[geoff's two cents]

Originally Posted by Zassk

The flats puzzle me because the area is framed by 2 SkyTrain stations, eventually 3 once Millennium is extended. It's prime land for high-density residences and commercial, but everyone is so focussed on adding buildings to NE False Creek instead, even going to the lengths of tearing out functional infrastructure. Why don't people prefer to make all of NE False Creek a park (which is much needed), and build the density in the flats instead? The flats are huge, you could probably add over 50,000 residents there, and it would make other pet projects more feasible, such as the streetcar network and the M-line to Cambie.

The reason is an ever shrinking supply of industrial land.