Westbank founder calls out Vancouver's "high level of mediocracy"

Vancouver has attracted global wealth despite many of its buildings falling short of the wow factor

Steve Randall
Canadian Real Estate Wealth

Vancouver has attracted global wealth despite many of its buildings falling short of the wow factor according to a major developer.

Actually, Westbank Corp. founder Ian Gillespie’s words leave no doubt as to his opinion of the state of the city’s development: “Three-quarters of the buildings in this city look like a piece of s---,” he told Bloomberg.

And the developer of luxury towers says that the city has been complacent because – despite what he says is a “high level of mediocracy” – the wealth continues to flow into the city, especially from Asia.

Gillespie was speaking to Bloomberg about his forthcoming masterpiece; a 28.5 acre development that will match New York’s Hudson Yard as the largest in North America.

Oakridge, co-developed by QuadReal Property Group, will feature condo towers, a mall, a library, community centres, daycare, and a forest of newly-planted trees.

“If future generations don’t look at this and say, ‘they were thinking about what this means a hundred years from now,’ then I think we’ve been short-sighted,” Gillespie said.

It is scheduled for completion in 2027 and $1 billion of units were sold in less than a year.

Among other projects for Westbank are its first outside North America, a building in Tokyo.

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