Downtown Vancouver Updates

[dleung]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Deja vu?

Jan.15 '17, my pic
..

Way too much of this fake-heritage-facade bullshit

[officedweller]

The developer is doing a disservice to itself by including the adjacent Ginger building in the rendering.
It's making its project look bigger (i.e. spurring more opposition).

The brick streetwall portions of the proposed project are at about the same roofline as Ginger.

I think it'll fit in nicely. It'll also relate to V6B to the east.

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Here's the site as it is now looking at it at a similar angle as the rendering.

Jan.15 '17, my pic

There will also be similarly tall block to the immediate south of this site on the [former] viaduct right-of-way.

Post from January 2016 with renderings of the area.
Main Street is between the 2 taller blocks in the middle of the rendering.

Originally Posted by officedweller

I think the plan is to redevelop on both sides of Main Street
- which falls into the "be careful of what you wish for" category (but there will be a bigger park to the west).

What would be interesting is if the City subdivided the large blocks into,
say 3 or 4 parcels each, and sold the lots to DIFFERENT developers.
The projects depicted looks like a typical urban planning model, which would stick out like a sore thumb in Chinatown.


http://vancouver.ca/images/cov/content/viaducts.PNG

[bc2mb]

Originally Posted by dleung

Way too much of this fake-heritage-facade bullshit

Sourced some new info on this proposal from the developer, some of which may be of interest:

Bonnis says they will make an effort to incorporate parts of the Brickhouse into the new development, and there’s even a chance the venue could return to the new development.

“We intend to recycle Brickhouse bricks by incorporating their use into the new development,” said Bonnis. “We are in discussions with the current Brickhouse owner to ideally return and re-open within the new development.”

Ownership of the 18 replacement SRA units in the new development will be transferred to the city as a goodwill gesture.

Source: http://urbanyvr.com/brickhouse-chinatown-condos

[entheosfog]

Originally Posted by connect2source

Sad to see the old Puccini's, Hogan's Alley brick building going. Puccini's was an institution for over 60 years, had to book a table days in advance, packed every-night. My first job ever was a busboy there when I was 16. The Teti brothers ( the son's of the original owners ) went on to open Richards on Richards.

Agreed and just for more meh. I'd love to see the gaps filled in, sure, but it's too bad what old buildings are left in this area are slowly disappearing. These two old structures are not historic but they do add character to the area.

Anyway, just for fun, here's the block in 1918:
free image hosting
Vancouver Archives CVA 99-1269
http://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/police-leading-procession-on-700-block-main-street

[jollyburger]

Shouldn't this go into the Chinatown thread?

[logan5]

The City needs to go higher. Retain as many of the older character buildings as possible by allowing taller, higher density buildings on sites such as the neighbourhood busting Sun Wah Centre, or all the other crap that was built in the 80's.

[csbvan]

Originally Posted by logan5

The City needs to go higher. Retain as many of the older character buildings as possible by allowing taller, higher density buildings on sites such as the neighbourhood busting Sun Wah Centre, or all the other crap that was built in the 80's.

I agree, maybe keep the facade of the Brickhouse building, but retain and restore the entire SRO for the social housing component, similar to the Murray Hotel. Then the block would be buttressed by two old apartment buildings on both ends. If it means they go two or three stories higher who cares.

Developers have no incentive to retain buildings that aren't necessarily heritage, but add to the fabric of old neighbourhoods. So instead we get chubby, banal and visionless developments. This one wiping out what remains of Hogan's Alley.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by officedweller

The developer is doing a disservice to itself by including the adjacent Ginger building in the rendering.
It's making its project look bigger (i.e. spurring more opposition).

The brick streetwall portions of the proposed project are at about the same roofline as Ginger.

I think it'll fit in nicely. It'll also relate to V6B to the east.


There will also be similarly tall block to the immediate south of this site on the [former] viaduct right-of-way.

Post from January 2016 with renderings of the area.
Main Street is between the 2 taller blocks in the middle of the rendering.

What a joke that viaduct study document is. Restore Hogan's Alley? Who the hell cares? Are we going to restore the Germans to Robsonstrasse next? Somebody at Vision (I think it's Meggs) has a bee in his bonnet about Hogan's Alley. Move on, I'm sure anybody descended from anyone who lived there has!

[Vin]

Originally Posted by logan5

The City needs to go higher. Retain as many of the older character buildings as possible by allowing taller, higher density buildings on sites such as the neighbourhood busting Sun Wah Centre, or all the other crap that was built in the 80's.

Nothing can be done with the viewcones in place. The longer we keep it, the more our city is screwed.

[officedweller]

1318 Thurlow Street & 1060-1080 Burnaby Street for sale
300 ft tower under West End Community Plan
No View Cones...

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/current-listings/1318-thurlow-street-1060-1080-burnaby-street/

[retro_orange]

Part of me kinda wants them to restore the Granville 7 theatre lobby and facade to its 1987 glory but change the use of the theatre spaces to convention rooms or a cultural venue, keeping the largest theatre intact as a performance space for independent movie showings, live theatre and as a concert venue. They could still do street oriented retail or restaurant space on the ground floor. An unpopular notion I'm sure.

[bc2mb]

I was surprised to learn about this, but BC Hydro is proposing to build two new underground substations downtown, one under Emery Barnes Park and the other under Nelson Park.

They are also planning to decommission the substation in Chinatown, and the one on Burrard Street next to the Electra.

More details here: http://urbanyvr.com/bc-hydro-underground-substation-emery-barnes-park-yaletown

[officedweller]

Thanks.
I copied your post over to the General Infrastructure thread.

[David]

Not a bad idea, but has that park even been complete for 5 years yet? A shame that it will all have to be torn up already.
Edit: Long-term plans, won't be built for another 20 or so years, so not so bad

[osirisboy]

I wish they put the washrooms in the top right corner of the dotted outline. The area is currently overgrown shrubs that offer nothing positive to the place

[Dimswitch]

Don't know where to ask this but on our diagram page, One Wall is listed 3rd only because of that almost 10 metre pole sticking up on top but that isn't an integral part of bldg so it should be moved to 5th place behind the Georgia and Van House. And when is Burrard Place going on there, surely it has moved beyond the proposed status by now.

[Metro-One]

There is a drawing for the tower, just select "proposed" under the diagram in the options.

[urbancanadian]

^^Spires count towards the official height because they are architectural. Antennas don't count. I'm assuming SSP uses the same rules as the CTBUH...

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Dec.19 '16, my pics

Jervis on Davie update.



Jan.21 '17, my pics

[Dimswitch]

Originally Posted by urbancanadian

^^Spires count towards the official height because they are architectural. Antennas don't count. I'm assuming SSP uses the same rules as the CTBUH...

But that gets a little hazy as what about the 100 ft "mast" on top of Harbour Centre? Isn't it architectural? Too bad we can't count that as architectural which makes bldg 558 ft. 3rd tallest in Van.
ps - I've always wondered what those 3 little pods are for?