Burnaby Updates

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by CondoInvestor

Which towers will get built first?

I think they should start from the West side, since they want to keep the existing office building along Beta Ave for now.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by Lexus

I think they should start from the West side, since they want to keep the existing office building along Beta Ave for now.

There's a retail brochure from Jan 2024

B1 Community Center Q1 2028
B2 Q1 2028 (far SW corner)
B3 Q3 2028 (midblock along Alpha)
B4 Q2 2029 (NW corner at Alpha/Lougheed)
B5 Pavilion Q2 2029 (midblock Lougheed Highway)

https://www.grosvenor.com/property/p...tail/brentwood

https://www.grosvenor.com/getattachm...pdf?lang=en-GB

About the offices facing Beta:

This office building will be demolished in 2027 so various short term lease options are available; for more information on what’s being developed on the site visit our Brentwood development page here.

https://www.grosvenor.com/property/p...-office-centre

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by giallo

Haha. That's my video. Not a fan of synthwave, I see.

Great video.

You're right about synthwave being an acquired taste.
Luckily for me being a child of the 80's, I absolutely love it.
It always brings back great nostalgic memories of a time it was great to grow up as a child in.

I noticed from your video that site clearance seems complete for Concord Pacific's Solhouse near Patterson skytrain station.
I wonder if there's any chance if they're close to starting excavation and construction any time soon this year.

It's great to see the range of projects and tower types in metrotown.

On a slightly related note, do you ever get any problems or issues with anyone when you're flying your drone camera and getting footage?

I only ask because I recall a couple of years ago when my brother visited me and brought along his drone camera and would try to get footage where he could he was constantly getting hassled (mostly by busybody Karens) wondering if he had a permit to fly it and telling him it wasn't allowed.
(it was in places like parks and lake areas and such and not like residential areas).
I never wanted any drama so I'd advise him just to put it away, and at the time drone cameras and drones in general weren't as popular or prevalent as they are now.

He did get some fantastic footage when he drove up to Squamish and the Sea to Sky gondola.
(He was visiting from Florida and they don't have mountains or forests there, so he was in heaven getting all the footage he was able to get)

Anyway, great stuff as always.

[giallo]

Thanks!

I'm an 80s kid too, so there's obviously a connection between that era, and the appreciation for retro/synthwave.

As for drone-flying, I haven't had any issues, but I did get my advanced pilot license, so I'm very aware of where not to fly. Basically, every city park in Metro Vancouver does not permit taking off and landing within the the park space itself. You also can't take off and land on private property without permission, so that leaves public areas like sidewalks, public plazas, alleyways etc as the only legal places to stage a take off. I usually find a quiet street or an open area near a crosswalk to take off. I'm usually at 80-100m within 20 seconds, so the drone may as swell be invisible and silent to the general public.

I do see inexperienced drone operators flying really low, and over people's heads at beaches or parks quite often, and I can only shake my head. They really ruin it for the rest of us.

Originally Posted by Spr0ckets

Great video.

You're right about synthwave being an acquired taste.
Luckily for me being a child of the 80's, I absolutely love it.
It always brings back great nostalgic memories of a time it was great to grow up as a child in.

I noticed from your video that site clearance seems complete for Concord Pacific's Solhouse near Patterson skytrain station.
I wonder if there's any chance if they're close to starting excavation and construction any time soon this year.

It's great to see the range of projects and tower types in metrotown.

On a slightly related note, do you ever get any problems or issues with anyone when you're flying your drone camera and getting footage?

I only ask because I recall a couple of years ago when my brother visited me and brought along his drone camera and would try to get footage where he could he was constantly getting hassled (mostly by busybody Karens) wondering if he had a permit to fly it and telling him it wasn't allowed.
(it was in places like parks and lake areas and such and not like residential areas).
I never wanted any drama so I'd advise him just to put it away, and at the time drone cameras and drones in general weren't as popular or prevalent as they are now.

He did get some fantastic footage when he drove up to Squamish and the Sea to Sky gondola.
(He was visiting from Florida and they don't have mountains or forests there, so he was in heaven getting all the footage he was able to get)

Anyway, great stuff as always.

[Spr0ckets]

Originally Posted by giallo

Thanks!

I'm an 80s kid too, so there's obviously a connection between that era, and the appreciation for retro/synthwave.

As for drone-flying, I haven't had any issues, but I did get my advanced pilot license, so I'm very aware of where not to fly. Basically, every city park in Metro Vancouver does not permit taking off and landing within the the park space itself. You also can't take off and land on private property without permission, so that leaves public areas like sidewalks, public plazas, alleyways etc as the only legal places to stage a take off. I usually find a quiet street or an open area near a crosswalk to take off. I'm usually at 80-100m within 20 seconds, so the drone may as swell be invisible and silent to the general public.

I do see inexperienced drone operators flying really low, and over people's heads at beaches or parks quite often, and I can only shake my head. They really ruin it for the rest of us.

Thanks again for that, and for the response.

I should probably also add that when my brother visited (Which was quite a while ago), most cities and municipalities hadn't quite yet come to grips with how to legislate and oversee their (drone) usage and balance that against people's privacy concerns, so a lot of those take-off/landing rules didn't really even exist yet.

As happens with most new technology, it takes people (who are mostly ignorant about them and their usage) making a lot of noise about them before we begin getting rules and bylaws about their usage.

Looking forward to more of your great shots.

[Vin]

Nice video, and very appropriate and uplifting music that went with it.

[rickvug]

Excellent Twitter thread on Burnaby's OCP updates and how they look to implement SSMUH: https://twitter.com/lauvande/status/1777435172750905461. The juicy PDF of all the details has been posted at https://pub-burnaby.escribemeetings....a&lang=English.

It is really interesting to see how Burnaby is putting the new regulations into practice. My initial reaction is that they aren't trying to skirt around the intention of many of the regulations. For example, no more FSR/FAR, only site coverage limitations. Heights up for four stories (including basement). It will be interesting to compare to other cities as they publish their rezoning information.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by rickvug

It is really interesting to see how Burnaby is putting the new regulations into practice. My initial reaction is that they aren't trying to skirt around the intention of many of the regulations. For example, no more FSR/FAR, only site coverage limitations. Heights up for four stories (including basement). It will be interesting to compare to other cities as they publish their rezoning information.

To be fair, even without FAR, a 4 story maximum and 55% site coverage maximum for row houses is effectively just a 2.2 FAR maximum.

[SpongeG]

Metropolis hosted a metropolis at metrotown event on monday.

whats being discussed here and you can share your input at the site.

https://metropolismasterplan.com/

Metropolis at Metrotown is the geographic centre of Burnaby’s Metrotown Downtown Plan boundaries. The 35-acre site currently encompasses a regional shopping centre and three office towers. The existing shopping centre and Metrotower office complex create significant local employment and is now home to the second busiest transit station in the Metro Vancouver region. Updates to this popular destination are needed to reflect the ongoing evolution of retail while also responding to the City’s broader plans for residential densification, housing affordability, and climate action.

Ivanhoé Cambridge is excited to be a primary contributor in creating a vibrant downtown core for the City of Burnaby.

We invite you to learn more and to share your input on the proposed new Metropolis at Metrotown Master Plan.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by chowhou

To be fair, even without FAR, a 4 story maximum and 55% site coverage maximum for row houses is effectively just a 2.2 FAR maximum.

Just did a quick back of the envelope calculation:

If Burnaby is allowing 45% lot coverage for 4 unit buildings and allowing 4 stories, on a typical 50'x120' Burnaby lot that makes for 10,800sqft of buildable area. Split between 4 units that's 2700sqft per unit. IMHO you better believe that regardless of the guidelines each unit will have at least one viable separate suite meaning a 4 unit lot will in practice provide 8+ housing units. Not to mention that near frequent transit that number goes up to 6 units at 2000sqft each which can still viably have a separate suite per unit adding up to 12+ housing units! Love it!

[urbanight93]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

Metropolis hosted a metropolis at metrotown event on monday.

whats being discussed here and you can share your input at the site.

https://metropolismasterplan.com/

Someone should post the plans here for people to comment. I couldn’t access the site from my work computer but was able to provide feedback through my phone.

What they’re proposing is quite impressive, very tall buildings and lots of public realm improvements. Breaking up the mall will take a while but I’m interested in the indoor/outdoor spaces and how they will activate the frontages.

The road network and future mall configuration still needs some refining and I don’t find it as intuitive as say at Brentwood but maybe I need to look at it again.

[jollyburger]

Deserves it's own thread probably.

Three round blue things are Metrotower 1, 2, 3

The first phase of the redevelopment involves 7 distinct parcels located in the Northwest, Southwest, Southeast and Eastern parts of the Master Plan. These phases will take place over the period from 2025 through 2054.

Expiry of the leases: The last phases of the redevelopment will take place after 2054 in parallel with the expiry of the leases of the significant anchor tenants.

https://metropolismasterplan.com/sec...olis-overview/

[kja384]

Douglas Todd: Burnaby mayor bemoans stark highrises, but sees few options


https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...es-few-options

Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim says Burnaby offers the answer to housing supply and unaffordabilty.

“We only need to look to Burnaby,” Sim said last fall. “That’s right, Burnaby.” The vast clusters of residential towers the suburb has allowed around Skytrain stations, Sim said, are a great role model for how Vancouver should pump up density."

Maybe I'm a bit out of touch but isn't Burnaby the demo-viction capital of Canada with presale price that rival/exceed Vancouver?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by kja384

Douglas Todd: Burnaby mayor bemoans stark highrises, but sees few options


https://vancouversun.com/opinion/col...es-few-options

Maybe I'm a bit out of touch but isn't Burnaby the demo-viction capital of Canada with presale price that rival/exceed Vancouver?

Back-of-napkin answer:

There was a big kerfuffle a few years ago before changes to the tenant protections and replacement rental rules went into place. In the realm of the status quo where multi-family replaces multi-family, Burnaby was ahead of the ball, regionally, for mandating replacement rental / below market rental and strong tenant protections. This was largely copied in the Broadway Plan in Vancouver.

What we've yet to see is a "net increase in affordability", more or less, from these new housing bonus and zoning changes (something like the MIRHP Program did in Vancouver - building rental and below-market in areas not already zoned to some capacity for multi-family).

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

What we've yet to see is a "net increase in affordability", more or less, from these new housing bonus and zoning changes (something like the MIRHP Program did in Vancouver - building rental and below-market in areas not already zoned to some capacity for multi-family).

Bear in mind! Just because affordability didn't improve due to a policy, doesn't mean it wouldn't have been worse without the policy! This is a critical statistical error that everyone makes, you can apply the brakes to a car while still moving forward.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Back-of-napkin answer:

There was a big kerfuffle a few years ago before changes to the tenant protections and replacement rental rules went into place. In the realm of the status quo where multi-family replaces multi-family, Burnaby was ahead of the ball, regionally, for mandating replacement rental / below market rental and strong tenant protections. This was largely copied in the Broadway Plan in Vancouver.

What we've yet to see is a "net increase in affordability", more or less, from these new housing bonus and zoning changes (something like the MIRHP Program did in Vancouver - building rental and below-market in areas not already zoned to some capacity for multi-family).

They were only ahead of the ball after 2018 when Derek Corrigan was given the boot. Prior to that they were happy to see renters in walk-ups tossed out to build highrises.

[chowhou]

Originally Posted by whatnext

They were only ahead of the ball after 2018 when Derek Corrigan was given the boot. Prior to that they were happy to see renters in walk-ups tossed out to build highrises.

Which wouldn't have been so bad if they were equally as happy to see SFHs torn down to build walk ups, but alas!

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by chowhou

Which wouldn't have been so bad if they were equally as happy to see SFHs torn down to build walk ups, but alas!

Yes Corrigan absolutely sacrificed renters for SFH owners.

[mcj]

Originally Posted by whatnext

Yes Corrigan absolutely sacrificed renters for SFH owners.

Footage of Corrigan acknowledging this circa 2002

[Sheba]

Got a card in the mail about this - BC Parkway Enhancement Project

The City of Burnaby is developing a long-term plan to enhance the BC Parkway corridor from Boundary Road to the Royal Oak SkyTrain Station, referred to as Parkway Alive! The plan explores opportunities to transform the corridor into a vibrant linear park to advance health, wellness and social inclusion with needed public spaces and opportunities for recreation, art, commerce and other amenities that reflect the needs and aspirations of the community.

We want to hear from you about your vision for the BC Parkway as a vital corridor for cycling, walking and rolling, while also becoming a destination all of its own. Your input and ideas are important to help transform and bring the Parkway Alive!

The survey is open until April 28.