Tidewater Cove has been Vancouver’s premier luxury condo community since its inception in the mid 2000’s. It remains a top spot for luxury living offering an active lifestyle of urban hiking, tennis, swimming, boating and more all within the gated campus style community. These condos are arranged in a series of three story buildings forming a bit of a crescent shape with commanding views of the Columbia River and even the Cascades. The community has a marina with slips available for your boat or yacht. There is a restaurant that overlooks the marina accessible from within the the community but also open to the public.

Tidewater Cove is located about two miles east of Vancouver’s Downtown and Waterfront. Access to the area is easy but not well marked which adds to the already impressive security profile of the community. Until Kirkland Tower came along these units were the largest and most expensive in the area.

The largest units in the complex are well over 4000 SF and even the “small” units are over 1000 SF. This community is self contained but lacks the walkable access to urban amenities. You will likely need a car if you live here. You will however enjoy a less busy community that offers ample opportunity for sports and leisure without leaving the compound.

Tidewater will remain a premier spot for easy, low maintenance living in spectacular luxury. Although Vancouver has other competitors now in this price range, Tidewater still has unique qualities including its private waterfront location and its large units with mansion-like floor space.

Units in Tidewater are rarely under $1 million and the big units with 4000+ SF can approach $4 million when they come available. There are currently two active units with 1623 SF and 2356 SF at $1.16 M and 1.299 M respectively. Units have been selling well in the community over the last few years.

Pros	Cons
Some units have views of the river	no-cons
Units have deeded garage space	no-cons
Vast array of amenities	Less convenient to urban activities and attractions than condos
Less crowded area than Downtown	Airport noise well above average
Adequate guest parking on site	no-cons
Reasonably quiet neighborhood	A little disconnected from Downtown and Columbia Shores
Units are larger than most of its peers	Units are sometimes cosmetically dated
Surrounding neighborhood is high end SFH	no-cons

So that’s the Cliffs Notes for Tidewater Cove. Meanwhile last week saw some new listings come to market and a few pending and closed units kept things pretty neutral on inventory.

In other news:

There was an article published in the Portland Business Journal suggesting that Holland Partner Group was going to build the shorter tower on Block 11. That is 8 floors instead of 12. I have not heard that from local officials but it would not surprise me as Holland has already chosen the smaller, shorter, cheaper path with two other urban projects in Vancouver over the last few years. They are more than capable of building high-rise projects, they seem to be less bullish on Downtown Vancouver than other developers. I think the 12 story option is a nice juxtaposition on the skyline to the 12 story Springs Living project already under construction on Block 18. Both the City and the CCRA have expressed a desire to see taller projects, especially on the western half of the neighborhood where FAA height restrictions are less agressive.

The 8 story option will have about 220 units rather than 348 units in the taller building. The construction cost will be substantially lower on the shorter tower as it will open up the option to do wood frame over a podium rather than an expensive all type one building. However the revenue will be substantially lower with nearly 40% fewer units.