At this month’s official grand opening of the Grandview Business Centre, a neighbouring commercial building – meant to complement the first – was announced.
The planned project, also built by Elkay Developments, will be called the Croydon Business Centre. It is be built just north of the current glass-and-concrete Grandview structure in the 2600-block of Croydon Drive, and will be approximately 80,000 sq.ft.
The announcement was made during an April 5 event at the Grandview Business Centre, attended by Surrey-White Rock MLA Gordon Hogg, Surrey Mayor Dianne Watts and other dignitaries.
When construction of the Grandview Business Centre began in the fall of 2010, it gained attention for being one of just a handful of buildings in B.C. built with tilt-up construction, featuring concrete panels weighing as much as 186,000 pounds.
“Our first building was very well-received, so we’re excited about this one,” said Elkay’s Rick Friesen, a longtime Peninsula resident. “We think the buildings will complement each other nicely.”
An older residence has already been cleared from the site of the proposed Croydon development, and Friesen expected construction to take about 14 months, giving it a completion date of June/July 2013.
Like the Grandview project, the Croydon development, when finished, is to feature a glass facade, as well as artwork from sculptor Cathryn Jenkins, whose work is featured in the Grandview Centre.
“A lot of these (projects) are just built quick and dirty, but we wanted to do take a bit of a different approach… we’re trying to make the nicest office buildings in the area,” Friesen said.