General Vancouver Updates

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Arbutus Village redevelopment about to begin
https://www.biv.com/article/2017/1/arbutus-village-redevelopment-about-begin/

Safeway will close during construction (other than pharmacy).
Concerns that Loblaws at 16th & Arbutus is too far away as an alternate grocery store.

It had been months since I last checked out Arbutus Shopping Centre so I went by to have a look. Most of the Safeway is gone now and they've built a temporary Bank of Montreal towards the back of where the Safeway was. Most of the rest of the shopping centre is still there although I presume a lot of it has been gutted. The back part of the little mall area is still operational with the liquor store and dance school still open. The Safeway pharmacy is still there and they've made a little store by the pharmacy with a limited selection of products, not including produce or fresh meats.



April 27 '17, my pics

[mcminsen]

Here's an old pic of the shopping centre (from the article that officedweller posted a link to) next to my pic from a couple of days ago.



source: https://www.biv.com/article/2017/1/arbutus-village-redevelopment-about-begin/



April 27 '17, my pic

[officedweller]

Thanks for the update.

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Main & 11th April 12, 2017 from Journal of Commerce:


Photo: Warren Frey
http://journalofcommerce.com/Projects/News/2017/4/PHOTO-Mount-Pleasant-Goes-Natural-1023177W/


http://journalofcommerce.com/Projects/News/2017/4/PHOTO-Mount-Pleasant-Goes-Natural-1023177W/

May 1 '17, my pic

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

May 1 '17, my pic

Thanks! I have been keeping an eye on this one as I walk by every few days. I'm starting to think that the delay was because the first contractor was either fired or gave up. When they were pouring some of the concrete for the main floor walls they were doing it quite sloppy and one wall looked crooked and another was removed and another chipped back from the street.

and painfully slow...

[Feathered Friend]

I was cleared to throw out this tidbit today. The Westbank/Bing Thom Project at Commercial and Broadway is moving along fine, and there should be more public info in the weeks to come.

As I hinted at in the rumors thread, anyone that feels the site will be disappointing just needs to look to Montreal. Meaning that in terms of design, a big inspiration for the project has been Habitat 67 in Montreal. I'll let you guess what that's translating into given the heights permitted on that site.

[Feathered Friend]

http://www.metrovancouver.org/services/housing/projects/heather-place/Pages/default.aspx

An open house was held on May 3rd for the Heather Place rental project at 733 W 14th Ave. and 700 W 13th Ave. As I just saw this today I obviously didn't attend, but from the website it looks construction will start this month.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

I was cleared to throw out this tidbit today. The Westbank/Bing Thom Project at Commercial and Broadway is moving along fine, and there should be more public info in the weeks to come.

As I hinted at in the rumors thread, anyone that feels the site will be disappointing just needs to look to Montreal. Meaning that in terms of design, a big inspiration for the project has been Habitat 67 in Montreal. I'll let you guess what that's translating into given the heights permitted on that site.

where on commercial and broadway?

[Feathered Friend]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

where on commercial and broadway?

Sorry, I thought it was fairly common knowledge, though I guess it has been awhile since the last update. The project first came to my attention last year when a community social was held in November to

explore the future of the “Broadway and Commercial Safeway site”.

http://www.broadwaycommercial.ca/

[SpongeG]

oh ok cool

[Feathered Friend]

Address: 500 W Broadway
Permit No. DP-2017-00358
Description: To develop the site with a seven-storey building with retail units on the ground floor,
commercial units on the 2nd floor including office, financial institution, and restaurant uses,
and office on levels 3 to 7, all over two levels of underground parking with vehicle access from
the lane.
Zoning: C-3A
Application Status: Complete Development Application
Review: First
Architect: W.T. Leung Architects (Christiane Cottin)
Staff: Patrick O'Sullivan

Is it just me, or has this come out of no where!? I found it in the minutes for the next UDP meeting. I've heard nothing about it previously, but find it exciting that that corner is going to get an update to seven stories. Which is still tiny given it's location, but at least better than two. There's nothing else in the UDP agenda about it yet, and I couldn't find anything on the application pages.

I guess this makes sense why Big Smoke Burger pulled out when it did. I feel bad for the employees at the new Poke Station though.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

Is it just me, or has this come out of no where!? I found it in the minutes for the next UDP meeting. I've heard nothing about it previously, but find it exciting that that corner is going to get an update to seven stories. Which is still tiny given it's location, but at least better than two. There's nothing else in the UDP agenda about it yet, and I couldn't find anything on the application pages.

I guess this makes sense why Big Smoke Burger pulled out when it did. I feel bad for the employees at the new Poke Station though.

From their portfolio I predict lots of protruding boxes from the building.

http://wtleungarch.com/

They designed 188 Keefer and the new building on top of the King Edward station. Might be interesting to see if they'll have a Skytrain entrance in their design.

[officedweller]

Cool - Nice to see some height there, even if not "tall".

[officedweller]

Zonda Nellis Building on Granville:

By City of Rain taken April 30th:

Originally Posted by City Of Rain, post: 1219864, member: 70034

IMG_1576 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1578 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1580 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1583 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

Originally Posted by City Of Rain, post: 1219865, member: 70034

IMG_1589 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1591 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

[officedweller]

500 West Broadway
(at Cambie)

The upper storey setback (from Cambie) is likely for the City hall view cone down Cambie.

From Changing City Updates:

No doubt this proposed seven storey office and retail project will soon appear on the City’s website. In the meantime the Urban Design Panel have already reviewed it. Designed by W T Leung (who has probably designed more office buildings along West Broadway than any other architect) it has a cut away corner that would presumably allow a future street front patio.

The back of the building will probably have to look as good as the front, as the office building up the hill houses the City’s Planning and Legal departments! It doesn’t appear that there’s any intention of adding an additional entrance to any future transit along West Broadway, but that should be clearer once the development application can be seen online.

https://changingcitybook.com/2017/05/10/500-west-broadway/

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by officedweller

500 West Broadway
(at Cambie)

The upper storey setback (from Cambie) is likely for the City hall view cone down Cambie.

From Changing City Updates:




https://changingcitybook.com/2017/05/10/500-west-broadway/

Much better than that crummy 80's building on that corner now.

[officedweller]

It looks a lot like what's being built in Mt. Pleasant, rather than office core Broadway.

[logan5]

I guess this is the tragic fate of this important intersection. Soulless glass boxes everywhere.

[osirisboy]

Why the set back on broadway? Guess seven stories flush to the sidewalk is too tall for broadway, ugh

[retro_orange]

As long as it takes away some of the visual prominence (disturbance) of the Neelu Bachra building... I still can't believe someone looked at it and said "yep, I guess it's done".

There's still a bunch of electrical wires hanging from the dark grey area in the centre of the facade where signage was rendered to go. Most visually disturbing is the interior fittings (ceilings, walls, lighting) are so inconsistent and haphazard looking; yet highly visible from the street. What a mess.

None of the vines that were supposed to soften the hard edges were planted on the roof either.