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Credit Suisse, one of the top 10 largest private real estate investors in the world, soon will break ground on a $200-million LEED Platinum office tower in Vancouver.
“Normally, we would invest in a fully developed, leased property,” says Rainer Scherwey, director at Credit Suisse Real Estate Asset Management. “This office tower represents the first time in North America that we are confident enough to build a major project from the ground up.”
The 31-storey office tower, The Exchange, will be built in the heart of the financial district.
“We are negotiating with a number of tenants at the moment and expect to make announcements soon,” says Mark Renzoni, president & CEO of CBRE, the leasing brokerage for the development.
“As the global economy recovers, Vancouver is one of the strongest office markets in North America,” says Mark Chambers, senior VP of Cushman & Wakefield. “The downtown Vancouver office market currently sits at near-record low vacancy rates, with mounting pressure on availability of quality space.”
Until recently, the City of Vancouver was projecting a critical shortage of office space by 2031 if land-use policies remained the same. With a new Metro Core Jobs & Economic Land Use plan in place, there are now seven new office towers under construction downtown, creating 2.18-million square feet of new office space. More than half of that space is already pre-leased, says Credit Suisse.
The development will include Canada’s first LEED Platinum heritage conversion, as the neighbouring Old Stock Exchange building (circa 1929) will be renovated and restored as part of The Exchange. It is slated for completion in 2016.
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