NORTH DELTA — With a new condo tower on the horizon, Scott Road looks a lot more city-like these days.
For those who haven’t noticed, the Surrey-Delta divide is home to the 37-storey Delta Rise residential building, still under construction on 80th Avenue just west of 120th Street.
As of this week, the tower is about as tall as it will get.
“We’re been going up a floor a week, so they’re pouring floor 36 of the 37 floors,” realtor Philip Seel told the Now late last week.
“There are mechanical rooms on top of that and then they’re done in terms of height.”
As it stands, the building has become a landmark visible from far-off places like Burnaby, Cloverdale and South Delta.
PICTURED BELOW: The view from the 30th floor of the tower looking north.
The Now was the first news outlet given an exclusive tour of the tower by Seel, with Tsawwassen-based Fraser Elliott Real Estate Group, and developer Satish Sharma, president of Marshall Mountain Homes.
From the 30th floor, the views are currently panoramic, with little in the way of interior walls, and certainly photogenic.
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With so much height – more than double that of North Delta’s existing tallest towers, located across the street – the building is not without its critics.
Too high for the area, people say.
Too much traffic congestion will result, some warn.
It sticks out like a sore thumb, others scoff.
But from their vantage point, both Seel and Sharma insist the number of people concerned about the building’s, um, rise are of the minority.
“It’s been a pretty good ride so far because people coming to see the building, they understand. We knew from the get-go that this is what the community needed, these type of homes,” Sharma said.
“It’s a landmark, for sure,” Seel added, “so the reaction we’re getting is not necessarily negative, but a lot of old-time North Delta residents are saying, ‘I can’t believe Delta is doing this, that this building is so tall and that we’re at this point now as a (municipality) that we’re doing modern highrises like this.’ Things have changed.”
PICTURED: The view looking east.
The first of the tower’s 314 homes will be occupied once construction is done next spring. Construction began in September 2014.
“Ninety-five per cent (of the homes) are sold,” Seel said.
One quirk of the building is it has no fourth floor because, as Seel explained, the number four is deemed bad luck with people of certain cultures.
“Number 4 is considered inauspicious in traditional Chinese feng shui because it sounds like ‘death’ in Cantonese,” according to the website About.com. “It is not only in feng shui that the number 4 is considered unlucky, but overall in Chinese culture.”
Delta Rise does have a 13th floor, however.
“So it goes floor one, two, three, skips the fourth, and then it’s five to 38, so it’s 37 physical floors,” Seel said.
PICTURED: View of the tower from the Cactus Club parking lot.
Home prices start at $284,900, for 479 square feet of living space, and jump all the way to $899,000 for the most desirable penthouse.
A rooftop park, located atop the building’s four storeys of commercial units, will include a barbecue pit, giant chess board, playground, garden plots and putting green.
A coffee shop will eventually open adjacent to the building’s lobby, along with offices – doctor, dentist, hairdresser, pharmacy and the like.
“The coffee shop is the most prominent retailer,” Sharma noted.
“The space is designated as a coffee shop and we are entertaining the offers (from potential operators) right now. Nothing is firmed up yet.”
tom.zillich@thenownewspaper.com