Chinatown Updates Discussion

[Changing City]

There's an open house soon for another Keefer Street project. It's not a rezoning, so it's all condos on a 50' lot next to 105 Keefer. More details at https://changingcitybook.com/2017/02...keefer-street/. (The illustration is from there, showing the DE render).

[retro_orange]

Nice, i hope those details in the brickwork will be well executed and the cast iron details sound intriguing too. I have always liked that old skinny building in the middle but it looks doomed in an earthquake if something isn't built on both sides.

[officedweller]

In the "tradition" of smelly Chinatown laneways, I was wondering why on earth you'd want access to the laneway...

But looking at the ground floor plan, the access corridor improves the functionality of the building's ground floor spaces quite a bit,
with the residential entry and garbage room off of it and a rear commercial unit.


http://development.vancouver.ca/129keefer/index.htm

[Vanville]

Some Chinatown shots from Feb.26 (my pics).

[officedweller]

From Yellow Fever taken March 5:

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

20170305_102154 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20170305_102258 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

20170305_102347 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20170305_102447 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20170305_102342 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

Originally Posted by Yellow Fever

288 East Hastings

20170305_102814 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20170305_102631 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

20170305_102559 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr


20170305_102510 by Yellow Fever @ SkyscraperCity, on Flickr

[Vanville]

I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your cement block wall down. (My pics April 10)

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by Vanville

I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your cement block wall down. (My pics April 10)

You must have missed me by about 10 minutes as I walked to work.

They're going to have some fun fixing that. The wall bent and separated all the way down to the 2nd floor.

I didn't see a whole lot of rebar in the debris though.

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by Vanville

I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your cement block wall down. (My pics April 10)

Thanks for the pics. Lucky no one was hurt or killed. Somebody's home was badly damaged. Seems two of the residents had just stepped out to get some groceries and now they are homeless. Here's an item on cbc.ca.


============


6 people displaced after windstorm partially knocks down Strathcona building
Residents question where they will end up after their home was destroyed
By Maryse Zeidler, CBC News Posted: Apr 08, 2017 7:17 PM PT Last Updated: Apr 08, 2017 7:27 PM PT

"Trevor McEachran and his girlfriend, Hayden Kannegiesser, live in a coach house in Strathcona that was destroyed during a windstorm in Vancouver. (CBC)

Six residents from Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood have been displaced after the firewall of a nearby building development collapsed during a windstorm Friday evening. 
The five-storey brick firewall fell onto a house and coach house near the intersection of Gore and Pender streets, a city official said, as well as a building for the Lee Benevolent Society, which doesn't house any residents. 
"From what we understand there is a concrete firewall between the building and the neighbouring property and it came down in the wind last night," said Pat Ryan, the city of Vancouver's chief building official as he surveyed the damage Saturday morning. 
Resident Trevor McEachran and his girlfriend, Hayden Kannegiesser, who live in the coach house two doors down, had just stepped out for groceries when the wall fell.

..."


The firewall collapsed from the building on the left onto the three buildings next to it — the Lee Benevolent Society and a home and coach house. (CBC)


source: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/britis...ding-1.4062611

[mcminsen]

Here are some pics from today. You can see the part of the cinderblock wall between the new and old building that didn't fall apart but is separated from the new building and leaning against the old one next door. It'll be interesting to see how they fix all that.

Those were pretty large sections of wall that came down. It appears that the wall had covered the whole area with the vertical wood beams.



April 11 '17, my pics

[mcminsen]

Some old pics from last year during construction of 450 Gore. In the first pic you can see the little old coach house in the lower left with the peaked roof and green wall. It was severely damaged.

In the second pic is the cinderblock wall at about half the height that it would eventually be before collapse.



Oct.10 ’16, my pic


Dec.20 ’16, my pic

[jollyburger]

Even after the construction was finished how were they expecting a two storey cinderblock to work in that situation with no construction planned next door?

[Changing City]

Originally Posted by jollyburger

Even after the construction was finished how were they expecting a two storey cinderblock to work in that situation with no construction planned next door?

It was five storeys (over the concrete main floor), not two. Presumably, once the box is sealed, there wouldn't be any problem. A high wind from the east would push the concrete wall against the new woodframe structure, which should be able to take the stress. Once the windows are installed, a wind from the west (which must have been the cause of the failure here) would push on the building face, which is going to be brick cladding over the wood frame. The concrete block wall wouldn't experience any stress in that situation. Where the builders were unfortunate is having a day with 80km wind gusts blowing through the frame, with no windows yet installed.

It seems surprising that the block wall isn't tied into the wooden frame, but perhaps there will be movement in the wooden frame as it dries out, which wouldn't be a good thing for the concrete wall?

[officedweller]

Weird - you'd think it would be tied to the wood structure for earthquake resistance (which wouldn't be a unidirectional force)

[Marshal]

Technical Note:

The force exerted by winds are complex and not limited to straight-on "pushing" against exterior walls. When doing structural design for exterior surfaces, engineers look at a number of conditions at different locations. For example, wind loads vary across a surface: being notably different along edges, corners and middle areas. Also, under most conditions, wind exerts negative pressures (suction) on exterior planes. Under extreme conditions, very high winds suck roofs and walls off buildings more than they push any given elements "over."

I have no idea what was going on in this case. Block, like brick, is always (as far as I know) tied back to the structure. This is done with metal tie-backs that are installed while the block is erected, often connecting the main structure to the steel reinforcing that is placed within the grout-work. It would be strange to build a tall wall without this being implemented along the way. Also concrete block typically includes re-bar placed in the hollows intermittently, with those hollows filled with concrete top to bottom. It's been a long time and I can't remember if that is ever done at the end of the layup. (Architect/Engineer supervision of a project would typically want to see elements in place as construction proceeds. They would want to know with certainty that the concrete was filling the hollow properly, which would be difficult if it were placed down a 5 floor hole of that size after all the block was up.) If it were, and had not been placed yet, the wall would be in a weakened state until it was. Even with tie-backs, if the vertical reinforcing is not complete, gusty winds could generate uneven loads, some of which could overwhelm the tie-backs in a limited zone. If the wall were experiencing such loads and tie-backs began to break, it would make sense that others may then fail almost like a zipper, until it all collapsed. The structural system at play here aims to make the plane of blocks behave in a monolithic manner - it can become weak quickly if there is failure in a limited area.

(just speculation)

[mcminsen]

Here are some closeups of where the wall fell away from.



April 10 '17, my pics

[mcminsen]

Originally Posted by mcminsen

245 East Georgia Street (The Albert Block).

Oct.10 '16, my pics

The construction elevator is now removed.



April 12 '17, my pics

[officedweller]

288 East Hastings

By City of Rain SkyRise Cities taken April 30th:

Originally Posted by City Of Rain, post: 1220928, member: 70034

IMG_1821 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1823 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1826 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

IMG_1830 by Hung Lam, on Flickr

[Feathered Friend]

The 105 Keefer St / 544 Columbia St proposal will have it's public hearing on May 23rd and is expected to continue into the 25th as well. As of May 15th, the list to speak at the hearing was already up to 70 people.
Correspondence is also high, with roughly 120 written submissions so far, and opinion split in equal number.

There is a petition in favor of the rezoning with over one thousand signatures, and one against with over two thousand.
Notable submissions in favor have come from The Vancouver Chinatown Merchant Association, and more than a few different multicultural arts and seniors groups.
For those against, the only one I can recognize is MP Jenny Kwan. The majority of those against seem to be sent in with a form letter, and/or they have been mislead into thinking the site will instead be turned into a cultural centre / park if the rezoning is rejected.

Important to note is that if the rezoning fails, the developer can still move ahead with a 90 foot building which is permitted under current zoning.

[bc2mb]

Looks like the city is considering cancelling the Chinatown South rezoning policy: http://urbanyvr.com/cancel-chinatown-rezoning-policy

But the hearing isn't until this summer, and wouldn't apply to "in-stream" rezoning applications like 105 Keefer or the Brickhouse.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by bc2mb

Looks like the city is considering cancelling the Chinatown South rezoning policy: http://urbanyvr.com/cancel-chinatown-rezoning-policy

But the hearing isn't until this summer, and wouldn't apply to "in-stream" rezoning applications like 105 Keefer or the Brickhouse.

lol, the city should consider canceling all of it's community plans if it wants to ever get reelected. Most are out of proportion with reality and only continue to propagate crazy property value increases across the board.