Local Companies Will Soon Have a New Home at Intraurban Business Park

PC Urban Properties Corp addresses the lack of available commercial space in Vancouver by transforming an industrial property into a three-building, 170,000-square-foot business hub 

For the past decade, small and medium-sized businesses in Vancouver have had an extremely hard time finding commercial space they can own and operate from within city limits. Intraurban Business Park, a new commercial strata development at SW Marine Drive and Laurel Street, is set to change that.

The development, by PC Urban Properties Corp, will transform an under-utilized industrial property used for bus storage and tent manufacturing into small-bay commercial strata units creating a new vibrant business hub. The first commercial strata development in Vancouver in the past five years, Intraurban will be a new 170,000-square-foot, quality multi-level commercial space.

“We feel it’s an ingenious solution to an obsolete old property,” says Brent Sawchyn, PC Urban principal. “Traditionally, the idea of creating industrial strata for small and medium businesses hasn’t been done often in Vancouver. The development community has been so focused on building condos, which has led to the elimination of much needed industrial and commercial space, creating problems for small and medium businesses.

Andrew Markey, President of Hangman Productions, a Vancouver-based event planning company whose clients include Red Bull, Coors Light, Whistler Blackcomb, among others, is moving his warehouse and office space from Mount Pleasant to Intraurban because he wanted to be an owner/operator instead of “paying for someone else’s mortage.” Intraurban met all his expectations.

It is within the city so neither he nor his four employees will have to commute.

“I really like the location, the fact that it’s brand new, that we can custom build it to suit our needs,” he says.

Dvir Steen, owner of Breka Bakery, is also moving from a leased space into Intraurban where he will move all his production as well as add a new retail component. “We’ve been looking to expand for more than a year but most places we looked at were too small, too old or overpriced,” he says. “Intraurban is a good size, good location, good price and a good investment.” Steen is excited about the opportunity to custom build the space to suit his growing business needs and also to see how the burgeoning industrial area evolves. His new space will be four times bigger and add approximately 40 employees to the area.”

“Our early success with Intraurban owes much to the pent up demand for industrial product within city limits,” says PC Urban Principal Brent Sawchyn. “This will finally give small and medium businesses the option to buy their own commercial space within the city, rather than in the suburbs.”

Intraurban will be a collection of three buildings, offering a limited number of affordable, small-bay, commercial strata properties. The area at Cambie and Marine is in the midst of a massive transformation, with 8,500 new homes planned or under construction, and serviced by 380,000 square feet of of new retail. For businesses and their employees, the location is a 15 min drive to downtown and offers easy access to Highway 99, the airport, the port, Richmond, Burnaby and the US border. Intraurban will triple the tax base, and has the potential to add approximately 200 jobs and about 40 companies to the neighborhood.

“With Intraurban, we’re creating new employment opportunities close to the city core,” says Sawchyn.

“It’s a testimony to the need that businesses have for industrial product in the city of Vancouver. It’s the only offering of its kind right now in Vancouver or in Richmond and with vacancy rates so low, it’s a very attractive opportunity for the city’s small and medium sized businesses.”