Jim Edwards, Gramor Development project director, views the Columbia River from a one-bedroom apartment at the new Rediviva apartment building at The Waterfront Vancouver. The building opened to tenants last week. Photo Gallery
Tenants have wasted no time moving into the Rediviva, the first apartment building to be completed in The Waterfront Vancouver development.
The building opened less than a week ago and crews continue to install finishing touches in the amenity areas. But residents have already moved into five units and more are arriving daily. The building’s 63 units are 35 percent leased, according to Jim Edwards, Gramor Development’s waterfront project director.
“All these people rented without ever seeing their units (in person),” he said. Instead, they signed up based on detailed renderings of the finished units.
More than half of the new arrivals already live in Vancouver, Edwards says. There’s a mixture of ages, but no children so far — the site seems to be attracting young professionals and retired folks.
“The waterfront views have gone first,” he says.
The building is divided into 36 one-bedroom apartments and 22 two-bedroom units, along with five studio units. All of the apartments feature the same kitchen amenities and quartz countertops, as well as an in-unit washer and dryer. Each unit has its own HVAC system. And every unit except studios includes a balcony.
The units range from 579 square feet for the smallest studios up to 1,553 square feet for the largest of the two-bedroom penthouse units. Pricing listed on the building’s website ranges from $1,826 per month for studios to $3,283 for larger two-bedrooms. The pricing varies among similarly sized units due to other factors, such as the location and views, Edwards says.
The interior floor plans of the units aren’t completely uniform — several are shaped by the exterior walls of the building, which curve to match the layout of Waterfront Way, which in turn is based on the path of the Columbia River.
“The building isn’t square, so it lends itself to more interesting configurations,” Edwards says.
The building design incorporates extra soundproofing due to the waterfront location. The impact is noticeable. Interstate 5 Bridge traffic, planes descending toward Portland International Airport and trains passing by on the railroad berm are all quite audible at the street level and on the roof, but the interior apartments remain quiet.
The building includes a fitness room and mail center for residents on the ground floor, as well as on-site management and a (not yet finished) dog-washing station in the garage level. The rooftop features a large deck space overlooking the Columbia River, with a sink and grill and a fireplace feature.
“If you were going to have a private party up here, you could talk to the management and reserve it, but it’s primarily intended to be a drop-in space for any residents that want to come up here,” Edwards says.
The ground floor includes a separate 4,000-square-foot commercial area opening onto the street facing the river. Most of that space will soon be home to Stack 571, a whiskey bar and burger restaurant franchise originally from Tacoma. A remaining 1,000-square-foot portion is vacant, Edwards says, and will likely be filled by a smaller retailer.
The Murdock office building east of the Rediviva was also completed last month, and office tenants occupy several floors. The two buildings were built simultaneously and share an underground garage, although the residential and office parking areas are on separate levels.
On the other side, the neighboring RiverWest apartment building is under construction, and is expected to be completed by May. Three other residential projects have been announced for The Waterfront Vancouver, and several of the still-vacant blocks are marked for residential development in the site’s master plan.
A new 239-unit apartment building was announced earlier this week at the west end of The Waterfront, and the Timberhouse — a 12-story apartment tower built using a new material called cross-laminated timber — was previously announced but has not yet broken ground.
The Hotel Indigo and Kirkland Tower project, located east of the Murdock building, will add The Waterfront Vancouver’s first condominiums.
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