Quote:
Originally Posted by Spr0ckets
The project could come back to life at some point down the road.
Just not in the same form, or for most of the same uses.
Certianly not with anywhere close to that much office space in this market
I could see a redesign with the first three or 4 floors retaining some mix of retail and maybe one or two levels of office, while still preserving the heritage street-facing faces as in this design, and then (much smaller footprint) hotel and/or residential tower above.
But I'd guess any redesign and application resubmittal might wait to see how other properties under redevelopment on Granville (by the Bonnis family and others) such as the Rec room and 950 Granville do once they open, before they decide how they want to move forward.
|
Anything is possible, but Bonnis said they are selling 950 Granville once it's complete, and they've put at least three other Downtown properties on the market. Anything like the project you describe would make no economic sense, as the cost of engineering the span over the Commodore Ballroom would only be possible for a massive building like the project they proposed. It might make sense to redevelop north of the ballroom, and leave the Commodore alone. None of the heritage buildings are especially valuable in historical terms, and
720 Robson replaced a similar old building over 10 years ago, so there's a precident. That block would need a zoning change to allow residential, and it seems unlikely to be supported, but a hotel would be fine.