Transforming 32 acres of defunct industrial land along downtown Vancouver's riverfront, the city's proposed Waterfront Redevelopment project is the right move for our community.
This multi-use project is an integral component of revitalizing Vancouver's downtown core while alleviating urban blight. It will provide our community with much-needed jobs and our citizens with significant new access to the waterfront. In addition, it will create new residential, office, shopping and retail opportunities for our city.
In terms of jobs and revenues, this project has strong economic development aspects. First, hundreds of construction jobs will be made available during an expected 10 to 15-year development period, with approximately 3,500 permanent jobs set to be created on the waterfront.
Second, the revenue from this development will be a boon to city coffers. In addition to revenue in the form of sales tax on construction, the city will benefit from sales and business and occupation tax as well as property taxes once the project is finished.
The project does present some challenges, however.
Condos remain a key part of the project's residential component despite an almost non-existent market for these units. And notwithstanding proposed waterfront builders Gramor Development's excellent track record, the substantial debt financing important for the project's success will likely prove difficult to secure in the current financial environment.
And though much of the estimated $42 million in infrastructure funding has been secured to kick-start development of the site, the construction and full funding of these essential projects are monumental tasks.
This development should not be viewed by Vancouver as a stand-alone project. The city must ensure that this project becomes an extension of the revitalization of its core.
The new access created to the waterfront does not go just one way to the project. It goes two ways between the waterfront area and downtown. If the city does not view the project as part of a comprehensive economic development effort, then there is every opportunity for downtown to see a repeat of the significant decline caused by the development of the Vancouver Mall in the early 1970s.
I challenge city leaders to ensure that the waterfront project will act as a new catalyst for the continued redevelopment of all downtown Vancouver. Transportation shuttles and joint retail promotions to tie both areas together as part of the city's core are just a few of the things Vancouver can do to ensure that downtown and the waterfront thrive.
