Surrey City Centre Redevelopment Plans

[Urbanmetro]

Looks decent. It will be an awesome improvement for Surrey, however, underwhelming for a city centre main street. Densities need to be much higher on prime real estate such as that. Surrey is a good 30 years out before one can say it is the real down town South of the Fraser River. I visited the area and it still feels more suburban than other areas of Surrey such as Guildford town center. Yet, that Surrey city centre suppose to be the down town core. I think development of thd empty lots needs to be encouraged with a relaxing of development fees and densities, encouraging more mixed use retail and service industries. Until there is something to do in Surrey, it will forever remain on thd butt end of many jokes. My two cents.

[officedweller]

Looks great.
Looks very "civic". Good fit for the area.

[Shift]

Will do a lot to transform the streetscape and feel of the area. Building has good massing and will compliment City Hall and the Library making University Dr feel very Civic as Officedweller said. The increase of students in the area, along with KPU at Civic Plaza will add vibrancy, especially once the residence tower is built. The building and grand atrium/staircase have a similar feel to the new Ryerson Student Learning Centre in Downtown Toronto. Eventually the Surrey SFU Campus could take on a Ryerson feel.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by vanman

Looks great. Hopefully the plans include preserving a few of those mature trees.

Maybe they can move them over near Green Timbers to calm the people who have conniptions over the thought of cutting any trees (even half dead ones) to widen Fraser Hwy.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Urbanmetro

Looks decent. It will be an awesome improvement for Surrey, however, underwhelming for a city centre main street. Densities need to be much higher on prime real estate such as that. Surrey is a good 30 years out before one can say it is the real down town South of the Fraser River. I visited the area and it still feels more suburban than other areas of Surrey such as Guildford town center. Yet, that Surrey city centre suppose to be the down town core. I think development of thd empty lots needs to be encouraged with a relaxing of development fees and densities, encouraging more mixed use retail and service industries. Until there is something to do in Surrey, it will forever remain on thd butt end of many jokes. My two cents.

What do you feel specifically should be added to the area to make it more entertaining? (legitimate question, not sarcasm)

The SFU proposal is kinda meh. The surrey central building has many great wood accents inside that the new proposal should really integrate into it's interior design. Hopefully it's just preliminary. Also is that existing building noted in the plan just a crummy old SFH? Maybe they're keeping the parking lot next to it for future development of the existing building and lot. Until the rest of the ranch style SFH are demolished this area; it will always feel in transition from suburban roots.

[Urbanmetro]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

What do you feel specifically should be added to the area to make it more entertaining? (legitimate question, not sarcasm)

The SFU proposal is kinda meh. The surrey central building has many great wood accents inside that the new proposal should really integrate into it's interior design. Hopefully it's just preliminary. Also is that existing building noted in the plan just a crummy old SFH? Maybe they're keeping the parking lot next to it for future development of the existing building and lot. Until the rest of the ranch style SFH are demolished this area; it will always feel in transition from suburban roots.

What should be added? Everything. There isn't a reason anyone from another part of metro Vancouver would come to surrey city centre, unless you were a student at SFU. When i think of a down town core, I think of life, contact, entertainment, nightlife etc. When you travel to Mexico city, NYC, Rome, London or any other major metropolitan city with a lively core, there's always something to do or see. Surrey city centre has nothing: no nightlife, no charm, no vistas of mountains, rivers lakes or the ocean, no café to lounge at, no decent restaurants that fill up in the evening, no monuments to gather at, no tourist in sight. Thats whats missing...

[memememe76]

Pho Tam is one of my favourite Vietnamese places in the Lower Mainland.

[Sheba]

I'm waiting on the render before making any decisions about this building - it's just too hard to tell what's going to happen from basic sketches. I don't know what that 'existing building' is either unless it's something that already has approval and hasn't been built yet (of course then it wouldn't be 'existing'...).

I partly agree with Urbanmetro - currently Surrey Central is fairly suburban. Sure there are towers going in but there isn't a whole lot to do in the area yet. I said the same kind of thing to Burnaby in their Metrotown survey. Almost all of the entertainment and nightlife in concentrated in a few spots in Vancouver and the rest of the region is treated as a large suburb.

[BobLoblawsLawBlog]

Originally Posted by Shift

Preliminary renderings of the new SFU Building:

Oh cool, I didn't know Purgatory was moving to Surrey.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by BobLoblawsLawBlog

Oh cool, I didn't know Purgatory was moving to Surrey.

Little did they know Surrey was purgatory all along...

[scryer]

Originally Posted by Urbanmetro

What should be added? Everything. There isn't a reason anyone from another part of metro Vancouver would come to surrey city centre, unless you were a student at SFU. When i think of a down town core, I think of life, contact, entertainment, nightlife etc. When you travel to Mexico city, NYC, Rome, London or any other major metropolitan city with a lively core, there's always something to do or see. Surrey city centre has nothing: no nightlife, no charm, no vistas of mountains, rivers lakes or the ocean, no café to lounge at, no decent restaurants that fill up in the evening, no monuments to gather at, no tourist in sight. Thats whats missing...

Tourism does not necessarily make up a city though. There are many kinds of cities that serve different purposes and I don't think that Surrey is going to steal any tourists from Vancouver anytime soon. I think that a more realistic goal for Surrey would be to try and attract people from Langley and Abbotsford to Surrey, whether it be workers or people itching for some nightlife.

Therefore I do agree with you on the nightlife and entertainment. Generally Metro Vancouver misses the mark on this and, even though I don't think that Surrey will fill the void alone (regionally speaking), Surrey could really beef up its nightlife and entertainment scene as it attracts more residents in the core. Sometimes a busy street at night can be a safe street.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by scryer

Tourism does not necessarily make up a city though. There are many kinds of cities that serve different purposes and I don't think that Surrey is going to steal any tourists from Vancouver anytime soon. I think that a more realistic goal for Surrey would be to try and attract people from Langley and Abbotsford to Surrey, whether it be workers or people itching for some nightlife.

Therefore I do agree with you on the nightlife and entertainment. Generally Metro Vancouver misses the mark on this and, even though I don't think that Surrey will fill the void alone (regionally speaking), Surrey could really beef up its nightlife and entertainment scene as it attracts more residents in the core. Sometimes a busy street at night can be a safe street.

I think the main thing holding back any nightlife scene in Surrey is that it can easily attract gang activity and other organized crime.

[Whalleyboy]

Originally Posted by Urbanmetro

What should be added? Everything. There isn't a reason anyone from another part of metro Vancouver would come to surrey city centre, unless you were a student at SFU. When i think of a down town core, I think of life, contact, entertainment, nightlife etc. When you travel to Mexico city, NYC, Rome, London or any other major metropolitan city with a lively core, there's always something to do or see. Surrey city centre has nothing: no nightlife, no charm, no vistas of mountains, rivers lakes or the ocean, no café to lounge at, no decent restaurants that fill up in the evening, no monuments to gather at, no tourist in sight. Thats whats missing...

I normally am one to fight for defending Surrey. Even I can't argue that Surrey centre lacks on things to do is poor. Sure every now and then there is events happening which is great but its lacks the daily night life. Its needs bars with live music, a club or 2. It would be nice to see surrey central pub bring back the dance floor like it use to have when it opened. It really could have used some sort of sports arena to to attract a team to come play and watch(sorry watching the lions train doesn't really do anything). City halls councils chamber were made also with the idea of being a small theater. I have yet to see anything used for that reason with it. hell they could bring in stand up comics or small plays happening there already but i've seen nothing of this happening there

The one plus is some movie theaters are coming so thats something i guess lol

[Shift]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I don't know what that 'existing building' is either unless it's something that already has approval and hasn't been built yet (of course then it wouldn't be 'existing'...).

If you use your brain and look at the photo posted directly below and also read the words in my post, 'existing building' is the house directly next to the site. The house is currently a hold out that either the City of SFU is interested in purchasing. Shouldn't be a hold out for much longer.

[Shift]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

The SFU proposal is kinda meh. The surrey central building has many great wood accents inside that the new proposal should really integrate into it's interior design. Hopefully it's just preliminary. Also is that existing building noted in the plan just a crummy old SFH? Maybe they're keeping the parking lot next to it for future development of the existing building and lot. Until the rest of the ranch style SFH are demolished this area; it will always feel in transition from suburban roots.

What do you find meh about it? Also I did say it was preliminary so that answers your question, but it will likely look very close to this. See my previous post regarding the SFH. What parking lot are you referring to? Of course it will feel in transition until all the land in the area is redeveloped. The transition is the interesting and exciting thing about Surrey City Centre.

[Cypherus]

Is the residential tower a new proposal along with the expansion, or is that Prime on the Plaza?

[Millennium2002]

The SFU proposal looks OK, although I find it amusing that the house is going to be in the way there for a little while longer. Feels like the UP movie honestly...

Also yes, I do wish they add plenty of colour and wood to this in the final design.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Shift

What do you find meh about it? Also I did say it was preliminary so that answers your question, but it will likely look very close to this. See my previous post regarding the SFH. What parking lot are you referring to? Of course it will feel in transition until all the land in the area is redeveloped. The transition is the interesting and exciting thing about Surrey City Centre.

NVM, my mind read the lecture theatre as parking until i zoomed in. The holdout house could potentially be there for decades still and it's not exactly a small piece of land. Is the exterior of the new building louvered stone panels? The interior wood detailing in the City Centre SFU building is astounding. They really went the extra mile with the ceiling supports and window accents etc. I feel they should integrate similar motifs and maybe some new cutting edge use of wood in some way. From what i can see in the interior renders just looks like white painted drywall throughout and bare concrete. Cheap and easy IMO.


from:http://www.abbarch.com/portfolio/simon-fraser-university-surrey-campus-surrey-bc/


from: http://bingthomarchitects.com/app/uploads/2013/02/CentralCity_9-768x497.jpg


from:http://bingthomarchitects.com/app/uploads/2013/02/CentralCity_Thumb.jpg

[Shift]

NVM, my mind read the lecture theatre as parking until i zoomed in. The holdout house could potentially be there for decades still and it's not exactly a small piece of land. Is the exterior of the new building louvered stone panels? The interior wood detailing in the City Centre SFU building is astounding. They really went the extra mile with the ceiling supports and window accents etc. I feel they should integrate similar motifs and maybe some new cutting edge use of wood in some way. From what i can see in the interior renders just looks like white painted drywall throughout and bare concrete. Cheap and easy IMO.

The hold out house will not be there for decades. I would expect it to be bought and demolished within the next 2 years, if not within the next year.

The rendering I posted of the SFU building does not show materials to be used, so i'm not sure what you're basing your assumption off of. The renders mainly just show form and massing, and the interior shots are not white painted drywall. It's a basic 3D model without materials, hence why it's all void of colour.

[GMasterAres]

Yah these are form renders so like pre-pre-renders. The whole thing could change so it's best to wait until a planning report is issued for council where a far more accurate render will be presented.