Central Waterfront District | Waterfront Station - CRAB Park

[Canadian Mind]

Just as the tower in Calgary is becoming irrelevant with the Bankers hall towers, PCC, and now Encana.

Just means we need a taller downtown observation tower.

[EastVanMark]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

Was cruising through the diagrams, and stumbled upon the old Portside Marriot Hotel proposal: Link

Quick google search took me to emporis, from where I gathered by the diagram that the old site for the building was to be over the current location for the Transportation Hub... except part of a new cruise ship terminal.

Based on the diagram of the thing, and the emporis picture, I think it would have been a good looking building, compared to it's younger offshoots at the head of Canada Place.

If a 164 meter building was considered in the past for this site, is there any chance of one at the same height being considered currently or is there any chance at al of the same design being used?



Image from Emporis.

That was one really nice and most importantly unique building. The height was great and would have made one hell of an addition to the skyline.
The new Fairmont can't hold a candle to that one

[Canadian Mind]

No, 25 meters to short. They have similar massing though.

How old is the thing? The one thing I couldn't find was a date.

[metroXpress]

They can have another oberservation deck on that building...

[SpongeG]

where is canada place in that? would it have been removed?

[mr.x]

^ Canada Place is to the west of that....that plan is located at where SeaBus is.

[Canadian Mind]

Which is why posted it here, because it is basically sitting ontop of where the hub will be. Just showing what ould have been.

[SpongeG]

but that little stubby one with the dome is there now isn't it? thats why its confusing

[SpikePhanta]

So any new updates on this?

[Some guy]

Yea, honestly. Where has this project gone?

[officedweller]

That was the Connvention Centre Expansion project called Portside (about 10 years ago?), which Concert Properties won the bidding contest to build (after Concord Pacific dropped out (it's proposal was for the Spectrum site) and after Marathon Properties dropped out (its proposal was for the current Vancouver Convention Centre Expansion site).

The province and Concert could not agree on financial terms for the Convention Centre Expansion, so the project was dropped and the province spearheaded the current project on its own without a private partner.

[Joat]

Do you think we can expect to hear anything on this anytime soon?

Probably isn't a top priority for Christy Clarke.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Joat

Do you think we can expect to hear anything on this anytime soon?

My humble prediction is not for at least 20 years, since there is a lot of development opportunity between Granville and Stadium stations. I also predict that Centerm and Vanterm port operations will be relocated, eliminating the need to build over a rail yard.

[jlousa]

I'll predict that Centerm and Vanterm do not move anywhere within our lifetimes. They just spent hundreds of millions upgrading the facilities and have more projects on the go to increase efficiencies. Not to mention it's ultimately controlled by the feds who need to ensure the vitality of the country as a whole even if those goals don't always line up with the citys.

I predict we do see the Waterfront hub site proceed (probably altered fro it's current proposal) roughly around the 2021-2024 time period, although I think some of the surrounding projects might go ahead sooner depending on market conditions.

[vanman]

My prediction is that Jlousa's prediction of the future is the correct one, haha. Vanterm and Centerm are definitely not moving anywhere.

[officedweller]

Agreed.
Especially with Delta being highly opposed to expansion of Deltaport.

[SFUVancouver]

To add to jiousa's comment, Dubai Ports World sunk a whole lot of capital into acquiring Centerm (or possibly Vanterm, I cannot keep the two straight) and then launched several hundred million dollars worth of work to increase efficiency and allow it to service two Panamax container ships simultaneously, or if I'm not mistaken, a single post-Panamax vessel. I'm not entirely sure about the latter since some Deltaport literature I read a while back asserted that it was the only container terminal on Canada's west coast that could handle post-Panamax vessels.

[logan5]

There are plans in the works to quadruple capacity at Prince Rupert, as well there is a push on for terminal 2 at Deltaport, which would give Port Metro a lot of extra capacity, even with increased trade with China.

As well, Metro Port owns a huge chunk of land in Richmond at the foot of no. 8 road. Once the Deas Tunnel is replaced with a bridge it will allow larger container ships to pass through to Fraser Port, or a new port.

Plus the very high value of the land that Centerm and Vanterm sit on.

That's why I suspect the waterfront hub will not have a issue with a rail yard 20 years down the road.

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by Canadian Mind

Just as the tower in Calgary is becoming irrelevant with the Bankers hall towers, PCC, and now Encana.

Just means we need a taller downtown observation tower.

Agreed! Just destroy that experiment in ugliness called Harbour Centre and replace it with something sleeker and more beautiful. (not hard to do!!!!)

[Millennium2002]

That tower still remains iconic... although it's shorter than many other buildings it circular shape sticks out quite a bit in downtown-facing pictures from the North Shore or Burrard Inlet.