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Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village
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12-20-2014, 12:24 PM,
(This post was last modified: 12-20-2014, 12:59 PM by Skook.)
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RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village
December 20, 2014 Update:
Blue Heron Village Phase 2 is now move in ready and likely has been for the last few months. As of today, three of the six “residential” units on Level 2 have been sold: Units 201, 205 and 206. As for the five commercial spaces on the ground level, a check on www.icx.ca shows all are still available to lease. So, no need to update my August 24th spreadsheet in the post directly above. Originally, I was quite impressed with plans for Phase 2, Blue Heron Village. I liked its funky design (still do) and, above all, I liked the concept behind “live/work” units. However, my enthusiasm paled when the residential units were also given a “commercial” listing with the write-up stating the units could be residential only, commercial only or mixed use. I outlined possible implications, as I saw them, in my first and second posts above. I queried whether or not the Town of Gibsons really thought through the implications of such zoning that allowed separate rental of the residence and office spaces on Level 2; and, wondered what types of businesses would or wouldn’t be allowed. For example, could a masseuse rent the “office” portion and have his/her clients drop in at 2 o’clock in the morning? Well, here is the first “mortgage helper” ad posted November 25th on Craigslist. Since only 1 of the “live/work” combo units have sold to date, it should be safe to assume this involves Unit 205 which sold in June for $321,705. Using an online mortgage calculator: with a $16,600 deposit (5%) at 2.85% interest for 25 years, a similar unit owner would face a monthly mortgage payment of $1,423 (but, this may not include the CMHC premium). Tack on the monthly maintenance fee $199.75 (may increase in a year or two to build up the war chest), town taxes ($100/mth at least, I think), insurance payments, utilites, etc, it looks like the new #205 owner could be dishing out close to $2,000/mth. Yep, some help with that might be nice. By the way at the bare bones $1,423 monthly mortgage payment, the price of that unit at the end of those 25 years is $443,500. Now, what are the chances someone will want to pay $415/mth for a 13’ x 13’ room with no direct sunlight (faces north, is under Level 3 overhang) with absolutely no street exposure (on the second level, behind Phase 1 with no direct access to Gibsons Way - the main thoroughfare). And, where do you hang/nail the business sign? (Note: you can see the floorplan for Unit 205 at the bottom of the first post in this thread). *************************
There was another ad up on Craigslist and it was posted November 20th. Apparently, the owner of the Unit 206 is unable to or doesn’t want to live in it so it was for rent. This is one of two units without a separate “office” space; the other being Unit 201. Unit 206 sold in early June for $250,969. Here is its Craigslist ad and write-up mentioning many notable items such as its fir beams, 2-headed shower, on-demand hot water gas heater, and glass sliding doors. It was offered at $1,200/mth plus utilities. Now, I really wanted to understand the flow of this building because of the residential/commercial mixed use. As well, I wanted to figure out how to get to Unit 206 and understand its layout based on what I could see in the Craigslist pics. To help, I put together the image below. Unit 206 is located in that three-story end closest to the viewer in the upper left pic. The red arrow shows the entrance to a stairwell that takes you up to the exterior common walkway on Level 2. Unit 206 and all other units are accessed off this walkway. At the other end of the building, there is another stairwell (three storied) plus an elevator. In the unit floorplan on the left above, the kitchen appliances are located along one wall; however, in reality, this has been changed and the sink is now located in front of the window and the stove is now at the previous sink location. I think the new configuration is much better. A gas fireplace has been added to the corner of the livingroom by the stairwell. The tub in the upper level bathroom has been replaced with that above mentioned 2-headed shower. The ad images below show these changes and red arrows are items that caught my eye. The first arrow in the 3rd pic points to something at the top of the stairs. The 4th pic shows that this object is the stackable washer and dryer and look what is beside them – the “on-demand (Rinnai) gas hot water heater”. In the floorplan above, it looks like this area should or could have been enclosed, so I’m wondering why it didn’t happen. Maybe the new owner was cutting costs? Not a great down-the-road resale feature, in my opinion. The loft bedroom is nice and bright with a view. The closet is in its own alcove, but why the mirrored doors given its locale? There is also a door in that alcove that takes you out onto the Level 3 exterior walkway – good fire escape. And, then there’s that fir beam in the shower. What do you think? Would Mike Holmes be happy to see this? I was wondering if there were fir beams running through any other showers in Phase 2, so I pulled together these images below to check. Nope, Unit 206 appears to be the only one – whew. (Note: the floorplan images have been rotated to mirror the building direction in the first image) After staring at and trying to understand these floorplans I discovered that there sure are a lot of access points into some of these units. The rental Unit 206 has two: the main door off Level 2 and the door by the closet on Level 3. Units 202-204, have 5 access doors: two off Level 2 (into office and into residence) and a door between office and residence; and, two bedroom doors on Level 3 (one to a private patio from one bedroom and one to the common walkway from the other bedroom). Unit 201 has only 1 access door – off Level 2 (it's the only single level unit). Seems to me like there will be an awful lot of keys to keep track of especially if those “office” spaces are being rented out separately from the residences. What about the doors from the stairwells? The door to the second level has to be open to the public otherwise people can’t get to the “office” spaces. I would think you would want to have that third level accessible only to building residents so maybe that door needs a key. Well, that is one thing about Craigslist ads and pics –they offer a view into a residence and building that you wouldn’t otherwise have and make you think about stuff that otherwise might not cross your mind. Fun. |
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Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 11-14-2013, 05:45 PM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 12-16-2013, 03:18 PM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 06-21-2014, 11:14 AM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 08-24-2014, 11:33 AM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 12-20-2014, 12:24 PM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 12-14-2015, 11:32 AM
RE: Gibsons Development - Blue Heron Village - by Skook - 12-18-2015, 01:25 PM
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