CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun Jim Pattison paid more than $2.7 million for a suite.

Vancouver billionaire Jim Pattison has bought. Senator Ed Lawson has bought. Commercial real estate guru Avtar Bains has bought.

Even top-gun realtor Bob Rennie has bought, and he’s in charge of marketing Vancouver‘s tallest commercial-residential tower in the downtown core.

Live-work and residential condos in the upscale 60-storey Shangri-La to be built at the corner of Georgia and Thurlow represent “irreplaceable product,” Rennie said Wednesday in a telephone interview from Seattle, where is marketing another luxury tower.

Vancouver‘s corporate elite and well-heeled investors from the U.S. and overseas seem to agree. They grabbed 75 per cent of the units at Shangri-La within its first 10 days of selling, committing more than $200 million to a project that won’t start construction until January and with occupancy expected in the spring of 2008.

Prices range from $400,000 to $5.5 million.

Rennie, of Rennie Marketing Systems, says Vancouver‘s high-end real estate market is “starved for service and security,” but even he was surprised at the quick sale of units in the $1-million plus range.

The 120-room five-star Shangri-La hotel to occupy the first 15 floors of the tower is a key attraction. It is the Hong Kong-based hotel chain’s first venture in North America.

“Buyers get the concierge, the doorman, the room service, and they are just an elevator ride away from the hotel, the pool, and the ultimate spa,” Rennie said.

At ground level, they get the Vancouver Art Gallery‘s new public sculpture garden and an upscale Urban Fare grocery store owned by the Jim Pattison Group.

Pattison paid more than $2.7 million for a residential suite, but a spokesman for his privately held company declined to discuss whether it was bought strictly as an investment or whether it would be occupied by Pattison.

Designed by noted Vancouver architect James Cheng, the $350-million, 196-metre-high tower is a joint development by Ian Gillespie’s Westbank Projects and Ben Yeung’s Peterson Investment Group.

“I think what people are being so receptive about is its all-inclusiveness,” Gillespie said Wednesday. “You have the best grocery story in the country downstairs. You have the best spa, certainly in this city. You’ve got a fantastic gym, you have a fantastic pool, and you have the best hotel in the country with all of its services.”

He said the location also appeals to buyers who want proximity to chi-chi Robson Street and the downtown business core, as well as “great views” from a high point of land.

Of 227 condos on floors 16 through 42, which cost between $400,000 and $1.4 million, Rennie said “just a handful” remain.

Buyers have also snapped up 25 of 66 residential units on floors 43 through 60, which cost between $1.6 million and $5.5 million.

Will there ever be a taller tower in Vancouver?

“Our city has a very, very difficult time with height, and I would think this is it for the foreseeable future,” Rennie said.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004