The Curv | 178.5m | 60Fl | Proposed

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

The strict single house zoning, the strict height limits, the endless red tape zoning processes (cough, Safeway sight at Commercial and Broadway) etc... are the primary causes

You've mentioned the Commercial /E Broadway Safeway site rezoning a couple of times. The developers have withdrawn the application at least twice, most recently after a Public Hearing had been booked.

It isn't City red tape that has stopped it going ahead - although given the local opposition to the project it would no doubt have been one of those long, multi day public hearings.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by whatnext

How much would land values come down if developers knew building high end luxury condos wasn't an option?

No by much as we are in a housing scarcity cluster-blip-blop.

Curv is a great building. Great location. It will serve its audience / market well and give us a fat CAC. I thank the dreamers buying these condos.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

They can ban mansions while they are at it or people who spend $300 on a single meal.

If I had a quarter for each time a table got a $300 bill at a restaurant I'd have $300 and then I'd ban myself from spending that much on luxury meals.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Changing City

I think Washington Court is a Reliance rental makeover (with the appropriate new rents, no doubt). The CAC from Curv is the bottom 102 units (levels 2 - 15) which will be an air-right parcel social housing project handed to the City of Vancouver (like the podium on the lane at Landmark). 'The applicant also agreed to deliver a minimum of 50 rental units in the development, approximately 3,226 sq. m (34,724 sq. ft.) of rentable floor area as market rental housing'.

Son of a beeswax! I hate luxury condos!

Thank you for that info tho.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Changing City

You've mentioned the Commercial /E Broadway Safeway site rezoning a couple of times. The developers have withdrawn the application at least twice, most recently after a Public Hearing had been booked.

It isn't City red tape that has stopped it going ahead - although given the local opposition to the project it would no doubt have been one of those long, multi day public hearings.

I’m pretty sure it is!

If it wasn’t, construction would be well underway by now. Heck, maybe topped out.

The endless public / rezoning hearings are the very definition of civic red tape.

That ridiculously lengthy process is a major factor in why they have withdrawn / paused a couple times now.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

What a bizarre conversation.

The construction of a handful of luxury condos isn't the cause of the housing affordability crisis. At most it will be a fraction of a percent of the cause.

The strict single house zoning, the strict height limits, the endless red tape zoning processes (cough, Safeway sight at Commercial and Broadway) etc... are the primary causes

Some people here are ironically asking for some Soviet / Chinese level government control, which has arguably been the biggest problem (as listed above) in the first place!

But it’s not really a “handful”. Decent sized lots were taken out of available land on the downtown peninsula, where people could walk from to jobs. Do some of those luxury units belong to people who work downtown? Sure though likely not that many. And each luxury unit is bigger than corresponding affordable units.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

I’m pretty sure it is!

If it wasn’t, construction would be well underway by now. Heck, maybe topped out.

The endless public / rezoning hearings are the very definition of civic red tape.

That ridiculously lengthy process is a major factor in why they have withdrawn / paused a couple times now.

No, they withdrew the applications they submitted in 2019, then 2020, then 2021. If they hadn't there could have been a public hearing, and if Council had approved the rezoning, they could have got a DP and started construction. Initially they were going to build mostly condos, then they were going to build rentals, then they changed the design. Nobody required them to withdraw their project - they've changed their mind several times, and there's never been apublic hearing because of that.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

No by much as we are in a housing scarcity cluster-blip-blop.

Curv is a great building. Great location. It will serve its audience / market well and give us a fat CAC. I thank the dreamers buying these condos.

Apparently there aren’t enough dreamers, if they have to give away Porsches!

[griswold]

Anyone been to this site recently?

[WestEnd604]

Originally Posted by griswold

Anyone been to this site recently?

There is absolutely no sign of anything happening at the site so far.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

No by much as we are in a housing scarcity cluster-blip-blop.

Curv is a great building. Great location. It will serve its audience / market well and give us a fat CAC. I thank the dreamers buying these condos.

Even the rich folks are facing a housing crunch and not just the middle-class. What's more, they give CACs. Hence I'm with you here: no need to complain.

Just don't use the CACs to tear down perfectly good public infrastructure like the viaducts.

[Feathered Friend]

The City of Vancouver has received an application to amend the CD-1 (836) (Comprehensive Development) District By-law to permit the conversion of floor area originally intended for social housing into market rental housing. As a result, the total number of market rental housing units would increase from 50 to 174. The social housing obligation of the project will be met through a cash-in-lieu payment, which will be used to deliver off-site social housing.

Additionally, the amendment would allow for the exclusion of balconies on the building's east and west sides that are enclosed to assist in meeting Passive House sustainability standards. The proposed amendments would have no significant impacts to the approved form of development.

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/1059-1083-nelson-st

[LeftCoaster]

Interesting. I've heard sales are unsurprisingly slow, perhaps having some rental in the pro forma will help hit financing thresholds.

[whatnext]

Just regular Vancouver folks, walkin' away from their four units they were going to live in. Seriously, how apropos is it that the deadbeat buyer is named Marie Antoinette Johnson

CURV Developer Sues Presale Purchaser Over Unpaid Deposits On 4 Units
Brivia Group also recently cut the social housing units at CURV and received approval to continue presales into May 2025.
Howard Chai
December 04, 2024

The developers of the high-profile CURV tower in Vancouver have filed a civil claim against one of its pre-sale purchasers over unpaid deposits, according to filings in the Supreme Court of British Columbia.

CURV is a 60-storey residential tower being developed by Montreal-based Brivia Group and Henson Developments at 1075 Nelson Street (formerly known as 1059-1083 Nelson Street) in Vancouver. The project has drawn a high amount of publicity as a result of its ambition to become the tallest passive house building in the world and its equally as ambitious prices, which have surpassed $4,000 per sq. ft for some units....

... The developers own the property under 1075 Nelson Development Holdings Inc. and 1075 Nelson Development Limited Partnership, the latter of whom filed a Notice of Civil Claim on November 18 against Marie Antoinette Johnson and a company called Shields Family Office Inc. that lists Johnson as its sole director....

https://storeys.com/curv-brivia-presale-deposit-lawsuit/

[gaviscon]

The site is now fenced up:

[jollyburger]

It passed on February 4

THAT the application by Brivia Group, on behalf of 1075 Nelson Development
Holdings Ltd., the registered owner of the lands located at 1075 Nelson Street
[PID 031-725-953; Lot A Block 7 District Lot 185 Group 1 New Westminster
District Plan EPP118708], to amend CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District
(836 By-law No. 13488 to permit the conversion of floor area originally intended
for social housing into market rental housing and to allow for balconies on the
building's east and west elevations to be enclosed and excluded from floor space
ratio (FSR) calculations, for the purpose of meeting Passive House standards, be
approved in principle;

https://council.vancouver.ca/20250204/documents/rr5.pdf

[Feathered Friend]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

It passed on February 4



https://council.vancouver.ca/20250204/documents/rr5.pdf

Not quite. What happened was that council approved referring the application to a public hearing, likely to be held later this month. This step is basically a formality.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

Not quite. What happened was that council approved referring the application to a public hearing, likely to be held later this month. This step is basically a formality.

Thanks. Looks like it's scheduled for March

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/1059-1083-nelson-st

[jollyburger]

Brivia Group To Pay $55M To Cut Social Housing From 60-Storey CURV In Vancouver

In between that, however, City staff brought forth recommendations in September to reduce the social housing requirement in certain areas of the West End, saying that several approved projects had stalled due to economic conditions. Staff recommended the social housing requirement in a few specific areas be reduced from 25% of residential floor space to 20%, while also introducing a new option for developers to pay cash in lieu of providing social housing.

In the recommendations report, City staff said that in those specific areas where it was recommending the change, three projects that had been approved had yet to commence construction and that they were "not viable in the current financial and construction environment." The report did not identify the projects, but the site of CURV falls within the specific area.

As previously reported by STOREYS, the amendments to the West End Rezoning Policy were approved by Council in September 2024. The text amendment application submitted by Brivia Group was then published in November.

https://storeys.com/brivia-group-curv-vancouver-social-housing/

[whatnext]

An article today very critical of the decision to let the developer buy their way out of the below market housing:

Vancouver's opulent CURV tower gets away with switching out of below-market housing
Douglas Todd: For the price of one penthouse suite, developers behind the tallest tower in Vancouver are getting out of their vow to include below-market apartments in their grand design.
Author of the article: Douglas Todd
Published May 21, 2025

A developer marketing opulent condos in downtown Vancouver has evaded a promise to provide 102 units of below-market rental units — for the equivalent of the price of just one of its penthouse suites.

Worldwide advertising for the “soul-stirring views” available from the 60-storey CURV, the tallest building ever approved by city council, has included offers of Porsches to those rich enough to buy its ultra-high-end apartments.

The CURV lists one penthouse for $60 million.

Five years ago, the companies behind CURV, Henson Development and the Brivia Group, won council approval to construct the highest and most dense edifice in Vancouver’s history.

They won extraordinary bonus densities on the strength of their commitment to ease the city’s affordability crisis by including 102 below-market rental units, including for families....

...More recently, CURV’s developers signalled they wanted to back away from their commitment to below-market units in the building.

So they offered $55 million to the city instead, less than the price of a penthouse.

The new, ABC-dominated council agreed to the switch this year. And it is diverting the cash-in-lieu, to be paid in instalments, to a city fund for so-called affordable housing, to be built somewhere else.

Robert Renger, a retired chief planner for Burnaby, thinks that is a scandal. He makes a strong case that the $55 million is insufficient.

CURV’s development site, at 1075 Nelson St., is a tiny square of land not much bigger than two typical Vancouver single-family lots. It currently contains a low-rise apartment building....

https://theprovince.com/opinion/columnis...th-switching-out-of-below-market-housing