AMAZON VANCOUVER OFFICE TO OPEN AT NEW TELUS GARDEN WITH 1,000 EMPLOYEE

AMAZON VANCOUVER OFFICE TO OPEN AT NEW TELUS GARDEN WITH 1,000 EMPLOYEE

Worldwide electronic commerce giant Amazon.com will be opening a massive new office in downtown Vancouver.

Earlier this year, it was reported that Amazon will be opening a Vancouver office. However, instead of following the suburban office park model, it has taken the same route many other companies have increasingly taken by choosing downtown Vancouver – an highly urbanized location – as their new home.

According to Techvibes, Amazon plans to open a 91,000 square foot (possibly up to 156,000 square feet) office at the new TELUS Garden development. It will take up approximately 20 per cent of the space at the new 22-storey office building at the intersection of Richards and West Georgia Streets.

The building is currently under construction with completion expected in 2015. Close to 1,000 people could be employed at Amazon’s new Vancouver office.

The new office tower is built jointly by TELUS and local developer Westbank. It will serve as the new TELUS headquarters with the relocation of its thousands of employees from “the boot” office tower at Kingsway and Boundary Roads in Burnaby.

Bull Houser will also join TELUS and Amazon as one of the office tower’s major tenants. The 140-year old law firm has spent 40 years at Royal Centre and its move will bring 250 employees to 67,000 square feet of office space over three floors at TELUS Garden.

The office building is also part of a wider $750-million TELUS development project that will include a 44-storey residential tower with 420 units at the intersection of Robson and Richards on the other end of the city block. Each of the two buildings consists of approximately 500,000 square feet of space and will include public plazas, restaurants, retail spaces and pedestrianized laneways – a first for Vancouver.

The office tower component is targeted to be Canada’s first Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Platinum certified building based on the new 2009 LEED standards.

TELUS Garden is one of the largest and most significant projects in Vancouver’s recent office tower building boom, which includes MNP Tower, the large floor plate office space above Nordstrom, The Exchange Tower, 745 Thurlow Street, 601 West Hastings and the office building at Marine Gateway in South Vancouver.

Amazon’s new Canadian office in Vancouver will bring this arm of the global giant conveniently close to the company’s headquarters in Seattle. The revelation of the new Vancouver office comes after the May 2013 announcement of Amazon’s new headquarters office development in downtown Seattle.

The company was founded at Seattle in 1994 and has 15,000 employees in the city and nearly 90,000 globally. Its new multi-tower office project in Seattle’s city centre holds a capacity for 12,000 employees.

Courtesy of http://www.vancitybuzz.com

REBGV Commercial Edge Report - Q3 2013‏

REBGV Commercial Edge Report - Q3 2013‏

Value of Lower Mainland commercial property transactions climbs in third quarter

 

While the number of commercial property transactions in the Lower Mainland continues to trend below recent years, the third quarter of 2013 saw an increase in the dollar value of properties sold, according to data from Commercial Edge, a commercial real estate system operated by the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).

The total dollar value of commercial sales in the region reached $1.411 billion in the third quarter (Q3) of 2013. This represents a 16.6 per cent increase from Q3 2012 and a 35.7 per cent increase from Q2 2013.

There were 393 commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, according to Commercial Edge. This is a 17.4 per cent decline compared to the 476 sales recorded in Q3 2012, a 20.6 per cent decline from the 495 sales recorded in Q3 2011, and a 2 per cent decline from the 401 sales recorded over the same period in 2010.

“The total dollar value of commercial sales increased in the Lower Mainland last quarter thanks in large part to activity in the office and retail sector,” Sandra Wyant, REBGV president said. “The total number of commercial sales in the region this year continues to trend behind what we saw between 2010 and 2012.”

The Commercial Edge system includes all commercial real estate transactions in the Lower Mainland, excluding Pitt Meadows and Chilliwack, that have been registered with the Land Title and Survey Authority (LTSA) of British Columbia since 2009.

Q3 2013 activity by category:

• Land: There were 131 commercial land sales registered with LTSA in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, down 10.9 per cent from the 147 land sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of land sales in Q3 2013 was $479 million, down 16.5 per cent from $573 million in Q3 2012.
• Office and Retail: There were 141 office and retail sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, a 15.1 per cent decline from the 166 office and retail sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of office and retail sales in Q3 2013 was $575 million, a 95.6 per cent increase from $294 million in Q3 2012.
• Industrial: There were 92 industrial land sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, down 30.8 per cent from the 133 industrial land sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of industrial sales in Q3 2013 was $226 million, a 5.3 per cent decrease from $239 million in Q3 2012.
• Multi-Family: There were 29 multi-family sales in the Lower Mainland in Q3 2013, which is virtually unchanged from the 30 sales in Q3 2012. The dollar value of multi-family sales in Q3 2013 was $131 million, a 26 per cent increase from $104 million in Q2 2012.

 

Full Report:

www.issuu.com/annaasi/docs/commercial_edge_release_q.3_2013?e=1402552/5865590