One of West
Vancouver’s top homes and severely under
assessed again. This 22,500 square
foot
mansion sits on two title lots including a coach
house on the second title and a lit tennis court
on the roof. The property is more like an estate
with
extraordinary city and ocean views.
The owners, have been
building their dream home for an astonishing 6
years now. Rumors have it that they have gone
through numerous architects and builders;
seemingly
nobody is good
enough. Without a doubt the owners are paying
big penalties for over-stretching their project.
Architect
Karl Gustavson describes the home as a
state of the art wonder modeled after a French
Provincial Chateau. Regardless, the home is
stunning with white limestone siding around the
entire exterior frame; copper cupola’s, slate
stone roofing and copper accents everywhere. A
couple years ago construction stalled
and remained stagnant for about a year. The home
is still not complete
but should be done sometime in
2009, assessments should yet rise a million or
two. Donna Hynes Stephen
Hynes
Located on
very desirable Ross Crescent, a level
waterfront street with huge beachfront with
stunning
views of Downtown Vancouver, Lions Gate Bridge,
Burrard Inlet and Kitsilano. One feels like
being far from the city, almost like having a
luxury cottage that you get to live in all year
round but really being only 10 minutes from the
business district and city center. A
negative about this area is that there is deep
water about 300 meters off-shore and Light House
Park protects the waters, so this makes it
perfect for large containerships to park
overnight waiting for their turn to come. In the
mean time you have to look at rusty ships with
bright lights on all night. Not so good! This
luxury home was built in 2006 by West Vancouver
based
North Eleven Developments,
designed by the team at
Rommel Design.
Listed shortly after for only $8.5 million this
home quickly sold a few weeks later for $8.3
million. While the property is only 50 feet
wide, it does boast clear views and large open
waterfront. The home itself is stunning, well
designed in the traditional West Coast Craftsman
style with a very West Vancouver color-pallete.
The new owners could easily make over $2,000 per
foot on their new lovely home in Caulfeild Cove.
Not a huge house and not a huge lot, but a great
area for a beautiful house - only if all were as
nice as this one.
This French
inspired mansion is one of the best
designed homes in West Vancouver both inside and
out while, and its location is just right. While
the lot is a standard
waterfront
lot, it still has a lot of privacy with lush
gardens and wrought-iron gates guarding the home
from too many prying eyes. Boasting total
limestone siding, a complete zinc and copper
roof that is gorgeous and wood panelling that
is commonly not seen in homes under 10,000
square feet. Built in 2000 by one of Canada's
premier home builders;
Kindred Construction
teamed with top architects at
Grant & Sinclair.
They are involved in only the most exclusive
projects and they do not take 4 months to build
a home, more like 2 to 3 years. The result is
always an authentic and extremely well built
home. I am sure this home cost no less than $5
million to build and that's not including the
value of the land which is around $10 million
today. I highly recommend adding this home to
your architecture tour of West Vancouver - my
personal favorite home in West Vancouver, it is
a must see.
Currently
under construction sits this new
traditional-retro home with a serious
mish-mashed design. Architects at
Kaffka Design
have their hands full with this one. Not exactly
the home I would build on such a large
waterfront property as this one, with an English
styled red-brick chimney, fake stone facade more
suitable on a French-Country home and Craftsman
detailing - very strange indeed. Currently only
around 10% of the value is in the home, so
expect it to rise another $4 to $5 million by
next year. In its current state, the property
and home are worth around $12 million. It's a
nice area, private and offers great views,
otherwise this is not one of those I'd recommend
seeing.
Not much is known
about this property except that
owners,
the Cohen's, registered their business,
Bellavista Capital to this address. Designed by
Russell Hollingsworth, this 5500 square foot
home itself is quite spectacular, with stunning
use of copper and nothing but concrete
throughout. The modern waterfront home is located on
the prestigious Bellevue Avenue in Dundarave,
just steps from the Village with its trendy
cafes and luxurious shops. The lot itself is
mid-sized at around 60 feet of frontage and
about 200 in length. The property was on the market for just
under $10 million with trendy realtor Malcolm
Hasman in 2006, which puts this mini-mansion at just
over $1,800 per foot, but never sold. If on the
market today, this one should fetch around $13
million.
David Cohen Bellavista Capital Corporation
Alberta Malcolm Hasman
A rather unique waterfront
home, built in the early 90's. The home was one
of those bleach-white
ultra contemporary disasters. Purchased a few
years later for a mere $4 million by local
philanthropist investor Carolyn Cross. The home
was then renovated into a Tuscan styled villa
with stone siding throughout, with a slight
contemportary touch remaining in the glass used
inside the home to bring light in from the
ocean. It still is not a terribly impressive
home and quite dark at street level. Anything
less than $10 million on the market would be
considered land value only and my estimated
market value of $15 million is probably overly
generous. Bellevue Avenue is an improving
street, but many old bungalows remain, bringing
down values of the nicer homes.
Located in posh Altamont
on a large oceanfront property with a sandy beach, this is a
stunning ultra modern home.
Designed
by master architects at
Grant & Sinclair
and built by
Calrudd
Construction from 2005 and is now complete. This is one of
the only modern homes you can find being built
within this decade, and it looks like its coming
back. But not like in the 80's or 90's where
things were done cheaply, rather this time with
some style, care and durability. While I
personally do not like modern homes, I love diversity. Instead of a cookie-cutter block of
homes, it's refreshing to see alternatives. This
block on Park Lane has been completely redone
with new homes everywhere. Possibly the newest
block of waterfront addresses in West Vancouver.
A fine brand new residence for the CEO of a
large tech company, which engineers solar technology to much of the
world. Mossadiq Umedaly
Xantrex Technology
This large 7,000 square foot
home is located on the cusp between Altamont and
Westmount, two very posh communities which
contains some of Canada's most expensive homes;
where
surrounding
blocks have the highest concentration of CEO's,
President's and high-rolling conglomerates.
Views from this home are spectacular, with a
direct view of Downtown, Lions Gate Bridge and
Kitsilano. The home itself is quite large and
recently rebuilt for the purpose of selling on
the market. In May 2007 the property was sold
for over $10 million, subsequently its assessed
value this year shot up. While I do not think a
renovated home has a lot of value on today's
sophisticated market, it is still a nice average
house. It would have been more exciting to see
something more innovative built instead, but
both land and construction costs are high. All
in all, it is a nice property but probably not
worth its generous assessment.
One of the best examples of a
West Coast Craftsman in West Vancouver created
by high-end
architects
Grant & Sinclair - it is a work of art.
This home is located on prestigious Bellevue
Avenue, West Van's equivalent of Vancouver
Golden Mile - Point Grey Road. A small river
runs directly through the side of this large
waterfront lot, offering a buffer from its
neighbor to
the east. It home was sold several
years ago for only $6 million but in today's
market it would almost be triple that bargain
price considering the perfect solar exposure on
the property's south side, which is drenched in
sunlight and is nicely topped by a negative-edge
lap-pool. This is one of my personal favorites,
an example of how homes should be built, while
not necessary to build as large as this home at
7,000 feet but rather to build like it and
appreciate its architectural genius.
Designed by top West Vancouver architect
Brad
Lamoureux in 2004 and completed late in
2007
for its owners. While the location is prime and
land prices almost the highest in the province,
I do not really feel that the home is the best
that could have been achieved considering the
high acclaim which comes with the Lamoureux
brand. Other than exterior design, it is
difficult to comment on the interior as no other
details have surfaced on the web or in
publications. The house and improvements have
been assessed at 37% of the total value, which
is about $3.9 million. It is a bit generous for
a relatively unimpressive 6,000 square foot
home, but considering the location, it may be
worth it. Roderick Rod
Bartlett Triple R Developments Kristy Brinkley
Officially the 4th most expensive lot in West
Vancouver, but the largest of those four,
offers massive gardens and extreme privacy for
what are normally small non-private waterfront
lots. The home which lives on this prime lot is
fairly impressive too, built in 1941 with a new
guest-wing added in the 80's and another guest
suite by the pool in the 90's, all in all bring
the total living space to around 10,000 feet.
The main residence is classed as heritage, but
it has been nicely appointed and need not be
torn down. Couple years ago it was listed at about $13
million and sold for $11.5 million, the new owners
may either divide the
lot, probably not, but rather seriously update
the home and possibly double it to 20,000 feet
and use the land to its fullest potential. It
sold for a steal of a price as this part of Marine is
quieter than most parts and very private and
inconspicuous from street level. I would give
this residence high praise should it be expanded
- it may even reach the $20 million
bracket. Keep in mind that the lot is worth 9/10th's of
the assessed
value!
Another great
waterfront estate, but then most in West
Vancouver are. What else would the
case be in a
world class town with some of the best views in
the world and around 40 kilometers
of pristine shoreline! Land values have soared
the past few years, not by some spare change,
rather by millions of buckets of change! 3190
Travers is a beautiful home, built by
Calrudd Construction. Construction began
around 2000 when the builder ran into some
'issues' and sold the entire incomplete property
for a mere $4 million something. Now in 2008,
the
Brian Hemmingway designed residence is
complete and is home to
one of the top addresses
in British Columbia. Sitting firmly at 14th this
year, same as last year, 3190 has
received a whopping assessment! Land and
house values are almost evenly split, making the home
itself one of the costliest in the municipality
at $4.7 million. At
around 8,000 square feet, this seamless
contemporary waterfront residence was crafted
from stone, steel and glass - ensuring it will
be around for a while. Travers has progressively
moved up the ladder in the nation as one of the
top streets, along side with other West
Vancouver new comers, such as Radcliffe, Kew
Cliff and Marlowe. Check this one out!
Rod Senft 4929 Horstman
Lane Whistler Tricor Pacific Capital
Former home of philanthropist Arthur Griffiths
then the Nystrom Family and now nobody knows. This
prime property is a
consistent underachiever. It was built at the
wrong time by the wrong builder. It is
one of the best and most exclusive in British
Columbia, being in a top class town, just
minutes from the Downtown business district, with a helicopter pad, on a private
peninsula surrounded by the ocean and totally
unobstructed
views. It should have no problems
getting into the $10 million plus bracket, but
twice has been sold for under its assessed
value. Just nuts! Honestly, the design is dated
and highly 80's contemporary and only around
9,000 square feet of living. The new owner
should invest a couple million to update the
property, improve its sex appeal and re-list for
$25 million. Its land is simply second to
none! The only way to see it is by boat as the
entire street is gated and even if you get by
those gates, 5365 itself has gates and the
driveway meanders around a bluff, so you still
cannot see it. Did I mention this is one of only
two properties in West Vancouver that offers a built
in yacht garage directly into the home!?
What did I say ... it has great potential. The
$8 million something it sold for a few years
ago
should be for land value and the place torn down
and started all over again. I hope to
see some improvements coming in the future.
Frank Giustra
A new residence, completed in 2006 resides this
beautiful blended
Craftsman
home with old world charm. Designed by
Design Marque, who have designed most of
West Vancouver's
newest homes and headed by Marque Thompson. His
designs usually stick to the Craftsman theme and
rarely ventures into waterfront homes, but this one
seems to fit in nicely on Bellevue. The home has
some nice touches, like a partial stone façade,
slate tiled roof and lovely landscaping. Limited
only by space and imagination, 2816 is clearly a
well appointed residence, but it could have been
better in some ways. Both land and home are
almost evenly assessed, which is astonishing
considering the home itself is merely 6,000
square feet. It is debatable whether such a
small wood-framed home is worth its $5.6 million
assessment though.
Nancy Burke
One
of only three non-waterfront homes on this years
top homes list, sits this brand new
mega
mansion. One which could not have been built
anywhere in the Lower Mainland on any
waterfront
lot. The home is a massive 25,000 square feet on
three former view lots which now make up one 1.5
acre estate which can barely fit this new French
Country mansion. It has been in construction
mode
since 2004 and fully completed in 2007
reportadly for a member of the Malaysian Royal
Family. Improvements on the title
amass to a
whopping $8.7 million, which is almost 2/3rds of
the total assessment this year. From street
view, this is the most imposing home in the
province, being only a few feet from the road
with a huge 30 foot high facade which can be
seen from Downtown - 10 kilometers away! Marlowe
Place has certainly become West Vancouver's
equivelant of Vancouver's Belmont Avenue with
non-waterfront mansions lining the short road.
While the first half of Marlowe is full of 90's
freak-shows, the second half gleems with large
estates and high-quality designed mansions and
second to none views.
A recent new
listing on our top homes list is this brand new
stunning home built by
Bomex Construction,
master builders which have built some of the
best waterfront residences. During construction,
the owners had the opportunity to purchase
neighboring 3338 Radcliffe, so they
did! Bomex
was given the task of revitalizing the existing
home on 3338 and turning it into a guest house
for the main residence at 3344 Radcliffe. In a
completely different style, the main home was
built with a gorgeous European theme, with
spirals, sturdy construction and gothic-like
windows and detailing. While both properties
have kept their addresses separate, we have
decided that as they are both owned by the same
owner and confirmed by our insider sources, we
know that the home at 3338 is purely a guest
house and could not be used as a main house
again in its present condition. The dead
give-away for me is that the owners have torn
down the fencing between the two properties, so
that for us officially seals this as a package
deal. Still, the combined assessed value has the
land at a massive 81% of the greand total.
Located at the end of an
enchanting side
street off Marine Drive in the
Westmount
neighborhood. The residence has never been on
the market but being that it is a waterfront and beachfront home, it is easy to have a good long
look at the home from many angles, which helps.
Assessments claim to have the land to house
ratio at an astonishing 5 to 1 ratio. It is not easy to estimate a
waterfront property's value as these homes tend to be
built very personally and often are created from
the personality of their owners. 4147 does not
strike out to be a very expensive home, but it
was built in a modern contemporary style on a sandy beachfront lot. My guess would be that it
is around 10,000 square feet, but there is
nothing very eye catching, like some of the other
waterfront homes. My calculations show that it
would enter the market for over $20 million, but it
probably would not fetch more than $17
million in the end. The assessed value seems to be
very close to market value
in my opinion. Lastly, the home was
built by
Paul Brar Construction and headed
by Ray Brubacher who has built several
of the top twenty Vancouver homes.
Erwin, an exclusive
roundabout avenue
where the average price of a home is $10 million
and ranges from $3 to $30 million. This home
is massive, newish and modern. Built in the last
few
years in a distinctive Mediterranean
theme. The house itself is over ten thousand
square feet and offers an enormous 200 feet of
water frontage with lots of green grass both in
the front and at the rear. Personally I do not
fancy the design, but it is nice to see a nice
blend of homes on any street, not just one
predominant design. While the house is assessed
at almost $4 million, it doesn't come close to
its enormous $11 million land value,
according to the assessments. This is a
very interesting area and house, take a look at
the entire street!
Main residence of
Dave Lede, founder and President of Ledcor
Construction, one of British Columbia's leading
high-rise developers - most notably the high-end
Fairmont Pacific Rim.
Lede's
home is one of the most impressive homes to ever
have been built in the province. With
construction beginning in 2002 and only
completed late in 2007, it took longer to build
than the high-rises Ledcor builds. Sitting on
four former lots, two on Marlowe and two on
Langton, this is a rare huge 1.6 acre city lot
with some of the best solar exposure anywhere.
The home itself is equally impressive with
little or no wood in it and given a smashing
assessed value of over $9 million - making it
one of the most expensive homes. Using the Ledcor
traditional materials of only steel, concrete
and glass - the home is a massive 30,000 square
feet on three full levels on a steep sloping
lot, as most are in the British Properties. And
being at the top of the BP's at the end of the
street with forest surrounding it, Lede has
insured that nothing else will be built around
him. Just incase you think you can just drive
there and even get a glimpse of the home, forget
about it. This is possibly the best secured
property in the city. Lede had an 8 foot fence
put up around the forest side and purchased
nearly 100 fully grown Pine tree's to surround
the other three sides, and believe me - it's
next to impssible to get a good view of the
finished estate. The tree's alone probably cost
around $1 million!
An amazing property on a large level lot on
one of West Vancouver's most sought after
streets, Erwin Drive. Rumors have it that the
huge 14,000 square foot mansion has been left
vacant for the last decade since it was
bought
by the Hong Kong based multi-millionaire Chun Family. While not
a very spectacular home, it certainly is one of
the largest. Before the Chun's bought the
residence, it underwent considerable amounts of
renovations to restore it to its proper stately
grandeur in the English Country style. Bought
for a mere $5.8 million in 1994, 4351 has been
assessed this year at a whopping sum, over $4
million higher than last year. I wouldn't recommend this
home on your must see list but the street is
very nice and slick, with only a couple shameful
properties.
In
5th this year, up a spot because of a $4 million
jump in value.
Land
went up a
whopping
30%, wow! The residence is no
less appealing since 2007, but others have
outclassed developer Norman Cressey's 12,000
foot digs. Located near desirable Dundarave
Village, 2588 is a massive concrete modern
contemporary home designed by master architect
Russell Hollingsworth, which designs
mostly prime waterfront
estates in West Vancouver and Vancouver's posh
West Side. Assessed up quite a bit from last year, the lot remains the
municipality's 6th most expensive and house at
8th, which pushes the entire address to 5th,
up a spot but down from its usual 2nd place spot in
past years. Given today's market, this home
should not be listed for less than $20 million.
Norm Cressey Norman
Cressey Developer Development Corporation
Construction
What a property,
called Kettle Point,
designed by top architects at
Grant & Sinclair
a few years ago! One of my personal favorite
picks for a truly hard to find place and shearmagnificent location. Sure it is in West
Vancouver's Gleneagles neighborhood, which means
you're closer to
Whistler than Downtown Vancouver (kidding) but
wow, you
could not have found a better lot
anywhere. 6151 combined with grassy
neighboring 6145 has proven to be powerful
enough to step into 3rd place in West Vancouver,
out-seeding the long reigning Cressey and
Giustra
mansions.
Once you find the street, you will be asking
yourself, what in
gods name is 3rd top dog doing here. But should you see
this massive estate perched on a majestic
private bluff overlooking
the ocean and the
islands, you would understand where the value
comes into place. Looking from the property, all
you see is ocean around you, a whole lot of
grassy manicured property and no bloody
neighbors to bug you. While the house is around
12,000 square feet in size, it's hard to
actually grasp the scope or quality as it is
nearly impossible to get close up to ... unless
you own a powerful enough boat which can
navigate around the jagged 400 feet of coastline
of this residence. Based on speculation, I would
expect a market value of up to $30 million, yet
its assessment is far less. Forget about seeing
it up for sale anytime soon as the property is
just way too great to give up.
6145 St. Georges
Crescent Eric Friedland DiamondWorks
Another amazing
property built by
Kindred Construction. 2004, when this residence came
onto the scene as
a real contender for top home in the province,
its assessed land value went down - yes, down.
It was the largest blunder of 2005, however then
neighboring
3354 was
purchased and added to the already
large 3350. Built for Lions Gate
Entertainment founder Frank Giustra and wife
Alison Lawton, from 2002
to 2006. The stately home has
been designed with
a strong Parisian theme and is around 12,000
square feet
of waterfront luxury. Frontage of
3350 is around 100 feet and extends out 300
feet, making it one of the largest around.
Current assessments have the land at $16 million, however 3350 also includes 3354
which has bumped up the total property value, with a potential market
value of up to $30 million! It
is possible that this property will grow by next year as
Giustra may have bought yet another of his
neighbors properties. It is a serious
contender for the #1 spot, we'll see.
Alison Lawton
Yorkton Securities Frank Guistra.
For the past
couple years 3330 has achieved the top rating in
both West Vancouver and the
entire province,
leading by far margins above all others,
until 2005, when we discovered a
mansion on Oxley
South and another newly built Drummond estate in
2007! Do
you want prestige, quality, size and um well,
just plain exotic money wasting? This is the
shack for you. Listed for sale at $18 million in
2004, this home was
sold
by former owner Doug Forster to mining buddy and
super wealthy Robert Friedland for a cool $17
million, marking the priciest sale in Canadian
history and topping the province's former
highest ever sale by (yes) $5 million. Then late
in 2007 Friedland peddled the home for $30
million, and shocked the market to sell for
$28.8 million a few weeks later presumably to a hockey
team owner.
The owner is set to pay the municipality
almost $100,000 in property taxes
each year the equivelant of a
brand new Mercedes Benz S-Class just
to live here. Can you afford to buy an S-Class
each year just to give it away to the tax man?
As
for the home; it is another magnificent
Russell Hollingsworth masterpiece, possibly his
best work to date. What do you say to over
200 feet of water-frontage, flat lot with
cascading smooth water pools around you, with
invisible glass walls to look through to
glistening city lights and splashing waves each and
every day? Not to mention, 11,000 feet of pure
contemporary luxury with only four bedrooms!
Ever heard of a bachelor pad with only a couple
bedrooms for $30 million? Yeah, it's called a
rip off New York Upper West Side pad! I'd
rather have my own waterfront villa in West
Vancouver. This is a shocking property. Not so
much from street level, but from the waterfront.
The design is simplistic, yet beautiful and
certainly worthy of 3rd best in BC.
Daryl Katz Edmonton NHL
Oilers Owner Martin Gouin
Well here we are. Number one. Newly picked in
2005 as
the highest assessed value residential property in West Vancouver
and 2nd in British Columbia. This creation is home to
condo
"king" developer Nat Bosa and his wife Flora,
which recently bought out neighboring 142 Oxley
South, swelling its already enormous value - up $4 million from last
year. The Bosa family is
widely known for their lavish lifestyle;
building in all the right places from Vancouver
to Whistler and San Diego to Calgary. This is one of the most amazing
properties West Vancouver has to offer. One
might think they're passing a lane of some-sort
while driving up and down, side to side along
Marine Drive, but Oxley South has some of the
priciest land around. Rumored to be sitting on
three former waterfront lots itself, 130 is extremely
long. The property is high, wide and fat; just
like Nat's wallet. This is a true mega
Mediterranean villa, built as it should be, on a
sun drenched stunning panoramic view lot.
Estimates run the house at around 14,000 square
feet. It just looks huge from the beach, just
unbelievable. What's not an estimate is this
behemoth's assessed value, pushing my
calculation of 130's possible market value
anywhere from $30 to $35 million. The house
itself was merely given a value of $5 million
while the land is a massive, West Vancouver
high, $19 million!
Robert Bosa Decimo Bosa Bruno Bosa 3379 Osprey
Place Whistler Bosa Development Corporation
ouse on the second title and a lit tennis court
on the roof. The property is more like an estate
with
extraordinary city and ocean views.
The owners, have been
building their dream home for an astonishing 6
years now. Rumors have it that they have gone
through numerous architects and builders;
seemingly
nobody is good
enough. Without a doubt the owners are paying
big penalties for over-stretching their project.
Architect
stunning
views of Downtown Vancouver, Lions Gate Bridge,
Burrard Inlet and Kitsilano. One feels like
being far from the city, almost like having a
luxury cottage that you get to live in all year
round but really being only 10 minutes from the
business district and city center. A
negative about this area is that there is deep
water about 300 meters off-shore and Light House
Park protects the waters, so this makes it
perfect for large containerships to park
overnight waiting for their turn to come. In the
mean time you have to look at rusty ships with
bright lights on all night. Not so good! This
luxury home was built in 2006 by West Vancouver
based
designed homes in West Vancouver both inside and
out while, and its location is just right. While
the lot is a standard
waterfront
lot, it still has a lot of privacy with lush
gardens and wrought-iron gates guarding the home
from too many prying eyes. Boasting total
limestone siding, a complete zinc and copper
roof that is gorgeous and wood panelling that
is commonly not seen in homes under 10,000
square feet. Built in 2000 by one of Canada's
premier home builders;
owners,
the Cohen's, registered their business,
Bellavista Capital to this address. Designed by
white
ultra contemporary disasters. Purchased a few
years later for a mere $4 million by local
philanthropist investor Carolyn Cross. The home
was then renovated into a Tuscan styled villa
with stone siding throughout, with a slight
contemportary touch remaining in the glass used
inside the home to bring light in from the
ocean. It still is not a terribly impressive
home and quite dark at street level. Anything
less than $10 million on the market would be
considered land value only and my estimated
market value of $15 million is probably overly
generous. Bellevue Avenue is an improving
street, but many old bungalows remain, bringing
down values of the nicer homes.
Designed
by master architects at
back. But not like in the 80's or 90's where
things were done cheaply, rather this time with
some style, care and durability. While I
personally do not like modern homes, I love diversity. Instead of a cookie-cutter block of
homes, it's refreshing to see alternatives. This
block on Park Lane has been completely redone
with new homes everywhere. Possibly the newest
block of waterfront addresses in West Vancouver.
A fine brand new residence for the CEO of a
large tech company, which engineers solar technology to much of the
world. Mossadiq Umedaly
Xantrex Technology
surrounding
blocks have the highest concentration of CEO's,
President's and high-rolling conglomerates.
Views from this home are spectacular, with a
direct view of Downtown, Lions Gate Bridge and
Kitsilano. The home itself is quite large and
recently rebuilt for the purpose of selling on
the market. In May 2007 the property was sold
for over $10 million, subsequently its assessed
value this year shot up. While I do not think a
renovated home has a lot of value on today's
sophisticated market, it is still a nice average
house. It would have been more exciting to see
something more innovative built instead, but
both land and construction costs are high. All
in all, it is a nice property but probably not
worth its generous assessment.
architects
the east. It home was sold several
years ago for only $6 million but in today's
market it would almost be triple that bargain
price considering the perfect solar exposure on
the property's south side, which is drenched in
sunlight and is nicely topped by a negative-edge
lap-pool. This is one of my personal favorites,
an example of how homes should be built, while
not necessary to build as large as this home at
7,000 feet but rather to build like it and
appreciate its architectural genius.
2007
for its owners. While the location is prime and
land prices almost the highest in the province,
I do not really feel that the home is the best
that could have been achieved considering the
high acclaim which comes with the Lamoureux
brand. Other than exterior design, it is
difficult to comment on the interior as no other
details have surfaced on the web or in
publications. The house and improvements have
been assessed at 37% of the total value, which
is about $3.9 million. It is a bit generous for
a relatively unimpressive 6,000 square foot
home, but considering the location, it may be
worth it. Roderick Rod
Bartlett Triple R Developments Kristy Brinkley
Officially the 4th most expensive lot in West
Vancouver, but the largest of those four,
offers massive gardens and extreme privacy for
what are normally small non-private waterfront
lots. The home which lives on this prime lot is
fairly impressive too, built in 1941 with a new
guest-wing added in the 80's and another guest
suite by the pool in the 90's, all in all bring
the total living space to around 10,000 feet.
The main residence is classed as heritage, but
it has been nicely appointed and need not be
torn down. Couple years ago it was listed at about $13
million and sold for $11.5 million, the new owners
may either divide the
lot, probably not, but rather seriously update
the home and possibly double it to 20,000 feet
and use the land to its fullest potential. It
sold for a steal of a price as this part of Marine is
quieter than most parts and very private and
inconspicuous from street level. I would give
this residence high praise should it be expanded
- it may even reach the $20 million
bracket. Keep in mind that the lot is worth 9/10th's of
the assessed
value!
Another great
waterfront estate, but then most in West
Vancouver are. What else would the
case be in a
world class town with some of the best views in
the world and around 40 kilometers
of pristine shoreline! Land values have soared
the past few years, not by some spare change,
rather by millions of buckets of change! 3190
Travers is a beautiful home, built by
one of the top addresses
in British Columbia. Sitting firmly at 14th this
year, same as last year, 3190 has
received a whopping assessment! Land and
house values are almost evenly split, making the home
itself one of the costliest in the municipality
at $4.7 million. At
around 8,000 square feet, this seamless
contemporary waterfront residence was crafted
from stone, steel and glass - ensuring it will
be around for a while. Travers has progressively
moved up the ladder in the nation as one of the
top streets, along side with other West
Vancouver new comers, such as Radcliffe, Kew
Cliff and Marlowe. Check this one out!
Rod Senft 4929 Horstman
Lane Whistler Tricor Pacific Capital
prime property is a
consistent underachiever. It was built at the
wrong time by the wrong builder. It is
one of the best and most exclusive in British
Columbia, being in a top class town, just
minutes from the Downtown business district, with a helicopter pad, on a private
peninsula surrounded by the ocean and totally
unobstructed
views. It should have no problems
getting into the $10 million plus bracket, but
twice has been sold for under its assessed
value. Just nuts! Honestly, the design is
dated
and highly 80's contemporary and only around
9,000 square feet of living. The new owner
should invest a couple million to update the
property, improve its sex appeal and re-list for
$25 million. Its land is simply second to
none! The only way to see it is by boat as the
entire street is gated and even if you get by
those gates, 5365 itself has gates and the
driveway meanders around a bluff, so you still
cannot see it. Did I mention this is one of only
two properties in West Vancouver that offers a built
in yacht garage directly into the home!?
What did I say ... it has great potential. The
$8 million something it sold for a few years
ago
should be for land value and the place torn down
and started all over again. I hope to
see some improvements coming in the future.
Frank Giustra
Craftsman
home with old world charm. Designed by
One
of only three non-waterfront homes on this years
top homes list, sits this brand new
mega
mansion. One which could not have been built
anywhere in the Lower Mainland on any
waterfront
lot. The home is a massive 25,000 square feet on
three former view lots which now make up one 1.5
acre estate which can barely fit this new French
Country mansion. It has been in construction
mode
since 2004 and fully completed in 2007
reportadly for a member of the Malaysian Royal
Family. Improvements on the title
amass to a
whopping $8.7 million, which is almost 2/3rds of
the total assessment this year. From street
view, this is the most imposing home in the
province, being only a few feet from the road
with a huge 30 foot high facade which can be
seen from Downtown - 10 kilometers away! Marlowe
Place has certainly become West Vancouver's
equivelant of Vancouver's Belmont Avenue with
non-waterfront mansions lining the short road.
While the first half of Marlowe is full of 90's
freak-shows, the second half gleems with large
estates and high-quality designed mansions and
second to none views.
spirals, sturdy construction and gothic-like
windows and detailing. While both properties
have kept their addresses separate, we have
decided that as they are both owned by the same
owner and confirmed by our insider sources, we
know that the home at 3338 is purely a guest
house and could not be used as a main house
again in its present condition. The dead
give-away for me is that the owners have torn
down the fencing between the two properties, so
that for us officially seals this as a package
deal. Still, the combined assessed value has the
land at a massive 81% of the greand total.
neighborhood. The residence has never been on
the market but being that it is a waterfront and beachfront home, it is easy
to have a good long
look at the home from many angles, which helps.
Assessments claim to have the land to house
ratio at an astonishing 5 to 1 ratio. It is not easy to estimate a
waterfront property's value as these homes tend to be
built very personally and often are created from
the personality of their owners. 4147 does not
strike out to be a very expensive home, but it
was built in a modern contemporary style on a sandy beachfront lot. My guess would be that it
is around 10,000 square feet, but there is
nothing very eye catching, like some of the other
waterfront homes. My calculations show that it
would enter the market for over $20 million, but it
probably would not fetch more than $17
million in the end. The assessed value seems to be
very close to market value
in my opinion. Lastly, the home was
built by
years in a distinctive Mediterranean
theme. The house itself is over ten thousand
square feet and offers an enormous 200 feet of
water frontage with lots of green grass both in
the front and at the rear. Personally I do not
fancy the design, but it is nice to see a nice
blend of homes on any street, not just one
predominant design. While the house is assessed
at almost $4 million, it doesn't come close to
its enormous $11 million land value,
according to the assessments. This is a
very interesting area and house, take a look at
the entire street!
Lede's
home is one of the most impressive homes to ever
have been built in the province. With
construction beginning in 2002 and only
completed late in 2007, it took longer to build
than the high-rises Ledcor builds. Sitting on
four former lots, two on Marlowe and two on
Langton, this is a rare huge 1.6 acre city lot
with some of the best solar exposure anywhere.
The home itself is equally impressive with
little or no wood in it and given a smashing
assessed value of over $9 million - making it
one of the most expensive homes. Using the Ledcor
traditional materials of only steel, concrete
and glass - the home is a massive 30,000 square
feet on three full levels on a steep sloping
lot, as most are in the British Properties. And
being at the top of the BP's at the end of the
street with forest surrounding it, Lede has
insured that nothing else will be built around
him. Just incase you think you can just drive
there and even get a glimpse of the home, forget
about it. This is possibly the best secured
property in the city. Lede had an 8 foot fence
put up around the forest side and purchased
nearly 100 fully grown Pine tree's to surround
the other three sides, and believe me - it's
next to impssible to get a good view of the
finished estate. The tree's alone probably cost
around $1 million!
An amazing property on a large level lot on
one of West Vancouver's most sought after
streets, Erwin Drive. Rumors have it that the
huge 14,000 square foot mansion has been left
vacant for the last decade since it was
bought
by the Hong Kong based multi-millionaire Chun Family. While not
a very spectacular home, it
certainly is one of
the largest. Before the Chun's bought the
residence, it underwent considerable amounts of
renovations to restore it to its proper stately
grandeur in the English Country style. Bought
for a mere $5.8 million in 1994, 4351 has been
assessed this year at a whopping sum, over $4
million higher than last year. I wouldn't recommend this
home on your must see list but the street is
very nice and slick, with only a couple shameful
properties.
In
5th this year, up a spot because of a $4 million
jump in value.
Land
went up a
whopping
30%, wow! The residence is no
less appealing since 2007, but others have
outclassed developer Norman Cressey's 12,000
foot digs. Located near desirable Dundarave
Village, 2588 is a massive concrete modern
contemporary home designed by master architect
magnificent location. Sure it is in West
Vancouver's Gleneagles neighborhood, which means
you're closer to
Whistler than Downtown Vancouver (kidding) but
wow, you
could not have found a better lot
anywhere. 6151 combined with grassy
neighboring 6145 has proven to be powerful
enough to step into 3rd place in West Vancouver,
out-seeding the long reigning Cressey and
Giustra
mansions.
Once you find the street, you will be asking
yourself, what in
gods name is 3rd top dog doing here. But should you see
this massive estate perched on a majestic
private bluff overlooking
the ocean and the
islands, you would understand where the value
comes into place. Looking from the property, all
you see is ocean around you, a whole lot of
grassy manicured property and no bloody
neighbors to bug you. While the house is around
12,000 square feet in size, it's hard to
actually grasp the scope or quality as it is
nearly impossible to get close up to ... unless
you own a powerful enough boat which can
navigate around the jagged 400 feet of coastline
of this residence. Based on speculation, I would
expect a market value of up to $30 million, yet
its assessment is far less. Forget about seeing
it up for sale anytime soon as the property is
just way too great to give up.
6145 St. Georges
Crescent Eric Friedland DiamondWorks
onto the scene as
a real contender for top home in the province,
its assessed land value went down - yes, down.
It was the largest blunder of 2005, however then
neighboring
3354 was
purchased and added to the already
large 3350. Built for Lions Gate
Entertainment founder Frank Giustra and wife
Alison Lawton, from 2002
to 2006. The stately home has
been designed with
a strong Parisian theme and is around 12,000
square feet
of waterfront luxury. Frontage of
3350 is around 100 feet and extends out 300
feet, making it one of the largest around.
Current assessments have the land at $16 million, however 3350 also includes 3354
which has bumped up the total property value, with a potential market
value of up to $30 million! It
is possible that this property will grow by next year as
Giustra may have bought yet another of his
neighbors properties. It is a serious
contender for the #1 spot, we'll see.
Alison Lawton
Yorkton Securities Frank Guistra.
mansion on Oxley
South and another newly built Drummond estate in
2007! Do
you want prestige, quality, size and um well,
just plain exotic money wasting? This is the
shack for you. Listed for sale at $18 million in
2004, this home was
sold
by former owner Doug Forster to mining buddy and
super wealthy Robert Friedland for a cool $17
million, marking the priciest sale in Canadian
history and topping the province's former
highest ever sale by (yes) $5 million. Then late
in 2007 Friedland peddled the home for $30
million, and shocked the market to sell for
$28.8 million a few weeks later presumably to a hockey
team owner.
The owner is set to pay the
municipality
almost $100,000 in property taxes
each year the equivelant of a
brand new Mercedes Benz S-Class just
to live here. Can you afford to buy an S-Class
each year just to 
give it away to the tax man?
As
for the home; it is another magnificent
condo
"king" developer Nat Bosa and his wife Flora,
which recently bought out neighboring 142 Oxley
South, swelling its already enormous value - up $4 million from last
year. The Bosa family is
widely known for their lavish lifestyle;
building in all the right places from Vancouver
to Whistler and San Diego to Calgary. This is one of the most amazing
properties West Vancouver has to offer. One
might think they're passing a lane of some-sort
while driving up and down, side to side along
Marine Drive, but Oxley South has some of the
priciest land around. Rumored to be sitting on
three former waterfront lots itself, 130 is extremely
long. The property is high, wide and fat; just
like Nat's wallet. This is a true mega
Mediterranean villa, built as it should be, on a
sun drenched stunning panoramic view lot.
Estimates run the house at around 14,000 square
feet. It just looks huge from the beach, just
unbelievable. What's not an estimate is this
behemoth's assessed value, pushing my
calculation of 130's possible market value
anywhere from $30 to $35 million. The house
itself was merely given a value of $5 million
while the land is a massive, West Vancouver
high, $19 million!
Robert Bosa Decimo Bosa Bruno Bosa 3379 Osprey
Place Whistler Bosa Development Corporation