As you already know, Van City Lofts is the premier loft listing site in Vancouver.  We have every loft building and every loft listing and have sold in every one of them for the past 10 years.  As of today, that's 101 buildings.

Let's call this the first entry into what I'm planning to be a two year blog series.  A building a week, for 101 weeks. Yes, this may sound ambitious, but you may have noticed 101 weeks is not actually two years.  Goals are good.  Real goals are better.

I'm going to show you the good, the bad, the funky and cool about Vancouver's loft buildings.  See it as an insider take on the buildings I see all the time.  A way to introduce the lofts to you.  Many of you may know them already, so for you, I endeavor to add one tidbit about the history, neighborhood, or a suite to your already gigantic brains.  I'm Dan - Van City Lofts new loft guru.

So here goes.  Week one.  Building one. The building of the week - Koret Lofts.  I thought it appropriate to start with one of my favorite gastown buildings.

Before 2004, you'd probably call the building that sits at 55 East Cordova a relic.  Designed by architect Edward Evans Blackmore and built on seven lots in 1909, the brick, stone and old growth timbers housed an uncharacteristically large (150,000 sq ft) warehouse space. Formerly bordered on the northwest by the Canadian Pacific Railway, the McLennan and McFeely Building was the Vancouver base for the large-scale importer and distributor of hardware and building supplies of the same name.  The building is a perfect example of the opportunity that being located at the terminus CP rail station provided.  These buildings and the area capitalized on being the western destination and distribution point for goods manufactured in the east.

The heritage features are impressive and distinctive.  Probably the most noticeable is the shape of the building.  It's almost a triangle.  The former railroad tracks cut a chunk out of the building providing today for a very usable open courtyard space.  I have a few friends and happy clients in the building and this space has provided the venue for some epic summer dinner parties.  If you buy here, make friends with Gail.  Trust me.

In 2004, with dreams of SoHo's Meatpacking District and London's Docklands, Worthington Properties embarked on a loft conversion in proper form.  The brick and timber were enough to take a risk on what was then an up and coming gastown.  The risk paid off.  Property values at Koret have more than tripled in the last 9 years, keeping par with the rest of gastown.  Gastown has definitely done it's up and coming.  Home to some of the best food and drinks in the city, we all know that gastown is Vancouver's cool.  Don't tell Main Street.  Or The Drive, for that matter.

Check out:

The Diamond

Pourhouse

Sea Monster Sushi

The New Rodney's Oyster Bar

Salt Tasting Room

Suites in the building came standard with a euro pre-fab modular kitchen unit designed by Alda Pereira, gas stoves, their signature "car-wash" showers, open on both ends, and a tub, usually in the middle of the space.  And that's it.  Nothing more.  Leaving a literal canvas for renovators.  I've seen some great things done with these spaces.  Of course the building is live/work with street front units on Cordova and Columbia.  The top floor was a complete ad on making the penthouses pretty spectacular.  Decks and all. The inner-courtyard townhouses are great too.  No elevator needed with access directly into the suite.  Most suites over 1000 sqft come with parking - major bonus in gastown.

 

The views from the north facing units are great and because it's a conversion, the space within the units can be very unique from one another.  Think levels, metal stairs, arched brick windows.  This is the total remedy for the new glass and faux wood high rise condo we see growing out of the ground.

The building's feel has evolved over the years.  People now know each other and aren't afraid to pop by a passing social event in the courtyard.  It is more used than most common spaces I've seen.  I've met Designers, Architects, Writers and Photographers who live here - they all seem to come with a sense or at least a desire for a sense of style. Take a stroll past the storefronts along Cordova, you'll see what I mean.

Today, there are three listings at Koret Lofts.  Three weeks ago, there were 6.  Units in this building sell quickly.  Maybe I'm not the only one who's favorite building it is.