Downtown Vancouver Updates

[Yume-sama]

It is unique in a good way. What's the story on the name "Rolston".

[giallo]

Fantastic building. I hope it sells well.

[Delirium]

Originally Posted by Yume-sama

It is unique in a good way. What's the story on the name "Rolston".

no story behind the name. the street bordering the project to the south is called Rolston so that's what they went with

[flight_from_kamakura]

nice little random sf dtv slag, though i don't necessarily disagree:

http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/Island-development-slims-down-87297482.html

Treasure Island development slims down
By: John Upton
March 11, 2010

Tall buildings will rise on Treasure Island, but the prospect of consistently narrow towers was rebuked by The City’s planning chief because they might resemble Vancouver, British Columbia.

Draft design guidelines for the redevelopment of Treasure Island — where new stores, a hotel and thousands of new homes are planned to be built in the coming decades — were presented Wednesday by master developers and city staff to island directors.

Much of the Oakland-facing part of the artificially made island will be left as public open space, parks and a farm or community garden.

But the San Francisco- and Yerba Buena Island-facing elements of the sparsely populated island are planned to be heavily developed.

Most of the buildings will be residential and reach up to five stories.

But at least a handful of towers reaching up to 650 feet, about 60 stories, are planned that will forever change the view from
The Embarcadero.

To improve the pedestrian experience on the island and minimize shadows, developers propose limiting the width of the new towers.

Additionally, streets are orientated in an unusual triangular pattern to minimize wind and maximize the amount of sunlight at the ground level.

A 600-foot tower could not be built wider than 150 feet, under the draft guidelines. A 450-foot tower could be up to 145 feet wide.

Squat, 70-foot buildings, on the other hand, could grow up to 200 feet wide.

“The story here is the visibility of towers,” San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim said. “They’ll be more visible than anything downtown or anything in any part of The City.”

Rahaim said the guidelines need to be flexible and also need to be crafted to prevent multiple tall buildings from being constructed to the same height.

If too many towers are built to similar heights following the narrow-building guidelines, then the island could resemble downtown Vancouver, according to Rahaim.

“The bigger problem with Vancouver is that there is incredible monotony,” Rahaim said. “It’s all perfectly done and it’s all boring.”

Expected development costs rose by roughly $250 million during the past four years, in part because the Navy is asking for more than $100 million for the island.

Those additional costs are being offset by reduced spending on parks, by renting instead of purchasing three ferries and by developing larger housing units, according to Mayor Gavin Newsom’s economic adviser, Jack Sylvan.

[Prometheus]

Sad but true.

Moreover, the next striking tall tower proposed for Vancouver (the Ritz-Carleton or Vancouver's Turn), something we should all be excited about, unfortunately will be built right beside the Shangri-La, Vancouver's tallest tower by far. This is a waste of a tall tower because this is precisely the location where Vancouver's skyline needs breaking-up the least.

[Metro-One]

The rolston is a great design, but I hope this is not the start of chipping away the Granville entertainment district. It would be nice if a lounge / bar is part of this development at the base. Also, it will be a loss of a neon sign, so I hope they are replacing it with a new one.

[Locked In]

^ The Yale is having some major work done on it as part of the development. This is from the article posted above (take it for what its worth I guess...):

The Yale pub, famous for its blues acts, will also get a facelift and continue as a major destination for blues-music fans.
...
Although condo growth in Vancouver is often associated with bland gentrification of streetscapes, Mr. Lin insists the character of the Yale will be retained. And he is not just referring to retaining single-room occupants. The Yale Pub is famous in Vancouver for playing host to artists such as Stevie Ray Vaughan. Before he died in 2005, English bluesman Long John Baldry was a regular performer at the pub. Mr. Lin says there was no question about maintaining its legendary status as a blues destination.

“We’re creating a real neighbourhood here. We are creating a building that is a representation of what the neighbourhood is all about. It’s not about an ivory tower – it’s full of different mixes.”

Source: Globe and Mail

[rather_draconian]

I love the look of the Rolston, but I don't love its location and its supplantation of some architectural variety.

[geoff's two cents]

West End residents protest high-density rental rezoning


By ANDREA WOO and Rebecca Lindell, Vancouver SunMarch 14, 2010 10:02 PMComments (7)

Residents of the West End rallied Sunday against a proposed high-density rental rezoning they say would threaten the character of the beachfront neighbourhood.

Residents of the West End rallied Sunday against a proposed high-density rental rezoning they say would threaten the character of the beachfront neighbourhood.
Photograph by: Peter Battistoni, Vancouver Sun, Files, Vancouver Sun

Residents of the West End rallied Sunday against a proposed high-density rental rezoning they say would threaten the character of the beachfront neighbourhood.

About 80 people gathered at the intersection of Harwood and Cardero streets to protest the rezoning application of Devonshire Properties Ltd.’s Beach Towers, expected before city council in the coming weeks.

The rezoning would allow developers to build a 20-storey tower on the site and take advantage of the city’s Short Term Incentives for Rental Housing (STIR) program, which includes incentives such as faster permitting process, parking requirement reductions and increased density of the rental apartments.

“It’s completely out of sync with what works in the neighbourhood,” said Godfrey Tait, a spokesman for the concerned residents. “You could maybe have some mixed-market, family-oriented housing, maybe something that wouldn’t exceed six levels, but certainly not another tower.”

There are also concerns about whether more rental units will make housing more affordable.

“ ‘Affordable’ has not been defined in any way,” said Tait.

[email protected]
© Copyright (c) The Vancouver Sun

http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Wes...nsity+rental+rezoning/2682925/story.html

I jog regularly past this area, and have often thought it suitable for another tower. This is prime, downtown, ocean-front real estate and, dense as it is already, it is far from over-crowded. Personally, I like the reduction in parking requirements, and the fact that it's a rental.

[Yume-sama]

Well, it's not like the West End is one of the densest neighborhoods in North America. Of course it would stick out!

[ozonemania]

Are they proposing to build adjacent to the existing towers?

I think that having a graduated, increasing height limit, as one moves from the waterfront inward, is a good idea in general. Something like they have in False Creek area.

Having said that, I'm not opposed to taller towers in the West End at all, I really think they are totally appropriate, including the Beach Towers site, and there should be more.

But I also think that developments in the form of the SEFC Olympic village would be awesome too... midrise, narrow walkable streets, TOD, and very dense.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by ozonemania

Are they proposing to build adjacent to the existing towers?

I think that having a graduated, increasing height limit, as one moves from the waterfront inward, is a good idea in general. Something like they have in False Creek area.

Having said that, I'm not opposed to taller towers in the West End at all, I really think they are totally appropriate, including the Beach Towers site, and there should be more.

But I also think that developments in the form of the SEFC Olympic village would be awesome too... midrise, narrow walkable streets, TOD, and very dense.

OH
MY
G.G..G...GOD!

A 20-story tower near the beach in the West End?
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s...SHhrhpAZXxPuPbFqw&cbp=12,280.71,,0,-18.2

It will ruin the views of sunsets from some of the nearby 20+ story towers!
OH, the Humanity.....

[vanman]

I don't think nimbys even have the ability to understand the concept of irony.

[whatnext]

If the NPA is smart, they'll use STIR as a stick to beat Vision with in the next election.

[hrhsheba]

I guess that would make it a ... STIRstick

[Rusty Gull]

“The story here is the visibility of towers,” San Francisco Planning Director John Rahaim said. “They’ll be more visible than anything downtown or anything in any part of The City.”

If too many towers are built to similar heights following the narrow-building guidelines, then the island could resemble downtown Vancouver, according to Rahaim.

“The bigger problem with Vancouver is that there is incredible monotony,” Rahaim said. “It’s all perfectly done and it’s all boring.”

Wow - that's pretty significant criticism, especially when it's coming from the director of planning for San Francisco. I wonder what Larry Beasley who have to say about this. (I don't think Brent Toderian is responsible, for better or worse, for the state of Vancouver's skyline).

[officedweller]

Odd though because SF also has a tabletop skyline.

[Metro-One]

true, but not ot the same extent as Vancouver IMO.

At least the Shangri-La and One Wall Centre punctuate our skyline from a couple angles.

We do need about 2 towers between 200 and 220 meters in Vancouver though.

[johnjimbc]

What's funny to me about that criticism is that the most interesting thing about the San Francisco Skyline is NOT the stellar buildings (with a few notable exceptions, most of the buildings there are rather standard). What makes the skyline appealing in San Franscisco is the geography. All those steep hills all over downtown really define their skyline. They provide a natural drama to the scale of the city.

Imagine if the downtown of Vancouver was built on a half-dozen hills soaring to about a third the height of Grouse Mountain. Vancouver would appear pretty dramatic, wouldn't it?

It's just a strange source of criticism . . . almost sounds like a hint of city envy going on there. Vancouver should be encouraged that San Francisco feels the need to toss a few darts this way. Maybe we are doing something right!

[Prometheus]

Originally Posted by johnjimbc

It's just a strange source of criticism . . . almost sounds like a hint of city envy going on there. Vancouver should be encouraged that San Francisco feels the need to toss a few darts this way. Maybe we are doing something right!

The source of the criticism, or the motives of the critic, is irrelevant. The only relevant issue, rationally speaking, is whether the criticism is true.

The evidence before our eyes shows us that the criticism is largely true, and thus we are not doing something right if a varied and dynamic skyline is the best goal.