Property Management in Vancouver

#1007 - 1723 Alberni Street

Enjoy views of Bayshore Marina, Stanley Park, and the North Shore Mountains from this luxury corner suite, located on Alberni and Bidwell, steps away from Robson Street, restaurants, shops, transit, Stanley Park, and the Seawall.

This suite is 840 square feet with 2 bedrooms, 1 1/2 bathrooms, plus a den. This suite has fabulous features; hardwood floors in the kitchen, dining and living room, natural gas fireplace, granite-topped kitchen island. It has all the essentials; dishwasher and fridge with panels matching the wood kitchen cabinetry, built in microwave, and Jenn-Air gas range with Jenn-Air downdraft venting.

This corner suite offers panoramic views of the mountains, water & city. For ease and convenience, a storage locker & private locked separate garage for 1 vehicle are available. The building offers a common area, with a billiards table. Cats will be considered.

This suite is available August 1st. Contact us at www.downtownsuites.com for viewing, and to see many more luxurious suites.

Isabella J. Mori sent us this interesting article on some of Coal Harbour’s history:In 1859, British Royal Navy Captain Richards of the H.M. “Plumper” surveying vessel reported to Governor Douglas that Francis Brockton, his chief engineer, had found coal seams in the sandstone around Stanley Park.

And that’s how the name Coal Harbour came about.

The coal turned out to be of low quality and uneconomical to exploit but it, together with the lumber mills in and around Burrard Inlet, made the area interesting enough to be settled by non-Natives.

Of course this seafood rich area with its mild climate had already been inhabited by the Coast Salish, who are reported to have come from Asia somewhere around 12000 BCE. Earliest archaeological evidence of dwellings go back to the middle ages, 400 years before the Spanish first visited Vancouver.

Once the Pacific West started booming in the latter part of the 1800s, immigrants came from all over the world. An immigrant group that is lesser known are Hawaiians who, together with other non-Caucasian immigrants such as African Americans and people coming up from the West Indies, were referred to as “Kanakas”. A few Hawaiian families, earlier employed in the fur trade, settled at a ranch right in Coal Harbour, shortly after Captain Richards had given it that name in 1860. That ranch was called “Kanaka Ranch.”

The Hawaiian families grew fruit and vegetables, they fished and hunted, and they made coke from the local coal. This they sold to Hastings Mill, located near Gastown. The children trekked daily along a shore path to school at the Mill.

The story of these families is quite interesting. Jean Barman tells it in Stanley Park’s Secret: The Forgotten Families of Whoi Whoi, Kanaka Ranch, and Brockton Point, a book that won a 2006 City of Vancouver Book Award.

The book is replete with fascinating historical photographs that show neat cottages and float homes, picket fences and pocket gardens, and lots of healthy children. More soberly, the book also reveals Vancouver’s unwelcoming stance towards non-Anglo families at that point in history.

As history rolled on, thankfully, Canada evolved to the fascinating and so much more inclusive multicultural society that we have today.

Next time I go for a stroll around coal harbour, when I get to a quiet little spot, I’ll imagine the children from Kanaka Ranch laughing and playing by the water, and offer them my thanks for playing their not always easy part in the growth of this beautiful city.

Thanks for the article, Isabella.

There are some great views of the Harbour as seen from some of the Vancouver Webcams.

The first is the Port of Vancouver’s site, which features the Harbour view as first in its list of webcams. Looking west, this view includes Granville.

Next is the ongoing expansion of the Convention Centre. This complex webcam shows the expansion of the site out over the water, as well as many user-selected views. And don’t forget the zoom capability. See it here - that shows the 360 pan view. What I like about this realtime webcam is its revelation of the exquisite setting in which this construction is taking place, and the urban way of life which it reveals. This setting is Coal Harbout, and it reveals a new Vancouver, excitingly placed between the natural beauty of Stanley Park, the mountains and ocean and the busy intensity of the downtown urban centre.

One of the most stunning new luxury residential developments in the works is the Laguna Parkside. Nested between Lost Lagoon and Coal Harbour, at the end of Alberni Street, it is in a highly-prized location.

Featuring visionary architecture, the Laguna Parkside is planned to be comprised of a Tower, a Mansion House and five exclusive 2-storey villas. At the ground level, all the condos and villas will be surrounded by lush landscaping, and the kind of innovative water features that have become a trademark of Coal Harbour development.

This still image from part of the 360 panorama on the Laguna website shows a remarkable overview of the spectacular views to be available from these luxury residences.

It will feature many amenities, such as a resort-style pool and fitness centre.

The anticipated Laguna Parkside will offer urban living at its finest.

(All the images included in this posting are from the Laguna Parkside site, which also features a 3D virtual aerial tour of the architecturally visionary complex, along with the 360 panorama. This is a must-see, but you’ll need Flash Player 6 and 1024 x 728 screen to view it.)

Coal Harbour originally received its name from the coal that was discovered lining the harbour shores. It was natural in the early days for the railway to take its trains to this location for this primary resource. However, coal is no longer the focus of this area and the CP Rail tracks have been removed to make way for this extraordinary aspect of Vancouver’s growth as a world city. Now instead of coal acquisition, we see the beauty of the area, the recreational potential and the prestigious residential housing towers of this truly 21st century development.

Easily accessed by bike paths and within walking distance is the grand and venerable Stanley Park, Vancouver’s landmark 1,000 acre playground. Networked with walking, cycling and roller-blading paths, it is surrounded by the famous seawall, which was first begun in 1918, now encircling the park at 8.8 Km. and connecting to the city from both north and south entrances.

Stanley Park has been THE popular destination for Vancouverites and tourists for over a century. In fact, by 1913, the Park had become a popular tourist destination with 50,000 weekly visitors walking to the park for its cool mature cedars, beaches and natural beauty, which we still enjoy today.

Development of Vancouver’s West End drove the creation of the recreational areas in Stanley Park at the beginning of the last century. Now Coal Harbour’s densification and planned development is situated on the other side of the jewel that is Stanley Park, and now Coal Harbour residents also have easy access to this remarkable area of Vancouver’s living history.

It takes no time to zip over to the cool refreshment of this park’s natural beauty. Its combination of planned gardens with lush West Coast forest trails that open out to beaches and wide views is practically right next door for any Coal Harbour resident. Morning tennis anyone? Pitch and putt?

Unlike the original visitors to Stanley Park, you don’t need to bring a picnic. There are great restaurants at the park, and I’m including their websites here just for your information. the Sequoia Grill at the Teahouse on Ferguson Point – recently updated from the Ferguson Point Teahouse - a truly incredible location, the Fish House – exquisite and very well reviewed, the Prospect Point Café – looking across to North and West Vancouver, and the Rose Garden Tea House – a lovely place to stop for full high tea.

The recreational cycle paths connecting to the seawall also connect to the rest of the city’s network of bike paths and greenways. From a home in Coal Harbour you not only have walking access to Vancouver downtown, Gastown and the seabus/skytrain terminal, but recreational cycle routes take you to many of the city’s best locations.