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 !!!

SOVEREIGN TOWER - Metrotown, Burnaby - Bosa unveils its landmark project at Realtor Event - February 8, 2011

We had the pleasure of attending the unveiling of Bosa Properties landmark project tonight in Metrotown. The SOVEREIGN, soon to be constructed at 4509 Kingsway, can be expected to dominate the Burnaby skyline and offer a prestigious residence for those looking for an alternative to Vancouver's over-regulated downtown core. The first true skyscraper in Burnaby, the SOVEREIGN will mate an ultramodern hotel (167 rooms) to 25 floors of premium condos. Bosa Sales Manager, Jean Openshaw is to be congratulated for hosting an highly effective event. The Realtors I spoke with on the floor are convinced that the residential portion of the tower will sell out in a single day. Bosa is to be further congratulated for the open and fair manner in which this project is being marketed. There will be a total of three "opens," (no pre-selling) and no Offers will be accepted until February 19th. In addition, only one apartment will be sold per client. Offers will be received on a first-come, first-served basis, and security will be on hand to ensure that aggressive Buyers do not rush the door.

The first Realtor-Open for SOVEREIGN, 4509 Kingsway, was held on February 8. These door crashers are evidence of the heightened interest in this landmark project.

Ms. Jean Openshaw is the Sales Manager for the SOVEREIGN tower, at 4509 Kingsway. She has been very open and helpful, assisting in my preparation of two other articles on SOVEREIGN for the Runagates Club blog. I do thank her for that kindness.

The scale model for the SOVEREIGN tower seemed to draw even more interest than the display suites. At 511.4 feet it will be Burnaby's first true skyscraper. I was told that Bosa plans to begin excavation in three months time.

I had the pleasure of chatting with Daryll Simpson, one of the dozen Sales staff Bosa had on hand this evening. Mr. Simpson filled me in on a subject which has been of concern. Could Bosa find a hotel chain of sufficient credibility to match this prestigious project? It could...in New York. Bosa Properties is getting into the hotel business! The Burnaby-based developer will maintain ownership of the new hotel, and is already busy designing its 167 rooms. The name of the chain will be announced in two weeks time. The franchise agreement and further details are yet go under the pen. Mr. Simpson says that Burnaby residents will be pleasantly surprised when they learn which brand-name is coming to town.

Another of my concerns was how the developer and City of Burnaby planners would handle the incredibly high volume of traffic in and out of the SOVEREIGN tower. Simpson had the answer, which is confirmed by my photographs of the scale model, at ground level. All traffic flow around the building will be clockwise - all right turns. Vehicle access to Hotel parking and Retail parking will be confined to a single ramp on Willingdon Avenue.

In keeping with the landmark status of the SOVEREIGN, the tower designer- Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc, have conceived a very dramatic residential entrance coming off of Hazel Street. (corrected) The very wide and open ramp shows up well in these photos of the scale model.

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4509 Kingsway - a SOVEREIGN to rule over Metrotown

In Greater Vancouver the 'greed meter' went up another notch on Monday January 3, 2011. On that day property owners began receiving envelopes from B.C. Assessments, all bearing a late Christmas gift - significantly higher values on what they own. It shouldn't have taken the reasonably alert by surprise, because a company called LANDCOR DATA CORPORATION gave advance notice on December 8. My wife used that 'heads up' to advantage and made money by sharing the info with Buyers who were dithering in December. (Thanks LANDCOR!) But she lost a sale today because, very predictably, a Seller in Coquitlam rejected her close-to-asking-price Offer, and just bumped up the Asking Price, justifying avarice by waving a just received 2011 Assessment.
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Another useful 'Heads Up' arrived yesterday, this one from Jean Openshaw, a residential Sales Manager for Bosa Properties. (I see the Commercial Realtors also launched on this project yesterday.) Openshaw's email is very guarded but did offer a few details for the newest tower in Metrotown, Burnaby - which is guaranteed to sell out very quickly, no matter what they charge per unit. We always knew the $$ prices for the 162 condos at 4509 Kingsway would pinch, but Monday's big news news of steeper property values all across the board, will help Bosa staff justify very high sticker prices for those condos on floors 20 through 45. (Her email says "45-storeys and 511 feet,") Equally important is that while cities like Richmond have too many condos on the market, Burnaby still has room for growth.
This project has been in the works since 2005 but Bosa has finally given it a name other than "4509 Kingsway" It is now dubbed the "SOVEREIGN". I guess that was a no-brainer; the Sovereign will be the tallest tower on Kingsway, after all. In fact it will top out as the tallest tower in Greater Vancouver by virtue of the fact that it is being erected on Metrotown Ridge. To quote Ms. Openshaw- "Simply put, there is no high-rise residence that sits higher above sea level anywhere in Greater Vancouver." Something very cute we noticed in the email is that three bedroom apartments in the SOVEREIGN will be marketed as an "estate". I don't believe I've seen that before.

What I like most about this "landmark" project is that it is entirely "homegrown" - the developer, Bosa Properties is a Burnaby company and they have hired Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc., a firm which is located just five minutes from the project site. I am in fact eager to have a peek when the Sales Centre opens.

The SOVEREIGN, a 45 story landmark tower is now under development opposite Crystal Mall, the Chinese shopping complex in Metrotown, Burnaby. The pre-fab Sales Centre is going in this week, and Bosa sales staff are already chatting up registered buyers. The photo illustrates clearly the bottom ten floors for the hotel, and the upper fifteen floors which will host the 162 residential units.

The 45 floor SOVEREIGN tower (street level retail, a premium hotel, and 25 floors of condos) will soon rise at 4509 Kingsway (V5H 2A1). METROTOWN CENTRE is the second largest shopping complex in Canada. The SOVEREIGN property sits opposite to CRYSTAL MALL , the Chinese shopping centre located at 4500 Kingsway, Metrotown.

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2010 was an extremely interesting year in Vancouver property. I saw and heard plenty, and now kick myself that I didn't write a few Blog articles, if only to refute some of the baloney I read in the Vancouver SUN. I've resolved to change my writing habits. Articles on Gang warfare are by far the most popular among Runagates Club readers, but there are many other local issues worth exploring.

UPDATE- Further word from Ms. Openshaw which clarifies notes I had from another source. There will be "a total of 203 homes starting on the 20th floor all the way to the 45th. The first 3 floors are retail, 4 to 19 are hotel." Ms. Openshaw says site line photos will be ready soon. I will add them to this article when I receive them.

UPDATE - August 2015
I thought I would go back and slip in a photo of how the finished SOVEREIGN tower appears today.