With a mission to inform, empower, celebrate and advocate for British Columbia's current and aspiring business leaders, BCBusiness go behind the headlines and bring readers face to face with the key issues and people driving business in B.C.
Issue link: http://digital.canadawide.com/i/364562
C I T Y O F N E W W E S T M I N S T E R P r o m o t e d C o n t e n t including Dale and Colin Bosa, president and CEO of BlueSky Properties and Bosa Properties Inc. respectively. They are keynote speakers at the Invest New West Economic Forum and have steered many of Metro Vancouver's most prominent real estate projects to the city, including the Viceroy and Quantum residential developments. But what's the big deal about New Westminster that is commanding so much attention? Why are people moving and relocating businesses here? Surely other cities—many other cities, in fact— are bigger in size and therefore more amenable to growth? Yes and no. The seven square miles that comprise New Westminster is precisely its 'secret weapon.' The compactness has given the city its tactile appeal and fostered a fierce sense of community spirit amongst its residents. Moreover, due to the limited geography, New West's progressive, can- do city council realized early on that any development, regardless of the purpose, would have to be meticulously planned (they began taking a long-range approach to development when SkyTrain was first introduced to the city back in the 1980s). Instead of building out, new projects would be built up. Historic edifices that gave the city its character would be retained; transportation to, from and within the city would be developed to its maximum efficiency and special attention would be focused on green space and other lifestyle amenities. These are the principles that go into creating so-called "livable" cities. New Westminster abides by them out of necessity, and every new project is nurtured by municipal initiatives such as the Livable City Strate�y, which was borne out of a comprehensive stakeholder involvement program that engaged a wide range of businesses, organizations and community members in planning for a city that is vibrant, sustainable and contains well-balanced neighbourhoods. So even though it may seem that as many construction cranes as buildings have dominated New Westminster's skyline for the past few years, the explosive activity has in fact been carefully considered and coordinated. As a result, New Westminster has become the place for new families, urban professionals and everyone in between. Add to this brew a cost of living that is more on par with suburban regions than downtown meccas, and you have New West's success in a nutshell. Every element of the "new" New West (as many residents fondly refer to their surroundings) attracts commerce in one form or another, whether it's shoppers out for some fun or head office managers taking advantage of the city's proximity to other regions in Metro Vancouver (aided by no less than five SkyTrain stations, easy access to YVR, Highway 99, Highway 1, and the Alex Fraser, Pattullo and Port Mann bridges). Some of the newer elements include The Anvil Centre spans an entire city block at the gateway to New Westminster's downtown. the Anvil Centre and Anvil Centre Office Tower, located in the heart of New West's historic downtown core. Intended to be both a commerce facility and a public gathering place (thanks again to forward- thinking city planners, who endorsed a proposal to create a nine-storey, 137,000 square foot LEED Gold office tower atop the base building), Anvil Centre is host to a conference centre as well as community- With this infrastructure the city's current 11,000-strong population in the downtown core will grow comfortably to 15,400 by 2021 ARTHUR SIMPKINS