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Originally Posted by BodomReaper
The modern 'mixed-use' retail approach is actually pitiful 900-1300 sq. ft. CRUs with no anchor tenants and no back-of-house space. Typically dropped onto a high street where there was better commercial space before.
This project will be similar, thought at least some of the units will have mezzanines. Decent chance we get a whole block of bubble tea shops and physios, when it could and should have been one of the best blocks for retail/entertainment in the city (still with towers above). But city hall made the developer prioritize shoving a bunch of social housing into the podium instead - so downtown residents don't even get to enjoy the 1/2 blocks fronting high streets for commercial life. We get the leftover space comprising around 1/3rd of the 1/2 block. This is one of the worst offenders in treating "retail frontage" as a box-checking exercise, instead of looking at the actual functionality of the space and ensuring provision of appropriate quantity + quality. A whole block of Robson, and the retail experience just never entered the equation.
Developers are ok perpetuating the myth of retail spaces being too big - so they can get away with slinging urbanity-killing garbage to strata investors. You can barely fit an A&W in a typical 1200 sq. ft. unit (remember that's the size of a condo!), let alone a bakery or any independent F&B establishment that actually makes things on-site.
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Great comment and could not agree more. These tiny spaces will likely attract more transient retail catering solely to international students which we certainly have more than enough of on lower Robson. I for one live close-by and have absolutely no use for the vast majority of the local retail. I would have loved to have seen a space large enough for an expanded Whole Foods for example.
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