Vision NANAIMO 2015
An annual update on economic progress
South-end construction Official Community Plan means densification in Harewood neighbourhood
Page 5
Hotel update Community support needed to ensure multi-storey projects get off the ground
Page 8
Waterfront development Former industrial land seen as transportation portal for city
Page 3
Special supplement
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Tuesday, May 26, 2015
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Port property a portal for development Planning process about to begin for former Wellcox land By Tamara Cunningham
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anaimo’s Port Drive could be the movement centre of the south industrial waterfront. So says Bruce Anderson, the city’s manager of planning and design, who sees the property as a portal that can set the tone for the south downtown waterfront and its future transformation. “It’s a critical portion of the south downtown waterfront for both how it connects to the downtown, which is Front Street and north and how it also connects the rest of the south downtown waterfront,” he said. The municipality is getting ready to launch a new master planning process to get the community’s vision for its 10.8-hectare share of the waterfront. It’s a map to not only guide future investment but also determine how the new public waterfront lands will be used, from the potential sale for commercial and residential development, to the creation of a new transit hub, waterfront walkway and site access. The municipality bought the $3.4-million real estate two years ago and has been paving the way for redevelopment, from removing a pallet yard to performing environmental work. This year alone efforts are expected to tally up to $695,000 – which doesn’t include a compensation package to purchase a 3.8-hectare right-of-way from Seaspan Ferries. Bill Corsan, the city’s manager of real estate, said people will start noticing more change in 2017, when Seaspan plans to relocate to Duke Point. “We have one of the few, if not last remaining undeveloped waterfront parcels,” said Corsan. While the city has a laundry list of work to
TAMARA CUNNINGHAM/THe News BUlleTIN
Master planning process for the city’s waterfront property is expected to get underway in June. The process will inform how redevelopment rolls out on Port Drive.
do on the waterfront this year, it’s the master plan, anticipated to get underway this June, that will inform how redevelopment rolls out on Port Drive. The city has already talked about the potential for a transit hub and fast passenger ferry terminal at the site, as well as a new entry into the south industrial waterfront. In this process, the public will get to weigh in on the future land use, services and transportation, said Anderson. He calls Port Drive a key circulation point between what exists and the south industrial waterfront and sees opportunity to continue
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Neighbourhoods growing on former farmland Harewood community plan calls for increased density By CHRIS BUSH
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evelopers are sowing for subdivisions on Harewood’s former farmlands. As empty lots become scarce across Nanaimo, builders are filling in patches that were farms, orchards and urban wilderness areas. Harewood, home to about 9,000 residents or roughly 10 per cent of Nanaimo’s population, is one of the last areas inside Nanaimo’s city limits with room to raise single-family housing projects. “It’s one of the areas where there’s a lot more flat land to do it,” said Dean Mousseau, city manager of engineering and subdivision. “There are some fairly large tracts of land that are still out there, but a little bit more challenging to deal with.” Housing has taken root and spread over the
decades on the remains of Harewood Estates, the two-hectare lots subdivided from 507 hectares of land between Nanaimo and Mount Benson originally purchased in 1884 by Samuel Robins, Vancouver Coal Mining and Land Company superintendent, and sold as farming homesteads – then known as five-acre farms – to mining families. Farms are not in Harewood’s future. Five Acre Farm, a remnant of which lies empty at Third Street and Howard Avenue, was listed in Canada’s Historic Places register in 2005 as the only recognized intact acreage from one of B.C.’s earliest planned communities and one of Harewood’s few remaining fiveacre farms. In 2012, Armishaw Road, named for the family who once owned the farm, was cut through the land that now lies under lawns, houses and concrete driveways of the subdivision built on the site. Five Acre Farm has been scratched from the heritage register. “In this case the Official Community Plan, because of the support for densification, did support the development,” said Chris Shol-
berg, culture and heritage planner. Urban densification is how the value of land is maximized in 21st-century Harewood. The Harewood Neighbourhood Plan calls for arterial corridors along Third and Fifth streets, lined with multi-use, multi-storey commercial complexes, with retail on the ground floor and residential or professional services spaces upstairs. This corridor connects the Nanaimo Parkway, Vancouver Island University and bus routes with downtown. The University Village redevelopment several years ago heralded the trend and more recent construction of student housing on Wakesiah Avenue provides a glimpse of Harewood’s future. A commercial development, planned for the corner of Fifth Street and Bruce Avenue, is still undergoing approval reviews by the city, but could be under construction in 2016. A rezoning application for multi-use student housing was recently filed for the former city maintenance yard at Third Street and Hillcrest Avenue. Continued /5
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Plans have been drawn up for a new Quality Foods commercial complex on Bruce Avenue that will one day serve a growing population of residents moving into homes from six active housing developments in the district. Services are being laid for new developments, including a 6.5-hectare, 78-lot housing project at the corner of Bruce Avenue and Tenth Street. Harewood’s character is changing as it modernizes, attracts more services and renews itself as a community. “I think Harewood will get its own blush from its proximity between the Old City Quarter and Vancouver Island University,” said Bruce Anderson, city manager of planning and design. Infilling requires following a 20- or 30-year plan to create a livable community, while allowing flexibility for projects that won’t be economically viable if forced to strictly adhere to a rigid predetermined rules. Getting investors to build the urban corridors that form the physical ribs and spine of the Harewood Neighbourhood Plan vision will require a boost in local land and housing prices. The commercial development at Fifth Street and Bruce Avenue has been downsized to single-storey commercial, rather than forcing the developer to build difficult-to-sell second storey real estate that could sit empty for years. Rick Jones, of Urban Design Group Architects Ltd., the firm in charge of the project, said it’s hard to sell condos above commercial space when families moving from Vancouver, where the average price for a single-family detached home is $1.3 million, can purchase homes in Nanaimo at a fraction of the price. Likewise, Wakesiah Avenue redevelopment could be delayed until land prices rise, which could happen given accelerating development in south Nanaimo where Harewood, Cedar, Cinnabar Valley and Extension have room to grow. “It will just take some time for land economics to prompt that kind of development, certainly,” Sholberg said.
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Nanaimo News Bulletin
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Space built for Harewood tenants By CHRIS BUSH
A commercial development at the corner of Bruce Avenue and Fifth Street will become a retail, professional and financial services node in Harewood. Village Centre, at 601 Bruce Ave., will be created by Bosa Properties, which operates University Village, as a separate commercial development to provide space for new tenants. “One of the reasons they purchased this property and wanted to go ahead with it is University Village is full right now and they’ve had other retail and service-type tenants interested in coming into this neighbourhood, but there’s nothing available,” said Rick Jones, founder of Vancouver-based Urban Design Group Architects Ltd., which is overseeing the project. Urban Design Group’s local portfolio includes the Country Grocer complex in Chase River, Country Club Centre, Port Place Shopping Centre and University Village. It has taken about 18 months of working with city and a round of public consultation to determine the kind of development best suited for the neighbourhood. The result is a downsized version of the multi-storey commercial-residential design the Harewood Neighbourhood Plan calls for on the Fifth Street-Bruce Avenue development corridors. Urban Design Group Architects is proposing a single-storey retail centre with street-side store frontage that will be a better fit for the area and show a better return on investment. “Basically the [Official Community Plan] will allow for about five storeys of building in there,” Jones said. “We’re surrounded right now by residential and we felt we wanted to blend in a bit better.” Blending in means giving up more than 1,500 square metres of property and leaving a little more than 2,100 square metres for commercial development, including parking
Photo contributed
A new commercial development at the corner of Bruce Avenue and Fifth Street is expected to provide retail and professional space for tenants interested in the University Village mall in Harewood.
requirements. Space is set aside to widen roads for on-street parking, landscaped boulevards between curbs and sidewalks and public rest areas. A large oak tree on the property, favoured by the neighbourhood, will also be preserved by the city. “We’re planning on trying to add in the type of tenants the community wants,” Jones said. “I know they’ve been really asking for some sort of a financial institution.” It will be easier to attract tenants the community needs once city zoning approvals are passed. Jones said there will be more public consultations after new design presentations and zoning approval applications are put forward. “I think [the city] is committed to go ahead as soon as all the approvals are in place,” Jones said.
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Real estate sees steady increase Low interest rates and economies in other provinces contributing to higher sales By KARL yU
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he Nanaimo housing market seems to be re-energizing, say area realtors. Janice Stromar, a Coast Realty Group realtor and Vancouver Island Real Estate Board director, said there’s been gradual increase over the last six months. “We started to really see some uptake in the market, probably late fall last year,” said Stromar. “Normally in December, we see a huge drop in sales and most people reported that they were fairly busy in December, so it never really died off completely like it sometimes does.” According to the board, there were 81 single-family residential unit sales in Nanaimo last December, as opposed to 50 sales in December 2013. The Nanaimo market saw 148 single-family sales in April, which was up from 129 sales in March and significantly more than 94 sales in April 2014. Low interest rates and the economy, particularly in neighbouring provinces, are contributing to this, said Stromar. “As far as Alberta goes, whenever they have a downturn there, the migration sort of stops and people start looking closer to home,” said Stromar. “Also, our dollar dropping ... a lot of people were finding really good deals south of the border and so we lost that snowbird market that we had and they’re coming back now because the difference in the dollar is making it much more expensive to invest in the States,” she said. Moe Lessan, an associate broker with DTZ Nanaimo commercial real estate brokerage, said consumer confidence is back in the market, along with influx of capital from outside the Island, whether that be Alberta, the Lower Mainland or overseas. “One of the major parts of the market that we can see is overseas investors coming,” said Lessan. “What they look at, it might be
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KARL YU/The News BULLeTiN
Janice Stromar, Nanaimo realtor and Vancouver Island Real Estate Board director, the market has been gradually increasing over the last six months.
Nanaimo, I think, has enjoyed about a threeper cent increase in population year over year for the past few years, so there is demand.
different from what the local investors are looking at. We are more rate sensitive [with] the return and such, as opposed to the overseas investors. “Most of them are looking at the security of
their money and they find Canada a secure place to invest their money in real estate. Also our banking system, obviously ... our banking system works, when you compare it to the U.S. or even Europe.” Lessan said the return might not be as high as other places, but over the long term, the money is secure and the return is attractive. It is difficult to predict what the future holds for Nanaimo real estate, but Stromar doesn’t think prices will rise so quickly to create a housing bubble. “Nanaimo, I think, has enjoyed about a three-per cent increase in population, year over year, for the past few years, so there is a demand. Whenever you hear all the buzz about bubbles and that sort of thing, they’re always talking about [Vancouver and Toronto]. “I think the rest of B.C. has enjoyed sort of a flat, slightly increasing market, which I think is good for everybody,” said Stromar.
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Hotels expected to boost tourism, economy Community support needed to ensure development happens By TAMARA CUNNINGHAM
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t’s important the community helps two major hotel developers move quickly, according to Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation CEO Sasha Angus. Skyscraper hotels are proposed to rise from two vacant lots in Nanaimo’s downtown core and with an aim to cater to a growing Chinese tourism market, these new builds are anticipated to be a shot in the arm for the economy, tourism and real estate. The SSS Manhao and Hilton hotel projects haven’t broken ground yet, but Angus said it’s in the interest of proponents to move forward as quickly as they can, pointing out that with any business deal the longer they take the more cost and expense there is. It’s also important the community helps, whether it’s development and construction processes, continued support from the business community, or simply being welcoming, according to the economic development CEO. “Indirectly, it’s obviously important to be a community welcoming of investment and of newcomers
TAMARA CUNNINGHAM/THe News BUlleTIN
The Gordon Street lot remains a blank slate 10 months after the construction phase was announced for the new SSS Manhao conference centre hotel. Like the new Hilton hotel, it’s expected to help stimulate visitation and investment in the community.
… and ensuring that they have a good experience not only for the hotel projects, but a host of folks that are coming to the community to either establish new businesses or buy existing businesses,” Angus said. The SSS Manhao conference centre hotel and the Hilton project are still in early stages of development. SSS Manhao, which proposes to build a $50-million and longawaited conference centre hotel, was poised to begin construction last October, but has since seen its built permit lapse and hasn’t reapplied. It’s also not expected to meet a May deadline to pour a
foundation, giving city council the option to buy back the property. Mayor Bill McKay said he expects an extension request in the near future. The Hilton hotel project has also moved ahead this year. Insight Holdings Ltd. recently got approval for a statutory rightof-way agreement that will see it invest $1.5 million into changes at Georgia Park along the waterfront promenade. It was an alternative to the lease of the green space. A city report says it anticipates a development permit will come from the hotel in the coming months and a building permit will be submitted by this fall. Construc-
tion is scheduled to start in early 2016. Angus said the capital investment is significant for the two projects at about $150 million, but the hotels also means stimulus for the construction sector and increased visitation. As well, it could also see visitors look at the community from a business and real estate investment standpoint and create opportunities for local entrepreneurs and tourism operators to expand current offerings or create new ones. The projects also aim to tap into the Chinese tourism market. SSS Manhao is a Chinese tourism operator that’s expected to draw 70,000 tourists annually, while the Hilton project is working with a Chinese tourism operator to bring visitors to the Harbour City. Chinese tourism is the fastest growing market segment and one that tends to stay longer and spend significantly more each day than the average tourist, said Angus. Destination B.C. reports in its 2014 China tourism market profile that outbound travel from the country has grown at an average 19 per cent each year since the millennium because of factors from economic growth to an expanding middle class and less restrictive travel policy. It forecasts China will be the No. 1 tourism generating market by the turn of the century.
Tilray plans to quadruple production of medical marijuana at facility By CHRIS BUSH
Tilray has made an impact on the Nanaimo economy since it started operations in 2014. Now the company is awaiting approval from Health Canada to move ahead on an expansion program to quadruple production and double employment. Tilray operates from its 5,600-square metre building in Duke Point, where it researches, grows, packages and ships marijuana and operates a client call centre.
“We are at just under 90 per cent capacity in terms of what has been approved by Health Canada to date,” said Greg Engel, chief executive officer. “All of the building’s been built out, but we’re just waiting for Health Canada on that last remaining section to be able to utilize that space.” To date, Tilray has contributed more than $3.2 million in local wages and salaries as well as $8.5 million in taxes, says an economic impact study released by Nanaimo Economic Development
Corporation in April. The study, by accounting firm MNP LLP, pegged Tilray’s construction and operations in 2014 at $48.1 million in total economic output in B.C. and $27.4 million in gross domestic product. Tilray currently employs about 170 people in Nanaimo. Nanaimo city council approved rezoning in December for construction of a second facility four to five times the size of Tilray’s existing structure that could create hundreds of new direct and
indirect jobs in Nanaimo, plus $90 million in annual economic output. “We’ve also purchased property adjacent to our property,” Engel said. Tilray has used a building on the property to store supplies and equipment, but plans to build out its operational space by as much a five times what it now has and add about 275 additional jobs as the expansion reaches full capacity. Continued /9
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The nature of Tilray’s work has attracted investors and specialists in their fields from around the world, including security experts, horticultural researchers, technical trades technicians to maintain and control heating, lighting and interior air conditioning. Sasha Angus, Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation chief executive officer, said Tilray is representative of firms in Nanaimo drawing experts and professionals to fill skills needed for the region’s growing high-tech employment sector. “Tilray is expanding their footprint significantly and they’ll be hiring up over the next 18 months as well,” Angus said. Engel, a former pharmaceutical executive, was hired as Tilray’s chief executive officer in February to help fulfill the company’s longterm goal to legitimize medical cannabis as a medicine. Toward that effort, Tilray is sponsoring a study with the University of British Columbia to determine the effectiveness of cannabis in treating post traumatic stress disorder in
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2015 VISION NANAIMO
Tilray is expanding their footprint significantly and they’ll be hiring up over the next 18 months as well. military personnel, emergency first responders and assault victims. But higher production and more employment have to wait for Health Canada approvals. “We don’t necessarily have any insight into what that timing would be and what it would look like,” Engel said. “Our hope would be that we’d be in a position to initiate work on that facility prior to the end of this calendar year and continue that work in to next year so that we could build out that expansion.”
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Company values ties to history site for over 40 years beginning in Crankshaw Holdings Ltd owns 1934. Burns opened branches at and operates about 54,000 square other Vancouver Island locations and feet of mixed retail and office space is best remembered for the elegant, located downtown allocated over four upscale merchandise and service she buildings. provided. Two of those buildings are heritage At Crankshaw Holdings our tenant buildings. The Jean Burns and Hall mix continues with history through our Block Buildings. tenant mix of doctors, The Hall Block is lawyers, retail stores, significant because of ADVERTISING restaurants, a pharmacy, its association with FEATURE medical clinics and Dr. G.A.B. Hall. Dr. various health support Hall was the longtime services, as well as business related physician and surgeon to the services. We also have numerous Western Fuel Company miners and arts and a children’s performing arts had a lengthy history of community school as part of our mix. service, including a term as Mayor We believe our success is directly from 1930-31. Hall represents related to the tenant’s success, and the intrinsic connections between work with our tenants towards that doctors, coal companies and the collaborative goal. coal mining population. In a city that We continually strive to improve had exceptionally high accident and how we do business, and that include death rates, these connections were ensuring that our buildings are always especially significant. clean and safe. The Jean Burns building is We look forward to our continued significant for its association with commitment to our downtown, and to Jean Burns, who operated a Ladies our tenants. and Children’s Wear Shop from this
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Skills sought for tech sector Retail, accommodation, education and other services rank among Nanaimo’s largest employment providers, but the local economy is banking some of its future on the high-tech sector. Professional, scientific and technical services account for 14.4 percent of employment on the Island and sector growth continues as new companies set up shop in the Nanaimo region. Nanaimo is now home to more than 350 tech sector businesses and employers often look off-Island hoping to draw people with needed qualifications. “A lot of the things we’re seeing is the growth of high-tech jobs in the community and a real demand for programmers and software designers,” said Sasha Angus, Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation CEO. To foster creation of a work force needed to fill high-tech jobs and nurture new potential employers in the mid Island tech sector, which generated $204 mil-
lion and supported 2,730 jobs in 2014, Nanaimo Economic Development Corporation and Innovation Island, a support organization for technology-based companies, launched SquareOne co-working space and technology incubator in July. SquareOne supports entrepreneurs and start-up ventures with advisory services, product development programs and mentoring resources. Employers in other sectors are running up against skilled labour shortages, too. There is work to be had in Nanaimo’s trades sector for qualified people. John Tait, wage subsidy advisor and job developer with GT Hiring Solutions, said some employers are getting lots of responses to job postings, but many applicants don’t meet their requirements. Employers are also reluctant to hire first-year trades apprentices because they lack experience. An anticipated influx of workers laid off from Alberta oil fields hasn’t materialized, so far.
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What’s Happening Downtown Nanaimo Bastion Waterfront Farmers Market Fridays, 2-6pm, May to September, Pioneer Plaza (beside the Bastion on Front St.) Great selection of farmers, growers, bakers, crafters and so many more. Enjoy live music and local products at Nanaimo’s original farmers market. Multicultural Festival Saturday, June 13, 10:30-5pm, Wesley Street in the Old City Quarter The 10th annual Multicultural Festival on Wesley Street in the Old City Quarter will become a kaleidoscope of colours, sounds, flavours and fun. Live cultural music & dance on three stages – from traditional to rap music and more! There is a NEW International film tent hosted by Film Buff Video, come for the exotic foods, sidewalk sales, children’s activities & family fun for everyone! Dragon Boat Festival Friday-Sunday, July 10-12, Maffeo Sutton Park, (various times) The 13th Annual Save-On-Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival once again promises to be the biggest free summer family event – more teams, more food, and more music. Paddlers from all over BC and the US take part in the Save-On-Foods Nanaimo Dragon Boat Festival, a weekend of competition, camaraderie and celebration at Maffeo Sutton Park. Come with family and friends to enjoy the fun and help us raise money to fight cancer locally! Bathtub Days Street Fair July 25-26, Commercial St, Diana Krall Plaza. To complement the exciting lineup of Nanaimo’s Marine Festival Events, the DNBIA presents the popular Bathtub Days Street Fair. There will be live music, dance, performing arts, a talent show, the wildly popular Nanaimo Bar competition, watermelon eating contest, and the always hotly contested Waiter’s Race. Enjoy street-side patio dining, food and craft vendors and the Bathtub Days Show and Shine. Summertime Music Series Thursdays, 12am-1:30pm, June 4 to August 27, Lois Lane CHLY and the DNBIA Present! Live, local lunchtime performances in Lois Lane. Tables and chairs will be available on a first come, first serve basis. Summertime Blues 2015 August 28, 29 & 30, Maffeo Sutton Park Come down and spend a great weekend of grooving to amazing Blues music. Browse the local and unique artisan vendor wares, partake in some ice cold adult beverages at our beer gardens and taste savoury delights. Harvest Festival Saturday, September 12, 10:30-5:00pm, Wesley Street in the Old City Quarter Celebrate the local natural food movement! There will be over 40 vendors featuring fresh produce, educational displays and interactive presentations. Three stages of live music, kid’s activities, and a variety of food trucks
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Thinking of starting a new business, or expanding an existing business into new markets or facilities? We can help! Nanaimo Economic Development assists with business intelligence, retention, expansion and investment attraction information to help make your business a success.
Vision NANAIMO 2015
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Retirement Concepts Concert Series A year long series of sophisticated musical performances in conjunction with Health Arts Society. Just one more initiative to improve the lives of our residents. Please call Kat for your personal invite at 250-667-1161.
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