BOMA CANADA REPS SEE THE GOOD, THE BAD AND THE UGLY IN CHINA NEW BY PAUL BRENT, PROPERTY BIZ CANADA AN RENX PUBLICATION - PHOTOS COURTESY OF BENJAMIN SHINEWALD
INDUSTRIAL
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group of eight BOMA Canada members had “a terrific, eye-opening, frankly fascinating” eight-day, three-city tour that was organized by the fledgling BOMA China organization. The delegation was promised a “comprehensive overview” of the Chinese real estate market and insider building tours in Beijing, Tianjin and Shanghai, all under the auspices of the Building Owners and Managers Association of China (BOMA China) in late March. Count the BOMA Canada president and chief executive officer, Benjamin Shinewald, as impressed. “It was the first time that we had done this type of thing and the first time that I am aware of that a commercial real estate mission has gone to China.” Shinewald said the contingent, which included members from Ontario, Alberta and British Columbia, were blown away from the beginning after being taken to Shanghai’s financial district. “We went to have lunch with Cushman Wakefield Shanghai and they hosted us on the 101st floor of the second-tallest building in the world and we had a view of a crane outside that was putting up a tower across the street that is, like 120 metres higher than the one that we were in,” he said. “Seeing the scale in Shanghai was remarkable and they have some spectacular properties in that area.” The BOMA bunch then flew to the “second-tier” city of Tianjin, China’s sixth-largest city with a population of about 13 million. “That is a place where the Chinese are building, more or less from scratch, a megalopolis,” said
EDMONTON
Industrial Building Vacancy Citywide: 3.4%
VIEW FROM THE 101ST FLOOR OF THE SHANGHAI WORLD FINANCIAL CENTRE – THE SECOND TALLEST BUILDING IN THE WORLD AT 492 METRES.
Direct Vacancy:
3.2%
Sublease Vacancy:
0.2%
Southeast Northwest Northeast Central Sherwood Park Acheson Spruce Grove Stony Plain Nisku/Leduc
2.3% 4.6% 3.1% 3.4% 1.2% 6.1% 2.7% 0.0% 4.0%
2012 Building Sales Transactions: 43 Volume: $86 million 2012 Land Sales: 21 Volume: $35 million
THE SHANGHAI WORLD FINANCIAL CENTRE AND THE (UNDER CONSTRUCTION) SHANGHAI TOWER WHICH WILL STAND 632 METRES HIGH.
Shinewald. “Hundreds upon hundreds of skyscrapers, residential and commercial, are going up.” Cranes were a common sight on the trip since approximately 37.5 per cent of www.bomaedmonton.org | BOMA Edmonton Newsletter | June 2013
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