The Ultimate Vancouver Rumour Thread!

[jlousa]

Hmm I know of an office tower proposal but unfortunately I am not at liberty to disclose info at this point. But this is not it.

Crunching these numbers backwards gives us the following. If we assume an fsr of 10 which would be standard on anything this size means we are looking for a parcel of land that is 400,000sqft, or 630"*630". Can't think of anything that size off the top of my head. Even if the city were to become super generous and allow a doubling of density to 20fsr we would still be looking for a parcel 630"*315" or 1260"*157". Speculate away, I'm going to go with it's part of NEFC and the heights are wrong. But I'm willing to be proven wrong.

[cornholio]

Well a while back there was a proposal/vision to put two 600' residential towers on from what I believe is Deadmans island. I believe the lease is expiring or will expire soon, and the natives will have their fingers ready for that piece of land. Now that I think of this it might have been part of a vision for the Canada line to exttend it to NV and in return create a island anbd put two towers on it.

[cornholio]

Aqulini aslo has all that airspace above the railyards and he has been communicating with the port. On top of that there is the HUB plan. Could be something by him in that area. Wouldnt suprise me as the heights, the office space, the residential space and the land required is feasible and available and there has certainly been lots of discusions about that area and between all the stake holders to allow something like this to be proposed.

This will me my guess actual. Unless its something in the NEFC site but i dont see why someone would propose two 600' towers, maybe 500' ,might be sellable to the city in the area for the landmark towers but not 600'. Although two 600' towers and 1million sq feet of office space would be nice around there and wouldn't look out of place inmo. Although there are view cones there and imo these view cones need to be respected in most cases, they really add to the city and are a invaluable public benefit.

[SpikePhanta]

Hmm if it is the Transit hub that would be quite interesting.
Could it be outside downtown area? around Marine?

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by SpikePhanta

Hmm if it is the Transit hub that would be quite interesting.
Could it be outside downtown area? around Marine?

I find it difficicult to imagine someone building two 600' towers outside the downtown core, not to mention 1million sqf of office space in a non business park way. Unless its something to do with the School in Flase creek where the Finning station is supposed to go. Maybe a longer term vision could be possible. They did float the idea of residential towers to the west of the school and office space could go in the area and with a station maybe, just maybe 600`could be doable later on.

[mr.x]

It looks like this could be a big win for the city or a big loss, and not because we would just lose out on getting something, we'd lose something we already have as well.

Deadman's Island?

Of course, the natives will be depending on the city for utility services...if this really is the location, I do think it would have a bit of a Singapore Marina Bay/Marina Bay Sands effect on Coal Harbour.

I would much prefer this being at the transit hub or part of the NEFC development.

Could this have to do with Arthur Erickson's harp building idea all those years ago?

Originally Posted by Prometheus

The latter. But if this is more than just a baseless rumour, then that's great.

But how do the developers expect to get their heretical plans past Vancouver's Council of Architectural Guardians & Overseers? These towers might interfere with a person's view of the middle half of the eastern part of the mountain that exists halfway between Cypress Mountain and Grouse Mountain when standing stationary at a certain point on the southern half of the west side of the Granville Bridge looking north on a sunny day.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by mr.x

Deadman's Island?

Of course, the natives will be depending on the city for utility services...if this really is the location, I do think it would have a bit of a Singapore Marina Bay/Marina Bay Sands effect on Coal Harbour.

I would much prefer this being at the transit hub or part of the NEFC development.

I just remembered something like this was floated around a while back, but like I said it might have been part of a island created from fill form a CAnada line extension to NV. I really dont remember the facts just that there were two 600` towers in that general area floated. As far as Deadmans island goes utilities to there are no problem.


Infact here is a tidbit of wikipedia. Shows that there likely wont be anything happening on that island for a while.

The city's current lease of Deadman's Island from the federal government expired in 2007[6] and was subsequenlty rolled over in 2008. The former mayor of Vancouver, Sam Sullivan, "envisioned it as the home for a ferry shuttle from downtown, a maritime museum and a building to celebrate the island's aboriginal heritage." The Musqueam First Nation, however, claim the island as part of its land claim in the area.[7] The Island's future remains with the Department of National Defence and its status controversial, as it has been through much of Vancouver's history.[8]

Here is the rest about Deadmans island, interesting history actual and a recommended read.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadman%27s_Island_%28Vancouver%29

[jlousa]

Never heard of the Canada Line to NV tunnel/island idea, but there was a couple of decades ago a proposal to build an artificial island off Stanley Park with the excavation from a 6lane plus rail tunnel to North Van, it never got past the vision stage though.
I also believe it's Kerfoot that owns the air rights over the tracks and not Aquillini.
The more I think about this rumour the less sense it makes, the numbers don't add up, either it's baseless or the numbers are just off.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Never heard of the Canada Line to NV tunnel/island idea, but there was a couple of decades ago a proposal to build an artificial island off Stanley Park with the excavation from a 6lane plus rail tunnel to North Van, it never got past the vision stage though.
I also believe it's Kerfoot that owns the air rights over the tracks and not Aquillini.
The more I think about this rumour the less sense it makes, the numbers don't add up, either it's baseless or the numbers are just off.

Your right Kerfoot, my mistake. The island from the Canada line was floated while it was being decided to build it, not sure how serious it all was. The vision for the two towers was floated a little while ago, I really believe it was Deadmans island and that it was the Masqee(SP?) that floated the idea. Obviously though they didnt and still dont hold any rights over the island but the lease to the city was expiring so the land did come a bit in to the spotlight.
Could have been just part of their plan for their claim over it, if they show plans for it would surely strengthn their claim.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Never heard of the Canada Line to NV tunnel/island idea, but there was a couple of decades ago a proposal to build an artificial island off Stanley Park with the excavation from a 6lane plus rail tunnel to North Van, it never got past the vision stage though.
I also believe it's Kerfoot that owns the air rights over the tracks and not Aquillini.
The more I think about this rumour the less sense it makes, the numbers don't add up, either it's baseless or the numbers are just off.

Do you think it could be a master plan for the HUB area with Kerfoot involved though? It would make some sense and there is lots of back and forth communication between all stakeholders so it would allow imo something like this to be proposed.

[twoNeurons]

And a Waterfront Stadium!

[wrenegade]

I was doing a little number crunching and they seem off to me as well. 4 million square feet doesn't seem to make sense anywhere, especially on this site. However, the 1 million square feet of office is definitely believable (in my opinion) considering the site, client and developer.

[red-paladin]

Originally Posted by awvan

I was doing a little number crunching and they seem off to me as well. 4 million square feet doesn't seem to make sense anywhere, especially on this site. However, the 1 million square feet of office is definitely believable (in my opinion) considering the site, client and developer.

You mentioned we would lose something if this project got built.
Something like the Post Office building?

[phesto]

The only site in the City of Vancouver that I can think of that could accommodate anywhere near 4M sq ft is the development rights Port Metro Vancouver has at Central Waterfront, but that is only about 2.5M sq ft.

Kerfoot's development rights over the CP tracks aren't even 1M sq ft, IIRC.

There is not even a full city block downtown that would allow anything anywhere near that large, as you'd be up over a 30 FSR.

There are several sites where 1M sq ft would be realistic though...

[wrenegade]

Originally Posted by red-paladin

You mentioned we would lose something if this project got built.
Something like the Post Office building?

No, we'd lose something if the project didn't go ahead.

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by phesto

The only site in the City of Vancouver that I can think of that could accommodate anywhere near 4M sq ft is the development rights Port Metro Vancouver has at Central Waterfront, but that is only about 2.5M sq ft.

Kerfoot's development rights over the CP tracks aren't even 1M sq ft, IIRC.

There is not even a full city block downtown that would allow anything anywhere near that large, as you'd be up over a 30 FSR.

There are several sites where 1M sq ft would be realistic though...

Well so that leaves one likely place than, NEFC. The Plaza of Nations site has one owner, the city plan calls for a landmark building on the site, they have talked about demolishing the old Expo building and it could fit close that much space(awvan said that the numbers seem a bit to high and be off). The whole NEFC area from what I see will have 1.8million commercial and up to 4million residential. The plaza site could prbably hold a million commercial and maybe another 2million residential or so, 3 million total can be done which would leave 800grand for the casino/hotel and 2 million for the rest of the area.

Other then that site there is nothing that can hold several million square feet based on my limited knowledge. That site also doesnt seem to be affectted by the view cones, based on what i see, i guess thats why they want the landmark building in that area.

[jlousa]

As per what is on the citys radar there isn't anything that matches either.

[Yume-sama]

I am curious what the definition of "significant" is.

[navazan]

probably anything above the standard 30 floor nonsense.

[jlousa]

I see someone suspension has been lifted...for now.