Quote:
Originally Posted by Changing City
And once again, that would be wrong. Richmond and Metrotown are Regional City Centres that are intended to be office centres for many years, to a far greater extent than they have succeeded so far. Brentwood is a Municipal Town Centre that should also have office space, and Surrey Central is a Metro Centre that has the same intent as Vancouver's Metro Core - although so far it has less space than Broadway, never mind the huge amount of space that exists, and is being added Downtown. In fact, there's as much space being added to the Metro Core now than exists in Surrey Central. |
Nope, once again you are the one who's wrong, not me. Metrotown started as a military reserve and then industrial land. It started building offices recently only because of the rate of growth. Brentwood too started as an industrial land fringing an old highway. All the town centres were set up much later.
OV started as an industrial land, so why must it stay residential now? That's my question. You don't seem to see how Vancouver can morph and evolve for the better, as per your own namesake.
From Wiki regarding Metrotown:
Settlement and industry
On the recommendation of Colonel Richard Moody, the Royal Engineers constructed a trail linking colonial capital New Westminster and False Creek to facilitate troop movement between the two points.[13][14] The trail (which later became Kingsway) opened in 1860, and cut diagonally across Burrard Peninsula;[13] land was set aside as a military reserve at a plateau along the road in the area of modern-day Metrotown.[13][14] The road was improved following Burnaby's municipal incorporation in 1892, and the parallel Central Park interurban line connecting Vancouver and New Westminster opened the previous year, making the area increasingly favourable for settlement.[13] Consequently, the provincial government established a series of holding lots out of the military reserve in the 1890s to accommodate working class residents.[13][14] The lots were drawn at right angles to the interurban line, which ran from the northwest to the southeast, accounting for Metrotown's street orientation.[14]
During the Great Depression, Burnaby reeve William Pritchard instituted a series of make-work programs to put the unemployed to work, using municipal funds and loans.[14] This put a strain on Burnaby's finances, and in 1932 the province stepped in by suspending the functions of Burnaby's government and appointing a commissioner to run municipal affairs.[14][15] Under the province's control, Burnaby struck a deal with the Ford Motor Company to build an assembly plant near Kingsway and McKay Avenue.[16] The plant opened in 1938, and was used to produce military vehicles during World War II;[16] it became an Electrolier facility at some point after the war.[17] Wholesale grocer Kelly-Douglas Company built a manufacturing plant and warehouse to the east of the Ford/Electrolier plant in 1946, and Simpsons-Sears opened a catalogue sales and distribution facility to the east of the Kelly-Douglas plant in 1954.[16]
Again Richmond city centre is taking shape much better than OV or any other districts in Vancouver.
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