But unlike other municipalities, Richmond can build only so high out of respect for air traffic in and out of Vancouver International Airport on Sea Island. Stations at Aberdeen Centre and Bridgeport are off limits for residential development, for example, and the entire downtown is limited to buildings of no more than 15 storeys.
The arms of the Fraser River on either side of the city and the Agricultural Land Reserve to the east impose further constraints on development. This has made planning for downtown's growth a challenge.
"We have to fill it with the right things - live, work play - in the right amounts," Crowe said.
Developer friendly
Richmond is developer friendly, however, and the Canada Line has underscored this. Building permits peaked in 2010 at $760 million, the first full year of the transit line's operation.
Yet residential development has long been seen as benefiting from transit access, with several projects brought to market in 2005 and 2006 in anticipation of the Canada Line's completion, including Cressey Development Corp.'s three-tower Lotus development; Century Group's two towers at Ocean Walk; and the 183-unit Versante by the Toyu Group.
Richmond's City Centre Area Plan (CCAP) expects a station like Brighouse, opposite Cadillac Fairview Corp. Ltd.'s and Ivanhoe Cambridge Inc.'s 240-store Richmond Centre shopping complex, will anchor a community of 26,000 to 30,000 residents and 15,000 to 19,000 jobs by 2041.
Yet the highest-profile projects of late have been Aspac Development Ltd.'s River Green and Onni Group's Ora, which benefit from proximity to the city-owned speedskating oval, an Olympic legacy, and a riverfront location near the city centre.
The projects aren't transit-oriented, but buyers aren't concerned - Aspac, for its part, has sold close to 300 units, or more than $280 million worth of real estate here.
The area's potential seemed so rich that Aspac added the former Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers site to its original 2007 purchase of 18.6 acres adjacent to the speedskating oval. It now owns the entire waterfront - 28 acres - between No. 2 Road and the Dinsmore Bridge, where the city expects 12,000 to 14,000 residents and 4,000 to 6,000 jobs will eventually exist.
"[Aspac's principals] believe in the future of that community along the river," said George Wong, principal of Magnum Projects and Aspac's designated spokesperson for the site.
Asian buyers
Unlike many other Richmond projects, River Green is drawing the majority of buyers - 80 per cent - from Vancouver, but Wong acknowledged that many are recent immigrants.
"There's still a large percentage of Asian buyers, but they didn't buy when they were in Shanghai, they didn't buy when they were in Beijing or Tokyo or wherever," he said. "They buy after they come here. They're local Asians."
The riverfront location and proximity to Richmond's downtown core and the airport are key factors in the boom of the riverfront community.
Competition is fierce, however.
MPC Intelligence Inc. notes that Richmond faces a significant stock of unsold inventory entering 2011, and with 530 units yet to be released in the market there will be little incentive to bring new projects on stream.
Still, new projects have sold well and Wong expects supply to keep pace with buyer demand. He likens what's happening in Richmond to what Coal Harbour experienced a decade ago when he was marketing projects there for Aspac.
"There are a number of projects on the market, so it's a beauty pageant of sorts," he said.
One thing's for certain: the influx of residents should help Richmond's downtown core grow up from a suburban centre to something more urban.
"When Coal Harbour started developing with the high-end condo buildings, the businesses on Robson Street grew and expanded because it just fed a lot of consumers to the closest cluster of services, which was and still is Robson Street," Wong said. "So in the same vein, River Green is going to deliver a bigger customer base to ... the downtown core of Richmond."
Some of the development is happening within the residential towers.
Trinity Western University is going to open a 22,000-square-foot campus at Elmbridge Way and Minoru Boulevard as part of a five-tower residential development, for example. The space will be donated by the developer, but proximity to the downtown core and rapid transit made the gift an appealing one to accept.
Retail space
Similarly, commercial activity is also adjusting to the anticipated growth.
Fairchild Group's Aberdeen Square, an extension of Aberdeen Centre connecting the shopping mall with the adjacent Canada Line station, saw rapid sales in September 2010 when 250,000 square feet were offered to the market.
Transportation infrastructure generally is also positioning industrial properties for the economic rebound that's led the industrial market to one of the brightest new years in memory.
"Investment activity was robust in 2010, with many investors capitalizing on both the low cost of borrowing and a number of quality investment opportunities coming to market," Colliers International reported in its year-end survey of the Richmond industrial market. Significant deals included Tonko Realty Advisors Ltd.'s sale of two properties totalling close to 160,000 square feet to a private investor for $18.2 million, and Hungerford Group's purchase of 1700-1900 No. 6 Road for $14.7 million.
Steady leasing activity and no major additions to the market are expected to keep vacancies firm in the range of 3.6 per cent through 2011. Still, the loss of inventory as residential projects develop closer to the core is a concern.
Hundreds of thousands of square feet will be lost as areas are tagged to accommodate future residential growth. Richmond has about 325 acres zoned for industrial use in the city centre and planners have also set aside several areas for commercial and industrial use, but Crowe said everyone from residential to industrial developers are going to have to explore opportunities for densification.
from Western Investor, April 2011
