Oakridge Park | 13 Towers | 154m | 52fl | 5M sqft | U/C - Page 76

FarmerHaight · #**1501** Posted **Aug 27, 2021, 3:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

this really surprised me. i haven't been downtown much at all. but it is everywhere now. it really has gone downhill quite a bit. i know of 2 businesses personally that have moved out of downtown due to the issues with the vagrants everywhere.

I think the exodus of downtown businesses (if it is really happening) is a combination of a few factors. Yes, there are more homeless downtown compared to Broadway or Richmond, but I work downtown and walk the sidewalks daily and it isn't overwhelming.

Business make the same calculations as private consumers, and rents may be too high for many downtown businesses to make the rents work. This article quotes the owner of the Irish Heather who moved out of downtown because rents are too high and went to... Chinatown, where the "vagrant" situation is unarguably worse.

dreambrother808 · #**1502** Posted **Aug 27, 2021, 7:04 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I think the exodus of downtown businesses (if it is really happening) is a combination of a few factors. Yes, there are more homeless downtown compared to Broadway or Richmond, but I work downtown and walk the sidewalks daily and it isn't overwhelming.

Business make the same calculations as private consumers, and rents may be too high for many downtown businesses to make the rents work. This article quotes the owner of the Irish Heather who moved out of downtown because rents are too high and went to... Chinatown, where the "vagrant" situation is unarguably worse.

Yes, it’s the usual people exaggerating downtown’s problems. As people have started to get back to some pre-covid patterns, it’s become less salient as well.

I do think that Oakridge will fill a higher-end mall niche though, similar to Yorkdale in Toronto.

SpongeG · #**1503** Posted **Aug 27, 2021, 8:19 PM**

I was downtown last week and it was a lot quieter than normal. We went for dinner at 7 and then for a walk around 8:30, and wanted to get a drink, a Starbucks chai, there were no Starbucks open according to the ap after 9 pm.

The Breka place on Thurlow had a lineup outside the door, barely anything was open after 9 pm, really no interest in going all the way downtown now if it's all closed up so early. There is also a lot of street people that are either more visible now because of lack of tourists and regular folk or they are just increasing in numbers, but you hear a lot of screaming and people muttering allowed wandering around and people sleeping in places, I even saw someone in a tent on Alberni street, it was never this bad as fas as homeless and people with mental disorders wandering about.

I could see Oakridge becoming more upscale, its far enough away from downtown that brands could want to open second locations.

Vin · #**1504** Posted **Aug 30, 2021, 8:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I was downtown last week and it was a lot quieter than normal. We went for dinner at 7 and then for a walk around 8:30, and wanted to get a drink, a Starbucks chai, there were no Starbucks open according to the ap after 9 pm.

The Breka place on Thurlow had a lineup outside the door, barely anything was open after 9 pm, really no interest in going all the way downtown now if it's all closed up so early. There is also a lot of street people that are either more visible now because of lack of tourists and regular folk or they are just increasing in numbers, but you hear a lot of screaming and people muttering allowed wandering around and people sleeping in places, I even saw someone in a tent on Alberni street, it was never this bad as fas as homeless and people with mental disorders wandering about.

I could see Oakridge becoming more upscale, its far enough away from downtown that brands could want to open second locations.

In the beginning of August, there was an influx of people coming into the downtown core when Canadians and residents from other parts of the country flocked here to travel. For a while people wandering the streets seemed nicer, cleaner, better dressed and even looked healthier. There were kids and family members in groups walking around the downtown core, which was a far cry from previous months when you only saw shabby hoodied and ill-looking zombies sneaking around, or the loud-mouthed tattooed gang-bangers dining at the patios in Yaletown. But I think with back-to-school and visitors leaving the city, the local shadier characters will once again roam our fine streets. Can't expect too much in a city lacking law enforcement and punishment.

In the downtown core, there isn't really much one can do except some shopping, dining and simply walking around. We don't have a single quality museum to showcase here. Businesses here act like they are under some kind of siege all the time, which is a sad reality these days. So there is no real reason locals want to come downtown, especially at night.

Vin · #**1505** Posted **Aug 30, 2021, 8:16 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by s211

Maybe ten years ago, but try that now. A lot of mall operators have been hammered with human right claims because of trying to refuse access.

Not really. People can still be asked to leave if they infringe upon the rights of other people, and that can be something simple as having foul odour, creating a scene, harassing others, etc. There are others who are ex-cons or known to the mall authority. Some are even black-listed. These individuals can be asked or made to leave.

Good luck with the "human right" suits because just a sight of the litigants will make the judge toss out the cases in defense of the plaintiffs.

At least this is what a just society is about.

Lexus · #**1506** Posted **Sep 25, 2021, 9:32 PM**

2021, September 25
Good visible progress since a month ago update. Site now has 8 cranes. 4 North and 4 South.

Untitled by Lexus LX570, on Flickr

Klazu · #**1507** Posted **Sep 25, 2021, 11:21 PM**

Thanks. If this would be a construction site in Europe there would be 20 tower cranes onsite. They love using lots of cranes even on small sites.

officedweller · #**1508** Posted **Sep 26, 2021, 3:53 AM**

Great shots!
Love the ones with the barrel vault skeleton.

Feathered Friend · #**1509** Posted **Oct 7, 2021, 10:22 PM**

Quote:

Forgotten Details Threaten To Turn Vancouver’s Parkside Daydream Into A Contested Battleground

650 W 41st Ave (DP-2021-00512) –
Development Application 6 -The Commons, Upper Green, & Building 12
I’m a fairly rational person, yet I literally shivered when Hannah asked what would happen if, after eight reviews, the Urban Design Panel decided to reject the most recent phase of the Oakridge Centre. Sure enough, a few days later, that jinx turned what was supposed to be a short one hour review into a two and half hour marathon, that capped off a five hour session. That said, a couple members were upset it didn’t stretch on far longer.

It’s tough to join a complex process this far in, but it felt cruel when a recent addition insisted city staff, and the applicant spend multiple hours regurgitating 14 years of approved plans and five prior phases. Besides, as another panellist remarked afterwards, all of this was contained in their handout booklets that spanned hundreds of pages. Still, it was acknowledged this is about more than a single tower, as this centrepiece marked the culmination of this nine-acre park’s long journey.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2021/10/07...-daydream-into-a-contested-battleground/

CondoInvestor · #**1510** Posted **Oct 8, 2021, 3:11 AM**

so was it approved?

Feathered Friend · #**1511** Posted **Oct 8, 2021, 3:18 AM**

Why spoil the end of the article?

But yes, the Urban Design Panel supported it, though its approval will be up to the Development Permit Board who meets on the 18th.

officedweller · #**1512** Posted **Oct 25, 2021, 11:42 PM**

Got this by e-mail today.

I've seen a lot of advertsing referencing "Oakridge Park".
Is that a new name for the whole project, or only the park on the rooftop?

Looks like a new (better!) interior court design.

I think that replaces this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by officedweller

and a few model pics I don't think I've seen before.
It looks a bit generic and sterile on the inside...

2020 model of Oakridge Centre. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/oakridge-centre-redevelopment-construction

jollyburger · #**1513** Posted **Oct 26, 2021, 1:29 AM**

It seems like it's a name for the entire project from a few references I've seen. In a HK Magazine Westbank calls the "park" "Gardens at Oakridge Park"