![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/09\/Vancouver_FraserCommons400.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLong-time Vancouver developer Gino Nonni is returning to his family roots with the rebranding of Serracan Properties and the launch of the\u00a0Nonni Property Group<\/a>.<\/p>\n The Western Canadian development company with land holdings in B.C. and Alberta is moving further into the purpose-built rental space as part of its rebrand.<\/p>\n Nonni founded Serracan in 2000 and he recently sold off its office building at 510 Seymour St. in downtown Vancouver where the company is headquartered. The firm has stayed on as tenants.<\/p>\n The company has also redeveloped a prominent 1.77-acre mixed-use site on the south side of the Fraser River called the Fraser Commons \u2013 the former Blue Boy hotel \u2013 at Southeast Marine Drive and Fraser Street.<\/p>\n In more recent years, it was a tired-looking, 100-room Super 8 hotel.<\/p>\n It was a long, complex process. Serracan had purchased the South Vancouver site in 2013 and embarked on a rezoning application to build 363 condo units with a two-level commercial plaza, large central courtyard, 37-space daycare and retail at grade.<\/p>\n It sold the vast majority of presale units in 2018 and they completed in 2021 and 2022.<\/p>\n It then sold a few strata commercial spaces and retained ownership of all the commercial retail, for lease, as well as 22 per cent of the residential units for rentals<\/p>\n Residential rental is a key part of Nonni\u2019s future strategy, in a climate that has seen interest rates go up and rental rates climb.<\/p>\n \u201cWe ended up keeping a bunch of units to rent, because we felt it was a good long-term hold for our organization, which is one of our requirements,\u201d said Nonni, the company founder and chief executive officer. \u201cWe have developed (properties) for sale, but we also develop to hold, or, as a hybrid, we may develop something and hold part of it for rent, and just rent it out and keep it for long-term cash-flow purposes.<\/p>\n \u201cBut our philosophy as a family company \u2014 and we are privately held and we have the benefit of making those decisions in an autonomous way \u2014 is if we feel that it is the right move to keep something for longer-term sustainability and for financial enhancement, then we will do that.\u201d<\/p>\n Serracan has other residential sites in the pipeline in different areas as well, still in the rezoning phase and too early to talk about publicly.<\/p>\n \u201c(Residential) is part and parcel of the rebranding. We decided we are entering into a different cycle. We decided to just go back to our roots and use Nonni, my last name obviously, as the brand. I\u2019m old and I\u2019ve been around for a long time,\u201d he said, laughing.<\/p>\n \u201cSerracan was really a holding company and then we ended up using it as the development platform that commenced many years ago.<\/p>\n \u201cIn terms of our development operations, we are focusing on purpose-built residential rental and industrial multi-tenant developments for retention purposes, for lease. We\u2019ve got holdings right now that are in a sense ripe for new product . . . in other words, tear the old product down and build new on the site.\u201d<\/p>\n About half of its assets are industrial properties. The industrial is \u201cpretty conventional,\u201d multi-tenant, smaller-bay product, which is already part of the portfolio, he says.<\/p>\n The company is contemplating residential rental projects in Calgary and in the Lower Mainland, and not necessarily high-rise concrete rental, but six-storey frame, for example, Nonni said.<\/p>\n \u201cThe residential part of our business commenced with Fraser Commons in terms of the rental (units) because we have decided to hold onto that,\u201d he said. \u201cThe balance (of residential) is through developments in the planning stages right now. We\u2019ve got probably something like 400 units in the planning stages, but not zoned yet, so over the next 24 to 48 months . . .\u201d<\/p>\n Many of the Fraser Commons presale purchasers were a new kind of investor \u2013 parents who intend to rent the units out until their kids are grown and can take them over.<\/p>\n \u201cWe were very happy with it and the fact that we ended up renting a lot of units in less than four months. The rental market was very strong and we were pleased and surprised that it was as strong as it was.\u201d<\/p>\n He purchased the site for his future office mid-rise at 510 Seymour St. at the same time as the former hotel site, in 2013.<\/p>\n Two old retail buildings had occupied the downtown corner for decades. With a floor plate size of 8,400 square feet, Serracan developed a glazed jewel box of a building, with Adler University as the anchor tenant.<\/p>\n Because it was built as part of a partnership that was winding down, Serracan put the building on the market a few months ago, even though they\u2019d intended to hold onto it.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had multiple bids,\u201d said Nonni, \u201cAnd we sold through a Canadian company to a European family. I am under confidentiality in terms of the purchase price, but it was competitive in the final negotiations.<\/p>\n \u201cThe buyer it ended up with was very happy. And we were very pleased that of all the office buildings available in the world they chose Vancouver and they chose our asset.<\/p>\n \u201cThey have great upside in terms of lease rates rising in the mid-to-long term. They will do well holding onto it and moving forward.\u201d<\/p>\n The level of interest from institutional and global investors and others shows that the fundamentals are there, he said.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the market is interesting right now. It is expensive in Vancouver, and I think the developers with historical land values are going to be at an advantage, particularly if they want to build on it,\u201d he said. \u201cI mean, we just sold an office building to a family from Europe.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s really interesting, isn\u2019t it? When you step back and think about it, there is a lot pension fund capital invested in this city.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd when you look at the amount of capital invested in real estate and the infrastructure going on as well, you\u2019ve got to really understand there is a foundation of strength that is not going away.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Written by: Kerry Gold From: Real Estate News Exchange Long-time Vancouver developer Gino Nonni is returning to his family roots with the rebranding of Serracan Properties and the launch of … [read more<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1197"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1203,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1197\/revisions\/1203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kanavero.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Residential rental strategy<\/h3>\n
Potential geographic expansion<\/h3>\n
Vancouver office property sale<\/h3>\n