Vancouver-based developer Solterra Development Corp. is one of the largest developers in Squamish right now. Vice-president Mike Bosa discussed the progress of some of its major projects in an interview.
Public market
In August Solterra unveiled drafts for a public market in the former PacWest building on Cleveland Avenue across from Howe Sound Brewing Company. At the time it was hoped the public market would be open for business by Christmas, but it likely won’t be open until spring.
Council approved the temporary use permit for the public market in early November, and now Solterra is looking at how to program the space.
“Our goal is to have lease rates available by the end of the year and then start to pre-lease the building,” said Bosa.
Seismic issues and building upgrades are the biggest concerns about getting the market open, as well as internal financial modeling, Bosa said. “We have costing down, now we need to figure out the financial model for rents and make sure they are achievable for the tenants while at the same time allowing us to recapture our cost,” he said.
According to Bosa, if all goes well, Squamish residents could be shopping in the market by Easter.
Sea to Sky Business Park
Phase 1 of the business park, to be located in the northwest corner of the Squamish Business Park, includes four buildings and a total of about 100,000 square feet located on Commercial Way, facing Home Depot and the Toyota dealership.
Solterra has started the preloads (compression of soft soil necessary before construction can begin) on two of the
15,000-square-foot buildings in Phase 1.
“We are anticipating starting construction into the New Year, as soon as the preload can come off,” Bosa said.
Leasing has been going well, Bosa said, with about 60 per cent of Phase 1 pre-leased. Occupants will be moved in by September or October next year, he added.
Bosa said for the last centre Solterra built, Discovery Centre on Discovery Way, the pre-leasing was much slower, but since Solterra has focused more on rec-tech users and local start-ups, leasing has gone much better. The lead tenant in Phase 1 of the Sea to Sky Business Park will be a climbing gym.
The first phase uses seven of the 20 acres Solterra bought from the district in 2012.
Bosa said Solterra recently went through a rezoning of five acres on the southeast corner of the property to allow for commercial business services.
The rezoning now allows for retail uses on the property to provide amenities for the tenants.
“One of the difficulties of attracting tenants from outside of Squamish is that there are no amenities around there for the businesses or their employees,” Bosa said.
Solterra can now build a maximum of two drive-thru restaurants on that corner property.
Completion of future phases will depend on demand, said Bosa.
“We are working with a couple of other large tenants that have the potential for us to build another 100,000 square feet within a year, but there is lots of regulations they’ve got to get approved,” Bosa said. “At this point I can’t disclose who they are.”
Bosa said all the tenants that are coming into the new property are taking advantage of the tax incentive put into place this year in Squamish.
“That benefit goes directly to the tenants,” Bosa said.
For start-ups, Bosa said, taxes are often about 40 per cent of operating costs.
“So it is a huge savings,” he said.
“Our goal is to try and get as much in place and active in the next three years to take advantage of that [tax incentive] and hopefully when that comes due in three years, council will consider extending that, because it is definitely a benefit.”
Once complete, the entire site will offer approximately 400,000 to 500,000 square feet of business space.
Nature’s Gate
Nature’s Gate is the fourth phase in the 20-acre Eaglewind community in downtown Squamish. Eleven acres are park, and six residential developments take up 14 acres.
Talon, Rockliff and Streams, the first three residential developments in Eaglewind, have sold out.
Construction on Nature’s Gate, which includes 50 three-bedroom townhomes, just got underway. After two months of pre-sales, Nature’s Gate is 50 per cent sold out, Bosa said.
“Our anticipation is it will be sold and built out within a year,” he added.
Bosa said while things are going very well for developments in Squamish, he worries fear of the growth will cause a backlash that will cause a downturn.
“Sometimes what happens is things start going very well and then all of a sudden restrictions get put on development and then that automatically starts adding costs and slowing it down again,” Bosa said.
The Falls
Solterra is also looking at continuing The Falls, the fifth project in the six-project master-planned community of Eaglewind. Bosa said the company will soon be meeting with the district to talk about that development, which sits on Bailey Street in downtown Squamish.
The Falls and Nature’s Gate were put on hold twice, the last time being in late 2012, due to a slowing of the real estate market in Squamish. The Falls was originally planned to be a six-storey, 90-unit condo building.
“That will be the next one we proceed with,” Bosa said.
– with files from Rebecca Aldous
