Features: ‘Spa’ bathrooms, concierge, small park
Michael Sasges
Sun
GLENN BAGLO/VANCOUVER SUN
CREDIT: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun The suppliers of the kitchen appliances at Corus will be Miele, Sub-Zero and Panasonic. Panasonic will do the microwave; Sub-Zero the refrigerator. In the show home, the fridge is faced in the same finish as the cabinetry. The Miele gas cook top will be either a four or five-burner. The German manufacturer is also supplying the hood fans, wall ovens and dishwashers and some of the optional upgrades, including a coffee maker and wine cooler. The developer is offering the oak cabinetry in four finishes, two stains and two high-gloss paints. ‘The Corus . . . is a remarkably beautiful complex,’ buyer Ken Knott says.
CREDIT: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun The suppliers of the kitchen appliances at Corus will be Miele, Sub-Zero and Panasonic. Panasonic will do the microwave; Sub-Zero the refrigerator. In the show home, the fridge is faced in the same finish as the cabinetry. The Miele gas cook top will be either a four or five-burner. The German manufacturer is also supplying the hood fans, wall ovens and dishwashers and some of the optional upgrades, including a coffee maker and wine cooler. The developer is offering the oak cabinetry in four finishes, two stains and two high-gloss paints. ‘The Corus . . . is a remarkably beautiful complex,’ buyer Ken Knott says.
CREDIT: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun The suppliers of the kitchen appliances at Corus will be Miele, Sub-Zero and Panasonic. Panasonic will do the microwave; Sub-Zero the refrigerator. In the show home, the fridge is faced in the same finish as the cabinetry. The Miele gas cook top will be either a four or five-burner. The German manufacturer is also supplying the hood fans, wall ovens and dishwashers and some of the optional upgrades, including a coffee maker and wine cooler. The developer is offering the oak cabinetry in four finishes, two stains and two high-gloss paints. ‘The Corus . . . is a remarkably beautiful complex,’ buyer Ken Knott says.
CREDIT: Glenn Baglo, Vancouver Sun Modernism and a representation of a West Coast icon in the Corus show home’s living room broadcast luxury writ large. The sectional and chairs are by Periphere; the coffee table, in zebrawood, by Cecchini Collections; and the end table in bleached oak with chrome legs, by Pianca. All are available through Spencer Interiors on West Seventh at Granville in Vancouver. The artwork is Totem by Patty Ampleford.
CORUS
Show home location: Off Wesbrook Mall, between Chancellor and University boulevards, University of B.C.
Hours: Noon – 5 p.m. Sat – Thu.
Telephone: 604-222-8439
Web: www.ubchigherliving.com
Project size: 47 apartments and 14 townhouses, 14-storey building
Residence size: 1 bedroom and den, 2 and 3 bedrooms, 782 – 2,867 sq. ft.
Prices: From $429,900
Developer: Bastion Chancellor Homes Ltd.
Architect: Hancock Bruckner Eng + Wright Architects
Interior design: BBA Design
Warranty: St. Paul Guarantee
Why would I ask any young woman to pose in a bathroom, let alone an accomplished sales and marketing executive such as Patricia Glass? Because without a body, a picture of the bathroom in the Corus show home represents only one of the two sensibilities her boss at Platinum Project Marketing Group, George Wong, has inserted into the marketing mix of the new-home project.
The Corus apartments and townhouses on the University of B.C. campus will be expansive and they will be splendidly finished.
But without the cooperative Glass, the Corus show home bathroom is another luxury bathroom in a neighbourhood of luxury homes. With her in the picture, that bathroom is luxurious and big, the ultimate “spa bathroom” to date from a local developer.
How luxurious? The millwork flanking the vanity mirror across from Patricia in the photograph on this week’s Westcoast Homes cover will be made for this project only. The tub is a six-foot-long soaker. The toilet is a one-piece, dual-flush water-saver. The shower behind will run wall to wall and will be enclosed on the bathroom side and the exterior wall in glass. (Every apartment will come with roller blinds, Patricia reports.)
How big? The “G” apartment whose floor plan is reproduced on this page will measure up at 1,425 square feet. Its ensuite, Patricia reports, will come in at 80.5 square feet. Although the “G” apartment will be the largest apartment in Corus, the 10 “G” homes will not be the largest homes in Corus. Four of the townhouse plans and both penthouse plans are larger.
At 14 storeys, the Corus tower will not be a tall tower, by Coal Harbour or False Creek North standards.
(Additionally, it is not a waterfront tower.)
But it will be a tall tower absolutely because it will be the first residential tower to be constructed in the four-year-old Theological Neighbourhood at the University of B.C., a neighbourhood of luxury homes that takes its name from the theological colleges nearby.
“We looked at the fact that Corus will be a high-rise and we had the vision, why don’t we import the Coal Harbour phenomena to UBC for the first high-rise in the neighbourhood of the theological schools?” Wong said.
He organized the marketing of one of the unequivocal Coal Harbour successes, the Harbour Green towers that will contain some of the most expensive residences in greater Vancouver.
“We saw the heights and the views and we said, you know, Coal Harbour is height and view.”
But for the Corus tower, the best views may not be of water and mountain and city but of a small park and Corus’s 80-year-old neighbour to the north, the Vancouver School of Theology’s Iona Building. If Corus is the new neighbourhood’s first tower, it is also the neighbourhood’s first residential building to be located south of the Iona Building, away from the cliffs.
“Parks sell condos and townhouses every day, all day,” Wong said. Townhouses have also proven to be a popular product in Coal Harbour, he reports.
That park and that school building, in his opinion, is one of the primary reasons Corus after six weeks of sales is two-thirds sold.
“That’s a half-acre of green space, of park space, surrounding the building. It will be really great not only for the residents who live in the townhomes and lower floors, but for people on the upper floors, who will look down and see park. It’s quite an attraction.”
The greenery of the park and of the rest of the tree-studded campus is what attracted Corus buyer Ken Knott.
“Beautiful full grown forests will surround me,” he observes. “There are great biking and jogging trails and quick and easy access to many beautiful beaches in the area. Even the air is fresher! Sometimes when there is only one area of sunshine in Vancouver, it’s the UBC campus. I get all this and it’s not even a 15-minute drive to downtown.”
A resident of an apartment in a tower on the eastern shore of False Creek for eight years, Ken reports he is tired of waiting for the responsible agencies to fulfil a “long overdue promise” and build a new park in that neighbourhood.
The unfulfilled promise, however, is only one of the irritants pushing him away. “In addition I have had to deal with squeegee kids, drunks, bums going through my garbage and who could forget the summer the homeless lived in tents at Science World! I will not have to wait for parks and other desirable amenities to be put in place at Corus. They’ve been there for decades.”
The Corus location is only one of the tower’s attractions pulling him to Point Grey. “The Corus itself is a remarkably beautiful complex.”
The apartments will be entered through double doors. Their entries will be floored with large limestone tiling, as will the kitchens and bathrooms. The floor-to-ceiling runs will be nine feet. Miele will supply the appliances. The decks will be “incredibly large” in Ken Knott’s opinion.
“I happened to luck out with my particular unit. A few of the homes will have additional, very spacious outdoor, landscaped terraces.The combined outdoor space of the two decks in my unite provides me with over 1,150 square feet of entertaining space.”
The building will be entered through a double-height lobby presided over by a concierge.
“My monthly condo fees are estimated to be a low $270.00 with a concierge,” Knott reports. “The building does not have a gym or pool. These items would normally increase your strata fees and I find from experience that these amenities are rarely used by most residents. Although my present condo has a gym and pool, I still maintain my gym membership elsewhere as the facilities are generally far superior than what you would get in a condo complex.”
About the concierge, Wong says: “We looked at what’s been done in the neighbourhood and we raised the bar.”
Knott expects to retire in four years and become immersed in the “peace and quiet, the tranquillity, of the UBC area” in about 18 months. “I’ll be ready to really start enjoying life . . . more,” he anticipates.
Let’s end where we started, with Patricia Glass in the show home bathroom. I had not noticed the one-sink vanity during my visit to the show home and I should have because I am accustomed to seeing two sinks in the ensuite vanities in new-home projects.
Patricia reports developer and marketer think toiletry management will be more important to Corus residents than time management.
“We recognize that extra counter space is more desirable [than less]. There has yet to be any objection to just one sink. Buyers are generally not interested in using their vanities at the same time.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2005