Onni breathes new life into a North Vancouver neighbourhood with its new condo development, The Drive. ›› p.4 Anderson Walk: history and brand-new homes come together at Polygon’s latest development ›› p.7
September 30, 2010
Building outside the box
Creating dream homes When Metro Vancouver builders get carte blanche, they deliver TRICIA LESLIE Romantic villas accented with warm wood, terra cotta and stucco. Modern estates that feature clean, sleek, contemporary lines. Metro Vancouver homebuilders do a fantastic job of building new homes, whether they are condos, rowhomes, townhomes or single-family detached houses. The proof is in the pudding: many new-home developments are still sellouts, or near-sellouts, on opening day, and satisfied homeowners “Build a home give glowing testimonials about their newly that our purchased home. grandchildren Earlier this week, More than 700 Metro will want to Vancouver real estate come to.” professionals registered for an opening event presented by The Key marketing agency and Onni that focused on Onni’s new Richmond three-tower project, entitled Ora. Pre-sales started Tuesday, and organizers were expecting the first release of sales to sell out quickly. But for the custom builder who has the luxury of building new homes to their clients’ taste – or to have carte blanche on the entire design with a blank cheque in hand – the ability to realize their own dream homes can be realized. They have a chance to ‘build outside the box’ – and they do it exceptionally well. At Tuscan Developments, founder and president Mark Peers creates homes that
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Tuscan Developments president Mark Peers at a fabulous house he recently finished in South Surrey. He and other Metro Vancouver custom builders feel lucky when they’re able to ‘build outside the box.’ Martin Knowles photo
stand apart from the every day crowd, from a Dutch Colonial-style home that focuses on simplicity and elegance with its symmetrical proportions and rich wood accents to Spanish-style villas that feature high, arched windows, tiled roofs, Juliette balconies to
bring the light inside, and terra cotta-tiled foyers. Peers recently finished a beautiful Spanish-style villa in South Surrey. While the homeowners love it, it has also CONTINUED ON P.2
REBGV honours local builders The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver honoured Metro Vancouver builders at the first-ever REBGV Commercial Building Awards Sept. 23 in Vancouver. While the awards recognized commercial building, many of the award-winners had strong residential components, such as the Judges’ Choice Award for best overall: the Woodward’s Building Redevelopment at 100 West Hastings. A former landmark known for its distinctive ‘W’ and its Christmas window displays, the former Woodward’s site is now home to a project that combines market and non-market housing, along with commercial/retail and industrial arts space. The Woodward’s project also won the excellence award in the mixed-use commercial/residential category for owner/developer Ian Gillespie of Westbank and Ben Yeung of Peterson Investment Group. Westbank and Peterson Investment Group were also winners of the excellence award in the hospitality/hotel category for the Shangri-La Vancouver hotel at 1128 West Georgia. “We were very pleased with the excellent entries into our first-ever Commercial Building Awards and want to congratulate all the award recipients,” says REBGV president Jake Moldowan. “The quality of out commercial buildings is a significant reason why Metro Vancouver is considered to be a world-class area.” Without commercial real estate, communities would lack the amenities needed to create a neighbourhood; business space, retail and other commercial development help create communities where everything is within walking distance from the doorstep. For example, the award winners include the Millennium Water/athlete’s village development, where walkability is big. CONTINUED ON P.2
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