Quote:
Originally Posted by city guy
actually because the scheme proposes the preservation of all those buildings a human scale experience will continue at street level...as the article says...only the Orpheum entry is heritage-listed...nothing else is, including the commodore so this scheme would preserve the whole swath
it's brilliant
|
Several of the buildings are heritage listed. The Commodore is a 'Heritage A' building. However, none of them are currently protected with A Heritage Revitalization Agreement, which would ensure their 'protection', and the developer could apply to replace them. I don't believe they couldn't make a redevelopment at the permitted 3.5 FSR plus a bit more density for HRA facade retention give them a reasonable return. This project at 11.5 FSR would presumably make them more. I suspect that a project of this scale won't be perceived as protecting the heritage buildings really - the context is so dramatically altered, and the addition is so different in style and emphasis that the preserved facades pretty much disappear - at least in the renders so far published. Usually the addition that might be permitted would be two or three floors, set back (as you see in Yaletown warehouse additions). Creating a structural bridge over the Commodore Structure means what's there today wouldn't change, but it was heavily restored already some years ago.