The Salient Group

Pamela Masik stands in front of ‘Mona’, the first of 69 paintings.
Photo: Kristen Thompson/Metro Vancouver

The first painting in artist Pamela Masik’s series The Forgotten (www.theforgotten.ca) was unveiled at The Salient Group’s terminus June 23rd at a fundraising event to benefit a new arts program for women at the Union Gospel Mission in the Downtown Eastside. The painting, Mona, depicts Mona Wilson, a 26-year-old First Nations woman who went missing in 2001. Robert Pickton was charged with her murder.

The Forgotten series consists of 69 massive 8-by-10-foot portraits to remember each woman who has disappeared from the Downtown Eastside. “Because these women were from high-risk groups and marginalized communities, they were forgotten even before they were murdered,” says artist Pamela Masik. “The intent of this work—not just creating the paintings, but the exhibition of the collection with performance and video/photography of the process—is to raise awareness of society’s perception that prostitutes and drug users have no value and can be discarded.”

Masik founded a new arts program at the Union Gospel Mission to help women—many of them friends of the missing women—express themselves through art. “These women are survivors,” says Masik. “I believe it is our collective responsibility to empower them to heal and grow, and live a self-sustaining, healthy lifestyle. That’s the goal of the art program.” Mona and some of Masik’s paintings from her earlier resin series (www.masik.ca/Masik-Paintings.htm) will remain on display at terminus (www.theterminus.ca) until mid-July. Part proceeds from the sale of these paintings will directly benefit the arts program.

“It is an immense honour to have been chosen by Pamela to unveil a work that is so personal, yet so important in the memory of our city,” says Robert Fung, event host and principal of The Salient Group. “Pamela’s new program to benefit homeless women helps make our communities more vibrant, and more livable.”

The Union Gospel Mission is a non-profit urban relief organization serving Metro Vancouver and the City of Mission, providing hope for the hungry, hurting and homeless since 1940. www.ugm.ca

Media coverage of the event can be found at:

Metro Vancouver – Art Honours Slain Women
Vancouver Sun – First of 69 missing women portraits unveiled by Vancouver artist
24 Hours – Mona Remembered
Globe & Mail – Pickton victim honoured in first of portrait series
Video: Toronto Sun – Portraits chronicle city’s missing women
Video: GlobalTV – News Hour on Global, Tuesday, June 23

A few photos from the unveiling:

Renovations worth $65 million by Robert Fung’s Salient Group leave Gastown building looking old in front, but much newer from behind.

Gastown – Gotta Have Heart
Malcolm Parry,
Vancouver Sun
June 11, 2009

GOTTA HAVE HEART: The very oldest part of Vancouver is becoming new again. Not just cosmetically tarted up as Gastown was in its early-1970s first revival. “These buildings are now considered new for insurance purposes,” said Robert Fung. He meant the $65-million-worth of development his Salient Group is near to completing on Maple Tree Square and along Water Street.

The adjacent properties include the now-completed Terminus. It’s a $26- million project incorporating the 1886-built Terminus Hotel and the adjacent Grand Hotel. The latter sat unoccupied for 35 years and was owned by 11 separate deal-seeking groups until Salient acquired it in 2004. Today, the two properties feature 46 suites sized from 700 to 1,600 square feet and offered for $400,000 to $1.6 million. “Those go back to 2006 prices,” said Fung, 43, who served eight years as a Concord Pacific development manager after arriving from Toronto in 1990. “We’re selling them for what original buyers paid.”

The Terminus remained on the city’s endangered-list top 10 even after a fire that left only its 30-cm-thick facade shored up for years.

Alongside that Water Street project, the former Nagle Brothers Garage and the 1890s Cordage Building comprise a $27-million project of 34 residences ranging from 575 to 1,600 square feet. Priced from a tad below $400,000 to $1.6 million in 2007, they sold in 90 minutes.

On the square itself, the 123-year-old Alhambra hotel, is subject to a $12-million revivification, again as the retail restaurant and office facility it has been for decades.

“You can’t set up a legitimate business if the infrastructure isn’t working, and this building was falling apart,” Fung said. In fact, Salient itself will move back there after temporarily occupying the Richards-off-Pender Street Lumbermen’s Building it renovated “taking the life-cycle clock back to zero,” Fung called it – in 2007.

That project also entails opening up Blood Alley, and blending skylights and glass-walled commercial spaces into a zone characterized by vintage brickwork and leafy trees. Rather than seek LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) designation, as some Gastown developers have, Fung believes “more in going for good, practical, sustainable solutions that don’t penalize the buyers.”

He’d love to get his mitts on Cordova’s Street’s venerable Army & Navy store building. Has he talked to owner Jacqui Cohen? “Yes. She is very friendly, and she’s great in the neighbourhood.” Does that mean a deal is nigh? “She has many developer friends.”

Image Credit: Free Agency Creative

Terminus: “A Beautiful Building”

Taken from the Free Agency Creative blog:
“I had the pleasure, this evening, of touring the Terminus building in Gastown. The Salient Group has done a wonderful job in collaboration with Acton Ostry Architects, Evoke International, Haebler Construction, and Inform Interiors to produce a harmonious blend of modernity and historicism in Vancouver’s Historic Gastown. Being a resident of Gastown, it’s really nice to see projects like this come to life. I only hope more developers are able to find ways to take traditional spaces and convert them into usable contemporary residents that are relevant to today. Here are a few of my pics from the tour.”

Free Agency Creative’s studio is just across the street from us, so we appreciate hearing such a great review from one of our neighbours, particularly from a studio who has very high expectations from design – whether it be graphic, architecture or interior design.

You can see the original post with more photos here: Free Agency Creative – A Beautiful Building

We wanted to thank everyone for coming to the Friday Summer Social at terminus last week.  It was a gorgeous evening to spend in the roof top lounge and meet some of the neighbours. We hope that this will be a tradition that will continue on and help everyone get to know their neighbours and foster a strong building community.

Below are a few shots from the evening. Continue reading “Community: Friday Night Social” »

THE KEY REALTOR PRICING CONTEST 

If you’re good at guessing property values, you’ve got a good shot at winning a trip for two to New York City to stay for two nights at the Gramercy Park Hotel –  www.gramercyparkhotel.com.

Here’s what you’ll be assessing:

Terminus, in Gastown, is a unique blend of heritage facades and all-new construction. The community features many double-height homes, secure in-building parking, and a very hip rooftop urban lounge. It’s a stunning example of the Gastown revival – and a great new beginning.

And here’s what you need to do:
1. Schedule a walk-through at terminus with one of our sales specialists.
2. Guess what the final sale price will be for each of these 14 homes.
3. Submit your entry form.
4. Win, and get on a plane to New York.

When to Come:
1. The Key Price Contest Realtor Open House is on Mon. to Thur. from 12pm – 2pm.
2. Terminus Realtor Event is at 12pm on Friday, May 29th, 2009. 
3. Book an appointment daily from 9am – 9pm by calling 604.688.5566.

Terminus is located at 36 Water Street, Gastown, Vancouver BC. Submissions will only be accepted until Sunday, May 31st, 2009. So don’t delay.

The winner will be announced after all the remaining homes at terminus have been sold. 

Good luck, and we look forward to seeing you soon!

Robert Fung has turned some of Vancouver’s worst eyesores into high-end housing. But the financing model he used to cover the added expense of saving the city’s grand old buildings has run into a brutal new reality.

Globe and Mail – Heritage projects suffer collateral damage in downturn

Kerry Gold
Special to The Globe and Mail
Friday, May. 15, 2009

Developer Robert Fung stands on Water Street in Vancouver’s Gastown, surveying a row of heritage buildings that comprise one of the city’s most beautiful streetscapes.

They represent some of the city’s oldest buildings, and each of them had been long neglected until Mr. Fung came along and restored them as work, retail and condo spaces.

“He’s the poster child of heritage,” says Heritage Vancouver president Don Luxton.

But with the downturn in British Columbia’s property markets, Mr. Fung now sees himself tied to a complex financing model that no longer works.

The Alhambra building, circa 1887, anchors Water Street, the most historic block in the city. It is part of Mr. Fung’s $60-million, three-phase, five-building project that involves “a high level of heritage restoration.” The condo building Terminus, once on Heritage Vancouver’s Top Ten Endangered Sites list, is the first phase. The heritage building, with its sleek, uniquely modern interior, is finished and mostly occupied. The Garage condos next door, once the location for the city’s first jailhouse, will be complete by November.

Continue reading “Globe and Mail – Heritage projects suffer collateral damage in downturn” »

For 30-years Niels and Nancy Bendsten, through Gastown’s Inform, have brought the world of modern living to Vancouver. They have been leaders, not only in design, but in helping create the vision for the current Gastown evolution. It is natural, therefore, that Vancouver’s most design-forward residential development, the Terminus, be located in Gastown, and that Inform would play a part in showing it off through decorating a truly progressive model home.

We are excited to announce the completion of our model suite at terminus. The design of the unit has brought together the talents of David Nicolay of Evoke International Design and our neighbors and industry leaders in modern furnishings, Inform. To truly appreciate the Terminus, one must see it. If you are in the market, either for a home that is truly individual, or a modern furniture masterpiece, we think a visit to the terminus will satisfy both cravings. 

And if you liked the model home, please ask us to take you to the Terminus lounge, where Nancy and David have also styled a great place to catch the sunset over Vancouver. It comes with a new home in the Terminus. Please contact Salient or Inform to book a visit.

Those of you following us on Twitter were treated to a sneak peak of the Inform x terminus display suite Friday afternoon. We’ll be posting photos of the display suite here soon.

Visit Inform’s website.