A Renowned Architect, $10M, And Mass Timber. The Project: A Sales Centre

How Sales Centres Are Birthed

Beedie's presentation centre will be operated by their own sales team, but oftentimes developers choose external teams to run the marketing and sales, such as MLA Canada, BakerWest, or Magnum Projects, who can be deeply involved in the planning of the sales centres themselves.

"The first thing we do is strategize on where we want to have the sales centre," says MLA Canada EVP of Sales and Marketing Suzana Goncalves. "Not always, but oftentimes it's best for it to be off-site, as it provides as much flexibility to the developer as possible, because in BC we have to start construction essentially within a year's timeframe, which means in order to begin construction, you have to have enough sales under your belt to get your [construction] financing in order, so oftentimes it's nice to have a sales centre that's off-site so you can do the sales you need for financing, but then you can take your time with the rest of the inventory, rather than spending a bunch of money on a sales centre and then having to remove it a year later to start construction."

After a space is identified, Goncalves says they will often conduct a walkthrough with the developers to make sure the space works for their purposes.

"Depending on the size and scale of the project, it might change what we think we need in the space, so — in some cases — you can get away with something a little smaller, maybe just building out a kitchen or a bathroom, for example, while in other cases you may need two or three showhomes," she says.

Once the space is confirmed, they often then bring in an interior design team, sometimes along with an architect, to design the layout of the space. Sometimes, Goncalves says, there are obstacles, like building columns in places where you don't want them to be and it becomes a game of Tetris — trying to make the different pieces fit together well.

Once interior designers begin their work, the cost to build the presentation centre can be determined, and then construction can begin. Afterwards, MLA Canada outfits the interiors with the various features that make presentation centres what they are: the architectural models, the graphics on the wall, and the colour scheme boards.

The Two Types of Sales Centres

Different firms use different terms, but — for the most part — they are all interchangeable. Presentation centre. Sales centre. Discovery centre. Information centre. Sales gallery. Home store.

While different firms have different preferences when it comes to the name, all parties interviewed for this article agree that there are generally two types of sales centres.

The first kind is the shorter-term standalone sales centre that developers typically only use for one project. They are usually more common in the suburbs where there is more land and space, and are the most common type of sales centre.

In Burnaby, MLA Canada has such a sales centre located near the intersection of the Kingsway and Royal Oak for Keltic Development's O2 Metrotown project, which is located a short drive away, behind the Metropolis at Metrotown mall. Near Metrotown mall and next to Crystal Mall also currently sits another standalone sales centre, for Perla, by Polygon Homes, which will be located a few blocks away near Central Park. On the other side of Crystal Mall, at the intersection of Kingsway and Willingdon Avenue, is yet another standalone sales centre, for the Central Park House project by Bosa Properties.

The second kind of sales centre is more long-term, and oftentimes larger. This option is often used by developers whose names are themselves a draw, and the space acts as a hub for many of their projects — related or unrelated. In other instances, they are used for bigger projects such as master-planned communities, where there will be multiple projects cycling through an extended period of time.

An example of the former can also be found in the Metrotown neighbourhood of Burnaby, where Concord Pacific occupies a large space adjoined to Metrotown mall — formerly held by Sears — that acts as the presentation centre for its Metrotown master plan community (currently under construction on what was formerly surface parking for the mall) as well as its upcoming Greenhouse and its master plan community in Brentwood. The sales centre for Beedie's Fraser Mills is then an example of the latter, with full build out of Fraser Mills expected to take place across 20 to 25 years, the first project of which, Debut, was announced last week.

Nearly all presale projects will use one of the two options, but there is a quite-rare third option that Goncalves calls the "boardroom program" route, which is when sales are run through a place such as the developer's office, and are typically for projects that are on a much smaller scale.

How Much Do Presentation Centres Cost?

Because of the differences between the types of presentation centres, the costs to build them can also vary.

"For example, you might go into a small retail space, maybe 2,000 or 3,000 sq. ft, and something like that might only cost you a few hundred thousand dollars to outfit it with a kitchen, a bathroom, to make it clean and fresh, and the other tools you need, such as reception and graphics," Goncalves says.

The cost of that kind of modest sales centre can start at around $300,000 to $400,000, and then go up depending on the size and scale of the project, and whether or not you can use it to sell multiple projects. A sales centre for a glamorous high-rise or a multi-phase project can get to around $700,000, to perhaps $1.3M, and potentially even $1.5M for the long-term projects, Goncalves says.

"When you have the opportunity to sell multiple projects in a single space, that can be a great advantage, because you can stretch your dollar a little further, economize it over a number of projects, and typically that means you can dress up that space a little bit more," she adds.

At 7,400 sq. ft, Beedie's presentation centre for Fraser Mills is quite large, but the $10M price tag makes even more sense when factoring in how long it will be used and how many projects will be sold through it.

Various parties interviewed for this article agreed that $10M is definitely a rarity, with Beedie's Robert Toth conservatively estimating the cost to be at least double the average cost for presentation centres. Regardless, the sales centre is almost always one of the biggest line items, if not the largest item, in a marketing budget. There are a few ways that can lead to cost savings, however.

Choosing to build the sales centre for a project on a site you own means you don't have have to lease retail space, which is often the case for those short-term standalone sales centres. Developers can also make use of their own space in other locations. Anthem Properties, for example, is using retail space within the Station Square project in Burnaby (that was developed with Beedie) as their "discovery centre" for the upcoming 66-storey Citizen, set for a location a short walk away.

Developers also often like to take over spaces that were previously used as a sales centre, because the location was likely chosen for good reason and there's already a good base to work with, along with the cost savings that come with that. For example, the aforementioned sales centre for Perla by Polygon Homes, on 6039 McKay Avenue (across the street from the aforementioned Anthem discovery centre), was previously the sales centre for Intracorp Homes' Telford On The Walk project.

For townhouse projects, it's also not uncommon for developers to use one of the first-built homes of the project as a showhome, from which they then sell the remaining townhouses, meaning they don't have to spring for a standalone sales centre.

How Sales Centres Have Evolved

Sales centre are often designed in a way to facilitate "sales pathing," Goncalves says.

"You come in, there's a greeting, an entry experience, and people tend to gravitate towards architectural models, then you talk about the neighbourhood and exterior factors first, then you move into the more granular details of the home from there," she says.

That kind of design and "flow of information" has largely stayed the same. What has changed is the role of technology.

"Ten years ago, you'd have floorplans hanging on the wall, and you'd have to get them redesigned and switched out as you sold through the building. Now, of course, we have touchscreens, and that allows us to showcase all of our floorplans, remove floorplans that have been sold out, and add things that we need to."

Entry areas often make use of iPads for registration. Walls are often filled with touchscreens showing building features or videos. The quality of renderings and animation has also greatly improved over the years. (All of the new technology also, of course, contributes to the costs.)

Nowadays, some developers are opting to forego physical architectural models of buildings and instead opting for digital replicas, allowing visitors to fly around the building, or go into a certain floorplan or suite type. Some, such as the presentation in Downtown Vancouver for Brivia Group's CURV, sales for which are run by BakerWest, use all of the above.

Toth, from Beedie, says that the Fraser Mills presentation centre will be using more touchscreen technology than any he has personally been involved in. It will also feature a model of the master plan, a model of the new Debut project, as well as two show suites for Debut.