Burnaby Updates

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by VanK

Appears that the BOSA application only involves the 3 lots along Halifax (4430,4488 Halifax and 1801 Willingdon). The remaining properties are for a Community Plan Amendment. "Bosa Development has acquired three properties at 4430, 4480 Halifax Street and 1801 Willingdon Avenue over the previous decade..."

Originally Posted by Changing City

So is there only space for one tower then - presumably a condo tower (although I guess it'll have to have rental as well under Burnaby's new rules) with some hotel and office space on the corner - a chunky podium maybe?

So this would appear to be the BOSA site.
The BOSA website shows the lowrise office building at 4430 Halifax.

It would be nice if they built a commercial tower at Willingdon and a condo tower mid-block.

[Klazu]

Exciting stuff! Bosa has also applied to build a sales centre on the unbuilt lot at Kingsway and Willingdon here in Metrotown. That's the entire L-shaped lot around the Esso station.

Interesting to see if there would be more happening on this empty lot next to this major intersection!

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Exciting stuff! Bosa has also applied to build a sales centre on the unbuilt lot at Kingsway and Willingdon here in Metrotown. That's the entire L-shaped lot around the Esso station.

Interesting to see if there would be more happening on this empty lot next to this major intersection!

Well, it's a really big lot.

Too big to be used as only just a sales center.
If Bosa own that site (which is currently being used as just a parking and holding ground for Moving trucks), then it wouldn't be surprising to find out that they have plans to redevelop the whole thing farther down the road (possibly along with the Esso gas station lot itself) and that the plans to use it as a sales center are just temporary akin to what Concord are doing with the old Sears store at Metropolis.

It's a really prime location for a potentially landmark sort of project - if they so choose to do one.

The strip mall across the road just north of Kingsway could also use some redevelopment love. And have some towers in that intersection to complement (or improve, depending on your perspective) on Sovereign and create a nice gateway into the Metrotown "downtown" and the mall.

[SpongeG]

Bold design unveiled for $79M North Burnaby school
Cornelia Naylor / Burnaby Now
JUNE 14, 2019


An artist's rendering shows the new Burnaby North Secondary School.

Walking into the new $79-million Burnaby North Secondary School, students will enter a 15-metre-wide, three-storey-high vista running from the main entrance right through the back of the glass-walled gymnasium.

This space will be the “core and heart” of the new school, according to principal Dave Rawnsley.

...

One theme in the building’s design he came back to more than once was flexibility.

The conference centre, for example, will back onto the school’s theatre, and the two spaces have been designed to open up on to one another when a bigger space is needed.

Instead of wings with long, linear hallways, the school’s classrooms will be arranged in “pods” – nine six-classroom clusters arranged in a “horseshoe” shape with the centre of the horseshoe designed to function as a mini student commons or “breakout space.”

“Rather than feeling like an extension of the hallway, it feels like a tiny little neighbourhood or community that’s off of the core and the heart of the school,” Rawnsley said.

...

https://www.burnabynow.com/news/educ...ool-1.23856085

sounds nice, set to open in 2022

[logan5]

I wonder if they will max out the FSR on that Bosa site. So far developers are only using about half the allowable commercial density in the 5/6 FSR areas. Assuming this development will be subject to the revised rezoning rules, Bosa could add a significant number of rental units, like 3 FSR's worth on top of the 5 FSR of strata, plus hotel, plus office. That's a lot of building. New tallest for Metro Vancouver... again?

[officedweller]

Even if it's not the tallest, any substantial height will be highly visible since its at the top of the hill, like Brentwood 1 & 2 and the Solo District tower on the corner.

[owenhujb]

To build on the Burnaby North redevelopment posted by SpongeG here are a few more pictures:

This is the field where the new building is going on



More renders and overview maps

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Well, it's a really big lot. Too big to be used as only just a sales center. It's a really prime location for a potentially landmark sort of project - if they so choose to do one.

I have a feeling that the sales center will only take the space of the patch of grass and the parking lot will stay almost as is. Still, nice to see something happening to this lot. Has there ever been anything on it besides Esso, which is still staying?

I really hope we would see something tall go to this lot soon enough, as our building needs a nice counterpart.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I have a feeling that the sales center will only take the space of the patch of grass and the parking lot will stay almost as is. Still, nice to see something happening to this lot. Has there ever been anything on it besides Esso, which is still staying?

I really hope we would see something tall go to this lot soon enough, as our building needs a nice counterpart.

I think it will be some time. It's not on the Burnaby Major Developments yet and the closest I can find on Bosa's site is Kingsway and Wilson (which also isn't on Bby Major Devs). It'll prob be a few years before we can get excited about something happening here.

Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything about the Arts / Events Centre that's supposed to go somewhere in the downtown Metrotown area? Maybe the Old Orchard lot across the street (it's the only other big lot I can see)?

[Klazu]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Speaking of which, has anyone heard anything about the Arts / Events Centre that's supposed to go somewhere in the downtown Metrotown area? Maybe the Old Orchard lot across the street (it's the only other big lot I can see)?

I would like to see it being built over the open large grass area next to Patterson Station. That area is always so under-utilized and would provide amazing connections.

Alternatively, it could be one thing replacing part of the massive mall area for some sweet density bonus to the mall owners...

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Klazu

I would like to see it being built over the open large grass area next to Patterson Station. That area is always so under-utilized and would provide amazing connections.

Do you mean Central Park?

[Klazu]

There is a wide and open lawn area between Patterson Station and Kingsway. Would be a nice visible place for a landmark building.

[vanman]

If you're talking about the west side of Patterson that is all part of Central Park.

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by Klazu

There is a wide and open lawn area between Patterson Station and Kingsway. Would be a nice visible place for a landmark building.

It is proposed to become a dog off leash area

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Klazu

There is a wide and open lawn area between Patterson Station and Kingsway. Would be a nice visible place for a landmark building.

Yeah, as others have pointed out, that's all part of Central park.

So no development happening there anytime soon.
I do agree that it often seems under-utilized - certainly compared to other parks in the area like the one at Bonsor.

But the wooded area of the park south of the skytrain line is used a lot for hikers, runners, picnickers, etc.

The best bet of development in that part of town would be just north of Kingsway where there are a lot of lowrise buildings.

I feel like once 'development central' (i.e. south of Beresford and Central Avenue and north of Imperial just south of the mall) gets maxed out with development projects, most developers are going to turn their attention to Kingsway and the areas north of Kingsway where most of those (mostly retail) single storey buildings are located) as well as your neck of the woods around Sovereign in that intersection between Kingsway and Willingdon.
But for the time being it feels like proximity to the mall itself and the skytrain station are the bigger draws for where a lot of the development is going on.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

The best bet of development in that part of town would be just north of Kingsway where there are a lot of lowrise buildings.

I was just thinking about the north side of Kingsway and wonder if it might start to be developed sooner rather than later. There are a lot of groundscraping buildings (some with surface parking) between Willingdon and Royal Oak that would look so much better built up a few stories, with retail / office facing Kingsway and residential towers facing Hazel. With residential real estate cooling they might have more interest in building that kind of mixed use instead.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by Klazu

There is a wide and open lawn area between Patterson Station and Kingsway. Would be a nice visible place for a landmark building.

The nice place for a landmark building would be the shit show on the corner of Kingsway and Sussex. I've been living in the area for 25 year and hoping these two blocks would get redeveloped, but no...everything else got redeveloped except for the literally ugliest part of Kingsway...

We should leave the Central Park and its associated field north of the line alone...We will need all the green space we have as the Metrotown gets more and more dense...

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Sheba

I was just thinking about the north side of Kingsway and wonder if it might start to be developed sooner rather than later. There are a lot of groundscraping buildings (some with surface parking) between Willingdon and Royal Oak that would look so much better built up a few stories, with retail / office facing Kingsway and residential towers facing Hazel. With residential real estate cooling they might have more interest in building that kind of mixed use instead.

I've noticed quite a few of the lots North of Kingsway with those single storey retail stores and commercial properties with some 'For Sale' signs (or 'For Lease') which would normally tend to indicate either owners selling up (and developers buying) or just as likely speculators gobbling up the properties and holding onto them in anticipation of the inevitable gold rush when developers decide to start develop that side of the street.

So I would guess it would be sooner rather than later before some rezoning applications start to be submitted within the next couple of years and some mixed use properties start to get developed.

I just hope the city puts some emphasis on pushing for a better (more pedestrian friendly) streetscape with some good sale and relation between the street and any potential retail street-fronting podiums

[officedweller]

Bordeaux

By City of Rain June 23rd:

Originally Posted by City Of Rain, post: 1461827, member: 70034

IMG_1642 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1644 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1646 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1648 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1650 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1652 by Hung Lam, on Flickr
IMG_1654 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

[SpongeG]

that development going in where kirmac was on lougheed was putting up some fencing and signage a couple weeks ago, looks like its getting ready to start.