Pearl: small-town charm with big-city connections ›› p.6
Living Coquitlam
January 28, 2010
MAGGIE CALLOWAY Coquitlam is one of the fastest-growing areas in Canada. With a population of 125,000, the scenic city is bordered by Port Moody, Port Coquitlam, Burnaby, and New Westminster, with the Fraser River to the south, Pitt River to the east and the coastal Mountains to the north. Coquitlam’s population increased by
TRICIA LESLIE
Columbia, French Canadian settlers arrived in Maillardville in 1909. The southwest has established residential neighbourhoods and a large network of both public and commercial services. Three major industrial and business parks are conveniently located here between the Fraser River and the Lougheed Highway. The town centre is a newer, 720-hectare community. It provides a dynamic focus as the regional town centre for the northeast sector of Greater Vancouver. When planning for the town centre began in the CONTINUED ON P.2
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Coquitlam: an attractive lifestyle more than 21 per cent between 1986 and 1991 and again from 1991 to 1996. A further increase of 10.9 per cent of population occurred between 1996 and 2001. But there is room to grow. “Present and planned services will comfortably handle a population around 200,000,” says Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart. Four distinct areas form the whole of Coquitlam. Southwest Coquitlam is where the French Canadian community of Maillardville is located. The oldest and largest Francophone community in British
Annual luncheon has a more positive tone than ’09 Hundreds of industry leaders converged on Vancouver’s Hyatt Regency Hotel Thursday for the Urban Development Institute’s (Pacific Region) annual forecast luncheon. Polygon president and CEO Neil Chrystal emceed the affair, quick with a quip as he handed out raffle awards and forecast prizes. The three presenters – John O’Bryan, vice-chairman of CB Richard Ellis; Brian McAuley, president of Concert Properties; Ward McAllister, president and CEO of Ledingham McAllister – spoke to different facets of the real estate industry, but all had a similar message: Canada’s housing market, and especially, the Metro Vancouver market, weathered a tumultuous storm well during 2009. Office vacancy rates didn’t show much impact at all in the first part of 2009, O’Bryan notes, which gave us “a good idea of how strong our market is,” and the Canadian market was active enough to “pick up that billion-dollar shortfall.” But, because activity south of the border does reflect in the Canadian markets, O’Bryan says that U.S. commercial bank recovery is essential for markets to return to normal. The retail market has been amazingly resilient, he says, not like in the States, where “retail is a pariah,” and Canadian multi-residential sales were slow and steady, which O’Bryan says is a result of immigrants moving to Canada. Overall, O’Bryan predicts a regular year in the real estate market, across the board, with the last half perhaps, better than the
Coquitlam Mayor Richard Stewart says there’s plenty of room to grow in this vibrant city, which is thriving and attracting new residents every day. Rob Newell photo
City burgeons with culture, sports, business and nature
UDI speakers forecast a brighter 2010