The Offices at Burrard Place by Reliance Properties has officially broken ground. It will be the first major office building to complete in the next cycle of commercial developments in downtown Vancouver.
Opening in early 2020, the office complex is the first office complex to be built by Reliance Properties from the ground up in its 50-year history. A hot market prompted Reliance to proceed without preleasing because, it says, office space can’t be built fast enough to meet demand.
“Vancouver wasn’t shortlisted for Amazon’s second headquarters, but the tech giant leased an additional 150,000 square feet of office space and is waiting for another large piece,” said Jon Stovell, president and CEO of Reliance Properties. “Space to meet the growth projections of large companies currently doesn’t exist in Vancouver. This is an era when developers like Reliance can build offices without any prelease agreements.”
According to Colliers International, downtown Vancouver’s office vacancy is the second tightest in North America at 5.2 per cent, with rents increasing as much as 20 per cent in the past year and expected to climb.
“Large companies have an extremely limited number of options. An average tenant in the downtown core looks for approximately 5,000 to 6,000 square feet of office space, but today’s demand is driven by tenants looking for multiple floors, with some needing as much as 150,000 square feet,” said Maury Dubuque, managing director of Colliers Vancouver, the brokerage leasing The Offices at Burrard Place.
The 13-storey office is the last commercial building designed by the late world-renowned architect Bing Thom. It is part of the $500 million Burrard Place, which at one million square feet is the largest development currently underway in downtown.
The development will include two residential high-rises – one of them to be Vancouver’s third tallest building. The office qualifies as AAA, the most prestigious office classification as determined by location, quality, and surrounding amenities. Office tenants will also have access to 30,000 square feet of luxury amenities at the 60-storey residential building, One Burrard Place.
