Vancouver Landlord More Than Doubles New Government Requirements for Ending Tenancies

June 14, 2018

Reliance Properties Wants to Set the Highest Standards in the Industry

In a challenging time for renters, Reliance Properties is looking to set a new standard for the industry as it embarks on major reconstruction and structural work of a well- known Vancouver rental building the company bought two years ago.

1770 Davie News Release and Fact Sheet

Micro-Condos for Millennials

The Current with Anna Maria Tremonti
Wednesday, February 18, 2015

‘Micro-Condo’ makes room for Millennials who want affordable housing. It seems the next big idea in real estate… is actually quite small. Around 300 square feet, to be precise. That’s the typical square footage of a so-called micro-condo. Which, for comparison sake, is about the size of two standard parking spaces.

Imagine sleeping, and cooking, and eating, and showering, and kicking back … all inside 300 square feet. It’s a lifestyle that denizens of densely packed cities in Asia and Europe have been perfecting for years. And one that’s popping up more and more in the Vancouver area. Samuel Baron lives in a micro-condo. He’s a graduate student in Vancouver and he a bit more than a $1000 a month in rent … less than a small downtown apartment would go for. But at just 248 square feet, it’s much smaller too.

And of course, it is dollars and cents — and the reality of the real estate market — that’s driving the micro trend, and pushing it East across the country.
In the heart of downtown Toronto, 290-square-foot units are on sale now for around $250,000 dollars. Developers say going small gives young people an affordable way into the market, but micro-condos are also raising some big concerns. As part of our project, By Design, we’re looking at the best ways to design space for human living. Jon Stovell is the President of Reliance Properties. He develops micro condo buildings to rent and to sell. He was in Vancouver. When it comes to living in so-called micro-condos, experts fear that there are bigger problems looming than finding enough storage for your books and shoes. Some worry about the toll it could take on physical and mental health.

Dak Kopec is the director of Design for Human Health at Boston Architectural College, and the author of “Environmental Psychology for Design; Health, Sustainability.” He was in Palm Springs, California.

So … could you live in a condo that’s about the size of two parking spaces? Maybe you already do?

This segment was produced by The Current’s Sarah Grant and Vancouver Network Producer Anne Penman. New Yorkers Living Large in Small Spaces

Kitty Lonsdale is an interior decorator in New York City, who lives in a 220 square foot apartment with her husband … and dog. She told freelance journalist Jonathan Williamson about her philosophy for living large in a small space.

Reliance Properties Donates $7 million to Emily Carr

‘Unparalleled’ donation launches funding drive for Emily Carr’s new campus
MARSHA LEDERMAN May 02, 2014

Emily Carr University of Art and Design launched its capital campaign for the planned Great Northern Way campus on Friday with a $7-million donation – the largest private donation of its kind in this country, according to the university.

“It is unparalleled,” ECUAD president and vice-chancellor Ron Burnett told a news conference. “There is no arts university in Canada that’s ever received a gift of this size.”

The pledge, from Vancouver real estate developer Reliance Properties, will help fund a gallery and theatre at the planned $134-million Great Northern Way facility.

The donation kicks off the university’s capital campaign, which it has dubbed “The Big Idea.” With this donation, and earlier donations – including the previously announced $5-million from philanthropist Michael Audain – Emily Carr has raised $15-million toward the $25-million capital campaign goal.

The plan is to integrate the Libby Leshgold Gallery and Reliance Lecture Theatre with a concourse off a planned plaza at Great Northern Way, creating a hub where people – including students and members of the public – can gather.

“We see it as the kind of nerve centre of the campus,” says Reliance Properties president Jon Stovell.

Libby Leshgold, who died last year, was a member of the family that founded Reli- ance Properties.

“She loved art, she loved design. Everything about her sort of screamed style and an interest in creativity,” her granddaughter, Kirby Goldstein, told The Globe and Mail after the announcement.
A decision on the architect for the project is expected this summer, with construc- tion to begin in November and a projected opening date of January, 2017.

SOURCE: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/british-columbia/unparal- leled-donation-launches-funding-drive-for-emily-carrs-new-campus/article18405501/

Most Innovative Company For 2013

Sarah Fullbrook | Mar 27, 2013

Congratulations to Reliance Properties Ltd., 2013’s most innovative company in B.C.

Billed as the smallest self-contained apartments in Canada, microlofts built by Reliance Properties Ltd. in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside are redefining the boundaries of urban living. With the smallest suite clocking in at 229 square feet, these rental apartments offer something previously unheard of: affordable living space for young singles working and studying downtown.

A 50-year-old developer with residential buildings throughout downtown, Reliance had seen hundreds of requests from tenants looking for affordable downtown housing. “People would say, ‘I don’t care what it is, but I can only afford $800,’” says Jon Stovell, president of Reliance. When the historic Burns Block building on East Hastings Street near Pigeon Park was left unoccupied in 2006, Reliance jumped on the chance to convert the single-room-occupancy hotel into 30 microlofts. In a concerted effort with the City of Vancouver, which offered heritage restoration grants and relaxed the minimum home requirement from 320 to 229 square feet, Reliance completed the redevelopment of the Burns Building in August 2011.

Since completion, the lofts have been showcased as a solution to Vancouver’s deficit of affordable rental space. David Allison, Innovators panellist and a partner at Braun/Allison Inc., says that “using those small spaces so they actually become livable is considerable. To take the risk… and to be willing to go into an environment where [they] know it’s going to be difficult, there’s an amazing innovation there.”

The development proved a success for Reliance, which owns the building and rents out the units, with all 30 suites renting out within one week through Craigslist. Nothing was spent on advertising or marketing. With a waiting list building for Burns Block, Reliance is currently working on a heritage building of 113 suites in Victoria and has plans to continue development in Vancouver, including at least one strata-owned building.

Reliance was contacted by New York City’s head planner in January 2012, inviting Stovell and others to New York to discuss the economics and design of the lofts. Shortly after that visit, New York mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a public competition for architectural firms to come up with their own micro loft concept. “We like to think that they stole our idea,” says Stovell with a chuckle.