new condo owner: ‘I used to walk down here . . . and I was kind of scared’
Elaine O’Connor
Province
Ying Chao clutches an owner’s manual for the Woodward’s ‘W’ tower. Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, the Province
‘Fairmont views for a quarter of the price,’ says Greg Zayardi, marketing project manager. Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, the Province
Thursday’s moving-in day at the new Woodward’s ‘W’ tower. Photograph by: Gerry Kahrmann, the Province
Daron Rusjan is rushing to unload furniture and a flat-screen TV from a truck on the streets of the Downtown Eastside.
But the 27-year-old isn’t trying to make a getaway with the goods. He’s anxious to load them into his new, $300,000, one-bedroom Woodward’s condo, as one of the first owners to move in Thursday to the Downtown Eastside’s swankiest new address.
“It’s the nicest place I could find for the price,” said the first-time home-buyer of his seventh-floor suite in the ‘W’ tower, where owners began moving in Wednesday.
“It’s definitely cleaned up a lot,” the currency trader said of the area around the new development.
“I used to walk down here three or four years ago and I was kind of scared.”
But now, he — and the owners of 366 other upscale condos in the first tower to be completed — are part of the neighbourhood.
The ‘W’ tower contains 366 market condo suites. To date, about 80 people have closed on their new units. About four moved in Wednesday and a dozen Thursday.
“By tonight, at least a dozen people should be sleeping here,” said Greg Zayadi, project manager for Rennie Marketing Systems.
The finishing touches are ongoing — the rooftop patio and the 42nd-floor W Club gym and lounge still have to be completed.
The atrium remains unfinished, and the public outdoor space that will eventually hold a basketball court — and tables and chairs made from reclaimed wood — is still covered in building supplies.
The ground floor will house a pub and restaurant and a coffee shop, but it’s empty for now.
But most of the suites are finished.
Behind each door — decorated with one of 10 designs owners can select — are energy-efficient stainless-steel appliances, exposed concrete ceilings, engineered oak floors, sleek, glassed-in showers and glass tiles, steam-powered heating radiators, some free wireless Internet services and, in upper-floor north-facing units, million-dollar views.
“We joke that you get Fairmont views for a quarter of the price,” Zayadi says.
New owners will also get “welcome” gifts of organic cleaning products and ‘W’-branded coffee travel mugs and washcloths in a Downtown Eastside-made pine-beetle wood case, as well as gift cards to local retailers moving in, such as London Drugs and Nesters.
New owner Alex Yun, 32, held his welcome pack as he lingered in the lobby of his new home.
“I bought it as sort of an investment and, hopefully the downtown home values go up,” said Yun, who is moving from Coquitlam to live in his new, 32nd-floor, one-bedroom unit.
“It was the right price. But I’d like to see a little more change to get rid of the drug users and panhandlers.”
Fellow owner Ying Chao, 42, who bought a unit to share with her boyfriend, agreed that she’d like to see more transformation, as she’s considering buying a second unit in the ‘W2’ building.
“I think the building is very good quality and the price was attractive,” she said of her $330,000 unit.
“I see the area changing. It seems cleaner, but I’m still worried a little bit.”
Zayadi says Woodward’s new residents will have to be patient and wait to see the full benefits as the neighbourhood adapts to the new mega-complex and influx of new condo owners.
“This is going to have a huge impact on this neighbourhood, but it’s going to be six to eight months before everything settles in and all the skepticism [about transformation] goes away,” Zayadi said.
“The real impact is not going to be felt until probably 2010, when you have up to 2,000 new people travelling through this neighbourhood to their homes and school.”
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