FIRST IMPRESSIONS
There is a lot of press and buzz about this project in the Chinese community even before the presentation centre opened. People were curious about this project back when the winter Olympics were announced and lot of anticipation regarding the price point of this project.
This is a massive project with a 38 storey North Tower and 29 storey South Tower with a Office commercial building a movie theater and anchor grocery store, transit, and sky train station below.
PRICE
Marine Gateway is justifying the price based on convenience and the fact it is on the “West Side”. Most of their targeting is directed to the Asian community, it is clear the Asian community responded because everyone that was previewing the display unit was Asian. Whether they plan on buying for investment or to live in themselves is unknown.
The price has been released and it is in the low $600’s/SF, depending on the floor you would like to live on.
Sales will begin in March 2012, no date confirmed yet.
RENTAL
5th and 6th floor are held by the developer for Market Rentals, this could be good because it would help dictate market rental rates for the building. Or the developer simply plans on holding back these two floors then the developer will sell these in 2015 at the future market rate.
As an investor, will renting out units in this building be difficult? All depends on how much you want to rent your unit out for. So how much can you expect to rent a unit in this building out for? No answer because there are no comparable properties in the area right now.
PARKING
Have you been to Crystal Mall shopping centre parking lot on the weekends? That is an example of the efficiency of a 1 entrance to the parking lot. Imagine dealing with that everyday when living at Marine Gateway. There is going to be more than 400 units in the residential building, an office building with an average of at least 3 employees per office, a movie theatre, and an anchor grocery store tenant. Imagine the frustration of trying to get home or leave for work. A great excuse for being late for work everyday, here’s one “I live at Marine Gateway!” Or just find a job next door at the office building.
BUILDING QUALITY
This building will be built to LEED® standards however; there is no indication that this building will have earthquake dampeners. Sales associates said this project will meet the City of Vancouver’s building codes, will they be going above and beyond to project YOUR future investment or will they just do the bare minimum? They were very unclear about this at the presentation centre.
Marine Gateway is close enough to the water that the soil for this building might have some settlement issues that will only be seen a couple of years after the building is built. This will be an issue with the foundation. This will be the first building in the area that will put a lot of weight and stress to the ground in the area. There is already the skytrain, can the soil handle the stress of this building also?
If you recall, in December 2010 there was a sinkhole 2.0 km away on Fraser St which was about nine metres wide, 14 metres long and nine metres deep[1]. During this time both gas and electricity and transit was shut down. Did PCI include a back up power generator in their plans to ensure you don’t get stuck in the elevator?
The quality and construction of the display suite was below average. There are some minor deviations from the plans provided. For instance, the 1 bedroom floor plan, on paper shows doors on the washroom and the laundry room. However, there are no doors for the display unit and no pocket doors either. So, are there going to be more modifications from the floor plans you see online compared to when you receive possession of the property?
The office building and the residential building will all be built together and are expected to all complete at the same time in 2015.
PROS
- Convenience of transportation to Richmond or to Downtown in less than 15 minutes either way.
- Kohler fixtures and toilets
- 1 parking stall per unit
CONS
- 1 parking entrance for the 5 floors of underground parking that will be for the office building, mall, and 2 residential towers and podium
- No good view, you would have to visually ignore what detracts you
- If you are on the North Side you face the busy street of Marine Drive
- If you are on the East Side you look at the streets of Marine Drive, and into the office building on any floor less than the 29th floor
- If you are on the South side you face the power line station
- If you are on the West side you get the noise of the sky train
- All the 2 bedroom units are rhombus in shape and there are no rectangular 2 bedroom units. Only the 1 bedroom units are rectangular in shape.
- Small counter top and only one sink for the master bedroom en-suite
- Located at the end of south end of Cambie at the bottom of the hill
- No Gym confirmed for amenities
- No storage locker
- No coat or shoe closet front of the entrance
FINAL THOUGHTS
If young families are buying this project just to get the west side address to enroll their children to Sir Winston Churchill Secondary, then hopefully Churchill is ready for an increased enrollment.
Even if these families don’t buy, they can rent. If people are buying these units for investment purposes, rental rates in the area will be affected negatively as there will be an influx of supply.
在Marine Gateway展示中心对公众开放之前，很多人都已经知道这个期房项目了，大家都翘首期盼着该项目的价格公布。以下是Marine Gateway的一些相关的信息：
价格
Marine Gateway的价格基于该项目位置的便利性和“西区”的优越性。每平方尺的价格从600起，根据楼层和朝向有所调整。预计2012年的3月开始发售。
出租
开发商会持有第五、六层，作为自己收租的单元。这有助于投资者在出租自己的物业时，有个好的参考。开发商也有可能将五、六层的单元持有到2015年再推向市场，以卖到更好的价格。
停车
Marine Gateway将会有400个住宅单元，一个办公楼，一个电影院和一个大超市。但是，该项目只有一个停车场出入口。您体验过周末在丽晶广场停车的麻烦吗？丽晶的停车场就是典型的单出口地下车库。想象一下，住在Marine Gateway，每天开车出行会是什么样的场景。
权衡利弊
优势：
- 好学区，中学是排名成绩优异的 Sir Winston Churchill Secondary
- 坐天车到Richmond 和Downtown非常方便
- 科勒卫浴
- 每个单元有一个车位
劣势：
- 办公楼、商场、2栋住宅楼共用一个停车出入口
- 东面能看到Marine Drive,还能看到办公楼。南面能看到电站。西面朝天车站。北面朝Marine Drive。
- 从户型图来看，2居室的户型基本都有棱角，只有一居室是方正的户型。
- 没有储藏间
