Luxury condo market boost for Vancouver

VANCOUVER'S 'empty nesters' and the local appetite for luxury property along the downtown waterfront is ensuring a healthy luxury condominium market, according to Hiroaki Okamoto, secretary of the Bayshore Gardens Development.

The development company, a subsidiary of the Japanese contractor Aoki Corp, is building an 11-tower luxury condo development in Coal Harbour called Bayshore.

The development is situated on 22 acres of land behind the landmark Westin Bayshore Hotel and a stone's throw from Stanley Park.

When completed in 1997, the 11 towers will include 980 units of which 230 will be kept for rental purposes, according to the developer.

Last weekend Bayshore representatives and International Hung Hsing Property Agency held a pre-sale in Hong Kong of 157 units in the first two towers on offer - 1710 and 1790 Bayshore Drive.

More than 50 per cent of the units, which were on sale simultaneously in Hong Kong and Vancouver, sold in less than a week, according to Mr Okamoto.

He said Vancouver's so-called 'empty nesters' - people whose kids have grown up and left home - have decided they don't want to spend the money or the time on keeping up their family homes in the suburbs and are looking for a more relaxed living environment in a downtown condo close to shopping and entertainment.