VANCOUVER, CANADA-Two firms have announced plans for a new $98-million office tower, which will also include about 35,000 square feet of retail. British Columbia Investment Management Corp. will own the 400,000-square-foot 745 Thurlow building, and Bentall Kennedy will develop, manage and lease the property.

The building is going up at the corner of Thurlow and Alberni streets, across from the Shangri-La hotel and Urban Fare store, and adjacent to Robson and Alberni streets. The tower will have floor plates ranging from 15,000 square feet to 21,000 square feet. Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership designed the building.

Tony Astles, EVP with Bentall, tells GlobeSt.com that law firm McCarthy Tetrault has already signed a lease for the building. However, he would not reveal how much space the company is taking, but he confirmed it’s less than 50%.

Office tenants need a new building because the local market is tight, Astles says. “Triple A vacancy is about 2%, overall vacancy is around 4% to 4.5%,” he says. “It’s an extraordinarily constrained market, tenants can’t grow here. There’s really no blocks of space more than about a floor available.”

Calgary-based Churchill Corp. says in a statement today that it has been awarded the construction duties for the new tower. The contract is valued at $98 million. Construction is expected to begin in March and be complete by April 15. Jim Houck, Churchill’s CEO, says in the statement that his firm has also been appointed construction manager for a $60-million renovation and construction of the Tache Hall Music, Art and Theatre Complex for the University of Manitoba. “The western Canadian commercial and institutional construction market continues to yield quality projects,” he says.

Instant Insights /

Bentall, bcIMC To Build $98M Office Tower

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