The Post | 67m | 27 fl | U/C

[jlousa]

I don't know if they would even be a factor, if the land was under federal jurisdiction the view cones wouldn't matter, it would be up to the feds if they wanted to comply or not. They most likely would adhere to local rules but are not required to.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by fredinno

...so what happened to that proposal?

Presumably Canada Post of the day (1950s) did not have a need for that much office space, and the Federal Gov't of the day did not want to relocate its offices (from what is now Sinclair Centre, and the former Customs House (or maybe Customs House was built instead of the addition?), and whatever other buildings they occupied. Or maybe there was an election and a change in Federal Gov't priorities.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by the_prof

Official website is up, looks cool:

https://www.thepostnews.ca/

Nice cross section from the website.
Looks like they want a gym for the entire 3rd floor.
The escalator layout shown is new (and better) - the original escalators were oriented east-west (no atrium).
The north-south orientation works better to create an atrium along the street wall.


https://www.thepostnews.ca/

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Presumably Canada Post of the day (1950s) did not have a need for that much office space, and the Federal Gov't of the day did not want to relocate its offices (from what is now Sinclair Centre, and the former Customs House (or maybe Customs House was built instead of the addition?), and whatever other buildings they occupied. Or maybe there was an election and a change in Federal Gov't priorities.

I guess that stubby section wasn't possible to add to due to structural limitations? Honestly, it looks kind of strange with part of the building being glass, and the other part being concrete.

Imagine the floorplates and office space on this if it was offices up to the viewcone (I think 24 stories?)

[Vin]

Originally Posted by fredinno

I guess that stubby section wasn't possible to add to due to structural limitations? Honestly, it looks kind of strange with part of the building being glass, and the other part being concrete.

Imagine the floorplates and office space on this if it was offices up to the viewcone (I think 24 stories?)

More importantly, such a massive podium structure would never be allowed in Vancouver if it weren't already existing. I'm glad this can be turned into a mall by the developer.

Well, imagine if one of the towers can go up to 50 stories with a roof-top restaurant, and the other shorter one being a hotel. That would be spectacular.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by fredinno

I guess that stubby section wasn't possible to add to due to structural limitations? Honestly, it looks kind of strange with part of the building being glass, and the other part being concrete.

Imagine the floorplates and office space on this if it was offices up to the viewcone (I think 24 stories?)

The tower in the original renderings is in the same location as the "pod" that is now being demolished (i.e. above the solid panels along Homer St.)
The building is steel frame - so in theory can be extended upwards if they wanted to (assuming the foundations were strong enough).
It was probably just a governmental decision not to build it.

Rooftop "office pods" were a building style back in the 50s and 60s (or, I think so).
The Telus Building on Seymour has one.

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by Vin

More importantly, such a massive podium structure would never be allowed in Vancouver if it weren't already existing. I'm glad this can be turned into a mall by the developer.

Well, imagine if one of the towers can go up to 50 stories with a roof-top restaurant, and the other shorter one being a hotel. That would be spectacular.

Like a mini Vancouver Burj?

There is this lot on Cambie and Beatty, Georgia and Dunsmuir, (called parking Lot 21) near the Post could host truly enormous floorplates if it were to be developed. Only thing is, I'm not sure if there's already a proposal here.

I don't see how an enormous office building in downtown would really have NIMBY concerns, other than it being unconventionally huge width-wise.

Also, side note, what in the world is that blue stuff? Always bothered me when I zoomed in there.

Originally Posted by officedweller

The tower in the original renderings is in the same location as the "pod" that is now being demolished (i.e. above the solid panels along Homer St.)
The building is steel frame - so in theory can be extended upwards if they wanted to (assuming the foundations were strong enough).
It was probably just a governmental decision not to build it.

Rooftop "office pods" were a building style back in the 50s and 60s (or, I think so).
The Telus Building on Seymour has one.

I meant the modern redevelopment. Is that rooftop plaza/podium that important over floorplate size (and even then, you could put it on top)? It's not that huge, so it's probably not that it's too much risk. (Ok, maybe it is...?) That's why I thought there were some structural reasons you couldn't. Either that, or Vancouver's zoning limitations not budging to allow for massive redevelopments on that scale.


ok, did some calculations, turns out that building would have a Square footage of around ~2,735,741.5 ft2, or 1.85x the entire size of Bentall Centre. Ok, so there is quite a bit of financial risk involved


Though, note that this site, and the Lot 21 lot were proposed as part of the Vancouver Amazon HQ2 bid: and would compose of 68.4% of the 8 million Sq ft Amazon asked for, or 84% of what Vancouver offered in its Downtown Vancouver bid. A building of this size was never on the table, though.


Theoretically, the area could easily become one super-office flagship HQ office complex. If we had something that actually needed it.

[officedweller]

Lot 21 / Larwill Park - That's the future VAG site. The north end of the site is slated to have 2 office towers (probably limited in height by the same view cones as the Post Office site).

***

Not sure what "stubby section" you mean (so I assumed it was on the old 1950s rendering).

Remember there are view cones over the site limiting height.
The reason there are 2 towers (versus one wider one) would, presumably, be to provide the tenants with more window space and light.
Only one of the towers is [currently] slated for Amazon, so the other tenant isn't necessarily a "large floorplate" tech tenant.
For conventional office tenants, internal floor space without access to windows is undesirable, substandard space.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Like a mini Vancouver Burj?

There is this lot on Cambie and Beatty, Georgia and Dunsmuir, (called parking Lot 21) near the Post could host truly enormous floorplates if it were to be developed. Only thing is, I'm not sure if there's already a proposal here.

I don't see how an enormous office building in downtown would really have NIMBY concerns, other than it being unconventionally huge width-wise.

Also, side note, what in the world is that blue stuff? Always bothered me when I zoomed in there.

Yes, as per Officedweller, this site will be occupied by the very ugly new Vancouver Art Gallery, but not to forget the semi-permanent modular housing already occupying the northern part of it not shown on GoogleMaps. Therefore I'm not really excited about what's coming here as I really do think Larwill Park has a lot more potential, being so close to the CBD and the Stadium skytrain station, etc.

BTW, the blue stuff must be what was painted there couple of years ago depicting streams with salmon during an aboroginal festival held at the City-owned site.

[truenorth44]

Originally Posted by fredinno

Also, side note, what in the world is that blue stuff? Always bothered me when I zoomed in there.

Huh, that's interesting - looks like the pavement was painted with streams and islands - my first thought is that it was for the First Nations festival a couple of summers back - and yes, looks like that's it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...land-1.4156103

It shows up best in Google Earth, with Terrain layer on:

[fredinno]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Lot 21 / Larwill Park - That's the future VAG site. The north end of the site is slated to have 2 office towers (probably limited in height by the same view cones as the Post Office site).

***

Not sure what "stubby section" you mean (so I assumed it was on the old 1950s rendering).

Remember there are view cones over the site limiting height.
The reason there are 2 towers (versus one wider one) would, presumably, be to provide the tenants with more window space and light.
Only one of the towers is [currently] slated for Amazon, so the other tenant isn't necessarily a "large floorplate" tech tenant.
For conventional office tenants, internal floor space without access to windows is undesirable, substandard space.

Oh, so that's where Larwill 'Park' was. It actually seems like an ok place to (re)-build a park, but then again, there's Creekside Park somewhat nearby, so...

I made the 24 story building to hit the view cone. Nearby office buildings hit about 24 stories.

The stubby section is the section above the Post used as office space, which you can see in Google Earth.

TBF, tech space is the biggest demand driver for office space for the foreseeable future.

There is the 'lack of access to windows' problem, so that's probably part of the reason people generally either build low and wide (Mt. Pleasant), or tall and thin, because there's not guarantee it would be filled optimally costly.

On the other hand, there's this: https://www.bizjournals.com/twinciti...01/focus4.html

From 1998, so definitely outdated, but there are reasons to go wide if the demand is there, and not just in tech clients.

Originally Posted by Vin

Yes, as per Officedweller, this site will be occupied by the very ugly new Vancouver Art Gallery, but not to forget the semi-permanent modular housing already occupying the northern part of it not shown on GoogleMaps. Therefore I'm not really excited about what's coming here as I really do think Larwill Park has a lot more potential, being so close to the CBD and the Stadium skytrain station, etc.

I did a bit of research, and turns out the North section is supposed to become office towers up to the view cones.
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/new-...-office-towers
0.6 Million sq.ft.

Originally Posted by truenorth44

Huh, that's interesting - looks like the pavement was painted with streams and islands - my first thought is that it was for the First Nations festival a couple of summers back - and yes, looks like that's it.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...land-1.4156103

It shows up best in Google Earth, with Terrain layer on:

Thanks.


...Interesting that something from 2017 still shows up on Google Earth despite the imagery being updated since then (according to Google Maps).

Either way.

[officedweller]

Construction Updates

January 18, 2019 - For the next two weeks:

Demolition activities continue on the roof level with two of the top three floors now complete.
Demolition of the concrete for construction of the North Tower has started.
Excavation activities have shifted to detailed excavation for footing replacements.
Crane and tower foundation replacements have started and concrete trucks will be parked intermittently on Hamilton Street while this work is taking place.
Six of 120 footings have been replaced to date.
The Postman sculpture on the Homer Street side of the building has been dismantled by conservation experts. It will be carefully stored until it its reinstallation on the Hamilton Street side.
All activities are executed within the parameters of the City of Vancouver’s building bylaws.

https://www.thepostnews.ca/

[osirisboy]

Look like well under construction now

[LeftCoaster]

The north tower is being started first? Interesting since I believe Amazon's first commitment to the project was the south tower.

[officedweller]

Maybe because the south tower requires the demolition of the rooftop office pod.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by LeftCoaster

The north tower is being started first? Interesting since I believe Amazon's first commitment to the project was the south tower.

They already installed the NE tower crane base but they say the first crane will be installed next week next to Hamilton right next to the pod (Feb 1st)

https://g5-assets-cld-res.cloudinary..._30_yfhm4f.pdf

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

Jan.4 '19, my pic

Less than three weeks later...




Jan.24 '19, my pics

[officedweller]

Thanks!
Walked past today, and as shown in your last shot, it looks like its all gone from the street.

[s211]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

[/URL]

I'm surprised that they haven't already removed the artwork to protect it from accidents.

[red-paladin]

Massive Loblaws City Market coming to Canada Post redevelopment in downtown Vancouver
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/lobl...post-vancouver
'City Market within The Post will also be the largest grocery store within the downtown peninsula'