Buyer response to city’s tallest tower overwhelming
Ashley Ford
Province
CREDIT: Jason Payne, The Province Bob Rennie, left, presided over ground-breaking ceremonies yesterday for the Shangri-La. Also on hand were Vancouver Mayor Larry Campbell, centre, and Vancouver Coun. Jim Green.
Construction began yesterday on Living Shangri-La, Vancouver‘s tallest building, which will eventually rise 195 metres at the corner of Georgia and Thurlow.
The spectacular James Cheng-designed sheer glass-skinned, $250 million tower will take three years to complete and house the luxury Shangri-La Hotel and 227 upscale live-work condominiums, most of which have already been sold for between $400,000 and $1.2 million.
In addition, the developers will restore the heritage Coastal Church which sits next door to the tower.
It is is being developed by Westbank Projects and the Peterson Investment Group and will occupy the 1100 block of West Georgia and Alberni streets.
The tower will be the dominating architectural feature of the downtown core. The fact the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts group, Asia‘s leading luxury hotel company, has chosen it for its first expansion into North America speaks volumes about its quality.
“The construction marks the first phase of the mixed-use development that will showcase the architectural excellence of James Cheng,” said Ian Gillespie, Westbank president. “We estimate completion in the summer of 2008,”
By any measure it is a big project.
It will provide 3.1 million man-hours of employment, see 123,000 cubic metres of earth excavated (15,000 truckloads), 51,000 cubic metres of concrete and 7,000 tons of reinforcing steel. The project has caught the interest of international and local investors.
Bob Rennie of Rennie Marketing Systems, which is marketing the project, admits even he has been overwhelmed with the buyer response from local and international clients. Ledcor Construction Ltd. is the general contractor.
© The Vancouver Province 2005