Developer Concord Pacific has bought the Molson brewery site in Vancouver for a price $136 million higher than the appraised value of the industrial-zoned waterfront site.
The $185 million deal closed March 31. According to real estate market analysis service RealNet, as of the sale date, the assessed value of the building was $15.4 million and the land was worth $33.6 million, for a total assessment of $49 million.
A Concord spokesperson has confirmed that Concord will lease back the property to Molson to continue to operate until a new brewery is built, expected to be in 2018 or 2019.
The Molson site is located at the south end of Vancouver’s Burrard Street Bridge, an area dominated by high-priced condominiums.
Kirk Kuester, executive managing director for Colliers International Vancouver, said Colliers represented Molson in the transaction and would not be providing any further comment on the sale.
Concord Pacific, one of British Columbia’s largest new-home developers, said it plans to “create a … sustainable mixed-use addition to Vancouver,” according to a statement from Concord senior vice-president of development Peter Webb.
“The Concord Pacific group's venture capital arm invests actively in the IT, telecom and green technology industries,” Webb said. “Concord owns and operates Maximizer, a Vancouver-based IT company, Novus Entertainment, a local telecom company servicing thousands of households in Vancouver as well as Concord Green Energy with green power generating projects across the county.
“Concord's long-term vision is to attract knowledge-based local and global tech companies to this site.”
However, in terms of turning the site into mixed-use property, the City of Vancouver said it has not received a rezoning application for the site.
“The property is zoned industrial and shown in the regional context statement as industrial, any change to that would require a regional amendment by Metro Vancouver,” the city statement said.
“The city’s policies for these lands are set, and staff are not contemplating any changes to current policies.”
Architect and developer Michael Geller, who recently recommended that light industrial and residential should be mixed in Vancouver to address housing affordability issues and a loss of industrial sites, said the Molson property could be a template for the concept.
“Absolutely,” Geller said. “There's no reason why [Concord] can't build a substantial amount of light industrial/high tech space with housing above or beside. This makes a lot more sense than a traditional heavy industrial use in accordance with the current zoning.”
