Downtown Vancouver Updates

[trofirhen]

Originally Posted by 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.

+1 .... seconded. Totally

[a very long weekend]

from that flickr account and somewhat off topic: wow, wish this cool beton brut tower would have been built instead of that death star building



as a bonus, the 1 story london drugs wouldn't have been built on the east side of the street, so that the birks building could have lived.

[Metro-One]

Everyone is taling about the Canada post building project, but given all the extreme height restrictions and it likely will not be a very interesting development.

For me the possible interesting project is the Sinclair Centre one.

So the federal government wants to build 1.1 million square feet of office there (did I read that right?) in the centre of the 4 older buildings.

My question is, given these figures, is there a chance for a new tallest office tower in Vancouver here?? Or is there dozens of view cones criss corssing this site, therefore only making a big flat squat tower possible??

I really hope not, because a taller tower with smaller (not small though) floorplates would look fare better peaking out of the older structures than a squat tower with massive floorplates sprawling over the entire centre.

[officedweller]

The view cones restrict Sinclair Centre to about 29 storeys.
The 1.1 million sq ft figure includes the existing buildings (390,000).

Development Inquiry from Public Works and Government Services Canada: In 2014 Public Works and
Government Services Canada (PWGSC) shared with City staff a ‘letter of enquiry’ outlining a
proposed revitalization project for the buildings. They envisage that Sinclair Centre would be one
of two Canadian Government office ‘hubs’ in the Lower Mainland (the other in Surrey City Centre)
with the addition of more office space to consolidate their holdings across the downtown.

PWCGS would like to work with the City to explore the possibility of further developing the site
beyond what the current density permitted by the existing CD-1 zoning. PWGSC have advised that the
scope of their proposal could include:

• The provision of up to approximately 100,000 m2 or 1.1 million ft2 of office space and the
complex is envisaged as a hub of federal government services (currently there is approximately
40,000 m2 or 390,000 ft2 of floor space in Sinclair Centre).
• A Proposed FSR up to 17.0 – 20.0 FSR.
• LEED Gold for new construction and LEED Silver or Gold for renovations of existing buildings.
• The development will adhere to the City’s urban design considerations, including the View
Corridors which limit maximum height to no more than 106.7 m (350 ft.) or approximately 29
commercial storeys.
Staff have not yet reviewed this inquiry from the perspective of urban design, heritage, or
acceptable density, pending Council’s decision on this report.

http://former.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20150513/documents/cfsc3.pdf

[Metro-One]

Thanks for the info.

Well, thats a downer.

I hate to jump on a bandwaggon, and I am happy with many of the shorter towers being built / proposed, but given the sheer number office proposals we have now, I would gladly trade in two 100 meterish stumpy proposals for a single new tallest office tower proposal.

Something around 180 meters would be amazing (in a complete dream a new tallest for the city around 210 meters would be my ideal, but I am not holding my breathe for that one).

[urbancanadian]

I gotta say, this Sinclair Centre development/inquiry makes me reeeeeaaally nervous. I'm normally quite positive when it comes to modern additions to heritage buildings or adjacent developments in the city. But in Vancouver we've lost so much of our history - and so many marquee buildings. I don't think we can afford lose one more significant piece of architecture.

I'm nervous that at least one of the four buildings will have to come down, and that would be such a shame. Is there another full block in Vancouver made up entirely of significant, pre-war buildings?

If they decide to build a thin tower up from the atrium, without demolishing much of the other buildings, then I guess I could live with it. But that block would lose its mid-rise character. To me, a tower rising through there would be akin to something piercing through the middle of the Hudson's Bay building - except worse, because Hudson's bay doesn't take up an entire block.

If they want to add a little more than 700,000 sqft of office space, it's going to dominate the block, certainly. There has to be another way to consolidate. There is 375,000 sqft proposed right across the street at 320 Granville, and another 225,000 proposed on that same block. Could they not move there? I believe the owners of the building at Pender & Granville (NW corner) were planning to eventually construct an office tower on that site - maybe they could move that along? Is that too far for consolidation?

[officedweller]

Pics by me today of the former Main Post Office.

You can see that the original design already provided full height glass in the public areas of the building -
so the conversion of the working/private areas of the building into public shopping areas should simply follow the same design.

Hopefully they won't "over think" this.

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

[NewWester]

Originally Posted by officedweller

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).

*********



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.
.

Hmm. That would potentially pretty cool: modern glass street level, floating 1950s section, and then modern, respectful tower(s) above (or big floorplate block sized open office spaces like formerly-sears). I'd be excited to see something like that.

Originally Posted by Vin

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.

See, I live out in the suburbs and tend to bypass malls and head downtown when I choose to go shopping for the better high street style shopping experience and better amenities. This isn't to say there shouldn't be more mall space downtown (I think if they ever redo where Futurshop/Bestbuy is, that would make a great Pacific Centre expansion site), I just don't think there is a need to make every large parcel into a new mall. But y'know different strokes.

I'm also pretty nervous about Sinclair Centre. Of all the places in the city to build an office tower, this is just about the last I would choose.

[mcminsen]

Jack Poole Plaza today at the convention centre.


May 16 '15, my pics

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Grosvenor International ihas bought the Umberto's Il Giardino site.

And I have my answer regarding the former Tony Roma's site - it will become a park (maybe only a temporary park)

https://www.biv.com/article/2015/5/grosvenor-properties-eyes-downtown-south-developme/

The old Tony Roma's building has now been demolished (drove by last night).

[officedweller]

Building on Beatty near Robson sold to Reliance Properties - who reno'd the building where Chambar is:
http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2015/05/21/beatty-street-building-sells-in-10mm-deal/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2015/05/21/beatty-street-building-sells-in-10mm-deal/

[trofirhen]

The picture above has a faintly San Francisco-ish feeling to it. Maybe it's the white paint and the sloping street.
(it's going, so who cares?)

[officedweller]

Did we miss this:

Larco lands Fairmont Hotel Vancouver in $180 million deal
https://www.biv.com/article/2015/5/larco-lands-fairmont-hotel-vancouver-180-million-d/

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The old Tony Roma's building has now been demolished (drove by last night).

And Il Giardino has also been demolished - the yellow house is still standing, though.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Building on Beatty near Robson sold to Reliance Properties - who reno'd the building where Chambar is:
http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2015/05/21/beatty-street-building-sells-in-10mm-deal/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2015/05/21/beatty-street-building-sells-in-10mm-deal/

I wonder if they are planning a similar renovation/addition project? I hope so.

[Prometheus]

Here’s a new tower rezoning proposed for Smithe at Cambie, that will finally cover up the blank flank wall of the 1980s Law Society Building.

Designed by GBL for Boffo Developments, it would have 22 floors of condos over a 4 storey commercial podium (office and retail) required by the ‘CBD Shoulder’ zoning here.

Source: http://changingcitybook.com/2015/05/27/225-smithe-street/

[csbvan]

Pretty boring

[Prometheus]

Mindnumbingly?

[Klazu]

Yeah, this will be very forgettable, but so is the lot also currently.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Mindnumbingly?

Zing