Unease Leads to Falling Property Sales

One of Vancouver's top condo markets has slashed staff count

Unease is in the air, and the next few months look extremely challenging for people on edge about their employment and financial situation.

It was disconcerting to read the news that one of the biggest condo marketers in Vancouver cut 25 percent of its staff.

Rennie laid off 31 of its office staff, claiming geopolitics, economic factors and artificial intelligence for the drastic move.

"It was a necessary step in response to a changing market, but no less painful," the company said on LinkedIn.

The company's post added Rennie is reducing its head office staff count to 92 from 123 [with a total of 400 employees], and pleaded for anyone looking for people to consider its "thoughtful, talented contributors who helped shape our culture and our business."

Real estate sales have slowed in Vancouver, dropping 24 percent in April year on year, and it was reported the other day the valuations of pre-construction condos have fallen -- which means those who put down payments a year or two ago cannot get mortgages at the previous higher valuation, but the current one.

That will result in more people being unable to afford their condos and will have to sell at fire sale prices.

Then there's the Trump factor, with the American president's indiscriminate tariffs casting a chill on thoughts of making any kind of big ticket purchases from cars to property.

And there's also AI, which makes having humans doing the same work redundant and cost-saving. 

Which is perhaps why Rennie says in the post: "The shifts we are seeing in real estate aren't temporary, they are structural. And yesterday is never coming back."

Yikes.

Vancouver Art Gallery Plans Scrapped, Back to Drawing Board

The Herzog & de Meuron design for the VAG

Will Vancouver ever get a new art gallery?

The latest plot twist? The Herzog & de Meuron-designed flashy building has been scrapped because the city can't afford the C$600 million bill.

Now gallery officials are going to start from scratch, after having started construction in March, but was suspended in August because of the 50 percent increase in construction costs.

Construction was suspended in August

Chair of the gallery board of trustees Jon Stovell confirmed the gallery had suspended its contract with the architects and is now "looking forward to a new approach."

He adds the "new approach" will be more realistic and practical.

Developer Michael Audain, who kicked in C$100 million to build the gallery was not surprised by this latest turn of events, though disappointed by how slow the progress has been, since Herzog & de Meuron released their plan for the gallery back in 2015 and only last September broke ground.

"I'm kind of delighted that they're going to a new architect, but I'll be delighted only if it's a Canadian architect. We have over 40 million people in this country, and surely we can find someone to design us an art museum," Audain said. "This is a position I've been taking for over 10 years... From Day 1, I thought it should be a Canadian architect."

Stovell says the new plan will be practical

Meanwhile Bob Rennie, a prominent art collector and local businessman has been critical of the art gallery's plans for years, saying it is a waste of taxpayer money and philanthropy, and that "starchitecture" focused more on the building than the art inside.

"It's disappointing to see anything in my city fail. I think it looks very bad for the city, but since 2012, there's never been a concrete plan. It's always been imaginary," Rennie said.

He says it's time for the gallery to look at all options to come up with a more practical plan.

In the meantime which Canadian architect wants to revamp the Vancouver Art Gallery on a tight budget?

Celebrating the Museum's First Birthday

Did tonight's event spark serious donations for the museum?

This evening the Chinese Canadian Museum held a low-key fundraising dinner at Floata Seafood Restaurant in Vancouver's Chinatown. The event marks the one-year anniversary of the museum's opening, which also coincided with the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Exclusion Act, when the Canadian government refused the entry of ethnic Chinese people into the country until 1947.

Tonight's event was called Spark Community Dinner and it had all the trappings of a big gala -- the invitation encouraged people to wear Chinese outfits, and some 800 people turned out including politicians from all three levels of government. Interesting to note Premier David Eby was not available, nor was Mayor Ken Sim... was he at the Missy Elliott concert tonight?

We were all starving by the time dinner started; two people at our table didn't show up and then two more people left half way -- Elenore Sturko who is a provincial-level politician and her aide -- so only six of us had food for 10 people. 

The museum needed to raise money to keep itself going, but a raffle where C$50 for three tickets isn't going to raise a lot of cash. The museum was too shy to ask for more money beyond the raffle and individual donations.

But then Bob Rennie stepped up. He is the real estate marketer who bought the Yip Sang building, spent C$22 million to renovate it and then the provincial government shelled out C$25.5 million to purchase the building, the oldest one in Chinatown.

Rennie came on stage and immediately got down to business. He spontaneously asked the biggest sponsor of the dinner, Onni Group onto the stage and said that if he himself donated C$10,000, would Onni do the same? 

They immediately had C$20,000 and now could 40 individuals donate C$500 each? or each person in the room donate C$25?

Rennie pointed out that the infighting in Chinatown had to stop, "or Hastings is going to win," he said, referring to the Downtown Eastside which is filled with homeless people and drug addicts.

That got a lot of applause. Then Rennie added he was running for mayor, which got him more applause but then he said he was just joking.

Nevertheless it took a gweilo, a non-Chinese to tell a room full of Chinese people to put their differences aside and get their act together to fight for Chinatown. Part of it is generational, but mostly it's political. He's right, but will they listen? 

And did the museum get C$40,000 by the end of the evening? 

A New Landmark in Chinatown

Eight lions ready to open the museum

Today was a momentous occasion -- the opening of the first national Chinese-Canadian museum in Vancouver's Chinatown. 

Some 300 guests assembled on East Pender Street where the museum is, across from the Chinese Cultural Centre. The street was blocked off for the event, with police cars and officers making sure the riff raff were kept out.

Eby speaking at the opening ceremony

Numerous dignitaries were there, from federal, provincial and municipal, all having played some role in helping launch the museum, along with wealthy donors, and who's who of Chinatown.

For the politicians who spoke, it was an opportunity to recount their political role in getting the museum off the ground, with much gratitude to former BC premier John Horgan who supported it with lots of funding to purchase the building, renovate and keep it going.

Mayor Ken Sim swaggered on stage and challenged people in the audience not to be moved by the inaugural exhibit, which marks the 100th anniversary of the 1923 Exclusion Act, a dark period in Canadian history when the Chinese were singled out for excessive documentation.

The show features hundreds of CIs or Chinese Immigration certificates that have black and white photographs of people, men, women and children who not only came from China but also born in Canada. In total just under 60,000 Chinese were registered with the Canadian government.

Mel Yip lived at Wing Sang building

The building the museum is housed in is also full of meaning. It is the Wing Sang building, the oldest in Chinatown. It was owned by Yip Sang, a young man from southern China who first tried to make his fortune in California, and then went up north to British Columbia and eventually settled in Vancouver's Chinatown.

Yip was considered the unofficial mayor of the neighbourhood and was so successful that he had three wives and 23 children. They all lived together in the back of the Wing Sang building and one of Yip's grandsons, Mel Yip remembers being there for the first 15 years of his life.

He talks fondly of never not having playmates around, rollerskating down Columbia Street and going to the movies with his numerous cousins.

Yip Sang died in 1927 just as the Great Depression was coming. While the rest of the family continued to live there, they vacated the building in the early 2000s due to disrepair.

Condo marketer supremo Bob Rennie bought the Wing Sang building in 2004 and many feared he would tear it down, but he poured money into it to fix it up structurally and to make it almost museum quality to showcase his massive art collection. Upstairs he kept one room intact -- the small schoolroom where the Yip children were educated by tutors hired from Hong Kong.

Catherine Clement gives media a tour of the show

He then sold the building to the museum for less than what he paid to renovate it and even donated money too, which is why Mayor Sim joked Rennie made the worst business decision when he sold the building. Har har...

Hopefully the new museum will not only be a new landmark in Chinatown, but also be a place to exchange ideas and discuss what it means to be Chinese-Canadian today, not just in the past.

Chinese Canadian Museum

51 East Pender Street

Vancouver, BC

(604) 262 0990