{"id":128,"date":"2016-06-14T16:04:56","date_gmt":"2016-06-14T20:04:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/?p=128"},"modified":"2016-06-14T16:04:56","modified_gmt":"2016-06-14T20:04:56","slug":"lululemon-founder-chip-wilson-loads-up-on-vancouver-properties","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/2016\/06\/14\/lululemon-founder-chip-wilson-loads-up-on-vancouver-properties\/","title":{"rendered":"Lululemon founder Chip Wilson loads up on Vancouver properties."},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lululemon founder Chip Wilson loads up on Vancouver properties<\/h1>\n

Wilson family\u2019s Low Tide Properties aims to have $1.5 billion portfolio within a decade<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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May 16, 2016, 6 a.m.<\/div>\n
<\/i>\u00a0Real Estate<\/a><\/div>\n
By\u00a0Glen Korstrom<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Low Tide Properties CEO Andrew Chang is looking to buy properties along Great Northern Way | Chung Chow<\/div>\n

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Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson\u2019s family real estate company has been rapidly buying up property, primarily in East Vancouver, and plans to have a portfolio worth $1.5 billion within 10 years.<\/p>\n

Five-year-old Low Tide Properties (LTP) already owns about $300 million worth of property, about 90% of that in the city of Vancouver, said CEO Andrew Chang, who has been at the 10-employee company for about a year.<\/p>\n

Wilson\u2019s Point Grey mansion, which is assessed at $63.8 million and is the most expensive home in B.C., is not part of LTP\u2019s portfolio.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go into neighbourhoods where we think there\u2019s significant growth potential,\u201d Chang told Business in Vancouver. \u201cOur investment horizon is always long-term.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of the buying has been in Gastown, Strathcona and Mount Pleasant, although the company also has property at False Creek Flats, in Kitsilano and around Burrard Street and West 7th Avenue.<\/p>\n

Future purchases will likely include real estate along Great Northern Way, Chang said.<\/p>\n

Rare purchases outside Vancouver have sometimes stemmed from necessity. For example, LTP bought a building on Toronto\u2019s Yonge Street to lease space to the Wilson family\u2019s retail fashion brand Kit and Ace, which has yet to open at the location.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiversification is very important in the stock market,\u201d said Real Estate Investment Network founding partner Don Campbell. \u201cBut in real estate \u2026 there\u2019s so many different levels of diligence and management and the politics that you have to play that having all your eggs in one basket can make sense if you really watch your basket and know it well. You\u2019re then not distracted by that shiny thing over there in Kelowna.\u201d<\/p>\n

LTP\u2019s Gastown properties include 151 Water Street, where Kit and Ace operates a store, and adjacent buildings at 157 and 165 Water Street.<\/p>\n

The biggest cluster of Strathcona properties is centred in the 800-block of East Hastings, between Hawks and Campbell avenues.<\/p>\n

LTP has several properties between 855 and 895 East Hastings on the north side of the street and 10 lots between 828 and 868 East Hastings on the south side of the street, Chang said.<\/p>\n

The City of Vancouver recently rezoned that strip of East Hastings to allow for residential development, but Chang said LTP has no plans to build condos.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t actually do a lot of development at this point,\u201d he said. \u201cThat area lends itself to be more of a village or a commercial neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tenants, such as Tim Knight, who plans to open the 12,000-square-foot craft brewery Strathcona Brewery Inc. in one of LTP\u2019s properties on that strip, appreciate that LTP is not going to radically change the area.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey could have easily demolished everything but I think they\u2019re trying to work with the community and build a neighbourhood,\u201d Knight said. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to encourage people to open coffee shops and keep the area mixed-use.\u201d<\/p>\n

While LTP has yet to buy any single-family homes or condominiums, it does have rental buildings, Chang said.<\/p>\n

It has also diversified into industrial and office properties by buying sites such as Kit and Ace\u2019s head office at the corner of Manitoba Street and West 7th Avenue as well as one at 2450 Ontario Street, where Raven Song Community Health Centre operates.<\/p>\n

Other properties nearby are on Main Street near East Broadway.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a really neat older property that we are renovating with retail on the ground floor and rental suites on the upper floors,\u201d said Chang of a building at the corner of Main Street and East 11th Avenue.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, over time, we would certainly have to diversify geographically, potentially to cities in the U.S. We\u2019re monitoring that but we are still a young company.\u201d\u2022<\/p>\n

gkorstrom@biv.com<\/a><\/p>\n

@GlenKorstrom<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Source: \u00a0Business Vancouver<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Lululemon founder Chip Wilson loads up on Vancouver properties Wilson family\u2019s Low Tide Properties aims to have $1.5 billion portfolio within a decade May 16, 2016, 6 a.m. \u00a0Real Estate … [read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11,13,6,9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":129,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128\/revisions\/129"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.dinani.ca\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}