The Ultimate Vancouver Rumour Thread!

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by bb1510

Looks like the rezoning enquiry was submitted to the city on Dec 20

I’m assuming public minutes will be made in three months or so

Someone file a FOI request.

[bb1510]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Someone file a FOI request.

I was about to do that lol

[Mininari]

Originally Posted by Van23H

Not to fuel the rumors. I know of a proposal downtown with a hotel/residence component that had a height pegged at over 1000 ft. Saw the drawings, rendering and model about two years ago. Not sure if this one has a pulse once again. Not the Westbank Butterfly proposal.

I've been following this interesting rumour about a 'very tall' for a bit, and I saw an old article today about the Vancouver Museum moving to a new (four-times larger) space in the upcoming redevelopment of the Westin Bayshore property. I am acquainted with one of the BOD members for the Vancouver Maritime Museum, and he told me a while back that they were looking forward to this move in 3 - 5 (maybe more) years, and that the development plans would be something truly world class... specifically, he said "Think Sydney Opera House" -- those words rang around in my brain and made me wonder if they would (dare) propose a 'very tall' tower as part of this hotel-residential development ... I know it wouldn't fit the Higher Buildings Policy at all, but it would be quite a bold thing to put forward -- and then negotiate down in height I would imagine.

Total speculation on my part.

Has anyone seen the full plans for the Westin Bayshore redevelopment?

Do the View Cones even permit a tall building there?

[Migrant_Coconut]

I'm sincerely hoping that this new "world class" building includes an overhauled Maritime Museum that's worth its new home - the current one is kind of a joke for anybody past elementary school.

[jollyburger]

Doubt it's the Westin project since it's too new and doesn't match up with much of the "rumor"

[Vancouver_Highrise]

I can confirm it’s not the Westin.

[Mininari]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I'm sincerely hoping that this new "world class" building includes an overhauled Maritime Museum that's worth its new home - the current one is kind of a joke for anybody past elementary school.

This is precisely the problem with the old location. They have something like 6 times as many artifacts and pieces of BC Maritime history than they have room to display right now. The centerpiece will remain the St. Roch II, but the new location should permit them to set something up thats "past elementary school." The downtown location would set it up to be a major attraction for tourists as it would be on the sea wall path from Canada Place around Stanley Park.

I'm hoping its comparable to the Fram Museum in Oslo -- its main centrepiece is the Fram, a key piece of Polar Research history, but the museum is spacious, and filled with other artifacts, and it was definitely worth the visit.

As for the tower idea, it was just a wild guess. I'm still very keen to see what sort of waterfront showpiece they come up with.

And of course, keen to learn what/where this tower rumour actually is

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Mininari

This is precisely the problem with the old location. They have something like 6 times as many artifacts and pieces of BC Maritime history than they have room to display right now. The centerpiece will remain the St. Roch II, but the new location should permit them to set something up thats "past elementary school." The downtown location would set it up to be a major attraction for tourists as it would be on the sea wall path from Canada Place around Stanley Park.

I'm hoping its comparable to the Fram Museum in Oslo -- its main centrepiece is the Fram, a key piece of Polar Research history, but the museum is spacious, and filled with other artifacts, and it was definitely worth the visit.

As for the tower idea, it was just a wild guess. I'm still very keen to see what sort of waterfront showpiece they come up with.

And of course, keen to learn what/where this tower rumour actually is

I agree a new building would be great, but I hate seeing the argument that "they can only display x% of their collection" in museum and gallery threads. Virtually every museum can only display a relatively small percentage of their collection. Building something to display almost everything is impractical and would bore most visitors anyway.

As to the Westin site, I expect that is dormant until they can come up with a plan to replace the market of rich offshore buyers they likely envisioned selling the units to.

[Hourglass]

Originally Posted by Mininari

I've been following this interesting rumour about a 'very tall' for a bit, and I saw an old article today about the Vancouver Museum moving to a new (four-times larger) space in the upcoming redevelopment of the Westin Bayshore property. I am acquainted with one of the BOD members for the Vancouver Maritime Museum, and he told me a while back that they were looking forward to this move in 3 - 5 (maybe more) years, and that the development plans would be something truly world class... specifically, he said "Think Sydney Opera House" -- those words rang around in my brain and made me wonder if they would (dare) propose a 'very tall' tower as part of this hotel-residential development ... I know it wouldn't fit the Higher Buildings Policy at all, but it would be quite a bold thing to put forward -- and then negotiate down in height I would imagine.

Total speculation on my part.

Has anyone seen the full plans for the Westin Bayshore redevelopment?

Do the View Cones even permit a tall building there?

Here’s the reference to the new Maritime Museum. Renzo Piano is the architect behind it. No idea what’s happening now with the plan: https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vancouver-maritime-museum-conceptual-design-may-2018

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by whatnext

I agree a new building would be great, but I hate seeing the argument that "they can only display x% of their collection" in museum and gallery threads. Virtually every museum can only display a relatively small percentage of their collection. Building something to display almost everything is impractical and would bore most visitors anyway.

TBF 5% of a collection is pathetic. Even 20% would be four times more interesting that what we have now... though given our comparative lack of history, that might not be saying much.

Originally Posted by Mininari

This is precisely the problem with the old location. They have something like 6 times as many artifacts and pieces of BC Maritime history than they have room to display right now. The centerpiece will remain the St. Roch II, but the new location should permit them to set something up thats "past elementary school." The downtown location would set it up to be a major attraction for tourists as it would be on the sea wall path from Canada Place around Stanley Park.

I'm hoping its comparable to the Fram Museum in Oslo -- its main centrepiece is the Fram, a key piece of Polar Research history, but the museum is spacious, and filled with other artifacts, and it was definitely worth the visit.

Sure, but we're talking about Fram and Norway. That's a thousand years' worth of Vikings, man-of-wars and polar explorers. St. Roch isn't exactly that kind of a storied vessel... unless they're planning to build a Discovery II to complement her?

[Vancouver_Highrise]

Renovations just recently started in the interior of the Westin so I doubt there will be any news anytime soon about the redevelopment. I spoke with the GM and they said the previous plans were obviously very preliminary and that it was a long term vision 5-10 yeas out.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

TBF 5% of a collection is pathetic. Even 20% would be four times more interesting that what we have now... though given our comparative lack of history, that might not be saying much...

Is the British Museum pathetic? That about the percentage of their collection on display. The larger museums generally have a maximum of 5% on display. Trotting out a % is a specious argument. The public is just as well served by constantly rotating exhibits which sadly none of Vancouver's museums seem to have the money for.

I have no idea what's in the VMM's collection but you can be sure there plenty of things the average visitor has no interest in. Better to digitize them.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Nobody's calling for every item to be on display, that'd be stupid.

Yet not only are some museums planning to expand to thirty percent, but the "larger ones" like the British Museum have managed to find, loot or otherwise acquire 80,000 artifacts; 5% of their public exhibitions is about 27% of the VMM's, and 30% would be bigger than the entire collection. While it's not a competition, even 15-20% (2,000-3,000) would put us on a decent footing.

[bb1510]

Today's news by CF knocks one off the potential sites list

[Vancouver_Highrise]

RIU was looking for a location for a new hotel. I hope it’s the W although I guess they are rebranding the Marriott in Toronto to a W.

[bb1510]

Personally, if it's going to be a more contemporary Marriott line, I'd prefer an Edition or an Andaz instead of a W. Of course, a Ritz would be nice

Waldorf Astoria? Park Hyatt? Mandarin Oriental? Peninsula? Conrad?

Won't be an Aman for sure. Speaking of Aman, if the Hotel Vancouver were to ever rebrand in the future, I could see that as a suitable property here with landmark residences in the upper portion should zoning permit

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by bb1510

Today's news by CF knocks one off the potential sites list

So... Bay Parkade?

[bb1510]

what about the bay itself? or the burrard building?

[officedweller]

Hermes just reno'd in the Burrard Building - so doubt that's anywhere in the near term.

HBC - guess it depends if Rio-Can is interested, or another deal to sell the building is in the works.
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business...n-talks-to-redevelop-vancouver-property/

[bb1510]

actually I can say that two are in the works, one is just more ahead of the other