Vancouver City Hall Expansion/Redevelopment | Proposed

[officedweller]

From the Daily Hive:

I think the stepping of the towers in Concept A pays homage to the art deco City hall.

Three new mixed-use concepts for Vancouver City Hall redevelopment
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts

Concept A


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts

Concept B


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts

Concept C


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts

[madog222]

Source document: https://web.archive.org/web/20240614...ion-boards.pdf

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/city-hall-campus

Rezoning for the north block is due 2025 according to their schedule, everything else is for a future undefined time.

[BaddieB]

If they do anything can they please add a second entrance to the Station

[scryer]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

If they do anything can they please add a second entrance to the Station

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by scryer

It shows it in the site Plan that the City is interested, but the real question is TransLink interested.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

It shows it in the site Plan that the City is interested, but the real question is TransLink interested.

I'm sure if the city foots the bill they would be. Question then becomes how much of the cost would be taken on by Translink and what is acceptable to them?

[madog222]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

It shows it in the site Plan that the City is interested, but the real question is TransLink interested.

While it would be possible, a second entrance isn’t show. Those are the emergency exits pictured.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

If they do anything can they please add a second entrance to the Station

Agreed. Directly into the North Block underground would be great too.

[Migrant_Coconut]

There's a K.O. panel leading straight into the pho bar/moneylender on the NE corner. Whenever it goes up for development, they can close Broadway and dig it out from there.

[officedweller]

Migrant Coconut's link shows the knock-out panel to the NE corner at M-Line mezzanine level (one level below Canada Line platforms).
Jollyburger's link shows the knock-out panel directly to the City Hall expansion at the Canada Line platform level. There can also be a knock-out panel at the Canada Line mezzanine level (ie at grade).

[jollyburger]

Seems like a mistake to not at least present the option of a single taller tower. If it's a civic building with an iconic design it seems like it would provide a geographical marker for the city. Public observation deck on the top as a bonus.

To protect the QE viewpoint it's 338 feet which is about the heigh of the current city hall.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Seems like a mistake to not at least present the option of a single taller tower. If it's a civic building with an iconic design it seems like it would provide a geographical marker for the city. Public observation deck on the top as a bonus.

To protect the QE viewpoint it's 338 feet which is about the heigh of the current city hall.

They're suggesting development will be phased, with the North Block first. The cost, and inflexibility of a single tower would both be good reasons to follow the options shown.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

interesting. i wonder if itll actually happen. theyve been talking about this since the 1980s.

option A seems like the best proposal. would have been nice to see something done with the west annex; that place sucks. i wonder if this will be able to consolidate the majority of the CoV sites around the city.

i would love to see some extra skytrain entrances. 1 on each corner please. NW corner Crossroads is ready, this future SE building can be ready, the A&W on the NE can be ready. only sad part is they didnt design one in for the SW corner. such a missed opportunity.

[NetMapel]

It looks kind of jarring to me due to the asymmetrical design where there's a lot of tall buildings on one side but not the other. This is one instance where I might even favour no buildings and just have a nice grand public park/plaza perhaps for the people living around there? It is the city hall after all and so it makes sense to have it be a public space and a grand vibe at the same time?

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

... This is one instance where I might even favour no buildings and just have a nice grand public park/plaza perhaps for the people living around there? It is the city hall after all and so it makes sense to have it be a public space and a grand vibe at the same time?

City Hall's wanted more office space on that site for the last forty years - one way or another, there'll be buildings. Just throw in another tower on the NoFrills block so they blend in.

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

City Hall's wanted more office space on that site for the last forty years - one way or another, there'll be buildings. Just throw in another tower on the NoFrills block so they blend in.

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I really don't see why they need to hamstring themselves to protect an old Art Deco relic that's been long eclipsed by the rest of the city. The old engineering joke about horses' asses comes to mind.

Originally Posted by NewfBC

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

They should take a leaf from TransLink and the subway - build it once, build it right.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

The rent for the 86,000 sq ft at Crossroads was initially negotiated at $4,002,650 a year. [City of Vancouver report] So ten years would have been $40m, which wouldn't have built much of anything.

[chowhou]

They should just build an exact one-to-one replica of city hall on 10th scaled up 2x. Then you can argue the view cones will still show the art deco city hall building, there will be 8x the available space, and the old city hall structure can be replaced with something else.

All problems solved!

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The rent for the 86,000 sq ft at Crossroads was initially negotiated at $4,002,650 a year. [City of Vancouver report] So ten years would have been $40m, which wouldn't have built much of anything.

Between 2021 and 2023 they've dumped 46,000sq feet of office space.

Between Q1 2021 and Q4 2023, the City reduced it’s leased office footprint by over 37,000sf, representing an annual lease cost savings of $1.66 million per annum (inclusive of Operating Costs and Property Taxes). As of Q1 2024, the City’s leased office footprint and annual leasing costs will be reduced by a further 8,500sf and $384,000 respectfully, representing a total office space reduction of close to 46,000sf and lease cost savings of over $2 million/annum.

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/2023-...-questions.pdf

The 2024 leased office space target was 377,849 sq feet at $22 million dollars.