground a few necks craned skyward to watch the van-sized yellow blimp swaying in the light breeze. Most attempted to follow the faint white line of tether to its anchor point. What was the promotion? The balloon trailer was parked 4509 Kingsway. Location, location, location!



In front of the SOVEREIGN sales centre on Kingsway, a squirming scrum of prospective condo Buyers waited for the doors to open. All were Asian, all were focused on acquisition and all were oblivious to the yellow blimp. This was the second realtor opening for Bosa Properties' "Estates" in the sky, coming soon to the corner of Kingsway and Willingdon Avenue.



The blimp was intended to punctuate the full structural height of 514.4 feet which the SOVEREIGN tower will top out approximately two years from today, with completion in early 2014.
The handsome 45 story "skyscraper" will rise above Metrotown next door to the Bosa Properties corporate head office, which is at 4555 Kingsway, Burnaby.


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DUELING TOWERS
Something extraordinary is about to happen in Burnaby. The cap on building height has finally been lifted for the Metrotown corridor, and we are about to witness a race to the sky. Two beautiful buildings will be competing for bragging rights.... the tallest, the greater number of floors, the better views ... the better investment. Bosa's SOVEREIGN has the jump on Intracorp's METROPLACE, but we may see a neck-in-race race to complete. That would be fun, and put some overtime $$$ in the pockets of deserving building trades. METROPLACE will be an all-condo building and it is going to harvest a mountain of cash, so they could afford to make it a horse race. The company is hinting at cheaper prices, but nobody gives anything away in a Sellers' Market. You can give a listen to Intracorp President Don Forsgren in a short YOUTUBE spot (here).

The METROPLACE people just assembled a Sales Center (left foreground) next door to the HILTON. It was a bold move, setting up a presence under the windows of the Bosa Properties HQ, which is located in the Staples Building (right background). High above floats the blimp, marking the site of SOVEREIGN Tower. The actual site of the METROPLACE Tower is behind the Metrotown Skytrain Station, but why hide the Sales Centre over there? My fondest wish is that Intracorp had chosen the name "Metropolis" . Bosa has won the naming game, and is first out of the gate with its marketing.

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DUELING HOTELS

Surely the good folks at HILTON cannot be happy with Bosa Properties, which has elected to enter the hotel business. Much more ambitious than the original 2006 proposal, the mating of a 20 floor hotel to a residential tower, and during a period of record setting prices, guarantees that Bosa will make a great deal of money. Ownership of the hotel in the SOVEREIGN Tower will be retained by Bosa and under the titular management of an American hotel chain. SOVEREIGN and METROPLACE are development unleashed, and the appropriate cliche is that we "are sailing into uncharted waters". I can think of a few antiquated, wood frame apartment blocks in Metrotown which must be feeling the chill breath of development. The rising public expectation is that more skyscrapers are coming to Metrotown. I hear that opinion expressed all over town.

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The METROPLACE Presentation Centre will not open until March. In the meantime its spiffy new signboard boasts their tower will have 46 Floors... one more than Bosa's SOVEREIGN. Just a month ago they were advertising "45" floors. Perhaps they plan to squeeze a few floors (lower ceilings) as is often done in downtown Vancouver.