Parking garage complete at Block 6 on waterfront

Parking is, apparently, a gift that keep on giving. In this case, for developers and future tenants at The Waterfront Vancouver.

Barry Cain, president of Gramor Development, said work has finished on a two-level, below-ground parking garage at Block 6 of the massive waterfront development.

Besides helping ease ongoing concerns that development will congest downtown, Cain said completing the garage early helps builders turn a corner. Now, two new structures on top are expected to rise quickly.

“It just takes a long time to get all that underground concrete; it’s amazing how long it takes,” he said. “But once you get the foundation going, I think it will be a fairly quick process getting those buildings looking finished.”

A seven-story office building and a six-story apartment complex could be completed by September, he said. Both will have a combination of restaurant, retail and office space on the ground floors, though it’s unclear if those tenants would open at the same time.

Passers-by may specifically notice the large concrete slab taking shape at the site. That is a concrete shear wall that will support the seven-story office building, according to construction crews. Nearby, two restaurant buildings are also standing; they’re expected to open in the summer.

So far, three tenants are set to move into Block 6. MidiCi Neopolitan Pizza Company and Cascade Sotheby’s International Realty will move into space on the ground floor of the apartment building; and M.J. Murdock Charitable Trust has leased two floors of the office tower.

South-facing offices and apartments there are sure to be hot commodities as they will have a front-row view of the Columbia River. Only the city of Vancouver’s upcoming 7-acre park is closer.

Cain said new tenant announcements are on the way.

“Now that we’re getting the buildings more finished, it’s getting a little easier to lease them,” he said. “A lot of office tenants don’t do preleasing. A lot of them like to see what it’s going to look like. They don’t think two years ahead.”