Development land near train station

[mackeast]

Hey, I know this is probably mentioned somewhere, but I am looking for information on the empty land just north the train station. What is the unnofficial name for it? Are there any solid proposals that are being looked at right now? Is it owned by the city or the railroads? Thanks!

[eduardo88]

Which train station?

[worldwide]

my guess would be terminal ave

[mackeast]

Umm, Union Station I believe. The big one, near the Science World station

[mackeast]

Ok! I found the name - False Creek Flats

[raggedy13]

Pacific Central is the station. This land that you're referring to, is it the entire False Creek Flats including the rail yards/light industry or just the big unused lot north/northeast of the station?

That empty spot is the proposed home of the St. Paul's Hospital relocation. I'm not sure who currently owns the land though.

[amor de cosmos]

here's Vancouver's site about the Flats:
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/currentplanning/fcflats/index.htm
originally the area was mud flats from quebec to clark & then the whole area was reclaimed

[AlexYVR]

I can't speak for the current plan but as of a public policy meeting a year ago, the plan was to move St. Paul's here and establish a tech-industry park/zoning area supporting the hospital.

The station is called Pacific Central, btw, and serves Amtrak, ViaRail Canada, and Greyhound.

[officedweller]

Information at the Busby Architects website:

http://www.busby.ca/clients/providence/index.htm

[Mike Stewart Realtor]

The proposal to move all or some of the functions form St Pauls to that land were controversial to say the least. I think Providence Health Care still owns the land, but its difficult to say what will happen and when.

[wrenegade]

As far as I can remember, Providence Health Care was going to upgrade and remain operating an emergency care centre in the heritage portion of St. Paul's. The remaining land was to be sold off to developers for condos/office/hotel/whatever. The site on the false creek flats was to be a larger all-encompassing full service hospital.

I would love to see it happen. By keeping a portion of the hospital downtown you are able to service the population there, and having the larger hospital on the false creek flats they are closer to the DTES and are closer to major roads for access. Plus I think the architecture in that rendering is absolutely fantastic.

[WarrenC12]

Sounds like a perfect large government project for a recession economy... anyone? anyone? Gordo? Bueller?

:shrug:

[crazyjoeda]

It seems to be silly to build a big new hospital on that lot because VGH is just 3km away. For people who live near St Paul's at its current location VGH would be just as close as going to a new St Paul's on Terminal Avenue. If the government is going to be building a new hospital it should be in Surrey; Surrey will be a larger city soon and has many fewer hospitals than Vancouver.

[mr.x]

It seems to be silly to build a big new hospital on that lot because VGH is just 3km away. For people who live near St Paul's at its current location VGH would be just as close as going to a new St Paul's on Terminal Avenue. If the government is going to be building a new hospital it should be in Surrey; Surrey will be a larger city soon and has many fewer hospitals than Vancouver.

St. Paul's in downtown will be shutting down most of its facilities when the new hospital is built.

[jlousa]

VGH is a regional/provincial hosipital, so it's not solely for Vancouver like St Pauls would be.
Surrey will still the smaller city for quite awhile, by the time it surpasses Vancouver I'm sure they will have a new hospital or at least expanded their current ones.

[worldwide]

ones or one?

[mackeast]

I asked because Im working on an urban design project next term, and Im gonna use this site. I dont think the proposed design for the hospital/condos or whatever they are proposing is very good, nor is the cities proposed roads and park for the area.

Im hoping to design a site that connects the DTES to the north, the false creek condo area to the west, and the train station to the south. National Avenue would be extended at a 45 degree angle and connect to prior and malkin, forming a 3-way traffic circle. Gore Ave would be extended to the National extension, and new roads on the eastern section of the site, bisected by a new road extending from just south of the Prior-Malkin-National traffic circle, would afford housing that echos the block structure of the resedential area just north of prior.

Ill post my design here once im done!

[worldwide]

Mackeast, just out of curiosity, what program are you in, and at which school?

[mackeast]

Im in Urban Planning/Design Specialization at the University of Waterloo. I know, a long way from Vancouver - but its my hometown.

[amor de cosmos]

Vancouver abandons high-tech zoning at False Creek Flats
Scott Simpson, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, April 09, 2009

Vancouver's vaunted high-tech industrial zone is a bust.

"Modest" demand for high-tech zoning in the designated False Creek Flats area around Terminal Avenue and Great Northern Way has prompted city council to take the first step toward rezoning the area for a broader range of non-residential uses.

The 124-hectare area has been awaiting an influx of high-tech firms since the late 1990s, restricting the amount of general office and other uses in the hopes that proximity to downtown, transit, and a concentrated development zone would be sufficient to draw in companies in the information technology and biotech sectors.

However, in a report that was approved by council this week, city staff note that the expected influx never took place.

"Since that time the 'high-tech' sector has not grown as quickly as anticipated," the report said. "It has been difficult for development to proceed due to an inability to secure a sufficient number of 'high-tech' tenants to meet the zoning requirement.

"At the same time, the demand for general office uses in the area has increased."

The report notes that high-tech zoning limits the amount of conventional office space, and as a consequence, a number of development inquiries about the area quickly fizzled out.

As well, developers complain they cannot find enough high-tech tenants to make a project viable.

"The poor take-up of this zoning is due to the difficulty in securing 'high-tech' tenants to meet zoning requirements, and the unwillingness of developers to build speculatively given the inherent risk of the narrowly defined uses," the report said.

Council accepted a recommendation to open up the area to requests for additional zoning -- including general office use, child care services, restaurants to serve the local area, and "other relevant services."
http://www2.canada.com/vancouversun/news/business/story.html?id=1f824086-e181-4eb4-9c70-a4e25cd18c4b&k=33349

[Cypherus]

Since that time the 'high-tech' sector has not grown as quickly as anticipated," the report said. "It has been difficult for development to proceed due to an inability to secure a sufficient number of 'high-tech' tenants to meet the zoning requirement.

As well, developers complain they cannot find enough high-tech tenants to make a project viable.

Did they think high tech companies would wait for Vancouver to build sizable space to accommodate their immediate needs? The active but risky Dubai approach of "if you build it, they will come" is more suited to the industry dynamics and would have attracted high tech firms to Vancouver. This is opposed to building high tech space once the "sign-up sheet" is filled; these firms don't have time to wait.