The Ultimate Vancouver Rumour Thread!

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by bb1510

when projects get severely value engineered before the rezoning inquiry stage

keep an eye out in a few days (idk if public inquiry submissions are publicly posted though)

Good news or bad news?

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by bb1510

keep an eye out in a few days (idk if public inquiry submissions are publicly posted though)

Thanks. But there is little point in sharing something in the rumour thread without including even the slightest bit of information regarding the basic nature of the project you are referring to, like “a major downtown project” or “a tall downtown project” or something a little more informative like that.

[Feathered Friend]

The only enquiry that I can think of offhand, that hasn't had an application go public yet, would be the Neil Denari tower at 902 Davie St.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2018/06/29...eak-in-downtown-vancouvers-architecture/

[LowerLonsdaleMike]

Originally Posted by Prometheus

Thanks. But there is little point in sharing something in the rumour thread without including even the slightest bit of information regarding the basic nature of the project you are referring to, like “a major downtown project” or “a tall downtown project” or something a little more informative like that.

Aint that the truth. Stop teasing us with irrelevant posts.

[jollyburger]

I believe bb1510. He always tells the truth.

[Metro-One]

Is that sarcasm or not?

I don’t know, seeing how the only larger residential towers constructed downtown are high end luxury, and the fact that there is a glut of such proposals already waiting in line, outside of another office tower or a special circumstance (such as the Squamish project) I can’t see anything to major being proposed in Vancouver proper at this time (especially just before Christmas).

Happy to be proven wrong though.

[logan5]

The ultimate rumour thread is always a big let down.

[Metro-One]

More often than not, yes.

Can’t actually remember the last time we had a rumor posted on here that wasn’t disappointing / minor / never materialized.

All of the good projects that we have seen seem to skip this thread and move straight to the downtown updates thread, the business thread, the Burnaby thread, or have a thread of their own made from the get go.

[Feathered Friend]

I mean, I understand why people are curious and want juicy rumours, but at the same time one has to remember the people posting / leaking things are literally putting their jobs on the line.

Post the wrong thing, and you can trigger opposition to kill a project, give the leg up to a competitor, or alternatively sour a contract negotiation.

Sometimes the only thing worse than not knowing a secret, is having to keep it.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

I mean, I understand why people are curious and want juicy rumours, but at the same time one has to remember the people posting / leaking things are literally putting their jobs on the line.

Post the wrong thing, and you can trigger opposition to kill a project, give the leg up to a competitor, or alternatively sour a contract negotiation.

Sometimes the only thing worse than not knowing a secret, is having to keep it.

Oh I get that, and nothing against bb1510, always nice for someone to drop a rumor, just recently there have been a few deflations that have put a damper on rumors.

Nice to get just a bit more of a hint of info to gauge how much interest it should perk.

[bb1510]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Oh I get that, and nothing against bb1510, always nice for someone to drop a rumor, just recently there have been a few deflations that have put a damper on rumors.

Nice to get just a bit more of a hint of info to gauge how much interest it should perk.

I did offer more clues that could've been easily guessed months ago but no one seemed interested at the time so I removed it

Here it is again and it will be deleted by the end of the week if it doesn't show up at the city:


lots of past rumours/discussion a few years back in the threads, starchitect "ABC", very tall, originally would've had a public amenity that was recently demolished but that's axed, new public space

I think that's the most that can be said at this time

and yes, prepare for this rumour to be completely deflated because I can see the city completely rejecting this and cutting it in half heightwise

[Metro-One]

Very interesting, thanks!

Intrigued about the public amenity... something that was recently demolished...

Well hopefully what you are alluding to becomes public by the end of this week as you are hinting.

[bb1510]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Very interesting, thanks!

Intrigued about the public amenity... something that was recently demolished...

Well hopefully what you are alluding to becomes public by the end of this week as you are hinting.

rezoning inquiry to be submitted, idk if it will show up publicly; maybe the cityduo blog will talk about it

about the public amenity, there's multiple but the part about "something recently demolished" was another one in addition to the others but seems to be axed for more economic programs

either way, if one is familiar with the project, then you'll be disappointed given the original cladding proposal by the architects but if it's to the public eye, then I believe you'll be surprised but eventually disappointed by the city's rejection but who knows, they could turn 180.

All in all, everyone will be both excited and disappointed to be completely honest, it just depends on which stage you were introduced to the project at

Another interesting project to keep an eye out for is on Alberni, closer to Stanley Park but nearby the other current starchitect projects. Very interesting as well but DP will be in 2023. Different developer but has other projects nearby. This will be later down the road.

When someone mentioned giving a leg up to competitors, it's funny because I can think of a few developers who have their children interning at Onni maybe cause they think they're adept at value engineering projects lol

[Prometheus]

Thanks for the additional information. Now that’s juicy!

I assume the amenity you are referring to is a revolving restaurant (or rooftop restaurant of some kind), as once existed at the top of the recently demolished Landmark.

Regarding location, it seemingly would have to be one of the very few remaining non-viewcone sites, but the fact that Hermes just completed an expensive renovation would seem to militate against the Burrard Building. In that case, the site immediately south of the Burrard Building (on the southwest corner of Burrard and Alberni) seems like the next best candidate, as it is extremely underdeveloped. The problem is current city policy limits the site to about the height of the Butterfly, which Gillespie originally wanted to make the city’s new tallest at 750 feet before that plan was killed by the small town instincts of city staff and council.

That said, I do recall your once responding to a post which referred to the Four Season’s site, which is closing down soon and has been the subject of rumours about a large redevelopment. It’s not a non-viewcone site but it does have a viewcone shadow going over it (although that doesn’t seem adequate to accommodate anything as tall as you seem to be implying).

So, it will be very interesting to learn more about this mystery project. Given the extreme restrictive nature of current city policy, it’s so rare that we receive any exciting news these days.

Thanks again.

[jollyburger]

I'll just guess the HBC parking lot.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I'll just guess the HBC parking lot.

Last I heard last month the team on that got canned.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Last I heard last month the team on that got canned.

Surely you weren't seriously expecting Holborn to actually do something?

Though "something recently demolished" would apply to Little Mountain....

[jollyburger]

I don't think the building site has to necessarily be directly connected with whatever demolished he was referring to IMO.

And Holborn said in August they aren't doing anything with the parkade anytime soon, so I guess that's a really bad guess.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Surely you weren't seriously expecting Holborn to actually do something?

Though "something recently demolished" would apply to Little Mountain....

would it though? that's been gone awhile.

in any event i don't think Little Mountain is at that stage yet. probably not for a few years if i had to guess.

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

I'll just guess the HBC parking lot.

The HBC parkade site is currently limited by city policy to a mere 90 metres (viewcone, of course). However, there has been talk on here about something happening (e.g. the new Broadway Corridor Plan or city hall moving or a viewcone review, etc.) that might nullify the viewcone over this site. But then we would just be back to the city arbitrarily limiting the height to a conservative level anyway through zoning, in accordance with its small town instincts.