VANCOUVER I Brix pioneers makeover of eastside industrial stretch

Michael Sasges
Sun

The intimations of gracious family living possible at the east Vancouver townhouse development of Brix occur in equal measure inside and outside the presentation centre.

The trailer display promises, for example, that either granite or marble will top the cabinetry; that hardwood and porcelain tile and 32-ounce broadloom will be under foot; that stainless steel will enclose the appliances; that frosted glass will announce egress.

The streetscape promises the sticky fingers of youngsters will soon enough be all over that glass and marble and stainless: The Brix block dead-ends at a stately Edwardian, Lord Selkirk elementary school.

False Creek renters Victor Cuevas and Julia Brown found these charms convincing enough to buy a Brix townhouse as their first home.

He’s a 31-year-old native of El Centro, Calif. She’s a 27-year-old native of Victoria. They moved to Vancouver from Victoria five years ago and are recently married.

Owners and operators of the Rain Boutique and Salon at Second and Fir — “think hair salon, apothecary, clothing store” — they also live above the shop, in a loft.

“We invested in a place where we will enjoy living and grow as a family” Julia reports of their Kensington-Cedar Cottage future. “We invested in a place where we will enjoy living and grow as a family. We would like to have a dog and kids one day; hence the appeal of having an elementary school just down the road and a park two blocks away.”

“The Drive” to the south offers “amenities” that have been part of their Vancouver lives since their arrival in the city.

“It has most of our favourite restaurants in the city, and it’s got a great community feel to it,” Victor says.

“… We chose the neighbourhood for the closeness to Commercial Drive, Trout Lake and the prospect that the neighbourhood will continue to grow into a unique and comfortable community with like-minded individuals and families.”

“Like-minded” is a movable feast. All Brix buyers share at least one quality, however, and that’s a venturesome or pioneering sensibility.

The two blocks of Commercial Street between Victoria Drive and Selkirk elementary are lined with buildings containing light-industry enterprises. Those two blocks are surrounded, however, by block after block of single-family homes.

At city hall the two blocks have been “let-go” candidates for at least 15 years, an industrial neighbourhood the city is prepared to surrender and see transformed into an residential neighbourhood.

They received MC-1 zoning approval in 1996, approval which permits four-storey construction and a mix of commercial, industrial and residential occupancy. The zoning also restricts building uses at grade to industrial and commercial uses.

Brix will put residences at grade. “There appears to be very little demand for ground-level commercial,” reports a 2003 report from city hall staff to council, a report that recommended the MC-1 zoning be amended to “all residential.”

The Brix townhouses will be located on two properties across the street from each other.

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun Up from False Creek, Julia Brown and Victor Cuevas are anticipating starting a family in their new neighbourhood of Kensington-Cedar Cottage and a to-be-built townhouse in the Brix development. ‘We invested in a place where we will enjoy living and grow as a family,’ says Julia, surrounded by some of the stone-and-stainless features that are standard at Brix.

The first phase is on sale now, 38 three-storey townhouses and one-storey “garden flats.” (Twenty-two have been bought.) The second phase will probably be released this quarter.

“Commercial Street itself is undeniably a work in progress,” another Brix buyer, Chris Townsend, comments.

“One has to be a bit of a visionary to appreciate the potential that street has. It has a wonderful approach — a wide boulevard feel on a gentle rise, which is anchored by the elementary school.

“Once new residential developments emerge on that street and neighbouring streets, and a coffee shop pops up here and there, it will be quite a dynamic place.

“Keep in mind, however, that the culturally diverse hotspot of Commercial Drive is just minutes away.”

Cameron McNeill of McNeill and Craik Real Estate Solutions, the project’s marketer, suspects that only about 18 months separate the current Commercial Street from the ”dynamic” buyer Townsend is anticipating: There’s just too many land transactions going on nearby not to see the inevitability of the residential future on Commercial Street. (Developer inquiries started City Hall on the road to “all residential.”)

There’s a refreshing next-best-thing realism to McNeill’s advocacy of Brix: It is not a detached-single-family home development, but it is a single-family-home development and it is not occurring in a westside neighbourhood, but it is occurring in a “character neighbourhood less than a 15 minutes’ drive from downtown.”

”The over-all Commercial Drive area in the last five years has become really, really popular,” he says.

”That coupled with the economics of real estate in greater Vancouver have meant prices have increased a lot [in Kensington-Cedar Cottage].

”A single-family home in this area, if it is a character home, is very expensive. So what the developer envisioned here was a product that filled the niche between the condo and the single-familly home.

”It wasn’t going up an elevator, down a hallway and through the front door. What this particular product provides is a sense of your own front yard, your own front door, your own home . . . .”

Yaletown homeowner Townsend bought a “courtyard” townhome, three storeys, two bedrooms, two bathrooms, two terraces, a den and a top-storey deck. “Who wouldn’t enjoy that?”

The 12-year Vancouver resident reports he was looking for an investment, and not a new home, when he visited the Brix presentation centre.

“… I was so impressed by the structure — it’s a very modern townhouse complex with clean lines, over-sized frosted-glass door entries — by the finishings and the layout that I couldn’t help but be drawn to the idea of living there myself.”

Chris considers the Brix neighbourhood “probably … one of the city’s best kept secrets.”

“Trout Lake itself is very picturesque and quiet. It’s hard to believe that this spacious, tranquil park is less than a 15-minute drive from downtown. Further, nestled on inclining streets are some heritage-style homes; even homes built using the design vernacular of the ’70s and ’80s look appealing because of the attention to landscaping and the overall appeal of the streetscape.”

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun The luxurious fittings at The Brix are evident throughout, as in the stylish bathroom.

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun Display in The Brix showroom gives buyers an immediate overview of the attractive ambience.

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun Display in The Brix showroom gives buyers an immediate overview of the attractive ambience.

Victor and Julia also bought a three-storey townhouse. “We need enough room for an at-home office, future children and entertaining guests,” Julia says of their eventual step up, from their current 800-square-foot loft to a 1,250-square-foot townhouse.

The standard features in the homes were also important, the stainless-steel appliances and hardwood floors and granite countertops, the juliette doors, the terraces or patios.

“The Brix development definitely appealed to our tastes,” Victor reports. “Julia is a minimalist, and doesn’t like clutter and I love the warmth of wood. So the combination of clean lines, wood and a great layout is what we were looking for.”

They’d been looking near the University of B.C. and along Main and Cambie streets when they came across Brix.

“We felt that they were too costly for a minimal amount of space,” Julia reports.

“To us, luxury can be offered with nice features, more useable space and a good price.”

Chris Townsend, too, was impressed by Brix’s more-bang-for-your-buck qualities.

“These homes will be beautiful, but just as important, they will be functional,” he says.

“There is no wasted space, lots of in-house storage, plus a separate storage locker. Once these homes are built, and the area further developed, these homes will most certainly see a sharp increase in value.

“If you are a savvy real estate buyer, you will immediately see the potential. For people who want a fabulous home with much more space than what is commonly offered and at an affordable price, Brix is it.”

BRIX AT COMMERCIAL

Sales centre address: 3705 Commercial (between East 22nd and Stainsbury)

Sales centre hours: Saturday — Thursday, noon to 5 p.m.

Telephone: 604-873-5050

Web: www.brixliving.com

On offer: Ground-level flats (one only still available) and three-storey townhouses, 741 to 1,248 sq. ft., two bedrooms or two + den

Prices: $299,900 for the flats, $359,900-$393,900 for the townhouses

Developer: Pacific Rim Property Developments Ltd.

Warranty: Marathon 10 (structural)-5 (building enveloper)-2 (workmanship)

© The Vancouver Sun 2005

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