Sun
The local future draped in a European past, the Grand on Oak townhouses that will rise on the west side of Oak Street at 43rd Avenue will possess their site with Tudor Revival style, with pronounced roofs and chimneys and, of course, approximations of half-timbered exterior walls. … Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
That’s Concord’s Grant Murray at the project model. Photograph by : Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun
The Grand on Oak
Location: Oakridge, Vancouver
Project size: 31 townhouses
Residence size: 1,490 sq. ft. — 2,025 sq. ft., 2 bedrooms + den, 3 bedrooms
Prices: $809,000 — $1.39 million
Project location: West 43 Avenue and Oak Street
Sales centre: Pacific Boulevard at Carrall Street
Hours: 10 a.m. — 5 p.m. daily
Telephone: 604-899-8800
Website: thegrandonoak.com
Developer: Concord Pacific
Architect: Stuart Howard Architects Inc.
Interior designer: Portico Design Group
Tentative occupancy: Fall 2009
– – –
The Grand on Oak new-home project is the latest expression in Vancouver of the notion that on our arterials, thoroughfares like Oak Street, higher-density residency is better than lower.
The 31 Grand townhouses will rise on five single-family-home lots, big westside lots, deep at 140 feet and wide at 60 feet.
Before work could start, city council needed to rezone the five properties from single-family to comprehensive.
Staff urged the affirmative vote on council, noting the properties are located in a “high priority for rezoning . . . sub-area.”
”This sub-area includes the west side of Oak Street between 43rd and 46th avenues and the east side of Oak Street between the lane south of 41st and 46th avenue,” staff told council.
”It is intended to serve as a transition between the commercial, institutional, and higher-density residential uses located around the intersection of Oak and 41st and the single-family neighbourhood to the south . . . .”
Staff also told council attached homes are already occupied north of the properties and it was reviewing applications to build others.
All this informing and voting occurred last year. Then, however, the developer of the property was the Eden Group, whose subsequent troubles have been widely reported, including one mostly constructed new-home project in receivership.
In Concord Pacific, the Eden Group found an organization that pioneered higher-density residency, on the old Expo 86 property.
The Concord executive responsible for selling the Grand residences, Grant Murray, located next to the entrance of the garage.
The Tudor-style homes are on three levels, with the main living and kitchen space on the main level and the bedrooms upstairs.
The garage and fully finished basement room, which could be used for a media room or office, are on the lower level.
There are three “collections” in all and four different floor plans to choose from.
The “courtyard collection” is made up of the homes on Oak Street, which are elevated and set back from the street.
Murray notes that double glazing of windows means street noise should not be a factor. Additionally, living areas and master bedrooms are located in the rear of the “courtyard” homes.
Across from this collection is the “park collection,” a reference to their location across from Montgomery Park.
The final collection includes six residences along West 43rd. “Townscape collection” homes start at $969,000.
“We’re really proud of the project,” Murray comments. ”Very few sites in Vancouver back onto a park. It is appealing to a lot of potential buyers who are younger with families.
”Traditionally, these buyers would be looking at an old house on a 33-foot lot, but they need to ask themselves: do they want to buy mostly dirt with an old house where they’ll be spending a lot of money on it, or a new product with the feeling of outdoor space [from the park] in an excellent neighbourhood.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2008