Penthouse located atop Melville tower
Sun
PHOTOS BY BILL KEAY/VANCOUVER SUN
The master ensuite
The master bedroom
Joining agent Grace Kwok on one of the penthouse’s patios is Stanley Han, sales manager with Kwok’s company, Anson Realty.
The living room
Veteran real-estate broker Grace Kwok’s latest commission is a new-build penthouse of 5,700 square feet for which her client is asking $10.8 million. The home is located on the 43rd floor of the Melville residential tower, from the Amacon development company. If the asking price is the highest she has listed in her almost 30 years of selling local real estate, she isn’t saying. (The Bard never said discretion is the better part of luxury-home salesmanship, but he should have.) She has no doubt it will sell, of course, and she thinks she knows who the eventual buyer will be, not by name, but by type. ‘In good or bad times there are always buyers and sellers,’ she said in an interview. ‘Opulent properties have their own niche market. These properties are rare and not always available at the ‘‘right’’ time. ‘We feel this unit will be home to a well-travelled person, or couple, who appreciate good location, view and value.’ What in the Melville penthouse wows her — even after selling highrise and view homes for years, including every home below the penthouse? It’s the ‘home office,’ she said. ‘There’s a special room for him or her, besides the master bedroom, a special office [for] conducting their international business, with a direct view to a solarium where they can enjoy the collectibles from their travels.’
The Melville penthouse is a two-city creation (at least). Dave hewett, a principal of Hewitt & Kwasnicky Architects Inc. of Vancouver, is the architect. Michael Booth of Babey Moulton Jue & Booth, San Francisco, is the interior designer (and desigher for the Loden Hotel downstairs). Tracy Averill of Axis Decorative Arts, Vancouver, is the furniture and furnishings decorator. Each of the penthouse’s five bedrooms has its own ensuite.