12 minute read
REAL ESTATE
REAL ESTATE Metro Vancouver haystacks have a few needles
by Carlito Pablo
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The Sussex Square low-rise condo development in Richmond features a leasehold unit that has been listed for $199,000. A recent study suggests that its price makes it a rare find in Canada.
Arecent report highlights Canadian housing unaffordability by showing how it is “almost impossible” to find a home for less than $200,000.
“Although not the lowest figure, $200,000 (about one-quarter of the average national home price) is a suitable reference point to gauge the share of what is now referred to as an ‘affordable listing’,” Point2 Homes noted in its May 24 report.
The Saskatoon-based digital platform for real-estate searches stated that the “reality is that $200K isn’t enough to land a home in almost any of Canada’s most coveted cities”.
“In fact, only about 10% of all homes for sale in Canada are less than $200K— and very few of them are in major cities, where median home prices are exploding,” Point2 Homes reported.
Moreover, “data shows that housing options for less than $200,000 are incredibly scarce in the top 50 largest and most expensive cities”.
“These needles in the haystack account for less than 1% of the entire stock for sale,” Point2 Homes stated.
There are no such needles in Vancouver and Burnaby.
In Surrey, homes priced at less than $200,000 account for less than one percent (0.46 percent) of homes for sale, and Point2 noted that most of them are manufactured homes.
In Abbotsford, it’s 0.26 percent; in Richmond, it’s even less: 0.17 percent.
The Straight went looking for the needle in the haystack and found one in Richmond.
That would be in Sussex Square, a low-rise condo development in Richmond’s Granville neighbourhood. The strata complex of 216 units contained in three-storey buildings is located at 7180–7280 Lindsay Road.
Sussex Square was built in 1974, and it has 216 units, based on information from the condos.ca site. Ownership is leasehold, which means that the owner can use the property for a long, but limited, period of time. The leases have been prepaid until 2087. On May 4 this year, a one-bedroom unit at the building listed for $199,000. The 208–7220 Lindsay Road condo spent seven days on the market, and it sold on May 11 for $194,000. “This is one sweet suite!” the listing said about the 634-square-foot unit overlooking a neighbourhood school park. Previously, on March 3, another onebedroom unit at Sussex Square, at 108–7280 Lindsay Road, sold for $190,000. This 622-square-foot unit is located on the ground floor and had an asking price of $197,000. Prospective buyers may want to check out 106–7240 Lindsay Road. The one-bedroom unit listed on May 17 with an asking price of $199,000; this offering expires on August 15, 2022. There are also two- and three-bedroom units at the building that are available for less than $300,000. In a previous interview, Vancouver realtor David Hutchinson indicated that leasehold offers a more affordable way of getting into the real-estate market. “What’s a good deal?” Hutchinson asked in a July 11, 2021, report by the Straight. “It all goes into doing your due diligence and finding the right fit for you and your budget, and how much you’d like to take on.” When told about Sussex Square, the Sutton Group–West Coast Realty agent noted that leases at this building expire in 2087, compared to 2073, the year when most leaseholds expire in the West End neighbourhood of Vancouver.
The West End is home to many leasehold properties in Vancouver.
Hutchinson also noted that prices in Richmond are a lot more affordable compared to Vancouver.
“It really depends which location works best for you, because both options provide affordability in an expensive market,” Hutchinson told the Straight.
To show an example, Hutchinson cited the March 22, 2022, sale of 1003–1330 Harwood Street in the West End. The studio property, measuring 430 square feet, sold for $302,888. The monthly maintenance fee for the unit is $321.80.
The maintenance fee for 208–7220 Lindsay Road is higher, at $450.56, but it covers property tax, water, heat, and hot water.
“I have many clients that have bought and sold West End leasehold properties because they’re affordable and also provide a good return as an investment,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson also mentioned another thing to consider about leaseholds.
“Typically, banks require a higher down payment for leasehold properties, which is normally about 35 percent down,” Hutchinson said.
Bottom line: “Leaseholds aren’t for everyone, but they can work quite well for the right buyer.” g
– Point2 Homes study
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BEER Moody Ales Sour Box features two towering stars
by Mike Usinger
As a valuable public service, we taste the latest in Lower Mainland beers and give you a highly opinionated, pocket-sized review.
ON TAP Moody Ales & Co Sour Box Mix Pack.
THEIR WORDS “An 8-beer mixed pack featuring four limited sour flavours: Cherry Blossom Sour: A delicate bouquet of rosy aromas introduces a fruity, cherryforward flavour profile. Peach Hibiscus Sour: Summery stone fruit and berry-tart hibiscus infuse this brew with nostalgic flavours of iced peach tea and cheeky handfuls of dried cranberries. Strawberry Jasmine Sour: A strawberry milkshake disguised as a fruited sour with notes of jasmine flower. Raspberry Lavender Sour: This absolute sweetheart of a sour boasts notes of fresh raspberries and fragrant lavender.”
TASTE TEST Just as someone is always picked last for the gym-class baseball team, one of the realities of life is there are next-level stars and then there’s the rest of us. That doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with those chosen third, fourth, or 17th. Instead it’s more that someone undeniably outshines them.
Moody Ales’ Sour Box Mix Pack is perfect for a B.C. spring that’s been a little late showing up.
In that spirit, not all of the four beers in Moody Ales & Co’s Sour Box Mix Pack are MVP standouts. Starting in the runner-up category, the Peach Hibiscus and Cherry Blossom are both perfectly delightful: subtley fruity, delicately scented, and surprisingly light for beers that clocks in at five percent ABV. But there’s no overlooking that they end up having to compete against two absolute heavy hitters.
The brilliance of the Strawberry Jasmine is the way the floral and the fruit elements wage a spirited tug-of-war for complete dominance. The jasmine wins when the beer’s cold, notes of fresh organic strawberries taking over the party once things warm up in the glass.
Just when you think things won’t get any better comes Raspberry Lavender. As with the Strawberry Jasmine, the “sour” is a bit misleading; instead expect a beer that’s pleasantly perfumed, both scent- and taste-wise. And speaking of taste, good lord, once again expect a pitched battle between the fruit and floral parts of the equation. The raspberries suggest a bumper-crop at an Okanagan U-pick. The glorious lavender is a reminder that few things are more beautiful than Valensole Plateau in Provence when it’s late June and the fields are endlessly purple. Yes, the Raspberry Lavender is that sublime. Which isn’t to say necessarily better than the Strawberry Jasmine—or that it has to play second fiddle. As proven in gym class for decades, picking first isn’t always easy.
DEEP THOUGHTS For whatever reason—maybe God is making up for last year’s scorching June heat dome—spring has seemed a little late coming this year. The Sour Box Mix Pack triumph from Moody Ales & Co makes for a great transition from the heavy stouts that just got you through winter to the grapefruit and lemon radlers that await in the lazy summer days ahead.
And while the two world-beating stars of the pack kind of steal the show, it’s hard not to think the second-stringers here would be first in another setting. It’s not easy standing in the shadow of greatness. g
FOOD Kitchen Table chef places a premium on simplicity
by Charlie Smith
Vancouver chef Valerio Pescetelli came by his love of food naturally. Growing up in a house outside Rome in the late 1980s and early 1990s, there was no shortage of fruits and vegetables in the area. Figs, walnuts, kiwis, potatoes, and tomatoes all flourished.
“We started a hopeful ritual making pizza dough,” Pescetelli, the 36-yearold executive chef at Vancouver-based Kitchen Table Restaurants, tells the Straight over Zoom.
The family had a large, rectangular implanted table made of marble that was perfect for the task. For their weekly pizza nights, they would then put it in a beautiful forno (oven) that his nonno (grandfather) had built.
After the pizzas were removed, his nonna (grandmother) would load the oven with lasagna, parmigiana, sweets, and crostadas.
“You name it, she used to leave stuff in it overnight,” Pescetelli says with a laugh. “Of course, the temperature was down [by then], so it was like slow cooking.”
The next afternoon, these goodies were served for lunch. It’s a terrific story for him to share just as Vancouver kicks off Italian Heritage Month in June.
From these humble beginnings, Pescetelli ascended to the heights of the restaurant world in London, Sicily, and Vancouver, where he oversees food preparation for a fleet of dining establishments. They include Ask for Luigi, Bacaro, Carlino, Di Beppe, Pizzeria Farina, Pourhouse, and Super Veloce. Last November, Kitchen Table Restaurants expanded to Toronto with a new Giovane Caffè in the Shangri-la Hotel Toronto.
Pescetelli is a big believer in the value of humility, noting that if he can share with Kitchen Table Restaurants chefs the mistakes he has made, they’ll be far less likely to repeat them. He also worries that TV shows focusing on chef competitions convey the impression that restaurant kitchens are miserable, stressful places to work. He, on the other hand, thinks it’s vital to offer emotional support to the chefs who report to him and help them achieve a proper work-life balance.
“I used to do a lot of martial arts for many years,” Pescetelli says. “I always use the values of martial arts in the kitchen, like respect, persistence, unbreakable spirit, and perseverance.”
At Ask for Luigi and Di Beppe, to cite two examples, he also places a premium on techniques and ingredients to make these establishments “the best of the best”. And Ask for Luigi was certainly seen as outstanding this year by Georgia Straight readers, who voted it as both the best Italian restaurant and the best pasta restaurant in the annual Golden Plates awards.
Other establishments under the Kitchen Table Restaurants umbrella also did extraordinarily well in the Golden Plates. Pizzeria Farina won as best pizzeria and came third in the takeout-pizza category; Pourhouse won for best burger and best restaurant for a stiff drink; and Di Beppe came third in the Gastown selections.
Pescetelli is particularly proud of his recipes, including the Cacio e Pepe at Di Beppe, which he developed in Rome. With this and other dishes, such as Carbonara at Di Beppe, he says the key is simplicity—something he learned from his grandmother.
“When it comes to Italian cuisine, a lot of people sometimes go off the plot and make it very complicated—and it doesn’t need to,” he says.
Over at Ask for Luigi, he worked with the chef de cuisine on a new Bigoli Nero dish with uni butter, some vermouth, and herbs.
“It’s pretty phenomenal,” Pescetelli declares. “A lot of good people are going crazy for it.”
He started attending culinary school at the age of 13 and spent the next few years juggling his studies with a job working alongside his dad in a Mexcan restaurant. At the age of 18, Pescetelli moved to London. His first job there was at Orso, which had been attracting celebrities for decades. He also spent a short while working at Gordon Ramsay’s Savoy Grill before it shut down for major renovations.
“It was a very amazing experience— Michelin stars, 40-plus people in the kitchen,” Pescetelli says. “It was one of the very few places with Michelin stars where they will do lunch and dinner at the same time... It was a big lesson on accuracy and extreme perfection.”
But some of his greatest lessons came later, when he went to work in restaurants in Sicily. One of his mentors there was Fulvio Pierangelini, a Michelin-starred chef who describes himself as the “artistic director” of the Rocco Forte Group.
It was in Sicily where Pescetelli gained an even greater appreciation for the importance of ingredients and the value of simplicity in cooking.
“You have some of the best bresaola from Nebrodi,” he says. “In Bronte, you have the best pistachios.”
With superb ingredients, Pescetelli says there’s no need to overcomplicate things in the kitchen.
To cite another example, he mentions the burrata cheese from the Apulia region of Italy. Sure, you can get American burrata, he says, but it’s not imbued with six or seven generations of tradition.
“That’s also part of the Italian cuisine,” Pescetelli says. “My job is to let that philosophy continue—and not for it to be overridden somehow.” g
Valerio Pescetelli worked in top restaurants in London and Italy before settling in Vancouver.
– chef Valerio Pescetelli
