Burnaby Updates

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by ecbin

I find it odd that the city wouldn't have proposed a rerouting of the Madison/Douglas stretch of road - there's just a car dealership in the way and it would clean up what is a messy intersection when it crosses over with Halifax.

Additionally, I can't believe the city didn't/hasn't loosened parking requirements for a site like this when it's so close to transit. It's going to significantly increase the cost of this development.

I never had an issue turning left or right at Madison, Halifax or Douglas. But I can see it becomes one once the project gets built. I'm sure they will adjust road intersection configurations like hey did with Douglas moved to match with 1st Ave.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Klazu

This got me really excited! All I can say is FINALLY and there is huge potential to build something great here. The SkyTrain guideway lighting was well-implemented, but without something under it, it serves very little purpose.

https://www.burnaby.ca/our-city/projects/bc-parkway-enhancement-project

• Video Link

Yes, we were talking about this before. Glad the City is finally investing to make this come true. Of by the way, more retail & businesses around that corridor please.

[fredinno]

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/revs-bur...ired-keltic-canada-development?auto=true
Looks like that bowling alley will probably be redeveloped and moved to Concord Brentwood.

Surprised this wasn't part of a land deal with Concord and the two didn't coordinate. It would make a lot of sense.

[madog222]

Originally Posted by fredinno

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/revs-bur...ired-keltic-canada-development?auto=true
Looks like that bowling alley will probably be redeveloped and moved to Concord Brentwood.

Surprised this wasn't part of a land deal with Concord and the two didn't coordinate. It would make a lot of sense.

Where are you reading anything about Concord? This is 600m east of Concord Brentwood.

The site was bought by Keltic who would "entertain" the idea of a bowling alley in the redevelopment.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by fredinno

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/revs-bur...ired-keltic-canada-development?auto=true
Looks like that bowling alley will probably be redeveloped and moved to Concord Brentwood.

Surprised this wasn't part of a land deal with Concord and the two didn't coordinate. It would make a lot of sense.

You're just speculating that it'll relocate. The closure has been reported over the past week in various press stories, and in none of them does Revs suggest they're planning on reopening in Burnaby. A week ago it was reported "The NOW asked if a bowling alley could be incorporated into the development. Ward said that had not been discussed.

Taylor said bowling alleys are in decline."

Julian Ward is Keltic’s vice-president of development, who bought the site, and Rob Taylor is vice-president of Revs Entertainment who sold it to Keltic.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Changing City

You're just speculating that it'll relocate. The closure has been reported over the past week in various press stories, and in none of them does Revs suggest they're planning on reopening in Burnaby. A week ago it was reported "The NOW asked if a bowling alley could be incorporated into the development. Ward said that had not been discussed.

Taylor said bowling alleys are in decline."

Julian Ward is Keltic’s vice-president of development, who bought the site, and Rob Taylor is vice-president of Revs Entertainment who sold it to Keltic.

Concord said their site would have a bowling alley in Oasis.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/concord-oasis-brentwood-burnaby-lagoon-beach-lagoon-lake

50-50 chance it never happens, but, that's what I was thinking they would do with the Brentwood Alley eventually- that it would move to the Concord development.

It would be very strange to specifically mention a bowling alley considering it's fairly niche unless they had something planned with some other company (or Revs), but who knows.

[Spr0ckets]

If I had to speculate, that bowling alley's not coming back either as part of that redevelopment or anywhere else in that area.

Bowling alleys are expensive to run with not a great ROI, and depend on relatively high volume of foot traffic to generate the revenue they need to afford the rent and high property taxes of the (comparatively) large area sites they sit on.

There's a reason why they're dying out as an entertainment destination - especially in big cities, - and specifically outside of small towns where they're likely the only entertainment attraction in town, or one of the main ones.

And with competition from the likes of the Rec Room at Amazing Brentwood, and the other nightlife entertainment spots in the area relatively close by in Brentwood, you can see why it's getting harder and harder for them to keep up as a business model.


EDIT :
From the sounds of that Concord article, I would suggest that they were talking about a bowling alley as part of the Development's private Amenities (i.e. only exclusive to and for residents only) and not a full-featured commercial and public bowling alley open to the public like the REVS one was.

In other words, probably not a full featured or full-sized bowling alley with all the bells and whistles.

So not the same thing and in all likelihood no connection at all.

The REVS bowling lanes were closer to Holdom than to Brentwood.
So even more reason that one has nothing to do with the other.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Concord said their site would have a bowling alley in Oasis.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/concord-oasis-brentwood-burnaby-lagoon-beach-lagoon-lake

50-50 chance it never happens, but, that's what I was thinking they would do with the Brentwood Alley eventually- that it would move to the Concord development.

It would be very strange to specifically mention a bowling alley considering it's fairly niche unless they had something planned with some other company (or Revs), but who knows.

That was mentioned as an amenity for the residents of the tower - not something open to the general public.

[vanman]

Yeah that's definitely going to be just a private amenity.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by fredinno

It would be very strange to specifically mention a bowling alley considering it's fairly niche unless they had something planned with some other company (or Revs), but who knows.

More common as a condo amenity than you may think.

Here's one at The Met (Burnaby Metrotown, also built by Concord):


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2809-6588-nelson-avenue-burnaby-condo-metrotown-2017

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

If I had to speculate, that bowling alley's not coming back either as part of that redevelopment or anywhere else in that area.

Bowling alleys are expensive to run with not a great ROI, and depend on relatively high volume of foot traffic to generate the revenue they need to afford the rent and high property taxes of the (comparatively) large area sites they sit on.

There's a reason why they're dying out as an entertainment destination - especially in big cities, - and specifically outside of small towns where they're likely the only entertainment attraction in town, or one of the main ones.

And with competition from the likes of the Rec Room at Amazing Brentwood, and the other nightlife entertainment spots in the area relatively close by in Brentwood, you can see why it's getting harder and harder for them to keep up as a business model.


EDIT :
From the sounds of that Concord article, I would suggest that they were talking about a bowling alley as part of the Development's private Amenities (i.e. only exclusive to and for residents only) and not a full-featured commercial and public bowling alley open to the public like the REVS one was.

In other words, probably not a full featured or full-sized bowling alley with all the bells and whistles.

So not the same thing and in all likelihood no connection at all.

The REVS bowling lanes were closer to Holdom than to Brentwood.
So even more reason that one has nothing to do with the other.

That explains things.


There's going to be a massive increase in foot traffic due to the densification of the area, though.

It's also the only public indoor bowling alley in all of Burnaby, so losing it will be a huge loss.

Even with the low ROI, I can't imagine it not being worthwhile to keep a public alley of some sort in Brentwood.


It was bad enough when Willowbrook Lanes closed, being the only bowling site in Langley. Now you have to go all the way to Scott Road.


Possibly allow them in mixed-use industrial lots if they can't compete due to land prices.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

More common as a condo amenity than you may think.

Here's one at The Met (Burnaby Metrotown, also built by Concord):


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2809-6588-nelson-avenue-burnaby-condo-metrotown-2017

there is also one at Concord Gardens in Richmond



https://www.concordgardens.ca/views/en/phases/phase5.html

[Spr0ckets]

Which would make this REVS closure an even bigger selling point for Concord's Oasis down the road.

If you're a big fan of bowling, it seems like bowling lanes come as a premium for Concord's buyers in their developments.

Ironically, if these are more common in developments as officedweller suggests, it might partially explain why Bowling lanes in general as (public) recreational spots are dying out in Burnaby, since they might be losing some of their customers to these developments.

Obviously not the same without the character and ambience of public alley and all, but if you're already paying for it in your strata and amenity fees, then why bother driving out to go to commerical lanes?

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Which would make this REVS closure an even bigger selling point for Concord's Oasis down the road.

If you're a big fan of bowling, it seems like bowling lanes come as a premium for Concord's buyers in their developments.

Ironically, if these are more common in developments as officedweller suggests, it might partially explain why Bowling lanes in general as (public) recreational spots are dying out in Burnaby, since they might be losing some of their customers to these developments.

Obviously not the same without the character and ambience of public alley and all, but if you're already paying for it in your strata and amenity fees, then why bother driving out to go to commerical lanes?

Because a public alley is a public place where anyone can go to bowl with their friends?
Plus, not everyone's going to buy a condo just so they can bowl every so often.



It seems like anything that requires a lot of land in Vancouver nowadays seems to need to either be protected, or otherwise it gets redeveloped. If this was Vancouver, they'd probably demand the site have a public bowling alley.


IMO, if we're letting IKEA, dealerships, self-storage, and art/film studios use industrial lots, then we should let bowling alleys use industrial lots too.
Half of the bowling alleys we have are in industrial sites anyways.

[Migrant_Coconut]

There's no real reason why Burnaby can't build a community centre near Brentwood with its own public alley...

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

There's no real reason why Burnaby can't build a community centre near Brentwood with its own public alley...

True, but TBF no one's ever done that yet...

We have public lawn bowling, and no public indoor lawn bowling anywhere in the region.

[Metro-One]

Man, that really sucks that bowling alley will be no more. It has (had) a great fun atmosphere. Been there many times. Many of my friends in Burnaby and Vancouver still post party pics / bowling nights from there on social media regularly. It is by no means unpopular.

I feel this idea that having private alleys in your condo is a substitute for a good public alley is yet again another symptom of the depressing bubble / individualism attitude of contemporary culture.

For me the entire fun of bowling is to be in a public place with a party like atmosphere and see / meet people.

[NetMapel]

My hot take with all these Brentwood and Metrotown projects is that some of their main/anchor roads are getting pretty “stroad-y” now. As in, those are officially recognized dense urban centres by the City of Burnaby and deserve “complete streets”. Brentwood is centred around Willingdon Ave and Lougheed Hwy. Metrotown got Kingsway. You have a lot of parking lots, street crossings and side parkings around those roads that they have lost their purpose as being efficient fast roads for cars. Fast car speed and healthy dense urban centres simply don’t mix based on every researches done in this area. So I truly think it is time for Burnaby to start considering turning some of those car lanes into dedicated bus lane, bigger pedestrian, bike, plaza, whatever people-oriented things surrounding these urban centres. Lougheed Hwy is certainly not a highway once you get to around Holdom station from the east. Willingdon Ave north of Hwy 1 are now popping with more and more density. Quite frankly, Kingsway is kind of always uncomfortable to drive on for the majority of it and showcased often with accidents on Vancouver’s Worst Drivers. I think it is time to turn them into proper streets instead of their current “stroad” condition. Slow cars down, have dedicated bus lane and give more spaces to people. Make these official Burnaby town centres more walkable, bikeable and people-friendly.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

My hot take with all these Brentwood and Metrotown projects is that some of their main/anchor roads are getting pretty “stroad-y” now. As in, those are officially recognized dense urban centres by the City of Burnaby and deserve “complete streets”. Brentwood is centred around Willingdon Ave and Lougheed Hwy. Metrotown got Kingsway. You have a lot of parking lots, street crossings and side parkings around those roads that they have lost their purpose as being efficient fast roads for cars. Fast car speed and healthy dense urban centres simply don’t mix based on every researches done in this area. So I truly think it is time for Burnaby to start considering turning some of those car lanes into dedicated bus lane, bigger pedestrian, bike, plaza, whatever people-oriented things surrounding these urban centres. Lougheed Hwy is certainly not a highway once you get to around Holdom station from the east. Willingdon Ave north of Hwy 1 are now popping with more and more density. Quite frankly, Kingsway is kind of always uncomfortable to drive on for the majority of it and showcased often with accidents on Vancouver’s Worst Drivers. I think it is time to turn them into proper streets instead of their current “stroad” condition. Slow cars down, have dedicated bus lane and give more spaces to people. Make these official Burnaby town centres more walkable, bikeable and people-friendly.

Hwy 7 is still a highway west of the Hwy 1 Interchange (hence, why signs on the interchange say "Hwy 7 West" instead of "Lougheed Hwy".)

Also, it's always completely full, since it provides one of the few good east-west routes across Burnaby (there is a 'gap' in the street grid created by Burnaby Lake, Hwy 1, and Burnaby Mountain.)

[Klazu]

That's just complete crazy talk. Lougheed Hwy is a hugely necessary parallel arterial to Highway 1 whenever an accident clogs it, which is weekly. It needs to be widened, if anything. Sure, tunnel it through Brentwood, but road capacity needs to be extended to support tens of thousands of new cars being introduced to the area with all the development.