GOLD HOUSE - a new landmark begins rising in Metrotown

Above the Beresford Art Walk - a giant LED display will become

operational astride the Metrotown Skytrain Station in 2019.

December 22, 2016

It is not often that I make a fuss over one of my wife's real estate investments, but in the case of GOLD HOUSE in Burnaby Metrotown, I think she made a very wise purchase -  a two-bedroom apartment in the south tower of the complex. This is a project that is very good value for the money, and will be turning heads for years to come - quite literally.  In concert with the Burnaby Art Gallery, the developer is planning to install a giant LED screen on the face of the first tower (157 feet long and wrapped around the building from the second to the fifth floors).  Similar to the popular screen at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles,  the Digital canvas above the "Beresford Art Walk" promises to be the largest screen of its type in Canada.   The Panasonic display will showcase "dynamic art" that is intended to look brilliant and HD from a distance - i.e. meant to impress both the pedestrians and the Skytrain riders who daily pass through Burnaby.  Though many residents of Metrotown are night owls, the giant screen is planned to be dimmed at 10 PM nightly. 

Municipal planners in Burnaby are determined that Beresford Street, astride the enlarged and redesigned Metrotown Skytrain Station, will offer street events and amenities to rival downtown Vancouver.  Many of us would like to see a new performing arts centre in Metrotown, but for now we must be content with shared benefits that will emerge from the explosion of residential towers and new retail developments.  That means the installation of many art pieces along Beresford Street as each new tower is completed, an Art Walk that will eventually total some $10 million in investment.

GOLD HOUSE and the Beresford Art Walk

are shown ion this map of Metrotown.

There are good images of GOLD HOUSE available online, and I scraped this one (below) from the RIZE website.  It shows the two towers with the mountains in North Vancouver in the distance. The graphic is a bit deceptive because in fact two other towers - Modello and SILVER, are located west and on the same block. They already exist and should be in the image. The SILVER building is already tenanted and Modello has recently topped out.  My wife sold residential and street level retail units in SILVER and her clients are all very happy with return on investment, but for herself, she decided to hold out for a unit in GOLD HOUSE.  We enjoy our own home, and may never take up residence in Metrotown, but I have a feeling we will keep this unit, if only to pass on to our children.

Good Luck Ceremony

Many of the purchasers of units in GOLD HOUSE are Chinese,  and they will appreciate the interesting "Good Luck" ceremony conducted by the developer, RIZE - ALLIANCE, on December 14, 2016.  I am not aware of any time-capsules placed in the foundations of Metrotown high-rise towers, (most Canadians now outlive the buildings we work in or inhabit) but certainly the developers did something unique on Beresford Street.  Assembled guests scattered gold foil into the five-story deep excavation at Tower One, and workmen in gold-painted helmets carefully applied gold leaf to a cement casting in the deep pit. A nice touch, and the sort of theatrics buyers do appreciate during the long wait as towers rise.

December 14, 2016 - GOLD HOUSE construction site.

Builders apply gold leaf during a foundation "Good Luck"

ceremony at the base of the five storey deep excavation.