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The property is zoned to permit warehousing, distribution, assembly, laboratory and head offices. A number of companies, including BlackBerry, Toshiba, Sugoi, Raceface and Canadian medical imaging equipment maker Novadaq Technologies have already moved in or signed leases at the campus.

The smaller units can operate as retail and office combinations, “so you’ve got a space to sell your wares, you’ve got a place to manufacture, and you’ve got a place to run and administrate the whole operation,” Andreasen told The Vancouver Sun at the unveiling.

“It was one of the last big tracts of land that was left available for this type of product,” he said, noting that 85 per cent of Phase 1 is already leased as they seek tenants for the two buildings in Phase 2. Andreasen said the campus would house several start-ups and family companies as well as larger tech firms such as BlackBerry and Novadaq.

The campus is a “six- or seven-minute walk” from Production Way SkyTrain station and the site also has two end-of-trip cycling facilities, he said. “We have three major cycling companies … in the first phase,” he said, adding that the campus is also located near major cycling routes.

The pair of buildings comprising Phase 2 are set to be completed by the end of this summer, while two more buildings in Phase 3 are expected to wrap up by fall of 2017, said Roger Leggatt, a vice-president of leasing at Cushman & Wakefield.

“We can accommodate tenants from 1,600 square feet all the way up to 15,000 square feet,” he said, referring to the second-phase buildings. “It’s designed specifically to meet the needs of the smaller tenants. We’ve had success already with the lease of BlackBerry.”