HOMESWESTCOAST

EDITOR STEVE WHYSALL 604-605-2 176 • SATURDAY, OCTOBER 25, 2003 • F INAL E-mai l swhysa l l@png .canwest .com

INUIT SCULPTURES CATCH ON I D13 HOME PLAN OF THE WEEK I D6

S E C T I O N

D

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DISPOSITIONVICTORIA DREAM HOME, D11

YOUNGIDEA

GARDENING FOR KIDS I D9/10

YOUNGIDEA

GARDENING FOR KIDS I D9/10

BY ROD NUTT

Taylor, a high-rise condomini-um development by PinnacleInternational, is located onthe edge of Vancouver’s Chi-

natown.It’s in an area that in recent years has

experienced substantial growth andrevitalization, especially Chinatownwhich in the 1980s and 1990s was hardhit by other locations in the suburbs,especially Richmond, offering similarshopping and eating facilities.

Traditionally, Chinatown was a gate-way community for new immigrantsfrom Hong Kong and China, but morerecent immigrants have establishedthemselves in other neighbourhoodsaround the Lower Mainland.

“Taylor will serve as a strong cata-lyst to revive the historic heart of thecity,” say architects Jim Hancock andMartin Bruckner.

Named for its location on TaylorStreet between Pender and Keefer, thedevelopment is within minutes by footto Chinatown, Tinseltown with itsshops, restaurants and movie theatres,Dr. Sun Yat Sen Garden and T&Tsupermarket.

It is also one block from the StadiumSkyTrain Station, B.C. Place, G.M.Place and not that far from the down-town business core and entertainmentdistrict.

“We are targeting younger peoplefrom their late 20s to early 40s,” sayssales manager Stanley Han of AnsonRealty Ltd., the company marketingthe condominiums on behalf of Pinna-cle International. “We are attractingthe downtown, urban-type profession-als. Taylor is not really family orient-ed.”

Han says the area is in transition andemerging as one of the most soughtafter urban environments.

“Like Yaletown in its infancy, Tayloris one of the keys to this evolution,” hesays.

Steve Lee and Alison King had beenlooking in the area for a condo whenthey walked past Taylor,” says Lee. “Webought a 570-square-foot unit on the

The Taylor is located at the gates of Chinatown — an area that is in transition.

Revitalizing a city’s core

TaylorAddress: 550 Taylor St., Vancouver.Project size: A 26-storey tower containing 232

apartments and 19 townhomes.Price and size: From $151,900 to $383,900;

521 square feet to 1,097 square feet.Architect: Hancock Bruckner Eng & Wright.Developer: Pinnacle International.

NEW HOMES

PROJECTPROFILE

DEVELOPMENTS I Pinnacle International’s

Taylor is well-positioned as a catalyst to a

downtown in transition

See INFUSION OF D2

IAN LINDSAY/VANCOUVER SUN

Available upgrades includelaminated floors and gas fireplaces.

This is a column I havewanted to write for ages.It’s about one of my local

heroes, Mohammed Esfahani.While he is not a hero in the

traditional sense — he has not, tomy knowledge, saved anyonefrom drowning or pulled a smallchild from a burning building —in the housing development busi-ness, he is special.

Canadian by choice, not bybirth, he was born in Iran, a coun-try with an intriguing climate ofextremes, ranging from subtrop-ical to subpolar.

In Iran, homes and spectacularpublic buildings have stood forcenturies. They were built to lastwith uncommon beauty.

By the age of 30, Esfahani hadrun his own construction com-pany for 13 years. Times changed.Political upheavals were on thehorizon.

When he came to Canada in1982 with his wife and twodaughters it was to start againfrom scratch, a familiar story formany who choose to make achange out of political necessity.

Not long after settling here, hedecided that he would like to cre-ate multi-family homes that peo-ple would love to live in. Somebuildings were more successfulthan others. Some made money,some did not.

Many people would be dis-couraged, but not Esfahani. Hekept going. The more he devel-oped buildings, the more helearned, and the harder he triedto get it right.

In the late ’90s, he took a lookat Vancouver’s Yaletown area. Heloved its potential as a fun, styl-ish, and vibrant place to live andhe wanted to do something thatwould contribute to the neigh-bourhood.

So, he asked a lot of questionsand assembled a really smartgroup of people to work on hisfirst project, The Crandall Build-ing at 1072 Hamilton St. Cleverlydesigned. Well finished. Sexy-

School ofhard knocks

taughtdeveloper

Mohammed Esfahani learned

the tricks of his trade

through trial and error

DIANA MCMEEKINVANCOUVER SUN

URBAN VIEW

See CARING MAKES D2

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WEST COAST HOMES • D I R E C TO RY

West Vancouver

Stone CliffDiscovery Centre@ 1447 Bellevue Ave.(near Cypress Bowl)

North Vancouver

One Park Lane1st & ChesterfieldLower Lonsdale

The SausalitoPresentation Centre:118 East Third St.

Downtown

R & RComing Soon

Shaw Tower1021 West Hastings St.

SpectrumPresentation Ctr: Located cornerof Georgia & Dunsmuir

The BentlyHomer & Nelson

Vancouver

Braebern736 West 14th Ave.

Brownstone13th & Laurel St.

Highbury House3637 West 17th Ave.

Pintura1530 West 8th Ave.

Shaughnessy Mansions3084 Granville St.

Terraces on 7th1570 W. 7th Ave.

Burnaby

West Arcadia7180 Kingsway

Marquis Grande4132 Halifax St.

Renaissance4412 Buchanan St. at Rosser Ave.

Villa Jardin7368 Sandborne Ave.

New WestminsterUptownPresentation Centre:Royal City Mall610 – 6th St.

Port Moody

Mountains Edge1900 Panorama Drive

Stoneridge51 Ashwood Drive

The Estates31 Fernway Drive

Richmond

Hamptons ParkGarden City & Ferndale Rd.

Monte Carlo7080 St. Albans Rd.

SpringbrookPriority Registration:604-247-8882

The Village4400 Moncton

Westside

Kingswood1596 W. 14th Ave. (@ Fir St.)

Coquitlam

Farrow Ridge730 Farrow St.

White Rock

Sussex House1540 Foster St.

Langley

Amberleigh20540 – 66th Ave.

Jeffries Brook7025 – 201B St.

Chilliwack

The Falls8341 Nixon Rd.(exit 29 from Hwy #1 to Hack Brown Rd.)

Surrey

Cambria#4 – 15288 – 36th Ave.

Carrington15500 Rosemary Heights

Muirfield Gardens15188 – 22nd Ave.

Sandpiper Crescent3364 – 145A St.

Fraser Pointe15479 – 112 A Ave.

Kentucky/ Lexington16995 – 64th Ave.

Millers Lane14872 – 59th Ave.

Panorama Hills5934 – 146 St.

Rockwell3363 Rosemary Heights Cres.

12th floor. They were selling fast.”Lee says the couple will live in

Taylor when it is built , butlonger-term they see it as aninvestment.

“There are lots of new build-ings p lanned for the area ,including a Cosco and otherbusinesses,” Lee says. “I thinkthe homes will appreciate andthe Winter Olympic Gamesshould give Vancouver a bigboost when visitors see whatthey can get here.”

Taylor is 26 storeys high andcontains 232 apartments and 19townhomes.

So-called “junior” one-bed-room units start at 521 squaref e e t a n d a r e p r i c e d f r o m$151,900; “proper” one-bedroomhomes are 567 square feet andstart at $164,900; two-bedroom-plus-den are around 792 squarefeet and cost $232,900.

Homes on the top levels arearound 888 square feet and costfrom $313,900, with the mostexpensive penthouse priced at$383,900.

Square footage does notinclude balconies, which aver-age about 35 square feet.

Construction started thismonth and occupancy is sched-uled for the summer of 2005.

Han says options and cus-tomization are Taylor designtrademarks that offer uniquehomes for buyers: Moveablekitchen islands do double dutyas dining tables; practical roomdividers on wheels are also stor-age units; and flex spaces adja-cent to suite entries can have abuilt in workstation.

A two-bedroom home withtwo bathrooms can be used forshared accommodation or a sin-gle household.

Standard finishings includegranite countertops, and buyershave the option of carpet or con-crete floors.

The developer offers a num-ber of upgrades: A four-piecestainless steel appliance package($1,500 plus GST); laminatedwood flooring ($2,000 plusGST); electric fireplace ($1,500plus GST); and a moveable gran-ite top work station ($1,000 plusGST).

All homes are wired for high-speed Internet provided byeither Telus or Shaw.

There is standard securitysuch as video monitoring, in-home television viewing of visi-tors, an electronic device thatcontrols the floor you are sup-posed to be on, a secure garage,and an eight-hour concierge.

Faci l i t ies include a ful ly

equipped gymnasium with state-of-the-art equipment, a meetingroom, and a lounge/party room.

Each home includes one park-ing stall and a locker.

There are two display suites at550 Taylor Street: a 555-square-foot proper one-bedroom homewith a seven-piece standarda p p l i a n c e s e t , i n c l u d i n gstacked washer/dryer and in-sink waste disposal; and a 792-square-foot two-bedroom-plus-den home with two bathrooms— one of the bathrooms with ashower only, and the other anen-suite with shower and soak-er tub.

Pinnacle International hasbeen involved in the develop-ment, design, construction andmanagement of real estate forover 30 years, during which ithas built over 4,000 residen-cies, as well as hotels, resorts

and commercial projects.These include the Pinnacle

International Hotel and Resortin Whistler, the Perla and Jadecondominiums in Richmond,Classica, Venus, The Pinnacleand The Marr iot P innacle

Hotel in Vancouver, PinnacleCentre (under construction) inToronto, and the P innacleMuseum Tower in San Diego.

The presentation centre atthe corner of Taylor and Keeferis open every day from noon to

6 p.m.For more information, call

Stanley Han or Helen Wong at604-682-9567 or log on to thewww.thetaylor.net web site.

Westcoast Homes Reporter

rnutt@png.canwest.com

Infusion of businesses expected in area

as-could-be floor plans andtotally groovy specifications.

It was a big hit and sold wellwhen the market wasn’t nearlyas hot as it is today. Esfahaniwent on to create another ter-rif ic building just down thestreet from The Crandall. Henamed it Alda.

This building was the talk ofthe town. It fits right into theneighbourhood and yet it man-aged to be one-of-a-kind — ararity real estate. Alda wasanother hit.

Today, Esfahani is completingthe construction of his latestbuilding, Domus at 1060 HomerStreet, this time in partnershipwith long term friend RogerNavabi, of the Qualex Group ofCompanies, another award-win-ning developer. Domus is also awinning project.

Why is Esfahani one of myheroes? You might say he wasjust lucky in a rising market. Idon’t agree. To me, he is whatdevelopment should be about.He is passionate about getting itright, about trying harder, aboutasking his contractors to do bet-ter or changing somethingbecause it will make the build-ing look better and last longer.

I have heard him say, “I real-ly don’ t th ink th is i s goodenough for our customers. Wemustn’t disappoint them.” Thiskind of commitment, long aftera sale has been made whenmany would cease to care aboutsuch things, sets Esfahani apart.

As well, good manners are tohim a core value. He alwaysremembers to say thank you. Hewill likely be embarrassed that Ih ave w r i t t e n a l l t h i s , b u tremember his name. His com-pany is Landmark Projects Inc..A smart buyer should watch forhis buildings.

Diana McMeekin is presidentof Artemis Marketing Group Inc.,a Vancouver-based consultingcompany to both Canadian andInternational development com-panies. McMeekin is also a mem-ber of the Urban DevelopmentInstitute and a regularly featuredspeaker at housing industryevents. You can reach her via e-mail: diana@artemismarket-ing.net

From D1

From D1

Caringmakes

developerspecial

Photos by IAN LINDSAY/VANCOUVER SUN

Taylor units feature compactdesign; moveable kitchenislands double as diningtables, room dividers onwheels are also storage unitsand flex spaces adjacent tosuite entries can have a builtin workstation; some suitesoffer two bathrooms.