More Metro Vancouver malls are mixing housing and retail
Posted June 13, 2017 7:23 am.
Last Updated June 14, 2017 2:27 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) A new outfit and dinner at the food court, and all you have to do is walk out your front door and press the “down” button on the elevator.
An increasing number of malls in Metro Vancouver are being redeveloped to include a mix of housing and retail.
A report from Colliers International points out the ongoing evolution of shopping centres is being fueled by large vacancies left by Target and other brands and a coincident rise in urban land values.
“Almost all the large malls locally have redevelopment plans of some sort. Look at Oakridge, Brentwood, Lougheed, Lynn Valley, Richmond Centre, Lansdowne Centre and around Metrotown. It’s pretty extensive,” says senior consultant Andrew Evans.
“What’s driven it is that we have such a strong residential development industry right now and these are large, sometimes 50 acre plus properties that are on transit and centrally located. They see that the highest and best use may not just be retail but adding residential, office and variety of other uses to get a ‘town centre’ concept,” he tells NEWS 1130.
“We see that owners of the existing shopping malls are seeing the ability to reinvest through redevelopment or renovation to attract new tenants.”
Evans says there is an unprecedented level of redevelopment happening at malls across the country over the next decade.
