Burnaby Updates

[Redtruck]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

is that why the Thind development in Surrey seems to be going nowhere?

Most likely. They probably cannot sell any units or they failed inspection and cannot get permits. Scary, you need to be so careful with pre-sales.

[jollyburger]

Burnaby to hike street parking fees in Metrotown

The City of Burnaby will increase on-street parking fees starting in September – but only in Metrotown.

Council approved the fee hike at a meeting July 22, allowing increases of $1 for long-term parking and 50 cents per hour for short-term parking, according to a staff report.

Long-term parking in Metrotown will soon cost about $6 for 10 or 12 hours (up from $5), and short-term parking will range from about $3 to $3.50 per hour (up from $2.50 to $3).

The increase of about 18 per cent on average is within the range already allowed by city bylaws.

The new rates, which will affect about 600 on-street metres in Metrotown, will start Sept. 30, according to the report.

The last increase was in 2020.

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-new...rotown-9283340

[gaviscon]

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

You probably weren't there at the time (nor was I), but the Expo Line runs along the old interurban line through Metrotown. It was an absolute no-brainer alignment at the time with a completely free RoW.

[BaddieB]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

Kingsway will probably see its own Skytrain line in 50 years time once the Expo Line goes overcapacity.

[ecbin]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

Before you make uninformed (and dumb) statements like this you should consider googling why the line is where it is:

https://buzzer.translink.ca/2009/07/...ter-vancouver/

The Expo line follows it pretty much exactly and the routing largely makes sense - the Kingsway/Vanness alignment doesn't prevent Metrotown or Oakridge like density at all, that's just a zoning problem - the city could have easily just rezoned the areas around the stations and built it (like they mostly did around Joyce). Nothing on Kingsway in Vancouver was ever planned for high density.

The one routing that I think was a fairly sizeable mistake was not taking Beresford to Griffith (the path was clear at the time) as that would have located the station in closer to Middlegate mall where future density was planned. Instead Edmonds station is basically in a park with nothing around it.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

Vancouver being Vancouver, I don't think it's going to make a difference even if Expo line runs along Kingsway.

Commercial/Broadway has a major skytrain exchange hub and is given decades to develop but nothing to show for today. Main and Joyce Stations pale in comparison to many other stations outside Vancouver. What makes you think Kingsway will suddenly sprout like Metrotown or Brentwood? The state of municipal development depends on who's in charge to steer its direction, as well as the mentality of the local residents and what they want. Unfortunately, Vancouver's suburb is just a backwater and people fight hard to keep it that way.

In fact, Expo line running through the SFH neighbourhoods is actually good for this city moving forward, especially now that we have a better municipal government, as well as provincial enactments to increase density around skytrain stations. Those ultra-low density neighbourhoods will be forced to improve.

[djmk]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

The expo line should have run along Kingsway...

Could have added another Metrotown or Oakridge-like density on Vancouver's side of Kingsway by now if it were just aligned with the Expo.

Donno what the planners were thinking when they designed it. It's got to be one of the worst major planning choices in the nation.

You might want to check out a topographical map of metro vancouver before complaining about past planners

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by BaddieB

I agree that room should be left, but it should be for a Skytrain, or really to add actual sidewalks to Willingdon. It's not going to get any less congested by adding lanes.

Skytrain should really go underground as it comes up Willingdon. Another option is to have it run in the middle, which will provide space for badly needed left-turn lanes with 3+3 lanes running all the way to Kingsway.

Also enough with the fairy tales about induced demand. As per ICBC, Burnaby alone added 15,000 new vehicle registrations in the past FIVE years. People will always opt for personal vehicles in this city, as transit will never get good enough for most situations and cycling, lol, is never going to be more than a curiosity. There is no "build and they will come" with cycling in any meaningful scale.

There should absolutely be 3+3 lanes with Skytrain in the middle up Willingdon. Not leaving the space now that the entire corridor is getting redeveloped is going to be another infernal mistake.

And with regards to Grange, the stretch between Willingdon and Kingsway is only going to get busier with more towers going up in western Metrotown. Wilson avenue alone will feed a lot more traffic on it with all the development. There is nobody looking to cycle that stretch today or tomorrow.

[ecbin]

Originally Posted by Klazu

And with regards to Grange, the stretch between Willingdon and Kingsway is only going to get busier with more towers going up in western Metrotown. Wilson avenue alone will feed a lot more traffic on it with all the development. There is nobody looking to cycle that stretch today or tomorrow.

So everyone who moves into that area around Grange will not have legs but they will have cars so therefore more roads but less sidewalks and no capacity for bikes/e-bikes or other alternative modes of transport?

[Migrant_Coconut]

By that logic, one might as well go full doomer and argue for no major density there at all, since those residents are never going to walk around (and yet the ones closer to pedestrian-friendly Metrotown walk all the time).

[BaddieB]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Also enough with the fairy tales about induced demand. As per ICBC, Burnaby alone added 15,000 new vehicle registrations in the past FIVE years. People will always opt for personal vehicles in this city, as transit will never get good enough for most situations and cycling, lol, is never going to be more than a curiosity.

Many people would bike if there was widespread, protected cycling infrastructure. I live in Burnaby, and would bike more if bike lanes and routes existed and went to where I wanted to go, but that simply does not exist in Burnaby. So of course cycling is low, but you can sense the pent up demand. You see the people annoyingly cycling or scootering on sidewalks, which tells me that there is demand, and there will more when we build for it.

You can literally do this in your backyard. Compare how many people cycle around in the West End, which has a little bit of cycling infrastructure, with Metrotown, which has virtually nothing. Burnaby has high density clusters which would be perfect for cycling, if we build for it. If cities in Europe can do it, so can we.

Originally Posted by Klazu

There is no "build and they will come" with cycling in any meaningful scale.

Really? I recall many European cities have very high percents of trips taken by bike. You know, Berlin, Amsterdam, Paris. Cities that actually have bike infrastructure. And if you say "but they can pull it off because of how the cities are built differently" I would say I agree for in some areas, but as Vancouver and Burnaby have many neighbourhoods with densities comparable or higher than their European counterparts, that's not a good excuse.

[jollyburger]

It seems like Bosa was doing demolition work for some of their Brentwood West land along Halifax?



https://vancouvermarket.ca/2023/10/1...-in-brentwood/

https://bosadevelopment.com/project/...nd-willingdon/

[madog222]

Originally Posted by Changing City

It looks like the two 'Golden Towers' on Kingsway (Capital Point, the former GVRD office and it's smaller sister) will be back in play. Slate Asset Management (of Toronto) have been unable to pay back $48.9 million of the $88.3 million loan made to them in 2019 to buy the properties.

New York-based lenders are the U.S. Life Insurance Company and the American Home Assurance Company, and they've petitioned for a receiver appointed to sell the buildings after RBC Capital Markets Group and Cushman & Wakefield ULC and later Jones Lang LaSalle failed to find a buyer since they were first offered for sale last July.

Now listed by CBRE. https://storeys.com/metrotown-place-...rship-listing/

[BaddieB]

^ There's rumors of the City of Burnaby buying that site to move their City Hall. Just only rumors.

In other news, I haven't seen this posted anywhere. An Onni proposal in Lougheed on the NW corner of Cameron and North Road. Seems to come with office too. Listed as 'Impressions'. At 3355 North Road.

• located at North Road & Cameron Street
• 36- & 32-storey residential towers
• 530 condos + 10 townhomes
• 14-storey mid-rise office building
• 17,475 sq ft of retail space
• next to The City of Lougheed shopping
• short walk to Cameron Recreation Complex & Cameron Park
• 9 minutes from Lougheed Town Centre Station
• 4-minute drive to The Vancouver Golf Club

https://www.mikestewart.ca/presale/i...by-onni-group/

[jollyburger]

Trevor Linden 16/Tim Hortons site across from Gilmore Place is on the market

https://www.cushmanwakefield.com/en/...heed-highway-s

[Burquitlaman]

edit: referring to 3355 North Road

ooh ^ I really hope this goes ahead. These old strip malls on North Road are a real waste of space.

[SpongeG]

that site and render has been around for years now, I hope it finally gets going, it does house a lot of restaurants though, and it would be sad to lose some of them.

[jollyburger]

Speaking of Telus (BC Tel)... :0

Anthem Announces JV With Crestpoint For Telus “Boot” Redevelopment In Burnaby

A news release from Anthem says that a rezoning application is currently awaiting the City’s review, and that the priority is the approval of Phase 1 of the redevelopment, “which includes building more than 700 market rental units in two structures over a connecting podium, supported by retail, on the south side of the site.”

Site preparation could begin as soon as this fall if approval is secured.

“Partnering with Crestpoint to capitalize on near-term demand for rental units in one of the fastest growing neighbourhoods in the Lower Mainland presents an excellent opportunity to create a sought-after, destination-based community,” said Anthem’s CEO and Founder, Eric Carlson, in the release. “This project is another example of thinking differently about how to leverage opportunities as we navigate challenging market conditions.”

https://storeys.com/anthem-crestpoin...-boot-burnaby/

[officedweller]

Looks better than a previous design with "steps" in the design.