Downtown Vancouver Updates - Page 869

SpongeG · #**17361** Posted **Jul 4, 2019, 11:17 PM**

fancy

New digital signs popping up across downtown Vancouver, with more on the way
July 4, 2019 By Peter Meiszner

If you’ve been around the Vancouver Art Gallery recently, you may have noticed the installation of several new digital advertising signs.

As part of the City of Vancouver’s street furniture contract with Outfront/JCDecaux, seven of these digital signs are planned around the downtown peninsula.

Two of the first digital signs have been installed near the art gallery, one on West Georgia in front of the plaza (known as šxʷƛ̓ənəq Xwtl’e7énḵ Square), and one on Robson Street, half a block east of Burrard.

...

https://urbanyvr.com/digital-signs-downtown-vancouver

officedweller · #**17362** Posted **Jul 4, 2019, 11:28 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by x32ace

Walked past the RBC on West Georgia St and noticed a redevelopment application for the bank podium. Didn't have time to stop and take a picture, but found the application on the COV website.

https://development.vancouver.ca/1055wgeorgia/index.htm

WOW!

Big news, thanks for posting.

It appears the 5 storey podium will be an office building for RBC.
and the whole complex will be renamed "RBC Place" rather than "Royal Centre".

It looks really out of place.
If it were a "statement" building it would look a lot better than a box with some fancy glass.
the vertical emphasis doesn't work well with the horizontal banding on the Royal Tower and the Hyatt Regency.
Reminds me of the ill-conceived first iteration of the Pacific Centre rotunda replacement.

If they were smart, they would have put the banking hall one level up and high end retail at grade across from Hermes, Louis Vuitton and the like. Too bad it isn't a department store for Saks or Simons.
They could have even moved the retail banking to the base of the office tower.

https://development.vancouver.ca/1055wgeorgia/documents/3dviews.pdf

https://development.vancouver.ca/1055wgeorgia/documents/coverpage.pdf

trofirhen · #**17363** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 1:24 AM**

OD, may I agree totally.. The vertical lined glass box is a conundrum, and looks suburban. Too bad they can't have high-end retail there in a smart off-white stone building.

bb1510 · #**17364** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 4:03 AM**

there actually were some internal documents a few years back where the podium would house a neiman marcus, botega veneta, and alexander mcqueen with rbc moving relocating into the basement of royal centre with a pavilion to be built west of the current podium as the entrance

scryer · #**17365** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 4:13 AM**

Quote:

Royal Centre (KREC) Inc. has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop this site with alternations and reconstruction of the existing bank building.

The proposal includes the following:

alterations and additions to existing office lobby;
alterations to the interior of the existing mall; and
reconstruction of the existing bank building and a 5-storey commercial retail building.

Should be 10 floors, minimum, in downtown with 2 floors of rental apartments ontop.

VancouverOfTheFuture · #**17366** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 6:44 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by scryer

Should be 10 floors, minimum, in downtown with 2 floors of rental apartments ontop.

no, this is the business district. it has been constrained and shrunk too much as it is.

connect2source · #**17367** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 12:31 PM**

Glad to see this happening but not crazy about the design, the present design matches the shape, design, colour and materials of the RBC tower, sad that the new design couldn't mirror that somewhat keeping the cohesion of the overall complex.

rofina · #**17368** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 3:03 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by connect2source

Glad to see this happening but not crazy about the design, the present design matches the shape, design, colour and materials of the RBC tower, sad that the new design couldn't mirror that somewhat keeping the cohesion of the overall complex.

This.

Glad to see an upgrade for a busy corner, definitely miles better than existing.

But with the prominence of this corner, even if only 5 story I would love to see something more ambitious and memorable be built.

ericmacm · #**17369** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 4:18 PM**

That is a nice upgrade to the podium. It definitely does stand out a lot from the original tower, though. Hopefully it is not representative of a potential tower reclad in the future.

LeftCoaster · #**17370** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 6:05 PM**

I think the 5 storey height is actually pretty good for the area and interacts well with the Burrard/Georgia corner.

With that said I think the architecture and use is disappointing.

The architecture, while good, is far too safe for a corner of this magnitude. It should be much more daring and push the boundaries. I'm not a proponent of every building being a stand out and look at me architecture just for the sake of it, but this corner cries for a building that really pops.

The use is as well disappointing. With two corners being lux brands, a flagship Hermes and a Dior, this development should absolutely be looking for a slice of that pie with two floor retail throughout and a flagship lux on the corner.

IMO 2 floors of retail with 4-5 of office on top in a architecturally adventurous building would be the perfect fit there.

officedweller · #**17371** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 7:55 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

IMO 2 floors of retail with 4-5 of office on top in a architecturally adventurous building would be the perfect fit there.

Agreed.
... and the canopy is rather lacklustre compared to the swoop of the Trump Tower's canopy down the street.
(I think it's a trend to have a minimalist canopy - like the new CIBC Square in Toronto)

Odd thing is that PCI owns the Burrard Building with Tiffany and Hermes - so they know the luxury market in the area.
Must be RBC brass pushing for retail prominence.

I know it's not an office or retail building, but I think it could be scaled down with similar proportions for the Royal Centre site.
A standalone block like Bing Thom's Xiqu Centre in Hong Kong - but for retail - would be great.

https://www.brandhk.gov.hk/preview/en/HongKongsAdvantages/xiqu_centre_open.html

Vin · #**17372** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 8:05 PM**

Underwhelming design, but at least that corner of W. Georgia and Burrard won't be do dead after office hours. Hopefully they can tweak the design to make it into a larger mall that can be integrated into the underground retailing portion. We really do need a newer retail centre downtown.

GenWhy? · #**17373** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 9:32 PM**

My understanding that the 5-storey building is to be built 2nd and consists of a bank at-grade and related offices above. Zero street interaction what what is there now. Would like to be shown otherwise rather than just underground mall entrances for a cruddy "mall".

officedweller · #**17374** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 10:35 PM**

Yup, that's what it appears to be - quite disappointing.

SpongeG · #**17375** Posted **Jul 5, 2019, 10:48 PM**

I think the problem is the bank hogging all the good space.

city guy · #**17376** Posted **Jul 6, 2019, 4:51 AM**

what a disappointing mess...it's across the street from the Cathedral, kitty corner to the Fairmont, at one of the most important intersections in the city
...they should hire some good architects to do something special instead of the mundane and graceless piece of junk

trofirhen · #**17377** Posted **Jul 6, 2019, 5:13 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Vin

Underwhelming design, but at least that corner of W. Georgia and Burrard won't be do dead after office hours. Hopefully they can tweak the design to make it into a larger mall that can be integrated into the underground retailing portion. We really do need a newer retail centre downtown.

May I agree? It is possible, perhaps even probable, that the colored glass box will be redesigned into something classier.
As was discussed earliertowards a month ago, that corner could / should be rebuilt with retail on the first two floors, office space above. And the stores could be Nieman Marcus, and similar

scryer · #**17378** Posted **Jul 6, 2019, 5:43 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

no, this is the business district. it has been constrained and shrunk too much as it is.

Calm down girl; I'm obviously not one who calls the shots.

And watering down any proposal to 5 floors on the downtown peninsula reeks of NIMBYism.

mcminsen · #**17379** Posted **Jul 8, 2019, 12:39 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by mcminsen

July 3 '19, my pics

At some point in the past few days the two big pillars near Homer disappeared.

July 7 '19, my pics

mcminsen · #**17380** Posted **Jul 8, 2019, 1:00 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by x32ace

Walked past the RBC on West Georgia St and noticed a redevelopment application for the bank podium. Didn't have time to stop and take a picture, but found the application on the COV website.

https://development.vancouver.ca/1055wgeorgia/index.htm

source: https://development.vancouver.ca/1055wgeorgia/documents/3dviews.pdf

July 7 '19, my pic