Broadway Corridor Development Plan

[Changing City]

The Denny's revised rezoning on West Broadway at Birch has been submitted. 248 rental units over a retail & office podium; 28 floors in total. 53 of the units will be leased below market. More details on the changing city blog, [image source].

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The Denny's revised rezoning on West Broadway at Birch has been submitted. 248 rental units over a retail & office podium; 28 floors in total. 57 of the units will be leased below market. More details on the changing city blog, [image source].

I like the funky detail on the edge though the rest seems to of lost some of it's Deco details. I'm still waiting for the day that the BowMac apartment or condo building gets proposed , hopefuly with a 50's/60's flare. I'm curious how the big blade sign would be incorporated (sans the toys r us logo)

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I like the funky detail on the edge though the rest seems to of lost some of it's Deco details. I'm still waiting for the day that the BowMac apartment or condo building gets proposed , hopefuly with a 50's/60's flare. I'm curious how the big blade sign would be incorporated (sans the toys r us logo)

That's apparently a tile mosaic by Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Changing City

That's apparently a tile mosaic by Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow.

Even better! I love mosaic tile on building facades and I think it's great that we are seeing permanent installations of the various first nations' artwork in modern applications. I'd love to see more details like this and it would be great if the city had an incentive to add permanent art on smaller developments. Fingers crossed that the Musqueam and Squamish developments will have extensive art on and around their buildings.

[logan5]

We're seeing a lot of these moderate income rentals being proposed lately, which means it seems to work for developers. The reduced parking requirements must help the developers bottom line quite a bit as well.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by TheTerminalCity

4-storey condo project at the long vacant Broadway/Guelph corner. 61 units, mostly studios, proposed. PortLiving is continuing their streak of new buildings on this stretch of East Broadway.

rendering posted from vancouvermarket.ca

After seeing what was granted at the Denny's site, you would think Port would want to wait it out til the Broadway Plan is completed.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The Denny's revised rezoning on West Broadway at Birch has been submitted. 248 rental units over a retail & office podium; 28 floors in total. 53 of the units will be leased below market. More details on the changing city blog, [image source].

Looks great! Here's hoping it gets approved.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by logan5

After seeing what was granted at the Denny's site, you would think Port would want to wait it out til the Broadway Plan is completed.

Looking at the PortLiving site, I don't think they'd build much higher, even with a rezoning.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

Looking at the PortLiving site, I don't think they'd build much higher, even with a rezoning.

I think they've only built condo buildings, and to qualify as a bigger building they'd have to build rental. They may be trying to get a project approved before the new plan; they might be concerned that they might have to add rental (if it takes the Burnaby approach as a model, for example). The have got a 19 storey tower under construction, so height isn't necessarily an issue.

Other factors might be that midrise buildings are still selling well, and highrises not so much, apparently. And of course it's a much cheaper project - less parking; woodframe, so financing is more straightforward.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by Changing City

That's apparently a tile mosaic by Musqueam artist Debra Sparrow.

I think it would look better in the middle of the Broadway facade. I think it looks odd / too asymmetrical on the corner.

Reminds me of the old BC Hydro Building:


BC Binnings tilework
http://vancouverarchitecture.mikepriebe.ca/bc-electric-building/

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by logan5

We're seeing a lot of these moderate income rentals being proposed lately, which means it seems to work for developers. The reduced parking requirements must help the developers bottom line quite a bit as well.

There is a lump of 20 for the Pilot Program and a few have dropped out. Not sure about replacements. You're hearing about them because they all applied and get rezoning application submissions at the same time. They only work if you get 3x the density. Parking reduction in the program itself is small. the real saving is in a Transportation Demand Management plan reduction. Up to 60% for rental... or 40% can't remember.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by logan5

After seeing what was granted at the Denny's site, you would think Port would want to wait it out til the Broadway Plan is completed.

The area "recently" did a community vision which granted the Independent height and envisioned the old Kingsgate Mall site as a major high-rise development site, but left south-side development to 4-stories and north Broadway development to 6-stories. I think Port likes "easy kills" and rezoning there for minimal gains for rental housing isn't 'that' profitable. I was hoping their partners on this project could finalize with the Union building next door, but it looks like it was a no-go.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

There is a lump of 20 for the Pilot Program and a few have dropped out. Not sure about replacements. You're hearing about them because they all applied and get rezoning application submissions at the same time. They only work if you get 3x the density. Parking reduction in the program itself is small. the real saving is in a Transportation Demand Management plan reduction. Up to 60% for rental... or 40% can't remember.

Parking was reduced by about 30%, going by a usual rate of 1 parking spot per unit. Usually more than that. Underground parkades are expensive to build so if you can eliminate 1 level on underground parking, that save multi millions of dollars. Correct?

[logan5]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

The area "recently" did a community vision which granted the Independent height and envisioned the old Kingsgate Mall site as a major high-rise development site, but left south-side development to 4-stories and north Broadway development to 6-stories. I think Port likes "easy kills" and rezoning there for minimal gains for rental housing isn't 'that' profitable. I was hoping their partners on this project could finalize with the Union building next door, but it looks like it was a no-go.

How do you know it's minimal gains when a plan hasn't been finalized yet. Mt. Pleasant is part of the scope of the Broadway Corridor Plan, a plan that will supercede some parts of the existing Mt. Pleasant OCP (me thinks).

(High rises at the IGA/Save-On site as well)
.

[misher]

Originally Posted by logan5

How do you know it's minimal gains when a plan hasn't been finalized yet. Mt. Pleasant is part of the scope of the Broadway Corridor Plan, a plan that will supercede some parts of the existing Mt. Pleasant OCP (me thinks).

(High rises at the IGA/Save-On site as well)
.

Your a dreamer man

I suspect east Broadway and West of Burrard will see small increases.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by logan5

Parking was reduced by about 30%, going by a usual rate of 1 parking spot per unit. Usually more than that. Underground parkades are expensive to build so if you can eliminate 1 level on underground parking, that save multi millions of dollars. Correct?

Typically 20-30% parking reduction for rental is common minimum. This project does however have 27,538 sf of retail/office so it's likely well over a 30% parking reduction for the residential component. With a TDM they could do an all-about reduction further, depending. Can't remember what they're doing exactly.

U/g parkades cost millions and make / break projects - great and well-needed projects ($40+k a stall). The joke is you build the parkade first ("housing for people"? Not). Expect awesome parking reductions for new buildings not only due to the new SkyTrain Line along Broadway but also with the larger rental component. Downtown largely has no parking minimums anymore. Broadway is next.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by logan5

How do you know it's minimal gains when a plan hasn't been finalized yet. Mt. Pleasant is part of the scope of the Broadway Corridor Plan, a plan that will supercede some parts of the existing Mt. Pleasant OCP (me thinks).

(High rises at the IGA/Save-On site as well)
.

Broadway Plan might be "done" in 5 years and you'd likely still have to do a rezoning and it would be likely for rental with some kind of affordability component to it. So in 10 years you might have a rezoned rental project.

Or, you do a Development Permit and build condos. The team they put together on this site are condo sellers. We recently did numbers for MIRHPP at 10+ stories in concrete was the same profit margin to build either a 4-storey woodframe condo or 6-storey woodframe rental... with "free land"! Construction costs are too high still.

Add in the risks, timelines and costs overall. Not to mention with this site what it must have cost - it was a recent purchase and lots of baggage.

Not sure about the Main Street and 13th Ave IGA site for towers (maybe under a MIRHPP scheme) but I wouldn't expect that with the current owners or any time soon (next decade). Though times and market conditions change.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by misher

Your a dreamer man

I suspect east Broadway and West of Burrard will see small increases.

Small increases for "status quo".

[Galaxy]

Originally Posted by logan5

After seeing what was granted at the Denny's site, you would think Port would want to wait it out til the Broadway Plan is completed.

I like the building. I was hoping they would have chosen to build this in place of a bunch of single family homes and turned this site to build a much more dense development. I think this is where you all are all up in a fuss about.

[Vin]

Original Denny's site rental flat design:
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/2538-birch-street-vancouver-1296-west-broadway-2018

The original tower at the W. Broadway Denny's site had a nicer design, IMO. Really dislike the "broken up" look to the new facade as per CoV's preference. However, the new rendering also seems to be showing a taller tower at 28 storeys. Perhaps the developer received hints of the general height allowance after the West Broadway plan was initiated? Still hoping for some 40-storey site allowance for many of the sites here.