Westbank rental housing tower in Vancouver sold for $137 million

The Pendrell tower at 1770 Pendrell Street (1754 Pendrell Street), Vancouver. (Google Maps)

A prominent recently-built rental housing tower near the English Bay Beach area of downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood has changed ownership.

Local developer Westbank has sold The Pendrell to Toronto-based Canadian Apartment Properties Real Estate Investment Trust (CAPREIT).

This sale is one of six strategic acquisitions CAPREIT has made since the start of 2024, focusing solely on new-build, secured, purpose-built rental housing properties across Canada, with a combined total value of $387 million.

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The Pendrell at 1770 Pendrell Street (1754 Pendrell Street) is located just to the northeast of the prominent intersection of Davie Street and Denman Street.

The 2019-built, 21-storey tower, designed by Henriquez Partners Architects, contains 173 secured purpose-built rental homes. The vast majority of these homes are rented at market rates, with about 25 homes secured for 30 years with rents at 20% below the average West End area market rents, according to a previous City rezoning report.

the pendrell 1754 1770 pendrell street vancouver

The Pendrell tower at 1770 Pendrell Street (1754 Pendrell Street), Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The Pendrell tower at 1770 Pendrell Street (1754 Pendrell Street), Vancouver. (Westbank)

According to CAPREIT, it acquired the property from Westbank earlier this year for $137 million, with the new owner assuming the existing $64.1 million mortgage, carrying interest at 3.1% per year for an eight-year term to maturity.

Based on BC Assessment’s latest roll, as of July 2023, The Pendrell on the 17,300 sq ft lot was worth $112.4 million, including $86 million for the structure and $26.4 million for the land.

This is Westbank’s second major BC property sale this year, following the sale of the 2022-built, 24-storey, 355,000 sq ft Deloitte Summit tower at 410 West Georgia Street in downtown Vancouver. Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust acquired a majority stake of the tower by converting $130.5 million of its existing loan to equity.

The Pendrell tower at 1770 Pendrell Street (1754 Pendrell Street), Vancouver. (Westbank)

The only other BC property acquired by CAPREIT this year, among the six new rental housing properties acquired so far, is the 2023-built, five-storey woodframe Axir Apartments at 2590 Lonsdale Avenue in North Vancouver. CAPREIT purchased this building, which has 64 rental homes, from Cascadia Green Development for $42.2 million.

According to CAPREIT’s website for The Pendrell, market monthly rents for a one-bedroom unit start at $2,700 to $3,000, two-bedroom units start at $4,075 to $4,400, and three-bedroom units start at $4,800 to $5,900. Currently, they are offering a “move in now and don’t pay until September” incentive for select units.

Axir Apartments is entirely leased, apart from the September 2024 availability of a one-bedroom with a den starting at $3,300 per month.

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