[vanman]

Will there be retail at grade? Looking at the second and third illustrations it appears like the building won't relate very well to the street, in my opinion. There seems to be a lot of driveways crossing the sidewalk and it looks like pedestrians will have to walk alot of asphalt via crosswalks instead of having actual sidewalks.

I agree that the north face of the site is definitely not that pedestrian friendly, however there is supposed to be retail at grade.

I like the density but I dislike the fact they have chosen to go with three identical towers and so much above-ground parking. If the parking to unit ratio is more than 1:1 New Westminster will have really stumbled in my books. It is right on top of a SkyTrain station -why so much parking? They'll have to work pretty hard to make the podium look like anything more than an eight-storey parking garage.

Once again I believe the above ground parking is due to the soil conditions on the site, and the fact that is in a low lying area not far from the Fraser River and could be prone to flooding. As for the amount of parking stalls I think the developer applied recently to the city to reduce the amount of parking required for the project to less than 1:1 ratio.

Also, who will pay to upgrade the SkyTrain station? If the developer does it Translink must oversee and approve the project to ensure quality materials and finishings are used. If the station is being enclosed in glass, as some of the renders seem to show, then will the station be airconditioned? I wouldn't want to breathe in vehicle exhaust from the garage while waiting for the train.

I'm still confused as to how the development will relate to the skytrain station. From what I've seen the main retail building to the south of the station will connect to the second floor of the station and not the platform level.