Chinatown Updates Discussion

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Hah, no not the Henderson buildings. Look Here.

It's just down the block. 3 new condo buildings built within the last 2 years. All 8 floors and taller. Bluesky is all rental, the 2 others are market housing.

These NIMBYs are about 10 years too late. The development train has long left the station here.

IMO that's the main concern opponents have. Main will keep seeing a lot of pressure for development as it is a large thoroughfare. If 3 projects completed in only the past 2 years, there is still lots of time to review and reassess Chinatown plans.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Hah, no not the Henderson buildings. Look Here.

It's just down the block. 3 new condo buildings built within the last 2 years. All 8 floors and taller. Bluesky is all rental, the 2 others are market housing.

These NIMBYs are about 10 years too late. The development train has long left the station here.

I agree those buildings are too big and blocky as well. They shouldn't have been permitted. The development train has been given too free a hand to run over whatever it wants in Vancouver, if this is where it gets sent back to the station, so be it.

[officedweller]

Changing topic...

Brick is up on Brixton Flats
- it's white, not gray like the renders, and it goes to the roof (also unlike the renders)

http://vancouver.skyrisecities.com/forum...air-williamson.26812/page-2#post-1273417

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Changing topic...

Brick is up on Brixton Flats
- it's white, not gray like the renders, and it goes to the roof (also unlike the renders)

http://vancouver.skyrisecities.com/forum...air-williamson.26812/page-2#post-1273417

I'm certainly underwhelmed by the cladding. It looks cheap compared to the renders.

I can't help but wonder if the architect or engineer who designed it is getting sued. For those who don't know, both parts of masonry wall on the east side of the building blew down in the spring. The masonry blocks subsequently punched some pretty good sized holes in the neighbouring buildings. Somebody screwed up good.

The thing that bugged me the most is that the street was closed for something like 2 months after. What a pain.

The neighbouring buildings also still haven't been fixed.

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

I'm certainly underwhelmed by the cladding. It looks cheap compared to the renders.

I was thinking the exact opposite. Really like this building.

Despite the controversy, Chinatown steadily progresses.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Alex Mackinnon

Nevermind the fact that the photo is taken from a godawful multi-storey parkade/mall which does a terrible job of fitting in with the neighbourhood and is grossly underutilised most of the time.

I have never been inside that parkade building, are the parking levels flat or a contiguous ramp upwards?

If so and underutilized I wonder if they can renovate part of it for social housing.

[GenWhy?]

I agree, Brixton Flats is looking very nice. We're working on using some white brick for a project where the Client wanted more of a grey... seeing how mainfloor dark colours are more defined by white above, and dark is better for maintenance and cleaning on the main floor.. white brick does a nice job of being more inviting, especially in the cloudy rainy climate.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

I have never been inside that parkade building, are the parking levels flat or a contiguous ramp upwards?

If so and underutilized I wonder if they can renovate part of it for social housing.

It's all ramp.

[s211]

Originally Posted by Vin

Maybe they want to turn it into a Tiananman Square? Gregor's photo hanging on the cultural centre instead of Mao?

Considering the wet-on that Gregor had when he gushed about how fast the Chinese government can push projects through, your suggestion is perhaps not too far from being outlandish.

[SpongeG]

is there still a mcdonalds in the parkade? it used to have a food court type area on the ground level that had a mcdonalds in it.

[hollywoodnorth]

a Tim Horton opened at Keefer & Main beside the closed HSBC (soon to be Vancity)

[Skook]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

is there still a mcdonalds in the parkade? it used to have a food court type area on the ground level that had a mcdonalds in it.

That McDonalds has been gone for years.

[EastVanMark]

Amid all the depressing gentrification talk, it's refreshing that at least one little bit of chinatown's heritage may be on its way back to give the neighbourhood some additional character instead of the 1,576th Starbucks. Someone has made an application to the city to bring back The Ho-Ho restaurants' iconic neon sign back.

[SpongeG]

I watched a show about new immigrants from China and they were asked if they go to Chinatown and they laughed and said no. They said they don't understand it or why they would want to go there. Its dirty and not even would it appeal to the old people in China, not even old people in China want to live or visit a place like it. Which when you think about it, why would they want to go there when they come from a place with some of the most incredible malls in the world etc.

A lot of what they have seen over here was outlawed before their time, they said its like things here are 100 years in the past and they seem to have lost that part of their culture and don't understand why it still tries to be something here.

If they can progress and move on over there why can't they do the same thing here? How much longer can it last as the older generations die off and the purpose of chinatown is nothing, which it already seems to be whats going on yet they want to hold up the inevitable for an old ideal. It becomes a caricature of the past for who?

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by SpongeG

I watched a show about new immigrants from China and they were asked if they go to Chinatown and they laughed and said no. They said they don't understand it or why they would want to go there. Its dirty and not even would it appeal to the old people in China, not even old people in China want to live or visit a place like it. Which when you think about it, why would they want to go there when they come from a place with some of the most incredible malls in the world etc.

A lot of what they have seen over here was outlawed before their time, they said its like things here are 100 years in the past and they seem to have lost that part of their culture and don't understand why it still tries to be something here.

If they can progress and move on over there why can't they do the same thing here? How much longer can it last as the older generations die off and the purpose of chinatown is nothing, which it already seems to be whats going on yet they want to hold up the inevitable for an old ideal. It becomes a caricature of the past for who?

well Chinatown was always more about tourists then anything else. ever since the revitalization in the 1970s with those lamp posts etc. it has been about a place for tourists. it didn't start out like that but just like with Gastown, it was a dump and needed to be revitalized. the people that live there are NIMBYs like everywhere else. the only difference is that they are holding onto a novelty area that is years past. the people protesting a lot are also younger then the revitalization of the 1970s.

it will change if change is forced, but without that, it will stay a failing tourist area known as an extension of the DTES.

[SpongeG]

not so much an update but affects chinatown.

I don't see the point of forcing something to be something it doesn't want to be. Cities evolve and change and people want to force China Town to stay something it isn't anymore. The new generation don't seem to care, Richmond is the place to go for most now. New immigrants from China say they don't go there, why would they. it's a way of life they don't even have in China anymore, they see it as old fashioned and something so unfamiliar to them, cause china 100 years ago is something China today doesn't even seem to know after so many decades of communism rule, and China Town and the old school chinese residents ideas and ideals are just so out of touch with modern day china.

Anyway I can see wanting to protect the buildings and heritage of it but just let it do what it is going to do on its own instead of forcing it to be.

Vancouver searches for ways to save Chinatown, including having it designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site

Could a World Heritage designation revitalize the shrinking community?

Anna Dimoff · CBC News · January 20


Half of the small food suppliers in Vancouver's Chinatown have closed since 2009. The city is looking for ways to revitalize and sustain the shrinking community. (Trevor Dineen)

Fresh food groceries, butchers and fish shops have disappeared from Vancouver's Chinatown, only to be replaced by boutiques, restaurants and hip coffee shops.

Half of the local food suppliers in the neighbourhood have closed since 2009, according to a study by the Hua Foundation, and the city is reaching for new ways to sustain the community, including having it designated a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Rising real estate prices and high property taxes are a large part of the problem, said Wes Regan, Vancouver's community economic development planner, but it goes beyond affordability.

Aging community
Regan says owners are aging out of their businesses without anyone to take them over.
"What we've seen in some of the American cities, New York and Minneapolis for example, is people banding together to form investment cooperatives to take over these businesses and inject some new energy into them," he said.

...

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/chinatown-world-heritage-1.4496233

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

uhhh, a world heritage site? what makes it as worthy as the Nazca Lines? it is barely 100 years old, and most of what we see on the street (other then the physical structures) was built as a revitalization attempt in the 1970s. such as the lamp posts etc.

[mezzanine]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

uhhh, a world heritage site? what makes it as worthy as the Nazca Lines? it is barely 100 years old, and most of what we see on the street (other then the physical structures) was built as a revitalization attempt in the 1970s. such as the lamp posts etc.

I suppose you can start with the explainer of the federal govt's designation of chinatown as a national historic district:

First settled in the 1880s, Vancouver’s Chinatown is one of the oldest and largest in Canada. Its evolution, fabric, and continued vitality reflect the contributions and struggles of Chinese Canadians over the years. As a result of discrimination and segregation, Chinese immigrants and sojourners clustered together in the area, forming a self-contained and distinctive neighbourhood that grew with the city. Chinatown’s enduring culture results from an historic concentration of Chinese-Canadian businesses, services, cultural facilities, and residential structures, and is reinforced by the community associations still headquartered here. Many community and cultural buildings are characterized by a distinctive hybrid style that blends aspects of the architecture of Guangdong Province of China with Western styles and construction methods. Key features include recessed balconies, decorative cornices, strong verticality, and high ceilings at ground-level with mezzanines. One of the earliest established communities of Vancouver, the Chinatown district has remained a vital cultural part of the city.

IMO the association houses on the blocks of pender between carrall and main street are the most historic and unique aspect of chinatown.

[a very long weekend]

It seems that the major problems for Vancouver Chinatown as I've read and experienced is that (1) people from all around don't have to go there any more to get their Chinese stuff, since they can get it in the suburbs without the trip; (2) the people who actually live there are dying out and the population density is decreasing; (3) people generally have moved past the Wan Chai HK-style food, as Vancouver has become less Cantonese/White and more multi-cultural; and (4) the sorts of tourists that Vancouver gets are changing, people don't come in from the suburbs as much, Chinatown just doesn't have the appeal it once did in the popular imagination.

The city's response was to increase the number of people by limited and highly controlled upzoning, hoping that they'd get the right sort of people who might support the local shops.

But the city should have banned formula retail in Chinatown 20 years ago and, in upzoning, they should made it tough for the Vancouver developers to do their standard condo/drug store/bank combo/large format storefront combo. Also, if they were serious, they should have banned any form of resident parking garage, and waived any minimum square footage so that developers could build efficiency units or even dorms. In exchange for eating the costs there, the city should have let them build as of right pretty much however tall they wanted.

There are loads of people moving to the Vancouver area every month, and a (relatively) cheap Chinatown flat is pretty much perfect for a single person. The Vancouver planning policies basically and by design made pre-fab apartments at luxury prices and pretty much doomed the area. It's a shame.

[Alex Mackinnon]

Originally Posted by a very long weekend

It seems that the major problems for Vancouver Chinatown as I've read and experienced is that (1) people from all around don't have to go there any more to get their Chinese stuff, since they can get it in the suburbs without the trip; (2) the people who actually live there are dying out and the population density is decreasing; (3) people generally have moved past the Wan Chai HK-style food, as Vancouver has become less Cantonese/White and more multi-cultural; and (4) the sorts of tourists that Vancouver gets are changing, people don't come in from the suburbs as much, Chinatown just doesn't have the appeal it once did in the popular imagination.

The area could also use a proper rapid transit connection. Neither Stadium or Main St. are really suited to address the main area of Chinatown or Strathcona.

A station ~1,000m east of Waterfront could be a boon for access to Chinatown and the DTES. Granted, the bus connections work very well.

After the West End, I'd say the the DTES and Chinatown are the probably the most under-served areas in Vancouver once the current phase of transit expansions gets built. Both are huge reservoirs of capitve transit users which are mostly outside of the 400-800m range that people usually walk to transit stations.

Strathcona is very good for single people just looking for a small rental though. Lots of the houses are subdivided into 3 or 4 units.