Burnaby Updates

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Also depends on if he/she lives near a SkyTrain Station and whether the workplace is also near a station - bussing it to a station would kill it.

... or does he/she have free parking at work?
... and/or does he/she have other commitments after work that are not easily accessible by SkyTrain (ie sports practices)?

Driving takes 20 minutes, walking + train takes 25. Maybe if those were flipped, he would take transit, removing a car from roads that commercial vehicles or those that drive for work actually need.

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

ahh yes, because good traffic flow is a bad thing.

I didn't say that. Good traffic flow is very important for emergency or commercial vehicles, or for people that have no other choice but to drive.

It is well established that most people aren't car or bus or bike people. They simply choose the most reliable and fastest mode of transportation. The Vancouver metropolitan area has set very lofty goals for mode-share, but most people who currently drive to work won't start walking or riding a bus unless the variables in their decision matrix change. This change could be transit consistently improving, but concurrently widening roads and building new freeways. That would not motivate rapid change. The alternative is to not add capacity to the roadways, invest even more in transit, and that shift in mode share will happen even faster.

I am not against driving. I grew up on a farm, and we had to drive everywhere. I also know there are plumbers and Amazon delivery drivers and construction workers and all other sorts of people who have to drive. Those people are not the issue. The problem is the person who lives in Kerrisdale and drives to the office downtown. They will never choose to stop driving unless it becomes slower than the bus or prohibitively expensive, or if they have a crisis of conscience and decide cars are bad for the environment. I am not mad at these people, because they are making a rational decision.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

I am not against driving. I grew up on a farm, and we had to drive everywhere. I also know there are plumbers and Amazon delivery drivers and construction workers and all other sorts of people who have to drive. Those people are not the issue. The problem is the person who lives in Kerrisdale and drives to the office downtown. They will never choose to stop driving unless it becomes slower than the bus or prohibitively expensive, or if they have a crisis of conscience and decide cars are bad for the environment. I am not mad at these people, because they are making a rational decision.

Most people aren't bike people, there are more people that can be converted to bus/Skytrain/walking. The only change will be a mobility tax but how they put out a system that taxes those Kerrisdale drivers and those people who might need a car will be fun to figure out.

[Spr0ckets]

I don't believe these have been posted before.
(probably just the proposal and rezoning applications but not any images)

A couple of new tower proposals for Olive Avenue in the Patterson area by Polygon with DYS Architecture as project designers.
Presented at the Public hearing last week, Tuesday:-

Olive North (Strata) and Olive Court (strata and rental lowrise) at 5869 Olive Ave., and 5900 Olive Ave., respectively
(yes, not very imaginative names):-






Olive North
5868 Olive Ave.
Full documents :-
https://pub-burnaby.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=56460













Olive Court
5900 Olive Ave.
Full documents :-
https://pub-burnaby.escribemeetings.com/FileStream.ashx?DocumentId=56461

[FarmerHaight]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

The only change will be a mobility tax but how they put out a system that taxes those Kerrisdale drivers and those people who might need a car will be fun to figure out.

I would like to see the carbon tax implemented in a more comprehensive fashion. Hike the rates way up, so that it actually makes driving more expensive, but offer subsidies for farmers, contract workers, people who provide essential services in remote locations, etc. You already get to claim automotive expenses on your corporate or personal tax return if you meet specific criteria. The CRA also requires you to keep a log book of KMs driven for business purposes, so it shouldn't be that difficult to figure out a subsidy program. Maybe filings could even be quarterly like GST or bi-weekly like payroll so that the timing differences between fuel expenses and subsidy proceeds would be reduced.

[officedweller]

Olive North and Olive Court look great!
Simple concept, should be easy to build and maintain.

Originally Posted by FarmerHaight

Driving takes 20 minutes, walking + train takes 25. Maybe if those were flipped, he would take transit, removing a car from roads that commercial vehicles or those that drive for work actually need.

It also depends if he links trips.
If he just goes work<->home direct all the time, yeah, it's a bit of a waste, esp. if it's just walking to a station.

[Klazu]

Agreed, those two Olive Avenue projects looks awesome. I also like that they are only 30-some floors, adding height variation to the areas. They are also less of a pointy tower and slightly more wider - nice! The only odd thing will be that one lot in between them or is that the rebuilt low-rise seen on some of the renderings?

This area has been neglected for so long that it is awesome to see so many projects going up. It is going to transform this part of Metrotown.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Klazu

Agreed, those two Olive Avenue projects looks awesome. I also like that they are only 30-some floors, adding height variation to the areas. They are also less of a pointy tower and slightly more wider - nice! The only odd thing will be that one lot in between them or is that the rebuilt low-rise seen on some of the renderings?

This area has been neglected for so long that it is awesome to see so many projects going up. It is going to transform this part of Metrotown.

There is a lot between these two projects - it currently has a 3 storey rental building on it. I don't know if they'll be able to comfortably fit another tower there but something even 6 storeys would be an improvement (a mid rise would be nice too).

Does anyone have a map of what's been proposed for the area between Central Park and Willingdon, and Kingsway and Central Blvd? I know a few towers have been and have hazy recollections of a couple more.

I like that these towers are showing as light with dark details (I think that's the next 'in thing'). We used to only see that on low rises and not much pn high rises.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Sheba

There is a lot between these two projects - it currently has a 3 storey rental building on it. I don't know if they'll be able to comfortably fit another tower there but something even 6 storeys would be an improvement (a mid rise would be nice too).

Does anyone have a map of what's been proposed for the area between Central Park and Willingdon, and Kingsway and Central Blvd? I know a few towers have been and have hazy recollections of a couple more.

I like that these towers are showing as light with dark details (I think that's the next 'in thing'). We used to only see that on low rises and not much pn high rises.

The map I posted along with the Olive Court/North projects shows a few of the proposed projects in the adjacent neighbourhood:-



Here are some of them in detail including the two Olive projects in that post, and it seems the area between Patterson Skytrain and at least Kathleen Ave. to the East would see anywhere between 6-7 towers currently on the drawing board as proposed and applying for rezoning/officially under construction, with that potential 7th one being the site of the concrete brutalist building at the corner just north of the SKytrain station that recently went on sale with a hook for potentially rezoning for a high density highrise residential on what's clearly a prime site.

(going anticlockwise from the one just south of Aldynne on the Park)

There's the one shown just south of Aldynne at the Park by Concord Pacific (and IBI Group) at 5895 Barker Avenue.



More on it here....
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/5895-barker-avenue-burnaby-concord-pacific


There's the Anthem tower at 6075 Wilson that's currently just began construction and just recently completed demolition of the existing lowrise in preparation for site clearing and excavation.
It's shown as 40 storey in that key plan image but is really 44 storeys as proposed.



More info here....
https://www.urbanyvr.com/anthem-condo-tower-burnaby/


And then there's (what used to be) Central Park House by Bosa, which I believe is now going by 'The Wilson' instead (I don't know why they went for the name change. Maybe they didn't want brand confusion with the other more famous Central Park.) at 5977 WILSON
It's shown on the map as "Blue Sky Properties", which is a Bosa subsidiary or company.

We all know this one....



And then there's another Blue Sky Properties project just outside that map at 5994 Kathleen Avenue.
It's the rental that's had a rough go of it with the Council (understandably so), and which is being built in conjunction or in concert with the Central Park/The Wilson Bosa project, as some of the Density to build this one is getting transferred from the Central Park site and the deal being these are replacement units for the rentals being demolished on the twoo sites.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/5994-kathleen-avenue-burnaby-bosa-kathleen



This image (below) shows two adjacent proposed towers - one of which I believe is the Central Park House project, and the other should be the Olive North project (?) (the image is shown looking South from Kingsway or Kemp).

And the obvious (elephant or more like, Mammoth in the room) one not shown, but in the general area or vicinity is the 70+ storey tower(s) proposal by Bosa at the corner of Kingsway and Willingdon (the Esso station) - potentially likely to be the tallest tower in Metrotown (...and the whole of the GVA at least until the Lougheed Town 80+ storey towers get built).

So really the area might have anywhere up to 8 or even 9 or 10 tower project proposals before you even get to Willingdon. But these are the ones that have been publicized and for which we have concrete info., for certain. I might have missed a couple. Anyone should feel free to add any omissions or corrections.




P.S.:-

I don't know if the Telus "Boot" building qualifies as being part of that neighbourhood, but obviously there are plans to redevelop/refurbish it as well.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Sheba

There is a lot between these two projects - it currently has a 3 storey rental building on it. I don't know if they'll be able to comfortably fit another tower there but something even 6 storeys would be an improvement (a mid rise would be nice too).

.....

More likely what happened ( I suspect and would guess) is that the owner of that lowrise or the lot it sits one refused to budge on selling, and Polygon didn't want to hold out forever and decided to just go ahead with redeveloping the lots adjacent to it.

It happens a lot, and makes it really hard to redevelop that remaining interstitial lot in the future because of how it sits (or will sit) between two tall towers and the likelihood of shadowing, undesirable views, and perhaps even the lot size itself.

It could of course be redeveloped into yet another lowrise (but slightly taller at 6 or even as high as 8 storeys) to replace it, which is likely what Polygon would have put there anyway (as a rental building) to get even more density and hgeight for one of their two towers.

[jollyburger]

Larco is opening a new film studio and the Willingdon Lands might see a 450,000 sq feet studio as part of the redevelopment.

A massive city-owned land sale will see another film studio come to fruition in Burnaby.

The City of Burnaby says it's sold a 17.1-acre property to Larco Investments Ltd. for $136 million to make way for a 300,000-square-foot film studio at 3990 Marine Way. An adjacent road allowance is also included and located near the Riverway Golf Course in Burnaby's Big Bend neighbourhood.

“When we raised the possibility of selling this parcel of city-owned land, we made it clear that our priority was to find a partner committed to putting down roots in Burnaby and creating jobs in our city," Mayor Mike Hurley said in the announcement.

“Larco has a track record of creating industry-leading studio space and this project promises to support more than a thousand well-paying jobs in our community.”

The complex is expected to include:

Sixteen sound stages
Several mill shops
Three storeys of office space
Landscape improvements and enhancements to the riparian areas near Kaymar Creen and Glenlyon Creek
Larco has owned and operated Bridge Studios since 2007 and also has other studio sites in Burnaby under development at Lake City Way and Griffiths Drive.

Bridge Studios isn't a stranger to producing high-end content where work on television shows like Tomorrowland and ABC's The Good Doctor took place.

“With the addition of the development of the Marine Way site to our studio portfolio including Bridge, Griffiths, and Lake City, we are excited to become the largest studio operator in BC with 55 state-of-the-art custom-built sound stages as well as associated studio facilities and services for top production companies and content providers,” Larco principal Mansoor Lalji added in the announcement.

"We look forward to continuing to grow this important industry for Burnaby and B.C.”

Another film studio was proposed earlier this month when the Musqueam Indian Band, Tsleil-Waututh Nation and Aquilini Development announced a massive master plan has been proposed for the redevelopment of the Willingdon Lands in Burnaby.

The plan outlines the creation of a mixed-use, contemporary Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh urban village that, if approved, would provide approximately 5,000 housing units and include a 450,000-square-foot film studio that could create more than 3,000 new, long-term jobs to the city.

Located on the southwest corner of Willingdon Avenue and Canada Way, the 40-acre Willingdon Lands lie on the shared territory of the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations. In 2014, the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh nations, along with Aquilini Development, purchased the lands from the provincial government.

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/bu...136m-to-make-way-for-film-studio-4804476

They also started construction on the new EA complex

https://www.burnabynow.com/local-news/el...otprint-with-massive-new-complex-4811367

[officedweller]

Thanks for the summary Spr0ckets!

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Thanks for the summary Spr0ckets!

No problem!

I should have mentioned (and I just noticed and realized), in that very last image I posted of the streestcape showing the Blue Sky Properties rental tower at 5994 Kathleen Ave. in relation to the proposed towers neighbouring it, the existing one 2 or 3 level building next to Willingdon sits just south of what will be the 70+ storey Bosa tower - which means that if you take that streetscape view from Kingsway, you will have a tower located at just about that spot (of the existing lowrise) that's upwards of DOUBLE the height (or possibly more likely more than double) of that (34 storey) rental tower).
It's gonna be huge.
(And there's two of them proposed for that Esso site, if I recall correctly with the other one being shorter).

That's crazy and just boggles the mind.
It's going to dwarf everything in that area outside of Anthem's proposed Metro King tower on the old Cactus Club lot.

But I'll believe it (that they'll build it to that actual height or thereabouts) when they're actually topping out the crown and taking down the crane, since we all know how these proposed heights go sometimes versus the realized finished product (**cough**SunTowers1**cough**).
As of yet, they've not even submitted a formal rezoning or DP application.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Here are some of them in detail including the two Olive projects in that post, and it seems the area between Patterson Skytrain and at least Kathleen Ave. to the East would see anywhere between 6-7 towers currently on the drawing board as proposed and applying for rezoning/officially under construction, with that potential 7th one being the site of the concrete brutalist building at the corner just north of the SKytrain station that recently went on sale with a hook for potentially rezoning for a high density highrise residential on what's clearly a prime site.


So really the area might have anywhere up to 8 or even 9 or 10 tower project proposals before you even get to Willingdon. But these are the ones that have been publicized and for which we have concrete info., for certain. I might have missed a couple. Anyone should feel free to add any omissions or corrections.



P.S.:-

I don't know if the Telus "Boot" building qualifies as being part of that neighbourhood, but obviously there are plans to redevelop/refurbish it as well.

Plotting those on a map shows how many of the low rises in the area are slated for redevelopment!

I might have found a couple more from the Major Developments page

REZ #17-24 Solterra Development Corp.
6004, 6006 and 6018 Wilson Avenue
Construction of a single high-rise apartment building with townhouses fronting Wilson Avenue
Initial Report 2017.12.11

REZ #21-12 Bosa Properties Inc.
6031 Wilson Avenue
The purpose of the proposed rezoning bylaw amendment is to permit the construction of a high-rise residential strata building and a low-rise non-market rental building
Initial Report 2021.06.14


Nah The Boot is on the other side of Central Park - completely separate from this.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

More likely what happened ( I suspect and would guess) is that the owner of that lowrise or the lot it sits one refused to budge on selling, and Polygon didn't want to hold out forever and decided to just go ahead with redeveloping the lots adjacent to it.

It happens a lot, and makes it really hard to redevelop that remaining interstitial lot in the future because of how it sits (or will sit) between two tall towers and the likelihood of shadowing, undesirable views, and perhaps even the lot size itself.

It could of course be redeveloped into yet another lowrise (but slightly taller at 6 or even as high as 8 storeys) to replace it, which is likely what Polygon would have put there anyway (as a rental building) to get even more density and hgeight for one of their two towers.

I'm with you on that. Eventually it'll be replaced with something bigger than what's there now.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Plotting those on a map shows how many of the low rises in the area are slated for redevelopment!

I might have found a couple more from the Major Developments page

REZ #17-24 Solterra Development Corp.
6004, 6006 and 6018 Wilson Avenue
Construction of a single high-rise apartment building with townhouses fronting Wilson Avenue
Initial Report 2017.12.11

REZ #21-12 Bosa Properties Inc.
6031 Wilson Avenue
The purpose of the proposed rezoning bylaw amendment is to permit the construction of a high-rise residential strata building and a low-rise non-market rental building
Initial Report 2021.06.14


Nah The Boot is on the other side of Central Park - completely separate from this.

Thanks for those.
I completely missed them.

That Solterrra one has been percolating for a really long time.
Since 2017 (for the initial report). That's four years gestating, and practically an eternity in redevelopment years.

Most projects that remain in the oven for that long are typically in "stalled" territory or on the verge of being sold off to another developer.

You're right about the Boot.
It pretty much sits on an Island on its own where its located right on the border between Burnaby and Vancouver - so much so that if it were part of a neighbourhood, I would have imagined the Patterson area one would be the closest

It's also pretty funny how the City of Vancouver limits heights of highrises in the Joyce and Collingwood area based on its height and it's not even part of their city boundaries.
Meanwhile Burnaby it greenlighting 60-70 storey towers not that far from that spot.

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Thanks for those.
I completely missed them.

That Solterrra one has been percolating for a really long time.
Since 2017 (for the initial report). That's four years gestating, and practically an eternity in redevelopment years.

Most projects that remain in the oven for that long are typically in "stalled" territory or on the verge of being sold off to another developer.

Both of Polygon's Olive towers were proposed in 2017, and are now being progressed. All four of Belford's towers that they've recently submitted details of, were first submitted in 2017. Kirpal's 'Contour' was first proposed in 2017, and is just coming to market. There were a lot of projects that year, and developers have been waiting and bringing them forward steadily, rather than all competing for the finite number of potential buyers.

Central Park House hasn't had it's name changed. The Wilson is probably one of Bosa's future projects

[jollyburger]

More renderings in the article

Aquilini Development is teaming up with the Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations on the redevelopment of the Nations’ shared territory in Burnaby, known as the Willingdon Lands.

The mixed-use development proposed for Canada Way and Willingdon Avenue will add approximately 5,000 new housing units, as well as a 450,000 square foot film studio, expected to add 3,000 new jobs to the city. The development is envisioned as a “15-minute neighbourhood” with employment, education, transportation, health care, and retail all located within a 15-minute walk.

The housing will consist of a variety of tenures including leasehold strata, market rental, moderate-income rental, affordable rental and live-work units. A childcare centre is also planned.

https://www.urbanyvr.com/willingdon-lands/

[Sheba]

Also: First Nations plan 5,000 homes and film studio next to BCIT Burnaby

...

The development will include 5,000 residential units that will have wide appeal.

The variety of housing forms is a direct response to the recommendations made by the Mayor’s Task Force on Community Housing in Burnaby, which called for the creation of sustainable and accessible communities plus an increase of affordable rental housing.

Housing types will include leasehold strata, market rental, moderate-income rental, affordable rental, and live-work units.

...

On November 23, 2021, the master plan will be presented to the City of Burnaby’s Planning and Development Committee. It will be followed by public consultations and a public hearing anticipated in the spring of 2022.

The official website is here.

[Lexus]

2021, December 10

Ice rinks by Edmonds.

Untitled by Lexus LX570, on Flickr

[Klazu]

Installing LED lighting under the SkyTrain guideway is progressing well in Metrotown. They are almost done with the section between Metrotown and Patterson. Looking forward to seeing it turned on for the first time in coming weeks.