Building boom hopes to ease Vancouver’s tight commercial real estate vacancy rate (with video)

VANCOUVER -- A building boom downtown is creating much-needed office space in Vancouver, city officials say.

Vancouver Mayor Gregor Robertson helped break ground Thursday on The Exchange, a $200-million, 31-storey Credit Suisse office tower in the financial district, one of seven buildings now under construction downtown.

Robertson heralded the projects as an end to the citys business vacancy woes, as Vancouver remains one of North Americas tightest markets for office space.

Vancouvers vacancy rate for Class A office space sits at 5.3 per cent. That compares with 8.7 per cent in Montreal and 9.7 per cent in Edmonton. But according to Cushman and Wakefield, Vancouvers vacancy rate is projected to jump to 7.7 per cent this year and to 10.5 per cent in 2015.

When it comes to the strength of Vancouvers office market, weve come a long way in the last five years. Robertson said. A few years ago our economy was being held back by a lack of space, we had a critical shortage and its wonderful to see the market respond.

He said the city has approved as much office space in the last four years as in the previous decade. Up until recently, the city was projecting a critical shortage of office space by 2031 if land-use policies remained the same. Robertson said new zoning bylaws enacted in 2009 helped get the new towers off the ground. The seven towers under construction downtown will total 2.18-million square feet of new office space.

He said Credit Suisses decision to build from the ground up in Vancouver signals that international corporations realize the city is one of the strongest office markets in North America.

The Exchange, which will be joined with the old Stock Exchange building built in 1929 at 475 Howe St., will be the first LEED Platinum conversion of a heritage building in Canada. LEED Platinum is the highest designation for sustainable building design from the Canada Green Building Council.

It is the first B.C. venture for Credit Suisse and will provide 369,000 square feet of office space, or enough space for 1,700 workers.

The tower will not only add much-needed office space in the downtown core but also contribute to the citys goal of becoming the greenest city in the world, Robertson said..

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Building boom hopes to ease Vancouver's tight commercial real estate vacancy rate (with video)