CREDIT: Steve Bosch, Vancouver Sun John Laxton on the balcony of his office in the former Evergreen Building. An artist’s rendering of the new 14-storey Coal Harbour Residences which is currentlya 10-storey office building designed by renowned architect Arthur Erickson

Coal Harbour Residences:

Presentation centre: 1285 West Pender (to open in October).

Centre hours: by appointment only.

Telephone: (604) 264-6681

Web site: www.coalharbourresidences.com

Developer: Cathedral Ventures Ltd.

Architect: Arthur Erickson

Interior design: BBA Designs

Project size: 70 units (one, two and three bedrooms and three townhouses)

Residence size: 1,500 square feet average

Residence price: $450,000 to $4.5 million

Construction: Concrete

Warranty: 2/5/10

Developer John Laxton and Vancouver‘s premiere architect Arthur Erickson joined forces 24 years ago to create a unique, 10-storey Vancouver office building overlooking Coal Harbour.

Today, Laxton and Erickson are working side-by-side again turning the Evergreen Building into a 14-storey luxury residential complex.

The new Coal Harbour Residences will maintain the terraced gardens, the Evergreen Building is well-known for, but will have a completely new interior refit as well as a four-storey addition designed by the 80-year-old architect.

“I’ve always used Arthur so it wasn’t even a second thought about who should do the conversion,” said Laxton, whose own law firm Laxton and Company has been in the Evergreen building since it was built in 1980. Laxton also hired Erickson to design his West Vancouver home 40 years ago, and design all of the home’s updated changes.

Laxton said before the Evergreen Building his staff was already used to working in unique environments. At one time they even worked on a barge, so he decided it was best to first consult with them on where they wanted to work.

“No one wanted a high-rise. They said ‘lets try to build a building where you are working on the mountainside.’ Arthur translated the concept brilliantly,” Laxton said.

The result was a glass and concrete building with a step design and a series of decks, located at 1285 West Pender St.

“It’s a very unusual office building with decks, with large garden terraces, down to the ocean. When I built it other developers told me it was a bad move. Tenants wouldn’t want to pay for the decks,” said Laxton.

The building, with its 100,000 square feet of office space, for years attracted many businesses including Alcan, whose head offices were located in the Evergreen before the company moved back to Montreal.

But Laxton said with a “glut of office space” in the downtown core and cheaper office space elsewhere it hasn’t been easy to keep tenants.

“It just happened we had a large number of leases up for renewal [this year]. They were finding cheaper space elsewhere,” said Laxton, who decided the next best step was to convert the building into a high-end residential building.

After all, he noted, most of the Coal Harbour neighbourhood is going that way. But there was one obstacle – any changes to the building had to be approved by city council and the Urban Design Panel. Although the building is not formerly designated a heritage building because it is not yet 25 years old, Laxton explained “everyone at city hall considers it a heritage building.”

“There was a concern expressed at city council that perhaps too many office towers were being converted to residential,” said Laxton.

“It’s not normal to go before council for approval, because we were not attempting to change the zoning, but when they heard the office market isn’t what it used to be they unanimously approved.”

Laxton said he’s pleased that such a “great architect” like Erickson is able to do the conversion.

“He’s very excited about doing it. We’re going to make very big improvements. We’re basically gutting the building inside, adding four new floors and townhouses on the Hastings Street side. Those will have the effect of bringing the garden decks to ground level.”

Laxton, who keeps a penthouse next door at Harbourside Twin Towers, where he stays during the week, said he expects he will likely be moving into the new Coal Harbour Residences.

The suites will likely be available for sale within a month, said George Wong, head of Platinum Project Marketing Group, MacDonald Realty.

He said interest is high with 300 potential buyers already registered to view the showhome, which opens in October.

The average size of the 70 units is 1,500 square feet and prices will range from $450,000 to $4.5 million.

“This project is really landmark architecture. The building has been in Vancouver‘s downtown landscape for almost 25 years. It really is stunning,” said Wong.

“The building is situated in a part of Coal Harbour where the views are right in your front door so we want to capitalize on the views. No other offering on the market can claim [that kind of] proximity to the water. We’re just one block away overlooking a beautiful green park – the Coal Harbour Community Centre’s rooftop garden.”

He said about 50 per cent of the buyers in Coal Harbour, generally, live outside Canada, but they come to the area because of the allure of the water, the mountain view and nearby shopping on Denman and Robson Street.

“There are very few units [in Coal Harbour Residences] and the interior finishing will be very high end. We have European-style kitchens, spa-like bathrooms and very large outdoor space.”

He said most of the suites have either a balcony or terrace. Construction is expected to begin in January.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004