Vancouver City Hall Expansion/Redevelopment | Proposed

[NewfBC]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

City Hall's wanted more office space on that site for the last forty years - one way or another, there'll be buildings. Just throw in another tower on the NoFrills block so they blend in.

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

[jollyburger]

Okay one single tall tower wouldn't work with the floorplate sizes and the amount of floorspace they have spread through ~4 towers. But I still think you can make a case for a slightly taller tower that impedes into the view cone. If revenue streams are a consideration into the project then how much revenue could be generated with ten storeys of office leased out on top of one or two of the towers.

[madog222]

I don't think anyone at City Hall wants to build anything much more prominent than the existing building.

They are suggesting that with relaxed view cones some density could be shifted west.


Image from City of Vancouver

[Migrant_Coconut]

I really don't see why they need to hamstring themselves to protect an old Art Deco relic that's been long eclipsed by the rest of the city. The old engineering joke about horses' asses comes to mind.

Originally Posted by NewfBC

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

They should take a leaf from TransLink and the subway - build it once, build it right.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by madog222

I don't think anyone at City Hall wants to build anything much more prominent than the existing building.

They are suggesting that with relaxed view cones some density could be shifted west.

I mean that's understandable but I wonder how lost it will get over the long term as Broadway Plan compliant towers get built out.

The Drake Street seawall view of city hall I guess pretty much eliminates any chance of selling/redeveloping the West Annex site.

I think the Cambie Street viewcones and the issue of trees totally obscuring most of the east part of the protected view should also be a consideration for the form of development.



https://vancouver.ca/home-property-d...cted-view.aspx

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by NewfBC

They have.. and in the mean time while they dragged their feet they've paid for multiple private buildings in the area with long term leases.. Crossroads started out at 10-year, $70 million. Imagine what they could have built back then with that.

Ron.

The rent for the 86,000 sq ft at Crossroads was initially negotiated at $4,002,650 a year. [City of Vancouver report] So ten years would have been $40m, which wouldn't have built much of anything.

[chowhou]

They should just build an exact one-to-one replica of city hall on 10th scaled up 2x. Then you can argue the view cones will still show the art deco city hall building, there will be 8x the available space, and the old city hall structure can be replaced with something else.

All problems solved!

[Migrant_Coconut]

But then you run into the heritage society: the old building will be too old to be replaced.

[BaddieB]

It's giving



in a good way

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

But then you run into the heritage society: the old building will be too old to be replaced.

Okay then we can convert the old city hall to SROs and wait for it to inevitably burn down first.

[MIPS]

Originally Posted by NetMapel

It looks kind of jarring to me due to the asymmetrical design where there's a lot of tall buildings on one side but not the other.

The grand view of the main building is exclusive to the West End. None of us peasants on the East Side shall be allowed to see such beauty.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The rent for the 86,000 sq ft at Crossroads was initially negotiated at $4,002,650 a year. [City of Vancouver report] So ten years would have been $40m, which wouldn't have built much of anything.

Between 2021 and 2023 they've dumped 46,000sq feet of office space.

Between Q1 2021 and Q4 2023, the City reduced it’s leased office footprint by over 37,000sf, representing an annual lease cost savings of $1.66 million per annum (inclusive of Operating Costs and Property Taxes). As of Q1 2024, the City’s leased office footprint and annual leasing costs will be reduced by a further 8,500sf and $384,000 respectfully, representing a total office space reduction of close to 46,000sf and lease cost savings of over $2 million/annum.

https://vancouver.ca/files/cov/2023-...-questions.pdf

The 2024 leased office space target was 377,849 sq feet at $22 million dollars.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Changing City

The rent for the 86,000 sq ft at Crossroads was initially negotiated at $4,002,650 a year. [City of Vancouver report] So ten years would have been $40m, which wouldn't have built much of anything.

A new building can last for 100 years or more, and in 10 year's the rent won't be 4mil: might be doubled. Also, the Crossroads space isn't the only rental space they have in the City. There are numerous all across town.

Also, if they can put commercial space to link it to the skytrain station, like a shopping mall, they can make good money out of their own property.

[s211]

Originally Posted by officedweller

From the Daily Hive:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/vanc...trict-concepts

Wow, hello encampment and protest central.

I'm going to call it the Art Gallery Southern Steps V2.0.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by s211

Wow, hello encampment and protest central.

I'm going to call it the Art Gallery Southern Steps V2.0.

City hall should be a suitable spot for protests, unlike an art gallery.

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by mcj

City hall should be a suitable spot for protests, unlike an art gallery.

Seeing how protests are not going anywhere, I'd definitely rather have the art galley's two plazas for events casual use and city hall's plaza to be the open public forum.

So hardscaping is a must