Downtown Vancouver Updates

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Anything that will drive pedestrian traffic and life to that area will be fantastic. New VAG and maybe a mall at the Post Office Building would help to bridge the area around stadiums to the commercial center of Downtown, expanding the area that is live with people today. I hope it happens!

Interesting that you mention the VAG because if you think of their current building it doesn't interact that well with the street either. Sure it has those steps but they don't exactly the best crowd. If you closed down the driveway and slip lane in front of Main Post Office you could develop quite a nice plaza on Georgia. It would be possible to activate the other sides of the building by integrating windows into the base. Certainly the Hamilton Street frontage facing the theatre complex would be perfect for restaurant spaces.

I still think the VAG should have worked with the gov'ts involved to repurpose this building. A big box with few windows is perfect for a gallery. Then they would have benefitted from a proposed tower. I still cant believe people question the heritage value of the building. There is certainly nothing else like it in Metro Vancouver. To me it gives off a bit of postwar Britain vibe.

[PaperTiger]

Originally Posted by Vin

Condo, office and hotel tower planned for old downtown Vancouver post office
http://www.vancitybuzz.com/2015/05/condo...nned-old-downtown-vancouver-post-office/
BY KENNETH CHAN
12:39 PM PDT, FRI MAY 08, 2015

Bentall Kennedy has outlined the preliminary project scope of its plans to transform the old post office building into a mixed-use development complex in downtown Vancouver.

The 686,000 square foot post office building across from Library Square takes up an entire city block, framed by Homer, Dunsmuir, Hamilton and West Georgia streets. It was built in 1958 and was one of the city’s first significant landmark buildings given its scale and use of International Style architecture. There are seven floors underground, capable of fitting large mail trucks, and five floors above ground.

According to a City of Vancouver rezoning report that will be reviewed by City Council on Wednesday, the building owner and developer plans to build residential, office, retail and hotel uses while maintaining the shell and heritage aspects.

An office tower could be built on top of a portion of the sprawling building along West Georgia Street, although the existing parking lot that fronts the street is slated to become a public plaza. This would also serve to preserve the historic elements and art found along the building’s West Georgia facade.

The street-level granite walls of the building would be modified for street retail and the redevelopment will also consist of separate lobbies for its office, hotel and residential components. The incorporation of a large retailer, in addition to smaller retail units, is also a possibility and would help address the high demand of brand looking to open a presence in downtown.

However, the height of the towers permitted on the site will be relatively restrained, even though the site is within the growing business district of the downtown peninsula. Existing zoning permits heights of up to 450 feet, but two view corridors will cut down the potential height to 225 feet across the site except on the southwest corner (West Georgia and Homer streets).

The incorporation of a residential element to the project is subject to further approval. Residential is currently not permitted due to a 2008 change in city policy that prevents residential projects from cannibalizing on job-creating space within the Central Business District.

In order for condominiums to be built on the post office site, the City has mandated that “a minimum of the permitted commercial density in the zoning should be achieved on the site.”

In 2008, the federal government sold the post office city block to B.C. Investment Management Corporation for $130 million as Canada Post was moving plans to relocate its West Coast hub to a new, state-of-the-art facility at Sea Island next to Vancouver International Airport. The new processing facility opened in September 2014 at a cost of $200 million.

The old post office redevelopment will be a major catalyst for downtown Vancouver’s eastward expansion. New major office towers and cultural institutions have been built or proposed for the eastern fringes of the peninsula, including TELUS Garden and the Vancouver Art Gallery’s relocation to a new world-class building at Larwill Park – just two blocks away from the post office.

The Vancouver Art Gallery considered using the post office building for its new home, but the idea of a new purpose-built gallery was favoured.

Canada Post’s original main processing centre could also be redeveloped in the coming years. The federal government is exploring opportunities to add 1.1 million square feet to Sinclair Centre across from Waterfront Station, and such a plan would likely include adding an office tower above the heritage buildings.

Sinclair Centre consists of four buildings built between 1910 and 1936 and is currently mainly occupied by federal government offices.

Nice of Vancity Buzz to provide a synopsis of the Vancouver sun article.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Genauso

Is the building actually relevant? It feels like someone with a job title and nothing better to spend their time on. I've never heard that building praised, mentioned in histories, or seen it photographed. If it will not be missed, it's hard to declare it significant.

The library across the street, with much less history, is a much bigger attraction. If city council wants to require more money be spent for the sake of design, I'd rather they give carte blanche to create something better like that, than a half-hearted attempt to satisfy a singular irrelevant opinion.

There are a lot of 1940s and 50s buildings that are being demolished - it'll be a lost era in architecture.
It's not really a popularity contest, but a historical inventory.

**********

Hopefully whatever goes in - as retail - survives. The cultural facilities (night-time uses) and the plazas kill pedestrian traffic.
It might be a bit of a leap for shoppers to walk from Hudson's Bay to the Post Office site.
... remember, Woodward's failed because its site became too remote from Granville & Georgia, and Sears failed at Harbour Centre as well.
International Village, despite a significant retail square footage and an adjacent SkyTrain station also failed to become a major draw for the same reasons.

[hokus83]

Originally Posted by vanciti

this building is another example of what is wrong with Vancouver projects. This thing is awful, how it past UDP blows my mind.

I'm thinking of moving here this summer. I don't understand how Vancouver can be one of the most expansive places to live and have the blandest architecture at the same time. Google street viewing the city a lot of the ground level stuff looks cool to me but the towers are probably the worst looking of any city I've seen anywhere

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Vin

Would be nice if they can cut up those red granite to use for their development and not necessarily need to preserve the street-fronting walls. Too many restrictions would spoil what can be built there. If it's going to be like the Woodwards development, where only small portions of the original building are preserved, then that would be OK too.

I think they just need to retain enough red granite stone to visually "anchor" the building to the ground. The cut-outs could be 2 storeys tall and still provide enough visual "weight" to the base of the building.

[mcminsen]

Some images from today for the Post Office discussion. I have often seen asian tourists stopping to take pictures of the coat of arms.



May 12 '15, my pics





















Homer Street

[red-paladin]

It sounds like the existing basement can accommodate as much parking as the new tenants will need.

[Prometheus]

The Federal Government released the renderings for its Sinclair Centre conversion plan.


Source: https://www.flickr.com/photos/vancouverbyte/13921242767/in/album-72157643052935904/lightbox/

[trofirhen]

Are those old renderings from "Project 200 days," or are they current plans??
If current, they'll destroy the sinclair Centre, and the leave the rest as sterile, Iinternational Style Soviet Brutalist."

Surely not in the pipe. No. Please ...........

[urbancanadian]

^Click the link, t.

[red-paladin]

Lol

[NewWester]

Originally Posted by officedweller

There are a lot of 1940s and 50s buildings that are being demolished - it'll be a lost era in architecture.
It's not really a popularity contest, but a historical inventory.

**********

Oh I get that part of it. I wasn't trying to dismiss the idea of preserving the style or key features. What I meant to ask is what about the Post Office are the key features that would have to be retained? Would it be key features like the Georgia street facade with a modern take on the buildings style, or do the developers have to essentially retain the entire original building as a tower podium?

My concerns were also poorly stated. What I meant was do we really need another MALL in a neighbourhood that already has several, some of which are pretty anemic. I could see the draw of a large, magnet retailer but I don't really see the logic of more small format retail in an area saturated with it.

[mukmuk64]

Funny thing about that awful project 200 plan is that it has a bigger public square than exists anywhere in Vancouver today.

[Metro-One]

I actually would have been happy if 1 or at the most 2 more towers within the 200 project were built (as long as it did not involve the demolition of Waterfront Station or the Sinclair Centre). They likely would have been quite tall (maybe over 200 meters) and I personally dont mind their styling.

The entire project built would have been less than ideal.

[osirisboy]

I totally agree with metro. A couple of them would have been great

[Vin]

Originally Posted by NewWester

My concerns were also poorly stated. What I meant was do we really need another MALL in a neighbourhood that already has several, some of which are pretty anemic. I could see the draw of a large, magnet retailer but I don't really see the logic of more small format retail in an area saturated with it.

I see the need for another one to help ease the demand. Pacific Centre is already the top-grossing mall in Canada, so there is definitely enough room for another one. A mixture of big format and small footage retailers is what we need, with perhaps a food centre (that area is underserved). I live downtown but I see myself leaving the area more and more for shopping, which is not a healthy sign.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by NewWester

Oh I get that part of it. I wasn't trying to dismiss the idea of preserving the style or key features. What I meant to ask is what about the Post Office are the key features that would have to be retained? Would it be key features like the Georgia street facade with a modern take on the buildings style, or do the developers have to essentially retain the entire original building as a tower podium?
...

I think the immense size of the building is part of it.

The spacing/scale, etc. of the windows along the sides is also dependent on the retention of those facades intact.

Aside from the Project 200 render above, I don't think a present day developer would consider retaining only a part of a consistent block-long façade
(i.e. if Hudson's Bay were to be redeveloped, I doubt they'd only keep the Georgia façade and demolish the Granville and Seymour sides).

*********

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Some images from today for the Post Office discussion. I have often seen asian tourists stopping to take pictures of the coat of arms.
...

Homer Street

Looking at McMinsen's pics above, I could see them replacing most of the red granite at grade wih glass (almost for the entire stretch) along the Homer façade.

The existing clerestory windows cause the upper parts of the building to "float".
Extending the clerestory windows to the ground for retail storefront would simply be an extension of that design.

I think that if they tried to retain too much of the red granite, it would end up looking "piecemeal" and break up the long "modernist" stretch of façade.
.

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I think that if they tried to retain too much of the red granite, it would end up looking "piecemeal" and break up the long "modernist" stretch of façade.

In the industry, I think that's called "doing a James Cheng".

(shades of 725 Granville)

[officedweller]

That comparison did occur to me...

[Delirium]

i honestly see nothing redeeming about the post office building. i say take away the elements that are important and tear the thing down and start from scratch.