BCBusiness

SOURCES: LANDCOR DATA CORP., LEGER FOR RE/MAX 20 BCBUSINESS JULY/AUGUST 2017 When it comes to real estate, central Vancouver may be the country's priciest city in which to run a business, but Saje and other local companies are more than willing to stick it out. Although sta may •nd it tough to secure aordable housing and commercial property taxes are on the rise, some CEOs say the advantages oset those drawbacks. Their companies' growth underscores the decision to maintain and expand head o ces in Vancouver. Tech success Bench Account- ing, billed as North America's number one online bookkeep- ing service, recently launched a 55,000-square-foot head o ce at Telus Garden on Robson Street. (See page 34 for a tour.) Bench, which called New York home until 2013, outgrew three other nearby spaces as it expanded to 250 employees. The company chose the city because it's cheaper than places like New York and San Francisco and has the tech talent, says director of communications Natalie Bur"win. "We have yet to see sta leave Bench to go some- where else because of housing prices," Bur"win adds. CYC Design Corp., the umbrella company for clothing brands Wings + Horns and Reigning Champ, has a new factory on Clark Drive and a Burnaby distribution cen- tre. It's also expanding into a new 22,000-square-foot HQ at Grandview Highway and Rupert Street. Founder Craig Atkinson is a British Columbian, which might help explain why he and other business owners brave Vancou- ver's high cost of living: they can't imagine being anywhere else. Michael Heeney, principal at Bing Thom Architects ( BTA), says Vancouver attracts residents who like the lifestyle and use their business savvy to •nd a way to stay. It's the opposite of the bigger trend where people move to a city for employment. "They want to •gure out how to make it work here, and that's why you get lots of startups," says Heeney, whose Vancouver •rm did a 2014 study of head o ces. "But that kind of personality that starts things is not necessarily the same person- ality needed to grow it. They tend to get to a certain size, then sell it and start something new." The study, by BTA Works, showed that Vancouver ranks third among Canadian cities for head o ces, behind Toronto and Montreal. But most of those o ces are small, averaging about 60 people. Vancouver companies tend to hit a growth wall, not making it to the level of major players in Seattle and Portland. In those cities, Amazon.com and Nike Inc. pay high salaries and create enormous wealth, which in turn generates spino businesses. Heeney says that cycle isn't play- ing out in Vancouver, where many entrepreneurs make a good living and don't feel the need to go big. Meanwhile, Heeney says, Vancouver policymakers over- look the importance of income in the aordability problem. But expensive housing does chase away valuable midcareer employees, those who've spent 15 years with a company but want a proper home. "If we could create big o ces with larger numbers of upper-level employees with higher salaries, that will help grow our incomes, and that in a way will make our housing more aordable," Heeney says. Family-run Saje appears to be on that trajectory. Ross LeBlanc and chief wellness o cer Jean-Pierre LeBlanc launched the business in 1992 after moving from Ontario with their daughter, Kiara—now brand and creative director—for the B.C. lifestyle. Over the past •ve years, Saje's revenue has grown more than 1,000 per cent, Ross LeBlanc says. The company employs about 1,000 people, 125 of them in Vancouver. Saje will have almost 80 North American stores by the end of 2017. The founders plan to grow their Vancouver head o ce to some 500 in the next half- decade. "Seeking a healthier lifestyle is the reason we came here in the •rst place—it would be super counterintuitive to leave," Ross LeBlanc says. SMALL PLAYER Vancouver lags Winnipeg for average head office size That's how many recreational properties changed hands in B.C. in 2016—a 75 per cent surge over the previous year and up almost threefold from 2011. Vacationing Lower Mainlanders may dream of ownership as they snooze on rented lakefront decks this summer, but British Columbians aren't driving sales, says Rudy Nielsen, president of Niho Land & Cattle Co. Ltd., one of the province's largest recreational property dealers. It's Albertans, followed closely by American, European and Chinese buyers capitalizing on a cheap loonie while securing a potential sanctuary in uncertain times. "I just sold a remote piece of property to an English family, sight unseen, and the buyer said he wanted a safe place for his grandson to go if everything went to pieces," Nielsen relates. Foreign buyers see Canada this way, he says: we have a majority government, regulated banks and lots of fresh water. "And B.C. doesn't have foreign ownership restrictions, unlike some other provinces." by Melissa Edwards Cabin Fever NUMEROLOGY 2,577 Calgary 150 Quebec City 116 Toronto 107 Montreal 107 Ottawa-Gatineau 105 Winnipeg 80 Vancouver 63 Edmonton 57 SOURCE: BTA Works, Statistics Canada

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