Downtown Vancouver Updates

[SFUVancouver]

Truth be told, I have yet to get a straight answer about the policies pertaining to the models used at the UDP.

[jlousa]

Extreme makeover Granville Mall
Randy Shore, Vancouver Sun
Published: Friday, March 28, 2008

Granville Mall will be outfitted with an outdoor festival ground and Cambie Street will be restored and furnished with bicycle lanes as part of the city's $50-million roster of roadworks projects this year.

Granville Mall's $11-million makeover will extend the mall concept south to Drake and north to Cordova with an outdoor festival space incorporated into the block between Robson and Georgia, to be completed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games.
Granville redesign project manager Andreea Toma said the space could hold up to 10,000 people for outdoor events and that the city is hoping to use the gigantic blank white wall of the Sears store on that block as a screen for projections.
Toma hopes to project television coverage of Olympic competition on the featureless wall during the 2010 Games for an audience of thousands.
"With the Olympics coming we don't want to miss a chance to showcase our city," Toma said. "We want to show the world that we know how to celebrate."

Wider sidewalks with widely spaced street trees between Drake and Smithe could be used as "flex" part-time parking spaces, outdoor cafe patios or as venues for buskers, she said.
The northern part of the mall is expected to remain closed to car traffic after the Canada Line construction is complete.
New vertical lighting will be installed along Granville, echoing the towering neon signs and marquees that lined the street during the '40s and '50s. Widened sidewalks and roadway will be constructed of light-coloured stone with a ribbon of dark granite running down both sides of the street that will visually connect the outdoor seating and bike racks.
Toma is optimistic that the improvements will chase out the strip's seedier 🞵🞵🞵 shops and arcades.
The work on Granville Mall is expected to be complete by November 2009.
The city will also spend $5 million on a greenway along Carrall St. connecting the seawall in False Creek, Chinatown, Gastown and the Downtown Eastside. Work on the wider sidewalks and treed landscapes between Keefer and Pender has already been completed, with the next phase to cut through the Downtown Eastside along Carrall between Pender and Water Street.
The work on Cambie will include the addition of treed boulevards in the Cambie Village area centred around 16th Ave. and bike lanes south of 29th Ave. to Kent Ave., then on to a private lane suspended under the SkyTrain guideway all the way to Richmond. There will be no net loss of green space to the Cambie corridor due to SkyTrain construction once the work is completed, city staff said at a press conference Thursday.
Last year's civic strike left Vancouver with six more projects than usual this year, according to city spokesman John Clelland. The engineering department usually undertakes about 11 or 12 road construction projects a year. This year, it will tackle 18 separate projects.
While roadwork usually results in traffic delays, the longer days and lighter traffic during the summer -- when most of the work is done -- mean that projects are finished faster with less disruption to commuters, said deputy city engineer Peter Judd.
Commuters should breathe a sigh of relief when the left turn bays are installed on Knight St. at 49th Ave. The most dangerous intersection in the city will be more manageable with controlled left turns.
The Insurance Corp. of B.C. is sharing the cost of the upgrade because it is expected to significantly lower the intersection's accident rate.
Bike lanes and other amenities to be unveiled in June during Bike Month will increase the city's bicycle network by 17 per cent, said Vancouver transportation engineer Taryn Scollard.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by Hed Kandi

Neanderthals? Yes


I direct you no further than the National Hockey League for evidence.

yet the NHL is full of europeans?

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

I saw the model of the Pacific Centre expansion building that will be built where the glass rotunda currently sits.

It is fairly plain, about two storeys in height, but it looks like this is due to high ceilings instead of a second floor of retail. The interesting thing about it is that the conventional retail box of the ground plain meets a more angular, geometric upper section that is vaguely reminiscent of the ROM in Toronto, if all of the angles were muted, the edges less pronounced, and built on a mall budget. Don't get your hopes up too high for this one but it will be more than just a box plopped down on the corner.

Here is what you saw... its a heck of a lot better than what was shown on the conceptual drawings.

[jlousa]

Looks good Left Coaster

Any final renders of the SW Granville/Georgia corner?

Just noticed though that the UDP voted against it Non-Support 0-7 though.

Also a few updates on how the UDP has voted

999 Seymour Street
To construct a 21-storey retail/office/residential building
EVALUATION: SUPPORT (5-0)

58 West Hastings Street
To construct a new 7-storey mixed use, retail and residential building with two levels of underground parking.
EVALUATION: SUPPORT (7-0) SUPPORT FOR HEIGHT (7-0)

1754-1772 Pendrell Street
Increase density from 2.20 to 3.28 FRST to develop a 34-unit, 19-storey condo tower, and to renovate and expand an existing house for 10 units of affordable rental housing
EVALUATION: SUPPORT (8-0)


Burrard Bridge
Proposal to widen the bridge sidewalk from 2.6m to 5m
EVALUATION: NON-SUPPORT (0-10) (hope they approve it with some tweaks I like the changes and feel an upgrade is needed)

1695 Main Street (Q1)
To develop a 172-unit residential/commercial development consisting of multiple building ranging in heights of 2 to 13 storeys.
EVALUATION: NON-SUPPORT (4-6) (This is the third review on this project they are just not getting through at all)

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by SFUVancouver

I also saw the model of the Metro-Living tower at Nelson and Seymour. It looks pretty cool, very much like the western elevation of the new BC Cancer Agency tower beside VGH.

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

where was your camera?

Renders back on this page:

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=3208650&highlight=seymour#post3208650

******

Thanks Leftcoaster -

My initial impression is that it destroys any "sense of place" that the rotunda currently has.

It looks very jumbled and the mall entrance is hard to find - i.e. there's no sense of "entry" that should really be there (even if the city is trying to provide streetscape/streetlife). Simplification would help a lot (but still retainng the angularity).

The angularity matches the Hotel Geogria addition, but the difference in height will prevent the two from relating well to each other.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by flight_from_kamakura

I went to one of the 3-4 best parties of my life here on new year's eve 2003, back when it was all still pretty rough. sort of sad really, the way the cool spots are getting gentrified. another of those parties was a halloween dance party at mysanthropy back in 2004. ah, those were good times, those random places along east hastings, mysanthropy and seamrippers parties, the sugar refinery, the blinding light, the starfish room, the secret alley jazz spot between helmcken and nelson, those random galleries that used to be around richards... it's just all gone!

you should have been around in the 90's

raves at the lido, the world with its sweaty roof, graceland! etc

[SpongeG]

abercrombie & fitch?

lol

[jlousa]

Can someone delete these posts? Every single post by that guy has been an ad, correct me if I'm wrong but that is against forum rules.

[Hed Kandi]

Burn in Hell Realtor Mike Stewart !!!


Hahahahahaha

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

Here is what you saw... its a heck of a lot better than what was shown on the conceptual drawings.

sweetness!!!


and i'm amazed that Abercrombie is getting two street entrances! whooohoo for shirtless men!

[Jacques]

Abercrombie & Fitch good for the young with money to blow. rather pay my mortgage with my dollars
here comes the U.S. of A

[Hed Kandi]

Originally Posted by jlousa

1754-1772 Pendrell Street
Increase density from 2.20 to 3.28 FRST to develop a 34-unit, 19-storey condo tower, and to renovate and expand an existing house for 10 units of affordable rental housing
EVALUATION: SUPPORT (8-0)

Which project is this ?

[officedweller]

What? No comments about a possible corner apple store?

[mr.x]

I'd really like to see Pacific Centre to expand more....in a city that gets so much rain for long periods of time, it's ridiculous to expect people to shop outdoors: what else would they be flocking to Metrotown and Richmond Centre?

[Yume-sama]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

I'd really like to see Pacific Centre to expand more....in a city that gets so much rain for long periods of time, it's ridiculous to expect people to shop outdoors: what else would they be flocking to Metrotown and Richmond Centre?

The logical step is to build a glass roof over Robson Street. Maybe even a retractable one.

[mr.x]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

The logical step is to build a glass roof over Robson Street. Maybe even a retractable one.

If only we could demolish Sears and built a 10-level mall expansion on the site.

[johnjimbc]

accidental double post

[johnjimbc]

No need to speculate since they are building out the apple store now. Interior location, but looks like it will have large windows (and signage) over Granville. It also appears to be positioned in the "upscale" wing (across from Harry Rosen, near Holt Renfrew, etc) so they are probably pleased with the space.

The one thing that is strange is the interior of the current entry really isn't that bad. But I do like the look of the new addition . . . very sharp look, modern angles and materials. Guess I can understand it.

Speaking of which, A&F will practically seem like a bargain stores compared to a number of the stores there

[jlousa]

Pacific Centre will build a skybridge to the 62nd floor.
How's that for the big surprise?
It will house Apple's new World Store.



Unfortunately I must announce this is not happening, in case someone gets the wrong impression.


Hed
Which project is this ?

It's a 19 story infill project that is bound to meet a lot of resistance due to a high number of parking stalls (54?) included in it. will be interesting to see if it succeeds.