Hungerford Properties acquires two massive sites in South Vancouver

Credit: Courtesy of Hungerford Properties

Company confident area will be the next hub for businesses in the city

Vancouver-based construction company Hungerford Properties has acquired two large industrial sites in South Vancouver totalling 15.5 acres.

Both properties are near the Canada Line’s Marine Drive station and the accompanying Marine Gateway development, which has spurred many apartment complexes in the area.

The first, a 12.5-acre site at 86 Southeast Marine Drive, is one of the biggest industrial acquisitions in the City of Vancouver in the past decade by square footage, surpassed only by Concord Pacific Developments Inc.’s purchase of Molson Coors Brewing Co.’s Burrard Street brewery.

Formerly a Dueck Auto Group dealership, the lot at 86 Southeast Marine has been vacant for about 15 years.

The second space is a three-acre property a few blocks west, at 396 Southwest Marine Drive. Currently home to a Kia Vancouver car dealership, the site is zoned to permit retail and commercial uses to service the neighbourhood’s new residential developments.

Hungerford is betting that the neighourhood will be the next hub for Vancouver businesses seeking commercial space, especially after dramatic increases in rent in Mount Pleasant.

“With the residential boom in the area, it’s a rapidly changing neighbourhood that will offer a lot of potential for growth,” partner Michael Hungerford said in a statement. “We will be working hard to transform the sites from single-use, to large-scale, mixed-use commercial developments in the coming years.”

Both properties are an exception to the rule in Vancouver, which has struggled to find industrial space within city limits.