Burnaby Updates

[invisibleairwaves]

Yeah I'm not really sure why anyone would expect unobstructed north-facing views in a dense urban area on the south side of a hill.

I guess when people move into City of Lougheed we'll find out if these tight tower clusters really have that much of an impact on livability. I kind of suspect not- are they really that much closer together than buildings downtown? Plenty of renters out there putting up with much more serious issues than that.

[Metro-One]

If anything these towers will allow more residents in Lougheed area to have a view of the mountains than before.

On the ground the views are almost entirely blocked by Burnaby mountain to the north any any vegetation tall is taller than a shrub.

[jollyburger]

Put up signs on the side of the buildings saying there are mountains behind them so people know where they are.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Put up signs on the side of the buildings saying there are mountains behind them so people know where they are.

they can buy one on etsy easy enough!

[Redtruck]

It's the way they are laid out and they are too dense from south to north a diagonal of rectangles will create a giant wall. Seems people on this forum only care about how many towers you can cram into as least space as possible. For example the Grosvenor project to the south has good spacing and good layout. However this project will have Hong Kong kind of vibes.

[Klazu]

Yeah, we are building less livable places than we used to. I suppose Burnaby has never been practicing vancouverism, but having enough tower spacing and maintaining sightlines are appealing design principles. Now it's all about maximized density and unlivably small units, making most of the towers built in last five years pretty unappealing to actually live in.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

They'll be able to afford renting it from a landlord. I paid $1,800 per month for a $1 million apartment in Metrotown.

$1800? That's a 2.1% return for the landlord before you factor in any costs of ownership.

[Spr0ckets]

Some images from the latest project proposal by Bosa and Gensler Architects at the Patterson area for the upcoming Public hearing at the end of the month - The 'Wilson 2' at 6031 Wilson Ave, just south of their Central Park house tower project that's now under construction.
And it will sit between the Central Park house tower (if it's still called that) and Anthem's Nuvo that's currently in site clearing.

Not the best work by either IMHO, the desing is rather 'meh'- I still think Modello is Bosa's best desigined tower in Metrotown/Burnaby, and despite being shorter than this, the Central Park house for me is a better design by Gensler than this.

I do like the warm and dark tones for the spandrel parts though. Nice departure for the usual seaform green and cool tones that most towers default to.

This is Gensler's third project in Metrotown now after Central Park House and the other 70+ proposal for the Willingon- Kingsway SW corner at the Esso gas station.

It's 52 stories and for Metro-One's purposes, the design documents say it's going to be 164m (540') tall

Which should make it taller than anything in the area other than Thind's Highline, I believe - at least until Concord Metrotown and Metro King get built out.
(and the 70+ storey Gensler tower on Willingdon and Kingsway.)

(source : https://pub-burnaby.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=61120)

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

$1800? That's a 2.1% return for the landlord before you factor in any costs of ownership.

But if they're mostly holding for appreciation wouldn't they be happy with breaking even?

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

But if they're mostly holding for appreciation wouldn't they be happy with breaking even?

That's a pretty big risk for $1M of capital.

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

That's a pretty big risk for $1M of capital.

Sure, but its the same thing putting the money into stocks or crypto. It's not like people owned Bitcoin for dividend payments.

The real return on real estate is the 50% from an $800k pre-sale sold for $1.2m five years later.

[WarrenC12]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Sure, but its the same thing putting the money into stocks or crypto. It's not like people owned Bitcoin for dividend payments.

The real return on real estate is the 50% from an $800k pre-sale sold for $1.2m five years later.

Sure, great return until it tanks.

Real Estate can be great as an investment choice, but the higher the capital cost, the lower the return. Combined with the provincial government clamping down on rent controls, fewer people will decide to buy a property to rent out. They need to be well compensated to consider it, hence the sky high rents here.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Yeah, we are building less livable places than we used to. I suppose Burnaby has never been practicing vancouverism, but having enough tower spacing and maintaining sightlines are appealing design principles. Now it's all about maximized density and unlivably small units, making most of the towers built in last five years pretty unappealing to actually live in.

I'm not sure what you mean, most of the recent development in Brentwood has been peak Vancouverism:
Solo District is towers built on a commercial podium
TAB is towers built on a mall podium
Madison Centre is towers built on a mall podium
Gilmore Place will be towers build on a commercial/mall podium
Fulton House is a tower build on a townhouse podium
The new developments down Willingdon are towers built on townhouse podiums
The Halifax and Gilmore properties are towers built on townhouse podiums

All of these with an actively developed pedestrian + transit + cycling ground level.

The Concord towers the the only exception.

Is it really so much that the very centre of Brentwood Town Centre, adjacent to the Skytrain station, across from two malls, at the intersection of two major commercial and transit corridors, has a little additional density?

[vanman]

Not the best work by either IMHO, the desing is rather 'meh'- I still think Modello is Bosa's best desigined tower in Metrotown/Burnaby, and despite being shorter than this, the Central Park house for me is a better design by Gensler than this

Still not a bad design. I'm really starting to get tired of the variations of grey towers going up and this at least is a bit different. Btw Modello was built by Boffo not Bosa. I agree though that it's still the best looking tower in Burnaby with maybe Sussex being runner up.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by vanman

Still not a bad design. I'm really starting to get tired of the variations of grey towers going up and this at least is a bit different. Btw Modello was built by Boffo not Bosa. I agree though that it's still the best looking tower in Burnaby with maybe Sussex being runner up.

My bad.
Thanks for the correction.

It's a really fantastic design with nothing "trying too much" or trying too hard,.....if that makes sense.


It's effortless in its elegance and simplicity.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Redtruck

It's the way they are laid out and they are too dense from south to north a diagonal of rectangles will create a giant wall. Seems people on this forum only care about how many towers you can cram into as least space as possible. For example the Grosvenor project to the south has good spacing and good layout. However this project will have Hong Kong kind of vibes.

The "wall" works well enough for Toronto and New York's suburbs, doesn't it? Small-towners might feel claustrophobic, but more likely most people'll only see the podiums.

[vanman]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

My bad.
Thanks for the correction.

It's a really fantastic design with nothing "trying too much" or trying too hard,.....if that makes sense.


It's effortless in its elegance and simplicity.

My only criticsm would be how suburban the backside of the podium is but I guess that is true of all the developments along Beresford.

[Klazu]

Wow, Wilson Avenue is truly being transformed in the next couple of years! I think the latest tower will look good next to Central Park Tower to the north, maybe even compliment it. I do like the height variation of that row.

With the west side of Wilson being now fully allocated, I wonder what the east side will hold. Pretty crazy to see 52-floor towers this far from the epicenter of Metrotown. The skyline, while already spectacular, will look amazing in coming years.

[CondoInvestor]

Wilson 2 looks so mediocre, budget low-cost lazy design

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by CondoInvestor

Wilson 2 looks so mediocre, budget low-cost lazy design

del