Downtown Vancouver Updates II

[gaviscon]

Well, there's a bit of a chicken and egg problem with the E hastings towers.

If transit is the reason we reject these towers, and we don't build more density and introduce more productive businesses along E. Hastings,

where do we find the demand for rapid transit in the first place when it's the most derelict corridor in the LM? Especially in this economy and state of government finances

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by gaviscon

Well, there's a bit of a chicken and egg problem with the E hastings towers.

If transit is the reason we reject these towers, and we don't build more density and introduce more productive businesses along E. Hastings,

where do we find the demand for rapid transit in the first place when it's the most derelict corridor in the LM? Especially in this economy and state of government finances

This.

And it's essentially the same chicken-and-egg condondrum that the municipalities face when deciding to commit funds to upgrade services and infrastructure for Transit-hub bordering areas to facilitate future development in these areas - specifically, areas like the 29th Ave. and Nanaimo skytrain station areas that are woefully under-developed for transit hubs - .....but mainly because the areas can't take in more density and development given the lacking infrastructure and services they currently have.

So if you're a city or a municipality, there's no immediate cost-justification case to upgrade these areas. And yet you have the provincial mandates requiring these areas to be upzoned to allow more density and residential development, which means they have to take the gamble that they'll upgrade the services in these areas, and developers will be induced to build around them to justify the case, and not end up wasting funds upgrading an area that people may never want to live around.


I do think though, that with transit hubs the case is more straight-forward.
You bit the bullet and do it as people will always choose to live closer to hubs if they can.

It's a bit trickier in the case of building more density in an area that lacks both (residential density capacity and transit) like this, all in the hope that one day there'll be a transit line (...and hubs) that will post-justify they're being built in the first place.

If you're the province (or the cities), you're not going to want to take that risk and something like the gold line will be de-prioritized in favor of more density-(and ridership-)ready areas like the potential purple line or a potential 41st Ave. line.

The risk here is that proposals like this won't come back even if a gold line is greenlit for sometime in the future.

[osirisboy]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

These would make a lot more sense if they were anywhere near rapid transit. As is, they'll be about over 2km from any skytrain station. If the province could commit to building the gold line, that would make sense, but as is, this doesn't make a lot of sense to me.

No.

[officedweller]

848 Seymour

Pics by me today.

The crane foundation is there - it had a section of crane on it last week, which has been removed.

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by officedweller

848 Seymour

Pics by me today.

The crane foundation is there - it had a section of crane on it last week, which has been removed.

[img]...png[/img]

[img]...png[/img]

Interesting, never seen that happen before. A failure in the crane foundation? Or they are mothballing the project?
I can't see that they would make the mistake of installing the wrong type of crane for the site.

[officedweller]

or maybe the crane itself had a defect?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by officedweller

or maybe the crane itself had a defect?

How many pieces of the base were installed?

BTW what the hell is with those pieces of wood attached to the shotcrete wall?

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

How many pieces of the base were installed?

BTW what the hell is with those pieces of wood attached to the shotcrete wall?

From what I recall it was almost up to grade.

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

1818 Alberni drone shot from two weeks ago

https://www.instagram.com/p/DUTrlYLEoL7/

It looks like currently it's easily 10+ stories from a quick glance.

Fifteen Fifteen's little brother

[IMG]...jpg[/IMG]

https://www.rafiiarchitects.com/projects/1818-alberni/

Hard to see here but there is a concrete bucket at the deck, don't know what floor this is.

A drive-by by Me, this afternoon at 12:20pm - Mar 17, 2026


https://makeagif.com/i/n8AkVU

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Zepfancouver

Hard to see here but there is a concrete bucket at the deck, don't know what floor this is.

I think they need to complete one more level and then it's the final four floors for the top boxes.

[Zepfancouver]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

How many pieces of the base were installed?

BTW what the hell is with those pieces of wood attached to the shotcrete wall?

Don't panick folks, I think those sheets of plywood are retaining a small rupture in the wall, maybe water is spraying out of a small crack.
Alberni by Kengo Kuma - Completed had a few pinned on to their retainning wall. In the video, you can see many patch ups.
I captured workers in a man/woman basket, who were installing a sheet of plywood.

• Video Link

[hollywoodnorth]

Developer makes push for one of Vancouver's tallest towers

https://ca.news.yahoo.com/developer-makes-push-one-vancouvers-000230117.html


A decade after the City of Vancouver sold a prime piece of downtown real estate to a developer — in a sale that was the subject of a damning recent audit — the landowner has a new plan to build a skyscraper rivalling the city’s tallest.

Pinnacle International, which previously obtained rezoning approval for a 55-storey tower at 601 Beach Crescent, has now submitted a new application to go up to 67 storeys, taller than almost any existing building in the city of Vancouver

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

Developer makes push for one of Vancouver's tallest towers

Already noted in the 601 Beach thread.

[csbvan]

Rezoning for 852-872 Seymour has hit Shapeyourcity. A lot of rationale for the proposed minimal hotel to hotel setback with the neighbouring development:

The City of Vancouver has received an application to rezone the subject site from DD (Downtown) District to CD-1 (Comprehensive Development) District. The proposal is to allow for the development of a 15-storey hotel building with a four-storey podium and includes:

151 hotel rooms;
Commercial space on the ground floor;
A floor space ratio (FSR) of 10.21; and
A building height of 49.5 m (162 ft.).

https://www.shapeyourcity.ca/852-872-seymour-st-2

[kikin]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Rezoning for 852-872 Seymour has hit Shapeyourcity. A lot of rationale for the proposed minimal hotel to hotel setback with the neighbouring development:...

Is this another hotel directly beside the 31 story hotel already under construction? That is going to be a busy block economically, I wonder when the Staples is going to get filled kitty corner.

Too bad they weren't able to coordinate construction and probably would have saved money excavating and building simultaneously.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by kikin

Is this another hotel directly beside the 31 story hotel already under construction? That is going to be a busy block economically, I wonder when the Staples is going to get filled kitty corner.

Too bad they weren't able to coordinate construction and probably would have saved money excavating and building simultaneously.

Yes it is.
There's some more detailed posts in the hotels thread.

[jollyburger]

The Canada Place floating hotel project is going to a public hearing

https://council.vancouver.ca/20260331/documents/rr1.pdf

[LowerLonsdaleMike]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

The Canada Place floating hotel project is going to a public hearing

https://council.vancouver.ca/20260331/documents/rr1.pdf

Am I the only one that thinks this is an eyesore on the waterfront? I mean at least try to make it look like a cool floating hotel instead of a superyacht that's parked at a 45 degree angle.

[GenWhy?]

Looks nicer than the convention centre to me

[madog222]

Looks nicer than a guano covered block of concrete.