Downtown Vancouver Updates

[cornholio]

Originally Posted by logan5

No condo's, and I can't see old style factories being built there. Maybe a Renfrew Station type office park?

No way. If the price was $190 million as rumored the buildings will be demoed and the land will sit vacant for the next couple decades until the city rezones it to mixed use. If that's what it takes of course. The new owner will sit on it negotiate and wait, and wait, and wait, if that's what it takes for them to hit the jack pot. If they get tired of waiting someone else will come in and buy it and wait some more. I believe its called land speculation and this city has shown that it pays of, you only have to be patient and rub shoulders with the right people at city hall.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by WarrenC12

Is there any claim from First Nations on that land?

Not for privately held lands.

With the right buyer, maybe a JV with the Squamish Nation on the lands around Burrard Bridge may create a more unified comprehensive development than if they were developed separately.

Then again...

“It is clear that it is in the City of Vancouver’s regional context statement as industrial land,” said Kent Munro, the city’s assistant director of planning. “We’ve had people asking about the site and its potential, but we say it is very important industrial land in the city after years of eroding it.”

http://www.vancouversun.com/touch/story.html?id=11496283

=> INCINERATOR!

[WarrenC12]

I'm not sure what industrial use would be cost effective in that area. Maybe if CP had kept it's rail network running...

If it was viable for industrial use, Molson-Coors would probably not move.

[thefly]

Originally Posted by logan5

No condo's, and I can't see old style factories being built there. Maybe a Renfrew Station type office park?

The bid materials did discuss the possibility of rezoning the site for condo development. All of the big players, Onni, Bosa, Aquilini etc looked at it. I have not been able to confirm who won yet.

The bid also required a leaseback to Molson for 3-5 years.

[jacobparry]

Note industrial can mean offices. Lululemon HQ next door is zoned the same (though the lot, half the size of Molson's has twice 1.5x assessed land value)

[VanK]

Originally Posted by thefly

The bid materials did discuss the possibility of rezoning the site for condo development. All of the big players, Onni, Bosa, Aquilini etc looked at it. I have not been able to confirm who won yet.

The bid also required a leaseback to Molson for 3-5 years.

Rumored to be a local Chinese based investor group.

[Jebby]

Measuring the site with google maps it appears the land is about 265,000 square feet. If they could rezone it up to 3.8 FSR they'd have about 1 million square feet of density to work with.

I'd like to see a mix like this:

Office: 350,000 sq ft
Retail: 50,000 sq ft
Residential: 600,000 sq ft


It would be a great catalyst to get a street car line built down to Granville Island and further down to the OV and Main Street Station.

[thefly]

Total site area is as follows:

1550 Burrard: 282,700 SF
1655 West 1st: 53,265 SF
Total: 335,965 SF (7.71 acres) with building area being approximately 316,000 SF

[officedweller]

I could see a District Energy Plant on part of the site - maybe the Arbutus corridor could be used for hauling in biomass or garbage for incineration?

If Ocean cement is on Granville Island, I wonder of another concrete plant would want to set up shop close to downtown?

[jlousa]

Couldn't find a thread that dealt with garbage and it's certainly come up in this thread on numerous occassions so figured I'd post this here.

Since 2014, the number of 311 calls regarding illegal dumping has increased by 32 per cent, and the amount of abandoned waste collected increased by 13 per cent. (Totals of 70,000items and 2,500 tonnes are
forecasted for 2015.)

The City is struggling to keep up with this demand, which has resulted in a delayed response time of 10 to 15 days per incident.
Similarly, the City has experienced significant increases in litter-related incidents since 2014, as evidenced by a 50 per cent increase in 311 calls reporting overflowing litter cans, and a 14per cent increase in calls regarding general litter issues.

Think this doesn't come as much of a surprise to us. A shame the city seems to have different $$$ priorities instead of traditional city services.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Couldn't find a thread that dealt with garbage and it's certainly come up in this thread on numerous occassions so figured I'd post this here.



Think this doesn't come as much of a surprise to us. A shame the city seems to have different $$$ priorities instead of traditional city services.

Why spend money on traditional city services when you can continue enabling the selling off of the neighborhoods to offshore investors who leave properties vacant thus putting less strain on that pesky aging infrastructure. Freeing up those tax dollars for fun pet projects like a poodle on a stick or viaduct removal.

*epic sarcasm alert. The motives of the city have been clear for a long time now.

[red-paladin]

jlousa: You and I can start preemptively calling in about the garbage can on the southwest corner of Canada Place and Burrard then! It's always overflowing and in fact I saw it on fire with a friend once and we called 911.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Couldn't find a thread that dealt with garbage and it's certainly come up in this thread on numerous occassions so figured I'd post this here.

Think this doesn't come as much of a surprise to us. A shame the city seems to have different $$$ priorities instead of traditional city services.

It's a bit ironic that the city's own green policies are contributing to this. In the old days you'd just throw the stuff in the station wagon and take it to the dump. Now there are so many people without cars that they just ditch the stuff in the nearest alley. Unfortunately these are often folks without the disposable income to call 1-800 got junk, and indeed the problem seems to be worst in areas with cheap rental apartments or basement suites.

Honolulu has regular curbside bulky item collection by the city, Vancouver should do the same. http://www.opala.org/solid_waste/bulky_item_pickup.html

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by whatnext

It's a bit ironic that the city's own green policies are contributing to this. In the old days you'd just throw the stuff in the station wagon and take it to the dump. Now there are so many people without cars that they just ditch the stuff in the nearest alley. Unfortunately these are often folks without the disposable income to call 1-800 got junk, and indeed the problem seems to be worst in areas with cheap rental apartments or basement suites.

Honolulu has regular curbside bulky item collection by the city, Vancouver should do the same. http://www.opala.org/solid_waste/bulky_item_pickup.html

When I returned to Vancouver this summer the amount of garbage on the streets and overflowing garbage bins was the most negative aspect of the city that I noticed. And trust me, tourists are noticing as well.

You would think garbage removal / keeping streets and parks clean would be a much larger priority for such a "Green" city council, especially when that it is how you directly market the city.

It is also ironic that they want more of Vancouver`s economy to be based on tourism (and away from they resource industries that they hate) and yet have allowed trash problems to become owrse.

Lets just say that people in Vancouver can mock other places in the province such as Kelowna for many reasons, but keeping a clean urban space is not one of them. I was quite impressed with how clean Kelowna was this summer, even after a big party night the streets were clean the next day by noon. Vancouver really needs to step up its game in garbage removal, power washing, etc..

And seriously, the glass at Robson Square is still acid etched. Looks horrible.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Lets just say that people in Vancouver can mock other places in the province such as Kelowna for many reasons, but keeping a clean urban space is not one of them. I was quite impressed with how clean Kelowna was this summer, even after a big party night the streets were clean the next day by noon. Vancouver really needs to step up its game in garbage removal, power washing, etc..

And seriously, the glass at Robson Square is still acid etched. Looks horrible.

Well to be fair, the city couldn't implement a ban on power washing for several months this summer due to extreme drought and then go around power washing. I wouldn't be surprised if that was happening in Kelowna. Its disgraceful the amount of water people waste in that town despite the dryness of their summers. I say this as someone who grew up in the Okanagan. Also it isn't a good comparison. Vancouver has a much larger, more dense population concentrated in its downtown core and legions more tourists. Kelowna's downtown has few residents and a fraction of the foot traffic per square foot.

Downtown could be cleaner though, I do agree with that. But that costs money. Most European cities sweep and power wash every night, but they also pay more to support those services. Vancouver can't have it both ways.

[logan5]

Lets just say that people in Vancouver can mock other places in the province such as Kelowna for many reasons, but keeping a clean urban space is not one of them

Per capita, Vancouver produces less garbage than Kelowna.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by logan5

Per capita, Vancouver produces less garbage than Kelowna.

So, Vancouver has no excuse for failing to clean up then.

Originally Posted by csbvan

Downtown could be cleaner though, I do agree with that. But that costs money.

Vancouver has an operating budget of over $1.2 billion.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Vancouver has an operating budget of over $1.2 billion.

Ok? What about it? I don't see a breakdown of where that $1.2 billion goes that might be useful in proving a point.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Ok? What about it? I don't see a breakdown of where that $1.2 billion goes that might be useful in proving a point.

Well, then you should educate yourself about what the "greenest city" spends our money on. And then ask yourself whether there is any excuse for failing to provide basic city services, such as proper garbage removal and street cleaning.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by csbvan

Well to be fair, the city couldn't implement a ban on power washing for several months this summer due to extreme drought and then go around power washing. I wouldn't be surprised if that was happening in Kelowna. Its disgraceful the amount of water people waste in that town despite the dryness of their summers. I say this as someone who grew up in the Okanagan. Also it isn't a good comparison. Vancouver has a much larger, more dense population concentrated in its downtown core and legions more tourists. Kelowna's downtown has few residents and a fraction of the foot traffic per square foot.

Downtown could be cleaner though, I do agree with that. But that costs money. Most European cities sweep and power wash every night, but they also pay more to support those services. Vancouver can't have it both ways.

Then dont call yourself the greenest city in the world if you can`t even provide basic garbace removal / cleaning programs.

Your right, the city can`t have it both ways. You can`t say you want to move away from a resource based economy and focus more on tourism without at least keeping your tourist areas clean in a modern industrialized city.

And actually, despite having a dry climate, the Okanagan has plenty of water. The Okanagan valley lakes are massive resevoirs and have never been at threat of running low. This is actually one of the largest advantages of the Okanagan that has allowed agriculture to be so stable.

People have to know the difference between a dry climate and an area with water supply deficits. The Okanagan is dry, but it has a massive constant water supply.

And yes, dontown Vancouver is larger than downtown Kelowna, but Vancouver is also far more dense than Kelowna (less surface area per person to clean) and has a much larger tax base for such services.

People on here trying to make excuses for this problem are the problem with Vancouver. Is it really that hard to admit that Vancouver can be dropping the ball on this very basic issue? And can they not admit that maybe Vision should focus more on this issue? The fact that this problem has gotten worse in recent years displays that propoer waste management can be done! (as a better job was being done before).

This is why I have never "loved" a political party, because when you reach that point you become unable to critique them on any issue and your area suffers for it.

Also there are many other cleaning techniques besides power washing (power washing itself is no problem regarding water issues for the vast majority of the time in Vancouver any way).