The City of Abbotsford has acquired a large office complex located just a few blocks away from City Hall, STOREYS has learned.
The office complex is located at 32160 South Fraser Way, between Parkview Street and Minter Street, about two blocks west of the City Hall building at 32315 South Fraser Way.
The property is composed of two legal parcels, with the other being 32186 South Fraser Way, which is currently a vacant piece of land at the corner of South Fraser Way and Parkview Street, adjacent to the office complex.
BC Assessment values the two parcels at $10,074,000 and $1,175,000, respectively, for a total assessed value — dated to July 1, 2024 — of $11,249,000.
Earlier this year, the City of Abbotsford acquired the two parcels for a grand total of $12,350,000 from Central Agricultural Facility Ltd.
"The properties at 32160 and 32186 South Fraser Way were purchased by the City of Abbotsford to provide us with over 8,400 square feet of additional office space and will be a key component of how we adapt and grow our organization going forward," the City said in a statement provided to STOREYS on May 12.
According to historic Google Maps images, the office complex was formerly known as the Abbotsford Agricultural Facility and was partially occupied by Envision Financial Services around 2009. By 2011, the building had undergone an extensive makeover and other tenants in the building now include Kuhn LLP and Pacific Quorum Properties (formerly known as Teamwork Property Management), according to Google Maps.
It's unclear why the City had to acquire the entire building if it only plans to occupy 8,400 sq. ft, but the office building will at least provide rental revenue for the City.
The complex is considered a Class B office building, and houses 36,808 sq. ft of office space, so the purchase price translates to approximately $336 per sq. ft. The office space is housed in two buildings that are conjoined by an interior hallway and external courtyard. The eastern building has a street address of 32160 South Fraser Way while the western building has a street address of 2670 Minter Street, according to signage on the building.
The City of Abbotsford's acquisition is just one of two notable office transactions that occurred in the area in recent months.
The large six-storey office building located at 32071 South Fraser Way — about two blocks west of the City's newly acquired office — was sold by TNC 32071 South Fraser Ltd. to the Fraser Health Authority for $28,000,000 earlier this year. That Class B office building houses about 52,570 sq. ft of office space, translating to approximately $536 per sq. ft.
