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The Vancouver Sun daily newspaperVancouver, BCJune 22, 2016•
• Yashar Nijati chats with graphic designer Branson Stephenson at The Aviary in East Vancouver. Nijati started the website 'thisopenspace', which is being dubbed the Airbnb of commercial space. The site offers commercial space for short-term uses such as meetings or photo shoots. MARK VAN MANEN
COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE
WEBS TE CARVES OUT SOME ROOM TO WORK Helps businesses find people offerin g short-term spaces EVAN DUGGAN
A Vancouver entrepreneur has created an online marketplace for users to rent or list properties for short -term commercial uses on an Airbnb-style platform.
The website, called thisopenspace, launched at the beginning of the year and is now operating in Vancouver, New York City and Toronto. The creator and CEO of the site, Yashar Nijati, says the company is expanding into Ottawa.
Like with Airbnb, thisopenspace matches hosts with renters through an online booking system. "It's the Airbnb for commercial space," Nijati told The Sun last week. He said there are four main types of uses for the spaces: pop-up retail; event hosting; business meetings; and film and photo shoots.
Most of the hosts either own or lease coffee shops, warehouses, restaurants or studios. "We've also started seeing people listing their homes for commercial uses for film and photo shoots and for (business) off-site meetings or training sessions," he said in an interview. "These are all short-term events. We protect all of the bookings with $2 million in liability coverage."
It's free to list and book spaces on the site, which charges hosts a booking fee starting at nine per cent on successful bookings. Nijati says his company pays the insurance costs. "It's included in every booking for free; no additional cost." Every host has the right to accept or refuse a booking, and is responsible for knowingwhatuses are allowed under their property's zoning, he said.
great place to h ost small gatherings.
"The gap that we're really filling is taking that under-utilized capacity and unlocking the hidden potential in those spaces."
Nijati said commercial brokers have also been using the website to find short -term renters for their landlord clients.
Pop-up retail appears to be the major growth market, Nijati said. "The future of retail, certainly, is short-term, rotating spaces.
"We've had seven businesses that opened short-term retail locations through our platform and went on to open permanent spaces in Van-
There's a huge barrier of entry to commercial spaces and a lot of times it's hard to get your foot in the door.
couver alone," he said, adding that they hope to be in a total of six cities by the end of the year. "We're building this thing to be a global company."
Motion Macivor is the owner of aBean Around The World location at Cambie and Hastings streets. He said they started leasing out their coffee shop after hours via thisopenspace a few months ago.
"We offer it basically as a partytype space," he said. "We have a liquor licence and we have a small kitchen. For us, it's really about extending our operating hours."
we had a guy who was starting up a church and wanted to have some meetings in the space," Macivor said.
To keep an eye on the event, Macivor requires two staff members to be present during events. He said th isopenspace provides the insurance "and we have a $500 damage deposit that covers any basics; even simple things like people going over their time limit."
Another host user ofthisopenspace is Zoe Tis shaw, of Park & Fifth dress shop. She recently started using the service to lease out her 800-square foot, seventh-floor studio at the Dominion Building on West Hastings.
Tis shaw said she had been thinking about renting pop-up spaces for their dress sales business, but then opted for a permanent location.
"We could rent the studio and then rent it out to other people looking for that same type of studio space," she said. "We've had a lot of photographers come in. We've had a couple of pop-up shops, and a couple of events- but mostly photography."
She said the service has helped the shop cover its own rental costs. "We did (cover) abouthalfourrent in June, and in April andMayitwas probably four or five rentals, and that was about a third of the rent."
The shop has valuable inventory, so Tisshaw said she tries to work with the same photographers so she knows who is in the space. "We haven't been able to move a computer into the space yet because of a little bit of concern over security, but we're working toward that."
Thisopenspace is also a friend to the commercial real estate industry, said Glenn Gardner, a principal with Avis on Young in Vancouver.
But Gardner said thisopenspace hosts who are tenants of the property need to be careful not to violate their lease agreements.
''My main concern would just be that if you're a tenant and you're doing this, make sure you abide by the terms of your lease," he said. "Typically, you would have to go the landlord and say, 'Hey, I'm going to do this, can I get your approval to do that'?" [email protected] twitter.com/EvanBDuggan
Favorably located in one of Canada's strongest real estate markets, this special offering includes:
• An 18-hole championship golf course on approximately 129 acres of land
• A 12,576 sq. ft. clubhouse with pro shop, lounge, dining and banquet facilities
· A 14,100 sq. ft. six-sheet curling facility and three outdoor tennis courts
· A 2.34 acre parking lot on a separate legal parcel with residential zoning
City firm set to buy L.A. Times building On ni Gr oup also has tower pr oject
JOANNE L E E-YOUNG
Vancouver-based developer Onni Group has a preliminary agreement to buy the landmark Times Mirror Square in Los Angeles in a deal that could be worth more than $100 million, according to a r eport in the Los Angeles Times.
The building is home to the Los Angeles Times. Tribune Media, the company th:1t owns the paper, announced the sale agreement last month, but did not disclose the buyer or the price. An L.A Times r eportlastweek said the "deal with Onni could still fall apart. A previous agreement to sell the property collapsed earlier this year," but, according to a person familiar with the deal, "Onnihasprogressedfurther in the sales process than the previous potent ial buyer."
The finn has other projects in downtown Los Angeles, including a highrise r esidential tower at 8th and Hill streets. Onni is a familyowned Vancouver developer with offices in Phoenix, Los Angeles, Chicago and Mexico. Vancouverbased Dan Bell of Onni's acquisitions group did not return a call from Postmedia seeking comment.
Pedestrians walk past Times Mirror Square in Los Angeles. A Vancouver firm is set to buy the landmark bui lding. RICHARD VOGEL/THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS FILES
ASKING PRICE: Golf Course Parcel • $5,888,999
Parking Lot Parcel • $888,000
The demand for short-term commercial space is growing, said Nijati, a Simon Fraser University graduate, who came to Canada from Iran in 1992.
"There's a huge barrier of entry to commercial spaces and a lot of times it's hard to get your foot in the door," he said. "Coffee shops that close after 6 p.m., they're a
His cafe is just starting to get traction with the service, he said. "For the month of June, I think it's going to work out to about eight hours of extra operating use."
"There's some pretty cool spaces on (the website) that would be pretty unique to host events in," he said. "Landlords are looking for long-term tenants and I think this could be a way to help get some income into the space when it's vacant."
Randy Holt, Vice President (250-888-1621) Matt Pettinger, Associate (250-588-8035)
Most of their renters are hosting birthday parties. "Last week,
Oevencore Realty Victoria Ltd. www.devencorenkfvictoria.com Ph: (250) 382-3400
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