Downtown Vancouver Updates

[jjjb]

Originally Posted by giallo

Is there anything more pretentious than Yaletown's condo market? I've had a lot of great laughs over the years reading some of these ads.

Keywords:
urban, cosmopolitan, last, lifestyle

Naming a condo development after Larry Beasley... It boggles the mind.

[osirisboy]

does anyone know why the white light on the sail of the melville is never lit anymore? also firenze is never lit up anymore. is this just stratas being cheap and saving money on electricity?

[nathan6969]

Originally Posted by djh

"Already"? I hope you have your tongue firmly in your cheek...that has got to be the s-l-o-w-e-s-t redevelopment of a corner in the history of Vancouver. Those buildings burned down in, what, 2005? And they've only just be rebuilt? On ROBSON - the "highest rent per square foot, blah blah blah"?

I dunno whats goin on with the building on that corner, I wonder if they're having trouble leasing it, and they're holding off completion till they have a tenant, cuz its been underconstruction forever, and it's like they only work one day a week, its kind of a boring little shit building anyway, but who knows.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by djh

"Already"? I hope you have your tongue firmly in your cheek...that has got to be the s-l-o-w-e-s-t redevelopment of a corner in the history of Vancouver. Those buildings burned down in, what, 2005? And they've only just be rebuilt? On ROBSON - the "highest rent per square foot, blah blah blah"?

a few months ago my friend and I thought maybe the rebuilding fell through as it seemed that that site just sat there doing nothing for so long

now we can guess what will go there...

7-11? starbucks? sushi place? noodle place?

[vanman]

Originally Posted by djh

"Already"? I hope you have your tongue firmly in your cheek...that has got to be the s-l-o-w-e-s-t redevelopment of a corner in the history of Vancouver. Those buildings burned down in, what, 2005? And they've only just be rebuilt? On ROBSON - the "highest rent per square foot, blah blah blah"?

I thought it was last summer? Clearly I haven't been to that part of downtown in a long while and I was genuinely surprised at the pace of development. I guess for someone actually living there and seeing it everyday it must feel like an eternity.

[SFUVancouver]

^ I think it burned down several years ago. I swear it happened while I still lived in Coal Harbour and I moved away from there in 2005.

Regarding the Beasley, I am genuinely curious to see what that project looks like because it is retaining and restoring The Homer bldg and I *think* it may involve upgrading the adjacent office building but that is only a hazy half-memory that could just be the fatigue talking.

[jjjb]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

^ I think it burned down several years ago. I swear it happened with I still lived in Coal Harbour and I moved away from there in 2005.

Regarding the Beasley, I am genuinely curious to see what that project looks like because it is retaining and restoring The Homer bldg and I *think* it may involve upgrading the adjacent office building but that is only a hazy half-memory that could just be the fatigue talking.

Thanks for providing insight on this - the website has nothing on the project. I hope Amacon pulls it off but considering their track record...

[mr.x]

They named a building after Larry Beasley? lmao.

[westcoast604]

Originally Posted by vanman

Small update:

The Safeway site at Robson & Denman already has a crane up

That crane has been up since last summer.

[hollywoodnorth]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

Regarding the Beasley, I am genuinely curious to see what that project looks like because it is retaining and restoring The Homer bldg and I *think* it may involve upgrading the adjacent office building but that is only a hazy half-memory that could just be the fatigue talking.

you are correct

[jlousa]

I don't see the issue with naming it after Beasley, I feel he did alot for this city and he is certainly well respected in his industry. Really no different then having a building named after Erickson. It would've been different if they named the tower Toderian though.

[LeftCoaster]

^ Give it a few years... I'm sure they will have run out of names by then.

[mathew]

Originally Posted by jlousa

I don't see the issue with naming it after Beasley, I feel he did alot for this city and he is certainly well respected in his industry. Really no different then having a building named after Erickson. It would've been different if they named the tower Toderian though.

Yes, Beasley is well-respected and a marginal local celebrity – but even a building named after Erickson is laughable... What's next the "Rich Coleman Centre for Affordable Housing in the GVRD." C'mon – Beasley was a bit of a visionary – Yaletown condos are, simply put, in no way visionary. Bland, Nouveau Riche-style, Calgary-condo brick boxes.

[jjjb]

Originally Posted by mathew

Yes, Beasley is well-respected and a marginal local celebrity – but even a building named after Erickson is laughable... What's next the "Rich Coleman Centre for Affordable Housing in the GVRD." C'mon – Beasley was a bit of a visionary – Yaletown condos are, simply put, in no way visionary. Bland, Nouveau Riche-style, Calgary-condo brick boxes.

The project does apparently encompass the reno of the Homer building and the adjacent office building. Who knows.

I take issue with the name from a marketing perspective. A bit like Ginger, Jacobsen, etc. Just offensively ill-inspired drivel for things that are supposed to be selling themselves.

[SFUVancouver]

I have no issue with calling it The Beasley. If they can pull off a nice high-rise, retain and restore the existing heritage-esque building, and retain and improve the office space, while fostering pedestrian activity, well that's pretty much what Larry Beasley was seeking to do with downtown, save for the office aspect, and why not name the building after him? It sure beats so many other meaningless names. I swear the marketers just look around their offices some times. (umm... A Camera! an Apple! I spy with my little eye a spicy root -Ginger! What should we call a building on a hill -The Rise! That's nice perfume you are wearing -Jasmine! Let's play a card game -Uno! New guy, what's your name? -Donovan! If only there was something good to watch on -TV Towers! Huzzah, the rezoning came through -The Zone! What's the address of our project again? -33 Pender!)

Anyway, I stopped by the showrooms (what a strange concept, really) of Lumen and Mantra over the weekend. Both nice infill five-storey mid-rises. Geothermal heating and cooling, nice enough design, etc., etc. Lumen started in the mid 300s while Mantra, which really did not seem any different except for the fact it is double the length and on 4th started in the low 500s. What a difference in sales staff too.

The Lumen folks were nice enough to let me look around, study the model and architectural drawings and understood that I was interested without being interested. The Mantra people were going for the full-on high pressure sell. I let them pry the most basic of information from me for their registration information (yes I live in Vancouver, I saw an add in the Georgia straight -now knock it off) and brushed off two sales people who looked like they just stepped off the dance floor of club, on a Saturday afternoon, around four.

Anyway, nice infill, a couple hundred new condos between them, no mid-sized grocery store in Mantra unfortunately. I thought that was a done deal but there really wouldn't be enough foot traffic to keep it in the black. There are a lot of people nearby in False Creek but there is a big psychological barrier between the water's edge and the 4th/Burrard Slopes area. I say that having been a 15 year resident.

I am glad to see that geothermal heating and cooling is being prominently featured in both buildings and the roof was accessible for Lumen, which I think is excellent.

[jjjb]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

I have no issue with calling it The Beasley. If they can pull off a nice high-rise, retain and restore the existing heritage-esque building, and retain and improve the office space, while fostering pedestrian activity, well that's pretty much what Larry Beasley was seeking to do with downtown, save for the office aspect, and why not name the building after him? It sure beats so many other meaningless names. I swear the marketers just look around their offices some times. (umm... A Camera! an Apple! I spy with my little eye a spicy root -Ginger! What should we call a building on a hill -The Rise! That's nice perfume you are wearing -Jasmine! Let's play a card game -Uno! New guy, what's your name? -Donovan! If only there was something good to watch on -TV Towers! Huzzah, the rezoning came through -The Zone! What's the address of our project again? -33 Pender!)

Exactly - hopefully this Beasley thing isn't just a way to pull the wool over our eyes. Usually when you have to go that heavy on the marketing, the product's not that great for you.

[officedweller]

Thanks for the pics of the Richards on Richards site condo. Looks a lot like H+H (due to the view cones above it).

Originally Posted by phesto

Anyone know what they were doing at the Hyatt this weekend? They had that huge mobile crane moving something on/off the roof - I'm guessing they are fixing or replacing part of the HVAC, but as far as I can tell, the hotel is still open.

New A/C units. Saw it on the news. Apparently the annual savings (it was touted as a "green" project) would be enough to power 68 homes for a year.

************

Observations:

- A stainless steel grid (horizontal bars) was being erected on the L'Hermitage canopy this morning. Looks nice.

- Noticed last night that Silver Sea (Concord tower next to Granville Bridge) has a multi-coloured floodlight effect on its mechanical penthouse - the colours look similar to the Edgewater Casino - I saw the colours change among green, blue and purple. It should be visible from the Granville Bridge.

- The cladding on the back side of Cooper's Landing (Pointe?) - the tallest one closest to the Plaza of Nations has gone up - it's a light burnt orange colour. Looks good (different at least), but I'm not sure if it matches the green/blue spandrel panels. The concrete cores of Mariner and Flagship should also be some shade of orange as well.

*********

Originally Posted by osirisboy

does anyone know why the white light on the sail of the melville is never lit anymore? also firenze is never lit up anymore. is this just stratas being cheap and saving money on electricity?

Not sure about Melville, but Firenze was lit up last night.

Originally Posted by jjjb

Thanks for providing insight on this - the website has nothing on the project. I hope Amacon pulls it off but considering their track record...

We posted an elevation rendering a few months back when it went to City Council for the rezoning - search back in this thread or at the City's City Council Minutes. Think L'Hermitage, but with a more awkward top - a sharp transition from concrete walls to curtain wall at the same level all the way around the tower. The city staff call it a "lantern" but in reality, not all the lights will ever be on at the same time. The rendering shown on the GBL Architects website is out of date (the City wanted more brick).

[TwoFace]

Originally Posted by jjjb

Exactly - hopefully this Beasley thing isn't just a way to pull the wool over our eyes. Usually when you have to go that heavy on the marketing, the product's not that great for you.

I would think that 99.9% of the potential buyers out there don't know who Beasley is, but it should put pressure on Amacon to go above and beyond the "average".
If I remember correctly, Amacon is a Bosa company, which is one of the biggest if not the biggest developers in Metro Van.

[djh]

Originally Posted by jjjb

The project does apparently encompass the reno of the Homer building and the adjacent office building. Who knows.

I take issue with the name from a marketing perspective. A bit like Ginger, Jacobsen, etc. Just offensively ill-inspired drivel for things that are supposed to be selling themselves.

A perfect example of meaningless building naming and marketing is "Spectrum" - above Costco. The marketing campaign ("What colour are you?" written with a specific colour for each tower) implied each building would be a different colour and have a different character.

Anybody looked at those 4 buildings recently? 4 exact clones of each other. Oh, and they have a strip of colour running down their length. Wowee! What colour are you? Transparent, apparently.

[jjjb]

Originally Posted by djh

A perfect example of meaningless building naming and marketing is "Spectrum" - above Costco. The marketing campaign ("What colour are you?" written with a specific colour for each tower) implied each building would be a different colour and have a different character.

Anybody looked at those 4 buildings recently? 4 exact clones of each other. Oh, and they have a strip of colour running down their length. Wowee! What colour are you? Transparent, apparently.

Man, Condohype.blogspot.com notwithstanding, that part of the industry has always been a gong show. I write marketing copy for a living, but I still can't believe things like Ginger are even allowed to exist. I thought you could only get away with that school of using racial stereotypes to emphasize an all-too-tenuous link with a coveted or exotic area in smaller, whiter cities. From the archives of bad taste, behold the douchery of The East Market, which is neither in the Market nor in close proximity of an Asian community.

Apparently Ginger's open house featured geishas.