H e r i t a g e O f f i c e a n d S t e e l c a s e – L e g a l O f f i c e S p ac e 33
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couver were put up for sale in July last year and many analysts said their
selling price would give an indication of what's in store for the city's office
market in general and its downtown office picture in particular. But so far,
no news of a purchase price.
At the moment, office development has slowed in the suburbs that
had been trying to develop mini-business districts—Surrey, City of North
Vancouver, Burnaby, New Westminster. In Surrey, the Century Group has
switched 129,000 square feet of planned office space to rental in a four-
tower project on the books. "We had some space pre-leased but there
were six projects chasing two tenants. As much as we wanted to do it,
it was not possible to finance it," says Bob Ransford, vice-president of
development at the company. But few think that's going to last. As more
and more office workers, plus founders and managers, choose cheaper
places to live in the suburbs, having offices close to where they live will
also be an incentive for reducing the work-from-home rate. "I see the
day when Surrey will be a robust market," says Ransford. "That's where
the employees are. But it's hard to compete right now when there's high
vacancy downtown."
CHIC PEEK
The Heritage Office
Furnishings team is
using the power of
design to elevate its
workplace
