Metro Vancouver developers using idle space to build community, attract businesses EVAN DUGGAN More from Evan Duggan (HTTP://VANCOUVERSUN.COM/AUTHOR/EDUGGAN) Published on: August 23, 2016 Last Updated: August 23, 2016 1:30 PM PDT Ben Taylor of Wesgroup talks about the River District development last year. PNG JENELLE SCHNEIDER /
Developers in Metro Vancouver are increasingly using idle, undeveloped space at their construction sites for commercial and community events that boost recognition and create organic marketing opportunities. In some cases, it can take up to 20 years to complete a masterplanned community, leaving large tracts of undeveloped land to sit empty for lengthy periods, said Beau Jarvis, senior vice president of development with Wesgroup. At River District, Wesgroup s 128 acre master planned community in South Vancouver, the company has been using sections of the site along the shores of the Fraser River for several uses including a Saturday farmers market, volleyball courts and a drive in movie theatre. When completed, the 7,000 home community will have 7.2 million sq. ft. of residential, community and commercial space, and will include a community centre, four daycares, a 25 acre park and possibly a school. You can have big billboards that say River District, Vancouver s largest waterfront community, or whatever you want to call it, but really that just gets lost in the clutter of real estate advertising in Vancouver, Jarvis said. So we really are striving to get people down there to create an emotional and physical connection with the area rather than reading about it somewhere, he said. Most of the events have been free or sponsored by Wesgroup. Some have been pay for events, he said, adding that the drive in theatre is now in its second summer, showing films for $20 per car on Saturdays and movies for free on Sundays. That s been a huge success, Jarvis said, adding that between 200 and 300 cars have shown up on some weekends. It s a novelty to go to a drive in movie these days and we ve been doing a lot of family
movies. That worked out really well. People have been talking about the events on social media and with friends and family, Jarvis said. That s organic marketing and it s starting to work. A similar Beau Jarvis of Wesgroup. strategy was I A N L I N D S A Y / P N G taken last year by Concert Properties, which partnered with the creator of food business incubator called Hawkers Market to create a 2.2 acre food hub on North Vancouver s waterfront. Hawkers Wharf is a public market at Concert s 12 acre Harbourside site a four stage master planned community with a 15 year buildout plan. The market will host about 25 local, independent food start ups at a temporary cluster of converted shipping containers on the westernmost section of the development site. It will also have a bar and a communal kitchen building. When the plans were announced, Concert told Postmedia News that the food market concept matched their vision of creating a
commercial hub at the property before the homes were built. The temporary market could eventually be folded into a permanent space at the development. Developers have also been taking advantage of idle, yet to be developed space on a smaller scale. In Vancouver s Mount Pleasant, PortLiving, the developers of a mixeduse condo building called the Midtown project, decided to launch an experiment in summer 2014 to bring weekly pop up shops and events to the strip mall that stood at the site. Over a three month period, they hosted temporary art shows, events, galleries and small retailers in the building. The pop up project did help attract attention, but it also brought the community together to find some common ground, said PortLiving CEO Tobi Reyes, last week. It gave us advice on what kind of retail to put in. He said they are now in the process of selecting the retailer who will permanently reside in the 7,500 sq. ft. retail space beneath the building s 41 townhomes. The project is expected to complete in the next two or three months. I think it s a great use of an existing space before demolition, he said. There s a lot of benefits. Not only are you re using the space but it creates energy. There s always something that comes out of interacting. He said developers in the region are likely to take a similar approach with other spaces that are lingering between the planning stage and the building stage. The extremely high cost of land and shortage of available space for entrepreneurs and community groups should motivate developers to get more creative with their empty spaces, he said. You have to engage the community at a higher level, you have to do different things to make the formulas work. I definitely do believe that
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