499 Wallace St, Nanaimo, British Columbia

About 499 Wallace St

A rare opportunity to acquire a prominent downtown Nanaimo commercial property with stable income and future rental upside. The building is currently leased to an established tenant operating the popular Vault Café/Bar, who also manages the upper-floor office rentals. The existing lease runs until March 2028, providing dependable cash flow and a current cap rate of approximately 5%. Upon lease renewal, the buyer will have greater flexibility to restructure the tenancy, adjust rents to market levels or lease the café and office spaces separately, creating potential to increase the cap rate to over 6%, subject to market conditions and operating costs. The upper floor includes 7 office rooms, two bathrooms, a kitchen/staff area, large windows and skylights. Located on a highly visible corner near City Hall, the Vancouver Island Conference Centre, seaplane terminal and HeliJet, this well-maintained heritage landmark offers an attractive combination of stable income, strong location and long-term investment potential. HERITAGE VALUE Built in 1912, the Merchant's Bank is Nanaimo's sole example of the eclectic, elegant Free Renaissance style, inspired by Italian churches and palaces, and popular in North America from the late 19th to early 20th centuries. The exterior was faced with a combination of a banded brick base and quoining that framed the edges and structural openings. A later coat of stucco obscured these features but some of the facade details, incld the prominent cornices typical of this style, are still discernible. The elaborately detailed, round-arched windows, featuring radiating mullions & brick keystones, angled corner entry and ornate cast plaster ceiling are also substantially intact. The Merchant's Bank is significant for its association with Francis Mawson Rattenbury, British Columbia's premier architect of the late 19th & early 20th centuries. The building's prominent corner location and exceptional windows make it a highly visible landmark. (id:36535)

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