Arthur Erickson Place
Named after the renowned Canadian architect that designed the building, Arthur Erickson Place (“AEP”) is a 355,000 square feet, 26-storey, Class ‘A’ office building located on public transit in the heart of downtown Vancouver’s Central Business District. KingSett’s Canadian Real Estate Income Fund (“CREIF”) acquired the building in 2019 in partnership with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments and Reliance Properties and received its Zero Carbon Building – Performance certification in 2023.
The past 15 months have been focused on addressing a significant leasing challenge, after a key 75,000 square foot tenant moved out in December 2023. With five full floors of vacancy in a challenging market, KingSett turned to its ‘Ready Set Go’ (“RSG”) strategy to support leasing efforts. RSG involves breaking up full floors into smaller suites and building move-in ready furnished spaces for tenants. RSG deals achieve higher rents, shorter downtime and a cost of construction similar to market tenant inducements in Vancouver.
The team has since leased 41,000 square feet or 55% of the space to date, including converting one whole floor to six fully leased RSG suites. In addition, a second floor with six RSG suites is currently under construction and targeting completion in August 2025. Two of these suites are conditionally leased and another two have offers. The RSG program has added new tenants and rates that are 20% higher than conventional (non-RSG) leases, all while decreasing single tenant concentration risk and improving asset resilience.
In 2023, the culmination of a three-year project, decarbonization was completed and Arthur Erickson Place became KingSett’s first asset outside Toronto to achieve the Zero Carbon Building – Performance Standard certification. The project involved innovative retrofitting, including optimized HVAC controls, new electric boilers, heat pumps and air handling units. The sustainable mechanical upgrades offer efficiency, comfort and control on par with brand new buildings, reduced operating costs for tenants, and will lead to a 97% reduction in carbon emissions from the building by 2026. Since certification, we have completed two deals for 17,000 square feet where decarbonization was a central factor in the decision-making process.
Winning assets continue to be differentiated by location, amenities, sustainability initiatives and lease flexibility and the strategic capital investment at Arthur Erickson Place has made the property more competitive in the Vancouver market. The property stands at 88.1% committed today with a path to increase as we finish construction on high-demand RSG suites. Vancouver is the tightest office market in North America and no supply is expected to be added in the foreseeable future, which will drive tenant demand to quality assets such as Arthur Erickson Place.
