A sizable land assembly with nine single-family lots totalling 1.6 acres has come together in a pending sale transaction near the Burquitlam SkyTrain Station in Coquitlam.
The deal is under contract by commercial broker Adam Lawrence of Goodman Commercial, who had been working on the assembly since 2019.
The assembled properties are at Gardena Dr. and Westley Ave. in the Oakdale neighbourhood of Burquitlam and located across the street from Intracorp‘s high-profile Gardena project, a four-building tower residential complex that includes a financial partnership with Grosvenor.
“This assembly, in Oakdale… (is) not the lone bright spot, but one of few brights bright spots in the market today,” Lawrence told RENX in an interview on Wednesday.
“You’ve got projects in there that have done exceedingly well given the challenging environment, or economic environment,” he said. “You’ve got these major branded developers investing in this location for a reason, and I think it’s just because it provides the best value in the Lower Mainland.”
He said this part of Coquitlam is near the mountains and the shoreline of Burrard Inlet. It provides a North Shore-esque lifestyle that is well connected to the rest of the region via the SkyTrain line.
The developer of the site can build up to 380,000-square-feet and a 5.5 FSR without height restrictions, according to the listing, which included an asking price of $34.8 million. Lawrence was not able to divulge the identity of the buyer, but said it is a local developer already active in the neighbourhood.
RENX has reached out to the buyer, through Lawrence, for additional comment but has not yet received a reply.
“We’re just working towards subject removal with the developer,” Lawrence said, adding there is municipal work that remains to be done but the vision for the site would probably include both high-density condo and rental homes.
Market conditions pose challenges and opportunities
Lawrence said there has been quite a lot of activity in the foreclosure sale market.
“You’re seeing projects or plots of land that are owned by developers that, for whatever reason, are not able to proceed,” he said. “In some instances the pricing is still too high . . . (and) the bid is not sufficient to induce the (owner) that’s holding the debt to sell, because banks are going to lose money.”
He said land assemblies like this one take time and substantial prices.
“It takes a certain amount of money to get somebody to move out of their single-family home, right?”
These owners were sticky on their asking prices, because they have to go back into the market to purchase a new home. “The replacement cost . . . to go buy another house is so high.”
In this area however, there has been a fair amount of high-density construction, with cranes and excavations continuing at various sites around the station.
“The lifestyle really started to change for the residents,” Lawrence said, adding that engagement with the city eventually led to higher-density zoning approvals.
“There’s been probably, I want to say, 10 high-rise deals that have happened in the neighborhood since 2020.”
