Vancouver Infill & Lowrise Updates Discussion

[cov]

Originally Posted by whatnext

LOL showing how little you know. It’s been open throughout the pandemic with private showings and takeout popcorn. Of course the area doesn’t have the squads of screaming junkies that give downtown such animation.

my bad. I see homeless people sleeping by the entrance all the time and just assumed it was closed because the place is so gross-looking. Maybe the new build can include social venues as well.

[Migrant_Coconut]

I spent about five years in Dunbar before the junkies, and even back then, the theatre was completely forgettable. Keep the sign... bulldoze everything else for all I care.

Any other good sites for a new West Side cineplex?

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

I spent about five years in Dunbar before the junkies, and even back then, the theatre was completely forgettable. Keep the sign... bulldoze everything else for all I care.

Any other good sites for a new West Side cineplex?

UBC? I guess it's too small to support one even with some of the West Side thrown in

[SpongeG]

the area where the old Safeway was on west 10th might be good. I am surprised that there is no Movie theatre that services UBC, also no decent shopping mall. A lot of the great universities on the West Coast have nice shopping malls near the campus, Seattle has University Village, Stanford has Stanford shopping Center.

That old Safeway area on 10th could make a good location for something decent. Lots of potential.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

the area where the old Safeway was on west 10th might be good. I am surprised that there is no Movie theatre that services UBC, also no decent shopping mall. A lot of the great universities on the West Coast have nice shopping malls near the campus, Seattle has University Village, Stanford has Stanford shopping Center.

That old Safeway area on 10th could make a good location for something decent. Lots of potential.

The Varsity Theatre on that stretch of 10th used to serve in that capacity. Bit of a coincidence that the slide of that commercial strip started after it was demolished for condos.

[Feathered Friend]

Without A Second Look Broadway Family Homes Get Pushed Towards The Light

2037-2061 E Broadway
If there’s anything I’ll miss about these virtual meetings, aside from spending more time with Hannah, it’s the discussions that happen when people forget they were being broadcast live. For instance, as this applicant team waited for the Urban Design Panel’s in-camera agenda to end, I overheard a hilarious conversation about their knowledge of “Doggy Coins.” I also learned they genuinely felt theirs was the best project on this stretch of East Broadway, and would easily win unanimous support.

One even questioned why this review was necessary, as they believed this concept incorporated the best elements of their other proposal at 2550 Garden Drive that was approved in 2019. The answer is simple, as despite complying with the Grandview Woodland Community Plan, community opposition convinced city council to substantially cutback that aforementioned six floor building. Ever since, city staff have been especially attentive to the demands of the neighbouring single-family homeowners, and so have these volunteers.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2021/10/22...mily-homes-get-pushed-towards-the-light/

[Feathered Friend]

A Boost Of Warmth Clears A Path For Vancouver’s Southern City Centre Revival

8804 Osler St
While small businesses across the globe have been suffering under the pandemic, those in Marpole have endured a far longer struggle thanks to the very infrastructure that connects our city to the world. At least, that’s what I heard at this Urban Design Panel meeting, as frankly neither Hannah nor I were around when the Arthur Lang Bridge was constructed. Apparently that updated road-network diminished Marpole’s historic neighbourhood centre to the point that it migrated over to Granville Street.

Perhaps that’s why it was hoped the community plan could reinvigorate these blocks, that remain a cultural hub for First Nations, and new immigrants. Unfortunately, like a nearby project, that goal has fallen through, which is why city staff were using this project to test a 0.55 FSR booster shot. A couple members had difficulty understanding how that update would help these retail stores, or the high percentage of family homes planned here, but the majority didn’t see the harm.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2021/10/27...vancouvers-southern-city-centre-revival/

[hollywoodnorth]

Rental homes proposed to replace Esso gas station at Arbutus Street and 16th Avenue

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/3205-arbutus-street-vancouver-esso-gas-station

[Feathered Friend]

Lighten Up Already – Rental Homes Urged To Retain Their Community Focused Identity

2336 Charles St (DP-2020-00872) — The Maxwell
News that city council may allow six floor rental buildings in select commercial nodes without personally examining them must come as poor comfort to this applicant team. For nearly three years, they’ve passionately tried to challenge the “crappy housing” they feel the C-2 zones require in order to protect neighbouring single-family homes from change. That doesn’t come easy for a community who’s population had been declining since 1991 (pg 18), largely due to detached multi-unit residences being consolidated into single family properties.

The approval of the Grandview Woodland Community Plan has started to turn around, but the backlash this project faced was very aggressive. When combined with conflicting advice from past reviews, it was forced to undergo several revisions before our elected officials approved its general shape last year. That came with a set of conditions which some members felt had stripped away part of what made this architectural expression unique, and city staff were pondering whether to go even further.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2021/11/12...retain-their-community-focused-identity/

[LeftCoaster]

Thanks FF, while I can't stand the 2 tone facade dictated by the City design guidelines to reduce the perception of the upper floors, I do really like the courtyard this created and the individual retail typology.

[whatnext]

Well, it should be pretty safe to safe Aoyuan's project in South Granville has gone tits up. What about Burnaby?

....The known value of all Chinese investment in Canada – not just commercial real estate – also declined after capital controls were put in place. In 2016, it was $7.6-billion; the following year it was $9.9-billion; but then investment dropped to $2.3-billion in 2018. Last year, it was $2-billion, according to the China Institute, though it cautioned this was the sum of known values and underrepresents actual investment amounts.

Today, China’s domestic property market is slowing, and the government is clamping down on developers and requiring them to reduce their debt.

Several major companies are struggling with large debt loads. They include Greenland Holding Group and China Aoyuan Group Ltd., which are both constructing condo skyscrapers in Toronto. Both have suffered multiple credit downgrades and today their debt is considered speculative, which will make it harder for them to raise funds.

Greenland is a Shanghai-based real estate giant and, like DDI, it pursued aggressive expansion into North America. But in September, Greenland sold its King Blue Hotel in downtown Toronto. Aoyuan, which has projects in the Vancouver suburbs of Burnaby and Surrey, said in November that one of its divisions is in preliminary talks to sell some of its property management services....

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/business...-on-canadian-commercial-real-estate-and/

[madog222]

I'm starting to see marketing for Ace, Wesgroup's project on the South West corner of Commercial & E 12th which was approved in May this year.

[Feathered Friend]

Middle Class Rental Homes Need Not Fear The Reaper But Rather The Whims Of City Council

3084 W 4th Ave and 2010 Balaclava St (DP-2021-00652)
If the Moderate Income Rental Housing Pilot Program managed to demonstrate anything in its short life, it was that our city holds new housing to very different standards based primarily on one factor. It wasn’t height or affordability that was the dividing line, but rather Ontario Street. Those on the East Side would effortlessly win the support of the public, as well as city council, whereas those on the West Side experienced nights of wrath, close votes, and eventually cutbacks.

That was evident at this project’s open house, as the display boards Hannah and I saw proved the group founded to oppose this application were well funded, and motivated. So it’s no wonder they easily convinced our elected officials to demand this low-rise needed to pursue architectural and landscape excellence to earn their approval. That necessitated this review, as city staff admitted getting clear direction from a third party helps, as it’s “fun” when council puts forward a subjective motion.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2021/12/15...er-but-rather-the-whims-of-city-council/

[Feathered Friend]

Affordability Comes At A Price For Vancouver’s Hottest Rental Homes

4408-4488 Fraser St and 707-709 E 29th Ave
As Hannah and I enter our fifth year of recapping our region’s urban growth review process, Vancouver city council’s vote to streamline the secured rental policy seemed like an early Christmas present. We’re hopeful this means the Urban Design Panel multi-hour reviews of these standard six floor rental buildings will now be a thing of the past. Then again, there may be the occasional exception, like this project which seeks to stitch together a retail node on Fraser Street.

Had our elected officials not delayed their decision on that updated policy, this session may have been unnecessary. Instead, over the next hour, the lead architect tried to explain how this six floor structure fit within the community they’ve called home for thirty years. Neither the adjacent four floor strata, nor this team’s similar sized rental building nearing completion several blocks to the north was enough to assuage one of their neighbours, who happened to be in the room too.

https://cityduo.wordpress.com/2022/01/10...ice-for-vancouvers-hottest-rental-homes/

[Jebby]

so my childhood home is getting demolished :'(

I just wish this area would get row houses instead of more SFH, though. Great transit (25 bus, a couple of blocks away from Granville, a couple of blocks away from the Arbutus Greenway and the 16 bus)...

At least it's getting a basement unit as well as a laneway house. So 3x the density, I guess...

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Jebby

so my childhood home is getting demolished :'(

I just wish this area would get row houses instead of more SFH, though. Great transit (25 bus, a couple of blocks away from Granville, a couple of blocks away from the Arbutus Greenway and the 16 bus)...

At least it's getting a basement unit as well as a laneway house. So 3x the density, I guess...

i don't think laneway houses are allowed in the FSHCA. i certainly hope they aren't anyways; that would be ridiculous. it should be only SFH's, i am not a huge an of allowing basement suites, though at least those are hidden.

[seamusmcduff]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

i don't think laneway houses are allowed in the FSHCA. i certainly hope they aren't anyways; that would be ridiculous. it should be only SFH's, i am not a huge an of allowing basement suites, though at least those are hidden.

I'll bite, what is so terrible about laneway homes and basement suites in Shaughnessy? It's already extremely underutilized land about as close to the City Center as you can get.

[officedweller]

Wouldn't a laneway house simply look like a carriage house?
It would easily "fit in" visually that way.

[GenWhy?]

"First
Shaughnessy by conserving protected heritage property and maintaining the single-family
character of First Shaughnessy while allowing increased dwelling unit density with multiple
conversion dwellings, infill buildings, coach houses and secondary suites"

[Jebby]

Originally Posted by seamusmcduff

I'll bite, what is so terrible about laneway homes and basement suites in Shaughnessy? It's already extremely underutilized land about as close to the City Center as you can get.

Exactly, plus laneway houses would be quite hidded facing the alley and the area is generally full of trees. It's not like you're going to see these small studio/1-bed houses and they add much needed additional density. Even if they're just used as in-law suites or for college students needing more space, it's one more unit of housing available which helps reduce pressure on the existing rental stock around the rest of the city.