Business in Vancouver (Issue 1788)

Breaking down the Bosas’ businesses The next profile in BIV’s ongoing series on British Columbia’s most successful, multigenerational business families | Page 6

BIV

Canadians’ views on the U.S. improve Perceptions of the country’s biggest trade partner are better under Biden, and views on China are better, too | Page 11

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February 5 - 11, 2024 | Issue 1788 | $4.00

GOING PUBLIC IN A SLOW ECONOMY

The parent company of North Vancouver’s Arc’Teryx went public last week – one example of a better market for IPOs in 2024 | Pages 4-5 Amer Sports went public Feb. 1 on the New York Stock Exchange | AMER SPORTS

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Lack of capital restrains Indigenous tourism growth TOURISM | This fast-growing segment of the industry has surpassed pre-pandemic activity levels

BY DAISY XIONG DXIONG@BIV.COM

G

reg Hopf ’s day usua l ly starts with a group hike and visit to various plants that Indigenous Peoples use to heal, or a canoe trip on the river with an Indigenous elder sharing their childhood memories and singing traditional songs.

Hopf’s Moccasin Trails Inc. in Kamloops is one of 400 or so Indigenous tourism businesses in B.C. His company is on the itinerary of multi-day group tours from all over the world that offer travellers the chance to experience Indigenous cultures in Canada.

“Since we returned from the pandemic, demand has surprisingly been even a little bit more as before,” said Hopf, who started his tour business in 2016.

Indigenous tourism has been one of the fastest-growing segments of Canada’s tourism industry. It saw annual growth of 23 per cent between 2015 and 2018, far outpacing the average growth of the tourism industry during that time. It also contributed $1.9 billion in revenue in 2019, according to the Vancouver-based Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC).

The industry is also rebounding fast post-pandemic. In 2023, the association estimated close to $1.3 billion in revenue was generated from the domestic market alone. Indigenous tourism was also listed as a top priority in the Federal Tourism Growth Strategy released last summer.

“It hit Canada very hard when we heard about the discovery of [residential school] burial sites and all these things that came out in the media a few years ago. I think it really woke up the consciousness of Canadians that they want to support reconciliation,” said Keith Henry, president and CEO of ITAC. “People want to learn more about their own history, the d iversity of t he I nd igenou s communities, and they want to understand the stories.”

Around 25 per cent to 30 per cent of national industry revenue came from Indigenous tourism

Greg Hopf’s Moccasin Trails Inc. in Kamloops is one of the 400 or so Indigenous tourism businesses that are based in B.C. | SUBMITTED

businesses in B.C., according to Henry.

“There’s a lot of really great diversity of [Indigenous tourism] experiences in British Columbia. It’s definitely been one of the leaders in the country for a lot of years.”

Lack of access to capital restrains growth T he supply of products a nd infrastructure is struggling to keep up with high demand for Indigenous tourism experiences – restraining the sector from realizing its full potential, according to Henry.

“We were about three to four per cent of the entire [tourism] industry, but consumer demand is much higher than that.… Demand exceeds, whether it’s domestic or international, 50 per cent in any market,” he said, adding that most Indigenous communities in Canada see Indigenous tourism as a tremendous opportunity.

“We don’t have enough of the businesses to give people those experiences, [although] we’re in

a unique opportunity right now to really have potential to grow.”

He said lack of access to capital is one the biggest challenges as it takes investment to build major infrastructure developments, such as accommodation, food services and transportation access, that are crucial to support Indigenous tourism businesses and attract visitors, especially in rural communities.

“Most of the nations just don’t have the ability to invest $30 to $40 million in these things so that’s what’s limiting. We need to continue to attract investment.…

We need more of an investment strategy specifically for indigenous tourism if we want to see it grow to the region’s potential,” said Henry.

Compared to others, Indigenous communities in Canada face more obstacles to access capital including historical and geographical reasons and lack of financial literacy in some places, according to Lawrance Schembri, senior fellow of Fraser Institute and author of The Next Generation: Innovating to Improve

Indigenous Access to Finance in Canada.

“There’s this very large physical capital deficit that exists in indigenous communities. They si mply don’t h ave t he public infrastructure, economic infrastructure and a lot of other fiscal capital necessary to free economic development,” said Schembri.

Labour shortage is another challenge in the industry. Like other sectors in tourism, employers need to attract back workers that left the sector during the pandemic, and more than half of the positions are for people from Indigenous communities.

The sector expects to create 21,800 new jobs across Canada, including 3,900 in B.C. and there is need for about 150 new businesses in the province to fulfill the high domestic and international interest,” according to Henry.

Ensuring authentic experiences For Hopf and many others in Indigenous tourism, the work

offers a sense of pride and an opportunity to educate others.

“I honestly think that Indigenous people are the most stereotyped people in our country and that’s because Canadians and the world don’t know who we are,” he said.

“There’s a lot of people out there that still think we’re that Disney I nd ia n, where we’ve got feathers on our head, and we chant and holler and dance around in circles around the fire.

So for me, it’s education. I want to make sure that the world is educated on the diversity of us.”

There is a wide variety of Indigenous tourism businesses and products in the market, including tours, restaurants, wineries, art galleries, hotels and others, but experts say only those that are majorly owned by people from the Indigenous community are authentic.

“The most important thing is that you make sure that if you’re spending money at a tourism experience store or hotel or restaurant, that it is Indigenous owned,” said Jennifer Kramer, associate professor of museum and sociocultural anthropology at the University of British Columbia.

“Because we don’t want those tourism dollars going to those people that are pretending to be selling indigenous culture when they aren’t.… It’s so important that indigenous people are representing themselves, their own cultures, their own ways of knowing and being in relationship to this land.”

Businesses need to be at least 51 per cent owned and operated by people from Indigenous communities to be verified by ITAC’s The Original Original Accreditation Program.

Hopf said he is excited with the growth of the industry and his competitors are not from across the street, but in Disneyland and other places where businesses capitalize on manufactured Indigenous culture and characters.

“I see the day where [more] visitors and guests are booking indigenous experiences as a destination, not as an add-on to their trip,” he said. •

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FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

NEWS

Strong IPO interest in the CAPITAL | The Amer Sports IPO last week values Vancouver billionaire Chip Wilson’s

BY GLEN KORSTROM GKORSTROM@BIV.COM

W

hen Amer Sports ( N Y S E : A S) s h a r e s started trading Feb. 1 in an IPO that saw the company value itself at about US$6.3 billion, one Vancouverite was watching from the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) stage: Lululemon Athletica Inc. (Nasdaq:LULU) founder Chip Wilson.

Wilson in 2018 teamed up with China’s Anta Sports Products Ltd. to buy Finland-based Amer Sports as part of a joint venture.

He invested the equivalent of $807 million to acquire a 20.65-per-cent stake in the company known for brands such as Wilson, Peak Performance and Vancouver-based Arc’Teryx, among others.

Wilson’s 79 million shares in Amer were worth approximately US$1.027 billion at the company’s US$13 opening price, which was below the US$16-to-US$18 pershare IPO pricing range provided by the company in January.

Shares ended their first day of trading up 3.1 per cent, to US$13.40.

Wilson is not looking to exit his position.

His faith in the company is strong enough that a revised Amer Sports prospectus said Wilson planned to buy an additional US$220 million of stock as part of the IPO. Because Wilson’s original shares were not part of the IPO, he would not be able to sell them on the NYSE, Leith Wheeler CEO Jim Gilliland explained to BIV. But he may find that his shares are more liquid because the public market would set a value on them.

Wilson could then, theoretically, go to a bank or venture capital firm and have that institution buy his shares. Amer Sports could also do a secondary offering if a pre-existing shareholder wanted to sell a large block of shares, Gilliland said.

A mer S p or t s ra i se d ab out US$1.37 billion in the IPO and said it planned to use proceeds to repay existing shareholder loans.

Sarah Huggins is co-founder, general counsel and COO at Hiive, which has a platform that matches buyers and sellers of shares in private companies | CHUNG CHOW

Amer Sports is one of many large companies that have recently filed to go public in the U.S., but it remains unclear whether that flurry of interest south of the border will eventually extend to Canada.

Some of the large companies that have filed to go public in the U.S. include the social-news aggregator Reddit, canned-food giant Del Monte, bakery-café Panera Bread and mobile-focused ticket platform SeatGeek.

Recent IPO disappointments, however, cast doubt on how strong of an appetite global stock markets have for newly public companies.

BrightSpring Health Services Inc.’s stock (Nasdaq:BTSG) went public on Jan. 26 at US$13, which was below the US$15-to-US$18 range first proposed. Shares then ended the first day of trading at

US$11. The company was left with a US$2.2 billion valuation.

European auto giant Renault SA (EPA:RNO) three days later cancelled the planned IPO of its electric-vehicle division Ampere.

“We certainly have a number of clients who are sort of lining up to access the market when the market turns,” said Vancouver-based McMillan LLP partner Cory Kent, who focuses on securities law. “I think it will turn in Canada but we’re usually behind the U.S.” Canadian exchanges saw 19 IPOs in 2023, down from 42 in 2022, according to EY’s year-end 2023 Global IPO Trends report.

Most of the IPOs in the last two years were on junior exchanges, with the Toronto Stock Exchange (TSX) big board only featuring one IPO in each of 2023 and 2022,

according to EY. “This level of IPO activity is unprecedented on the TSX over the last two decades,” EY said to highlight the extremely low level of IPO activity on Canada’s largest stock exchange.

“Poor performance of the pandemic IPOs has resulted in many of them being taken private at values lower than their IPO price, which is influencing companies’ IPO plans,” EY said.

Timing is everything Corporate executives are most likely to risk taking their companies public when stock markets are strong and capital is widely accessible, according to various people in the industry.

Neither was true in 2022.

North American stock markets

had a disastrous year, with the S&P 500 dropping 19.44 per cent and the TSX dropping 8.66 per cent.

This was also the year central banks began hiking interest rates.

The Bank of Canada wound up raising interest rates 10 times to the current rate of five per cent, before announcing four consecutive pauses.

Things turned around in 2023, with the S&P 500 gaining more than 24 per cent, and the TSX rising by nearly eight per cent.

Another positive sign for IPOs was that debate in investment circles at the end of 2023 began to centre on how many interest-rate cuts central bankers would make, instead of whether they would start to make cuts.

“The hike cycle is over,” said

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FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

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U.S. has yet to spread to B.C. stake in the company at more than US$1 billion, and bodes well for more IPO activity in 2024

The TSX has seen just one IPO in each of 2022 and 2023 | PICTURE/ISTOCK/GETTY IMAGES PLUS

Stikeman Elliott LLP partner Jared Bachynski. “Now we’re anticipating, if anything, that we’re going to start to see some rate cuts.”

Bachynski, whose focus is capital markets, said he was looking ahead to see how payment processor Stripe and artificial intelligence (AI) and analytics firm Databricks fare in what are expected to be upcoming IPOs in the U.S. “If those perform well, that may really open up a window in Canada, as well, for tech IPOs,” he said. “That may really present a great opportunity for B.C. tech companies.”

Rob Goehring, the founding chair of BC Tech’s AI C-Council, said he thinks the IPO climate is beginning to look better for firms in his technology niche.

“We’re starting to already see a number of a brokerage firms in Canada return to life,” he said.

“They’re like, ‘OK, there are deals to be done. There are companies that need capital. We need to get in on this AI train.’”

Valuations remain low The recent reality for technology companies, however, has been that the market is not valuing them as highly as shareholders believe their shares are worth.

BIV asked Markus Frind if it was likely that online furniture seller Cymax would consider going public. Frind, who said he owns about 70 per cent of Cymax, gave a quick, “No,” adding that the company is looking to hire a new CEO. KITS Eyecare Ltd. (TSX:KITS) CEO Roger Hardy, who told BIV

that he also owns shares in Cymax, said: “I’m hoping that at some point the market opens for that business. It would be great.”

Frind, however, said the market is not valuing businesses as well as it was a few years ago.

“Big startups are trading at a 50-per-cent-to-90-per-cent discount” to the last private-financing-round valuation, he said.

Hiive co-founder and general counsel Sarah Huggins agreed.

Her Vancouver-based, 60-employee compa ny h as a pl atform that matches buyers with shareholders in pre-IPO, venture-backed companies.

“Sellers would place orders to sell, or they would list their stock for sale, and buyers would bid, or place standing bids, indicating an interest to buy,” she explained.

Buyers are only provided with publicly available information about the private firms in which they may buy shares and are not given the chance to examine the company’s financial statements.

“There is not the transparent flow of information that there is in the public market, which is why it’s incredibly risky,” Huggins said.

“Neither the seller nor the buyer is the company. These are parties who hold or wish to increase their position of stock in these companies.”

She estimated the average sale price for shares listed on the platform was about 60 per cent of that seen in the most recent private financing round – a discount that many private company shareholders are not willing to take.

Despite this, Huggins said she saw a bit of a turnaround in sentiment late last year, with more buyers coming to the market, indicating that depressed values may be recovering.

The number of bids created per month – versus the number of listings created – rose steadily through 2023, she said. That bidask ratio started 2023 at 1.07 and peaked at 1.7 in December.

“This suggests growing buyer activity,” said Huggins.

More buyer interest has also reduced the spread between bid prices and asking prices, making securities more liquid, she added.

“We saw the return of hedge funds and family offices in the late fourth quarter in anticipation of a warming IPO window,” she said.

“This has persisted into 2024.” •

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FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

NEWS

How the Bosas have helped build Whistler, Metro Van EMPIRES | Projects have put companies at the foundation of regional growth for ‘decades to come’

BY CLAIRE WILSON CLWILSON@GLACIERMEDIA.CA

T

he number of companies associated with the Bosa name is fitting for a family that has shaped the Metro Vancouver landscape to the extent they have.

The sheer number of projects associated with the family, as well as its reputation as a leader in British Columbia’s development industry, has positioned the Bosa brand to be “front and centre in construction and development for decades to come,” said Chris Gardner, president of the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association of B.C. He described the fa m ily as iconic.

“They are giants in construction and development. They really are some of the founders of the industry in B.C. Everything that they’ve done is about the story of construction, about individuals who have an entrepreneurial spirit.”

Last month, BIV profiled the families behind the Aquilini Investment Group and Northland Properties as part of a feature series on successful, multi-generational B.C. business families.

Real estate has been key to the rise and success of the Aquilinis, the Gaglardis and the Bosas.

Bosa Development Corp. has built more than 20,000 homes and have another 9,000 that are either being designed or are under construction. The company also has a large portfolio

A photo of the Bosa Properties project Fifteen Fifteen on Alberni Street in downtown Vancouver | BOSA PROPERTIES INC.

of commercial space, according to their website, and is active in B.C., Alberta, Washington, Oregon and California.

Bosa Properties Inc. – another development company associated with the family name – has 22,000 homes already built or in the pipeline, as well as six million square feet of commercial space under their management, according to the company.

In 2023, Bosa Properties announced their entrance to the U.S. market through the subsidiary IPB Properties and are currently leasing residential

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space in their REN project, located in downtown Seattle. The company also has a mixed-use project “coming soon” in Nashville, though no specific details are currently available on the company’s website.

“It’s just the name that is iconic.

There’s a handful of construction companies and builders who helped shape the skyline of Vancouver, and the construction industry in this province, and they’re in that group,” said Gardner.

Both Bosa Development and Bosa Properties are active in the

residential, retail, office, hotel and industrial markets. Bosa Development also owns Mammoth Studios in Burnaby and North Shore Studios in North Vancouver.

“These are leaders who have had a massive impact on the region. You just can’t go many miles without driving by a Bosa building. They have had and continue to have a huge impact on the community,” said Ryan Beedie, president of development company Beedie.

Both Bosa Development and Bosa P roper ties decl i ned to

participate in the story.

An empire so big, it causes confusion Before they began building expansive projects across Metro Vancouver and throughout North America, the Bosa family got their start in construction.

In 1966, brothers Natale (Nat) and Arturo began Bosa Brothers Construction. The ownership structure changed over the years with other brothers entering and exiting the company, according to CONTINUED ON PAGE 10

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Industry balks at Canada’s excise-tax hike on alcohol RETAIL | The 4.7-per-cent increase gets multiplied multiple times before the final retail price is set

BY GLEN KORSTROM GKORSTROM@BIV.COM

T

hose who make and sell alcoholic drinks are balking at Ottawa’s planned 4.7-per-cent excise-tax hike on April 1.

Industry is urging govenment to reduce that increase to two per cent, which is what happened last year, when Ottawa originally proposed a 6.3-per-cent increase.

The excise tax is tied to inflation, and only Parliament can change that.

“There should be a cap on the excise-tax increase,” Association for Beverage Licensees executive director Jeff Guignard told BIV. “Otherwise, we’re just punishing the very companies that are struggling right now, and they will have to pass on those costs to an industry that’s struggling.”

British Columbia Restaurant and Foodservices Association CEO

Ian Tostenson concurred.

He told BIV he thinks an automatic excise-tax increase tied to inflation is “irresponsible.” He has been an outspoken advocate for giving small-business restaurants more time to repay Canada Emergency Business Account interest-free loans. Failing to allow an extension, he said, could cause thousands of B.C. restaurants to permanently close.

The B.C. wine industry, which would be affected by the looming tax hike, has been grappling with vines and buds killed off by a deep freeze in December 2022 and then another last month.

“T h is is absolutely not the time for an excise-tax hike tied to inflation,” said British Columbia Wine Growers CEO Miles Prodan. “It would be a piling on of challenges on top of the extreme-freezing events, and other climate change impacts that our industry faces.”

The excise tax on alcohol, applied on manufacturers, gets multiplied at least twice before the consumer buys their products in bars, restaurants or stores.

Manufacturers factor the tax into the price they charge the provincial government. The British Columbia Liquor Distribution Branch (BCLDB) adds a mark-up to determine a wholesale price, which is used to sell to BCLDB’s stores, private retailers, bar owners and restaurant owners, who add a margin to cover their costs.

B.C. winery owners, for example, now pay a $0.70 excise tax for each litre of wine they make.

On a 750-mililitre bottle of wine, that’s $0.53 worth of excise tax.

A winery owner’s price to the BCLDB might be $10. The B.C. government then adds a mark-up in price that is 89 per cent on the first $11.75, and 27 per cent on the rest of the cost of the wine.

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A winemaker who sells wine to the BCLDB at $10 then sees the BCLDB slap an $8.90 mark-up for a $18.90 wholesale price. For retailers who need to add a 30 per cent margin, that wine gets priced at $24.57.

The proposed 4.7-per-cent excise-tax increase would amount to a $0.03 price hike at the producer level, and a $0.06 increase after the province’s 89-per-cent mark-up. After store owners’ added margin, the increase adds about $0.08 more to the retail price.

The same scenario plays out for spirits manufacturers, where a similar set of calculations play out. The government’s excise tax is $13.30 for each litre of absolute ethyl alcohol. Most spirits are 40-per-cent alcohol, so the cost would be $5.32 per litre, or $3.99 for a 750-mililitre bottle.

T he B.C. govern ment then adds a 124-per-cent mark-up on

spirits, so that excise cost rises to $8.94. After a retailer’s standard 30-per-cent margin is added, the excise tax has ballooned to $11.62.

The proposed 4.7-per-cent hike in the federal excise tax on spirits therefore would increase the cost of a bottle of gin by $0.55 to customers.

Beer Canada president CJ Hélie has been lobbying for the federal government to lower the excise-tax increase.

The formula for how beer excise-tax hikes would filter down to the consumer is a bit more complicated, as there is a wide range of BCLDB mark-up rates. Suffice to say, the tax hike on a six-pack of beer sold at retail would likely fall between the increase in cost for wine and for spirits.

Beer Canada notes that taxes on beer represent almost half of the retail price of beer in Canada – one of the highest percentages in the world. •

AUDIT TAX ADVISORY

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FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

FINANCE Latest payroll data points to some increased slack in B.C. economy

DATA POINTS BRYAN YU

BC

Broad decreases were reported among services-producing industries except educational services (up 2,680 positions or 1.5 per cent), health care and social assistance (up 2,207 positions or 0.7 per cent) and public administration (up 915 positions or 0.6 per cent). Meanwhile, accommodation and food services reported 0.9-per-cent or 2,038 fewer positions.

On the wage front, seasonally adjusted average weekly earnings jumped 4.1 per cent to $1,228 on a year-over-year basis, which is higher than October’s revised 3.9-per-cent increase. Month over month, average weekly earnings were up 0.6 per cent with notable increases seen in finance and insurance (up 4.2 per cent) and in arts, entertainment and recreation (up 3.4 per cent).

2024 2024

employers reported a very slight decline in their non-farm payrolls in November. From the latest Survey of Employers, Payroll and Hours (SEPH), payrolls in November were virtually unchanged with a decrease of 716 positions.

That put the total job count in B.C. at about 2.54 million positions. Goods-producing industries reported 0.3-per-cent

or 1,171 fewer positions while payrolls in services-producing industries were virtually unchanged. The seasonally adjusted job vacancy rate edged down in November to 4.2 per cent from the previous month (4.3 per cent) pointing to increased slack in the economy.

The vacancy rate represents approximately 105,700 vacant positions.

Manufacturing saw the largest decline in positions among goods-producing industries, with 1.1-per-cent or 1,615 fewer positions for a total of 147,335.

This marked the lowest number of payrolls in manufacturing since the end of 2020. The increase in payrolls of the mining, quarry and oil and gas extraction sector (629 positions) offset some of the decline in manufacturing.

Meanwhile, the number of non-resident travellers entering Canada via British Columbia declined in November. On a seasonally adjusted basis, there were 1.7-per-cent fewer visitors in November. The number of sameday excursions declined eight per cent while the number of overnight tourists increased 1.7 per cent. The number of overnight tourists has been on a steady climb but is still only 90 per cent of what was averaged in 2019.

The number of U.S. residents entering Canada via B.C. declined 1.6 per cent in November to 555,132 people. Despite the decline, this is still 5.4 per cent above the monthly average in 2019. The number of residents from other countries declined 2.2 per cent and is around 86 per cent of the monthly average

seen in 2019. This reflects factors such as economic weakness in the Chinese economy and slower post-pandemic normalization, not to mention other geopolitical factors.

The decline in U.S. residents entering Canada through B.C. was seen across all modes of transportation but was particularly weak in travellers by air, which was down 6.7 per cent.

The number of non-residents from countries other than the U.S. also declined 2.1 per cent in November. This was driven by those who came by land or water (down 22.2 per cent). The number of non-residents from countries other than the U.S. travelling by air increased 5.5 per cent. • Bryan Yu is chief economist at Central 1.

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Densification underpins Surrey shopping centre sale RETAIL | The value of the site’s development potential outweighs the impact of high borrowing costs

BY PETER MITHAM PMITHAM@GLACIERMEDIA.CA

A

private investor has picked up the Strawberry Hill Shopping Centre in Surrey in what was possibly the biggest retail deal in B.C. last year.

Strawberry Hills Shopping C e nt r e I n c . p u r c h a s e d t h e 340,000-square-foot complex from RioCan REIT on Dec. 14, 2023 for $155 million. RioCan had owned the property since 2002, when it acquired the asset as part of a portfolio deal that also saw it acquire two malls in Alberta and one in Ontario.

RioCan’s interest 20 years ago was piqued by the presence of major national tenants the stable cash flows its unit-holders love, it said at the time.

Today, good holding income as well as the site’s long-term redevelopment potential as part of Surrey’s vision for the Scott Road corridor played a role.

The 35-acre site offers densification opportunities for the new owners of Strawberry Hill Shopping Centre in Surrey | CBRE LTD.

“While the property features significant holding income from national and local tenants, there is large potential for long-term phased development to bolster the city’s plans for future densification in the area,” said Yashar Khalighi, vice-president in the Vancouver office of brokerage CBRE Ltd. “These plans include the creation of much-needed

residential and rental housing adjacent to the city’s major transit hub.”

Khalighi said Strawberry Hill’s new owners do not have immediate plans to redevelop the property.

The 35-acre site at the corner of 72 Avenue and Scott Road is zoned CD-19761 and includes extensive surface parking for mall

customers, including patrons of long-time tenants Home Depot, Cineplex, Winners, HomeSense and PetSmart. Many have been in place since a $25 million expansion of the mall in 1998.

CBRE brokered the off-market deal in partnership with The Firm Real Estate Services, both representing the purchaser.

RioCan was not immediately available to comment on its motivation for the sale.

Altus Group reported that retail asset sales through the third quarter of 2023 totalled $541 million, a decrease of 67 per cent versus a year earlier, primarily due to interest rate hikes and inflationary pressures. This led investors to pivot to more stable, low-risk areas of real estate such as industrial, it said last month.

“However, the gradual return of in-person shopping and interest in physical space has renewed momentum in the retail leasing market,” it said, noting that

street-front retail space in urban a rea s a nd com mu n ity-level shopping centres in suburban areas continued to be strong.

“Given the market’s land constraints, the sector has continued to focus on mixed-use redevelopment and densification to introduce new retail space,” Altus said.

However, the sale of Strawberry Hill indicates that shoppers are also returning to the investment market, picking up strong assets in strategic locations.

“With transactions like these taking place amidst Canada’s turbulent market conditions, I am convinced that investor confidence in B.C.’s commercial real estate sector remains high,” Khalighi said. “In times like these where we are still faced with scarcity of land, we are seeing how future development potential can outweigh the cost of borrowing even at today’s rates.” •

Metro Vancouver ‘toughest’ rental market in Canada, says CMHC RESIDENTIAL | High immigration, mortgage prices are keeping would-be homebuyers in rental units

BY CLAIRE WILSON CLWILSON@GLACIERMEDIA.CA

R

enters in Metro Vancouver are facing an uphill battle as they navigate rising prices and one of the lowest vacancy rates in Canada.

That’s according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) that shows vacancy rates for the region remained unchanged last year at 0.9 per cent when compared with 2022.

The average turnover rate for all bedroom types fell to 8.1 per cent in 2023 from 10.7 per cent the year prior, according to the Jan. 31 report.

A renta l u n it is considered “turned over” if it was occupied by a new tenant who moved

Metro Vancouver’s rental vacancy rate remained unchanged between 2022 and 2023, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. | CHUNG CHOW

in during the 12-month survey period.

“I would say Vancouver’s rental market is probably the toughest market in the country,” said

Braden Batch, a senior economist with the Crown corporation.

“We really rely on people breaking their leases, finding better accommodation and a churn

inside the market. So when you see that turnover rate fall, lots of things aren’t able to happen because of that. It paints the picture of a really seized-up market, nobody’s moving and everybody’s staying put.”

Average two-bedroom rent in a purpose-built rental building increased by 8.6 per cent to $2,181, with average rent for the same type of unit in a condo building reached $2,580 in 2023.

Population growth driven by immigration and rising mortgage rates are keeping downward pressure on vacancy rates.

These factors led the CMHC to deem Metro Vancouver the “tightest major market” in Canada in its report.

Home sa les l a st yea r were 23.4 per cent below the 10-year

average, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.

Though the CMHC does not have data on population growth for the second half of 2023, its report found international migration to the province increased by 56 per cent in the first half of the year when compared with the same time in 2022.

P u r pose-bu i lt renta l supply increased by 2.7 per cent or 3,144 units throughout 2023.

Most of the increase was seen in one-bedroom units from new developments in Vancouver and Surrey, according to the Crown corporation.

“Areas such as southeast Vancouver, the Tri-Cities and Surrey are expected to see the largest growth in rental supply in the near future,” said the report. •

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FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

NEWS

BOSA FAMILY CONTINUED FROM PAGE 6

court documents.

Two decades later, Nat founded Bosa Development. Robert Bosa, Nat’s brother and former business partner at Bosa Brothers Construction, founded what would become Bosa Properties in 1991.

Both Nat and Robert passed the leadership of their companies to their sons. Colin Bosa, Robert’s son, has been part of Bosa Properties since 1993 and Ryan Bosa, Nat’s son, took over as president of Bosa Development in 2017.

These two development companies are just the tip of the iceberg.

IPB Group is a “family-held group of companies” that includes Bosa Properties and its U.S subsidiary IPB Properties, in addition to equity investment firm IPB Investments, founded in 2023. Bosa Construction, founded by Robert Bosa, and Axiom Builders also fall under the family group of companies, according to Bosa Properties.

The Robert Bosa Foundation is the family foundation for the IPB Group.

Nat has also contributed to philanthropic endeavours such as The Nat and Flora Centre for Film and Animation at Capilano University, Monarch School in San Diego – which serves unhoused grade-school students and their families – and Lions Gate Hospital, according to the NAIOP Vancouver Chapter.

Appia Developments Ltd. is part of the family’s portfolio of companies, too, and was founded by Nat’s son Jim Bosa in 1991, though it is marketed as a separate development company.

“Those of us who’ve known them and known of them for a long time, still get confused between all the different companies,” said Michael Geller, a real estate consultant and developer who has worked with various members of the Bosa family.

He added that a story about the Bosa family would be incomplete without a reference to Nat’s “legendary profanity.”

Confusion around the Bosa name and brand came to a head in 2022 when Bosa Development launched an intellectual property lawsuit in Canada and the U.S. against Bosa Properties.

The suit centred on trademark

These are leaders who have had a massive impact on the region. You just can’t go many miles without driving by a Bosa building

infringement and counterfeiting following Bosa Properties’ entry into the U.S. market.

Court filings cited issues with consumers being misled due to assumptions that the two companies share common ownership and history, and included an instance where a subcontractor contacted the wrong Bosa company.

Canadian court documents list nearly a dozen defendants, including nine organizations featuring the name Bosa.

“It’s a well-known brand, it’s a well-known family, and often when there’s so many people sometimes these things can get diluted,” said Anne McMullin, president and CEO of the Urban Development Institute.

But in the case of Bosa, and across the companies that bear the brand, she said that there is respect for what the name represents.

There is “a strong loyalty to the brand and understanding of what the name represents, and there’s respect for that,” she added.

A lasting legacy through decades of projects Bosa Development and Nat have been credited with building up W histler from 1984 to 1996, thanks to multiple mixed-use developments that added 877 units to the community, according to the company’s website.

“These developments formed the solid foundation that the Benchlands, Village North and Blueberry Hill neighbourhoods were built upon, and set the stage for the community’s dynamic growth,” reads the Bosa Development website.

Nat has also been awarded for his revitalization efforts in San Diego. Bosa Development’s website lists eight major developments completed, in addition to two currently under construction, totalling approximately 2,200 homes.

On the Bosa Properties side, Geller referenced Fifteen Fifteen in downtown Vancouver as a notable project because of its unique design, which features portions of the building sticking out of the main frame. There are 190 units in the building – which was developed alongside

[] RYAN BEEDIE PRESIDENT, BEEDIE

A rendering of the two-tower project in New West, which is currently under construction | PIER WEST/BOSA DEVELOPMENT CORP.

KingswoodProperties – and it has more than 65 unique floorplans.

Kingswood and Bosa Properties are also partnering on the 21.4-hectare Sea and Sky project in Squamish, which spans seven phases and plans to deliver 1,144 strata and 295 rentals homes, according to Bosa Properties.

“Our partnership is not just between companies but between two fa m i l ies,” Lorne Segal, president of Kingswood, said in a statement to BIV. “We are friends and I could not imagine a better relationship in business. We have contracts in place, but it might as well be a handshake. And having Bosa’s construction expertise in every project adds a real comfort level to the process.”

Last November, Bosa Properties announced their Solhouse 6035 project in Burnaby. The 50-storey building is set to include two structures: A condominium tower with 411 strata units and a podium that features 68 below-market rental homes.

Construction is expected to begin in 2024 with targeted completion in 2028.

A history of hospitality The Bosa name has been long been associated with hospitality projects and hotel renovations.

Notably, these include a $60 million venture by Nat, alongside his wife Flora, to revitalize the iconic Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria.

Bosa Properties recently announced the redevelopment of the Listel Hotel in downtown Vancouver as part of a joint venture with the Listel Hospitality Group. The hotel redevelopment is set to deliver 174 hotel rooms and 126 purpose-built rental homes, both located in the same tower.

The project addresses the lack of hotel accommodations and purpose-built rental homes in Vancouver, said Bosa Properties in a Jan. 22 announcement.

In New Westminster, Bosa Development is working on the Pier

West project to build 665 new homes along the city’s waterfront. It was reported in the fall of last year that the 53- and 43-storey towers reached their maximum height and are now the two tallest buildings in the city.

The 53-storey west tower is set for completion in fall 2024 and the 43-storey east tower is aiming for completion in early 2025.

The project was described by Bosa Development as “one of Canada’s most complex constructions in the history of residential development” due to the company having to build portions of the project underwater.

“I n ref lect i ng on t he Bosa family’s enduring legacy marked by transformative developments, we, as contributors to the real estate landscape, take pride in how they have shaped our city in impactful ways,” Scott Cressey, president of Cressey Development Group, told BIV. “Over the years, we’ve drawn i nspi rat ion f rom t he Bosa Family’s commitment to quality and visionary design.” • —With files from Theresa McManus and Tyler Orton.

T his article is the third in a BIV series that profiles some of B.C.’s biggest multi-generational family business empires. The first profiles – on the Aquilinis and the Gaglardis – can be read at biv.com.

INSIGHTS

FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

11

NDP has little to show one year after drug decriminalization pilot

PODIUM ROB SHAW

BC

’s troubled decriminalization pilot project hit its oneyear anniversary last week, but you’re unlikely to hear the word “success” out of the mouths of any cabinet ministers, or the premier, when describing the first 12 months. Overdose deaths remain at record highs. So does public dissatisfaction at the unintended consequences of rising street disorder and open drug use.

The BC NDP is fighting the decriminalization blowback on two fronts – against former allies in court as it tries to roll back part of the pilot project, and against political opponents who wrote to the federal government this week urging the whole experiment to be scrapped immediately.

“We’ve had a lot of learnings

out of year one that’s going to help us going into year two,” said Mental Health and Addictions Minister Jennifer Whiteside.

Whiteside has the unenviable task of stickhandling the complex, slow-moving, political mess that is the file. An able minister, you can sense her frustration every time she speaks.

The only real success the NDP government can point to is a 65.6-per-cent reduction in the number of police interactions and investigations for drug possession under 2.5 grams compared with the year before.

That dovetails with a 95.6-percent drop in minor drug seizures.

Neither is surprising when the pilot project quite literally decriminalized police from considering minor drug possession an offence to investigate.

“It’s ridiculous that they would look at that and then consider the pilot to be as successful,” said BC United critic Elenore Sturko, a former RCMP officer.

“There’s very little evidence that this project has had any sort of impact on that whatsoever.”

B.C. recorded 2,511 deaths from toxic drugs in 2023, a new record and a pace of almost seven people per day.

Part of the project’s goal was to reduce the stigma facing drug users so they would be less fearful of arrest or judgement if they approached health professionals for help.

But the government has found measuring stigma of drug users to be an incredibly difficult task – so much so it abandoned a public data dashboard with monthly updates it had promised Health Canada as a condition of federal approval for the pilot.

The word “stigma” is only mentioned once in B.C.’s latest report to Health Canada in November, and as a top-level goal, not a measurable outcome backed by any data.

Measuring public blowback, however, has been much easier.

Local politicians and business leaders across the political spectrum have publicly warned for months about unintended consequences in the form of rising crime and vandalism, as well as

public fear of interactions involving people in distress on city streets.

Retiring chief coroner Lisa Lapointe has said it’s important for the public to face head-on the difficult reality of drug use in public places.

That’s not a tenable message for Premier David Eby to deliver to voters in an election year. He has warned that slumping public confidence could undermine the decriminalization initiative, which is why his government is fighting in court to enact a new law that would re-authorize arrests and seizures of drugs in public spaces.

The goal, said Eby, is to show British Columbians they don’t have to give up public spaces to accommodate decriminalization.

Sturko said that’s failed miserably.

“I would argue people are being stigmatized even more because of the public’s outrage with the normalization of drug use,” said Sturko.

Whiteside said the province nonetheless considers the

dropping police interaction and seizure numbers to be good news at the one-year mark.

When asked if she thinks the numbers could rebound should government win its court challenge and instruct police to recommence arrests and seizures, Whiteside said there has to be an “appropriate balance” to protect public spaces as well.

Whiteside has accused BC United, and others, of “spreading misinformation that will not help to save a single life in this crisis.”

But it’s also true there’s very little positive factual information to spread.

“The onus is on the government, and the federal government, to prove that it is working and that this monumental shift in the way that we deal with drug possession in British Columbia and in Canada is working and achieving its goals,” Sturko said.

So far, that’s a hard argument for the NDP government to make.• Rob Shaw covers B.C. politics for CHEK News and for Glacier Media.

Canadians’ views on the United States, China up notably in 2024

PODIUM MARIO CANSECO

E

very six months, Research Co. and Glacier Media ask Canadians about their perceptions on 15 countries.

Our first look at this topic in 2024 shows a significant for our neighbours to the south.

But first, six countries continue to elicit positive views from fewer than a third of Canadians: Venezuela (32 per cent, up four points since July 2023), China (28 per cent, up eight points), Saudi Arabia (27 per cent, up five points), Iran (16 per cent, up three points), Russia (15 per cent, up two points) and North Korea (14 per cent, up three points).

The biggest surprises are China and Saudi Arabia, which have risen markedly in the past six months. Age is a key factor: Few Canadians aged 55 and over regard China and Saudi Arabia favourably (14 per cent and 19 per cent, respectively). The numbers are far superior for each country among Canadians aged 18 to 34 (43 per cent and 45 per cent, respectively).

For China, the current rating of 28 per cent represents a ninepoint increase from the all-time low of 19 per cent in December 2020. Perceptions on China are currently best in Saskatchewan and Manitoba (33 per cent), followed by Quebec (31 per cent), Atlantic Canada (29 per cent), B.C. (29 per cent), Alberta (25 per cent) and Ontario (22 per cent).

India remains an outlier. This month, 37 per cent of Canadians (down two points) hold a positive opinion of this country. Some may have expected India’s ranking to drop dramatically following the killing of Canadian

citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, but the numbers are not that different from where they were before the diplomatic dispute.

This month, more Canadians have positive views of two countries: South Korea (61 per cent, up three points) and Mexico (54 per cent, up seven points).

Canada’s G7 partners in the European Union retain their positions. More than two-thirds of Canadians hold favourable views of Italy (72 per cent), Germany (69 per cent) and France (69 per cent). The rating remains superior for two other members: The United Kingdom (76 per cent) and Japan (73 per cent).

Our views on the United States deserve a deeper dive. Nearly two-thirds of Canadians (64 per cent) hold positive views of the country, up 10 points since July 2023. This represents a major shift from our July 2020 survey when, in the middle of a presidential campaign and with significant differences in the way COVID-19 was being managed,

only 32 per cent of Canadians held a favourable opinion of the U.S. An analysis of specific demographics shows just how much the perceptions of Canadians are driven by whoever occupies the White House. In July 2020, with Donald Trump in office, about a third of Canadians aged 18 to 34 (35 per cent), aged 35 to 54 (32 per cent) and aged 55 and over (32 per cent) held favourable views of the country. This month, with Joe Biden as president, the proportions are 59 per cent for the youngest adults, 62 per cent for the middle demographic and 71 per cent for the oldest one.

The fluctuations are also severe when we look at political allegiance. Favourable views of the U.S. among Conservative Party voters rose from 47 per cent in July 2020 to 77 per cent now. The change is also evident among Liberal Party voters (from 30 per cent to 70 per cent) and New Democratic Party voters (from 24 per cent to 57 per

cent).

Canadians appear to be not as upset with China and Russia as they have been in the past, and significantly fonder of the United States. It will be interesting to see how these numbers move in the next six months.

The 2024 U.S. presidential campaign will probably feature the same contenders as the 2020 edition. Back then, lockouts and work-from-home guidelines made it almost impossible for Canadians to avoid the spectacle. This year may find us focused on other things and not necessarily inside our homes. • Mario Canseco is president of Research Co. Results are based on an online study conducted from Jan. 20- 31 among 1,000 adults in Canada. The data has been statistically weighted according to Canadian census figures for age, gender and region. The margin of error is plus or minus 3.1 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

12

FEBRUARY 5 - 11, 2024

COURTS

TROUBLE

WHO’S GETTING SUED These corporate claims were filed with the B.C. Supreme Court registry in Vancouver. Information is derived from notices of civil claim. Civil claims have not been tested or proven in court.

DEFENDANT Canadian Tire Corp. Ltd. PLAINTIFF Jeffrey Labalestra

CLAIM Damages for wrongful dismissal from a job as a business manager, which paid $123,701 annually. This followed the defendant trying to get the plaintiff to return to a Toronto office and stop working remotely from Vancouver – something that the plaintiff says the defendant had no right to do, and that he needed to stay in Vancouver because his partner has Multiple Schlerosis and needed to stay in Vancouver.

DEFENDANTS Luis Fernandez and Annaly Fernandez and Oasis Upholstery

PLAINTIFF Coulson Aircrane Ltd. CLAIM General and special damages against all defendants and an accounting of profits made by Luis as a result of his breach of fiduciary duty. This relates to Luis directing a Coulson employee-purchaser to order incorrect material to refurbish sidewalls and ceiling panels of a customer’s aircraft. Luis and Annaly also breached their employment contract by establishing an upholstery business to compete with Coulson.

DEFENDANT EB Pizza Ltd. dba Uncle Faith’s Pizza PLAINTIFF Wenjing Li CLAIM General and special damages for loss of past and future income and loss of earning capacity related to the plaintiff entering the defendant’s restaurant and having a wooden board fall on the plaintiff’s head.

DEFENDANTS Syncra Construction Corp. and 145153 4th Street Holdings Ltd. and 133 4th Street Holdings Ltd.

PLAINTIFF Caspian Mechanical Ltd. CLAIM $1,166,550 for money posted as security for claims of lien of the plaintiff against a property.

DEFENDANT Hardev Boyal PLAINTIFF Super 8 Worldwide Inc. (formerly known as Super 8 Motels, Inc.) CLAIM US$249,188.88 or the Canadian dollar equivalent for money owed due to a franchise agreement.

DEFENDANTS River Run Developments Ltd. and Option Holdings Ltd. and Daks Raymond Clarkson PLAINTIFF Elvikon Development Corp.

CLAIM $205,351.79 against River Run for unjust enrichment and damages for breach of contract and $194,888.95 against River Run and Clarkson. This relates to a housing project.

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DEFENDANTS Upmeals Technologies Inc. and Andrew Laurie Munro PLAINTIFF Susana Du CLAIM $180,900 in consulting fees plus a $15,000 commitment fee.

DEFENDANT 0879792 B.C. Ltd. dba Saaya Transport

DEFENDANTS Pacific Richea Holdings Ltd. and Steven Ping Hung Ngan aka Steven Timothy Ngan PLAINTIFF Royal Bank of Canada CLAIM $107,810.72 for money owed under a business operating line agreement.

DEFENDANTS 8384410 Canada Inc. and Westcor Thermal Inc.

DEFENDANTS Kuldip Singh Purba carrying on business as Pink Rose Tailors & Designers and Kuldip Singh Purba PLAINTIFF Business Development Bank of Canada CLAIM $107,210.06 plus interest related to unpaid loans.

PLAINTIFF 4Refuel Canada LP by its general partner 4Refuel GP Corp.

CLAIM $105,453.42 for debt.

PLAINTIFF AARC-West Industrial Insulation Inc. CLAIM $98,421.62 in a builders lien for unpaid money owed for insulation work performed and materials.

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