[Burnaby] Metropolis at Metrotown Redevelopment (Downtown Burnaby)

[cairnstone]

It was removed as it was at the end of its life and in principle I believe it was owned by IC not translink so was removed as part of the station upgrades.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

It was removed as it was at the end of its life and in principle I believe it was owned by IC not translink so was removed as part of the station upgrades.

IC, TransLink and Burnaby all have to come to some agreement about the overhead walkway, and Burnaby has been dragging their feet on it. It was posted somewhere on here that it's supposed to be replaced sometime in the next few years.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

i will never understand our aversion to indoor/dedicated pedestrian connections in this area.

- we live in a rain forest
- it is coldish, windy, wet, generally not great weather most of the year with a cold that goes into your bones
- the policies are supposed to be all set to make pedestrians happier with better connections, etc. to encourage more walking.

and yet, whenever there is a chance to have a pedestrian connection it is veto'd by the City. from underground connections between transit and buildings, or buildings and buildings, or separated someway from traffic. constantly pedestrians are forced into the weather, onto side walks and across busy intersections when an underground connection is completely doable. our downtown is quite dense, and yet we have nothing like Toronto's PATH; though we should and easily could. people are more inclined to walk if there is a conditioned, out of the elements space.

it just goes to show that all the policies aren't actually about pedestrians, it is about appearances.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Metro policies tend to maximize the four months of actual nonstop heat that we get... at the expense of the other eight.

[jollyburger]

That's not really true when you look at all the underground mall networks under Bentall and Pacific Centre. If they wanted to build that kind of system it would have had to been advanced when the downtown core was redeveloped since I doubt anyone is going to spend to build it now. And the sheltered pedestrian networks in Calgary and Toronto have severely more harsh winters than we ever have to deal with in Vancouver.

[Migrant_Coconut]

We do have 2-4x as much rainfall. Underground, elevated, at-grade but covered, the point is that we really shouldn't be looking for a Californian solution for Metrotown - it'll be near unusable from September through April.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

We do have 2-4x as much rainfall. Underground, elevated, at-grade but covered, the point is that we really shouldn't be looking for a Californian solution for Metrotown - it'll be near unusable from September through April.

Especially when it is one of the most profitable and busy shopping centres in the nation. This isn’t exactly a dying strip mall or even a second rate poor performing indoor mall.

It is literally a destination and the primary reason for Metrotown’s current success.

Can the area improve and density? Yes! Remove the surface lots, create better pedestrian interactions around the outside of the mall, improve the surrounding streets, etc... but the mall doesn’t nor shouldn’t be chopped up as planned simply to make Metrotown indistinguishable from every other carbon copy town centre that has been master planned over the last two decades.

It’s good to have some variety and areas centred around big indoor malls like Metrotown can still be pedestrian friendly and livable. They seem to pull it off all the time here in Japan...

But unlike Japan I realize we don’t have the luxury to make public covered arcade shopping streets simply because the homeless will overtake them and we currently have no social spine to mitigate such a situation / enforce rules to keep such a space clean, so we need the private function of the mall to cover this missing piece of our urban puzzle (this is nothing against the homeless but let’s be honest, as soon as they make an area their home in mass it is no longer a welcoming vibrant space for all in the community).

The only way I can get behind the current plan is if the base the mall in several blocks of tower podiums and have wide skywalks connections them. Hell, you could even do cool things such as having the food court spanning across on of these streets on a third or fourth level.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Yeah, you're probably right about the homeless. At any rate, any and all of the above suggestions would have much more novelty value than "Robson, but in Burnaby."

Phases 3 and 4 have New Coke written all over them... and it's not like Ivanhoe can just roll back to the old recipe if things go wrong.

[officedweller]

Of interest -
old Metrotown road network plans.

Originally Posted by jollyburger

That's correct, I found this old Burnaby Metrotown ALRT document and it even has the Boundary station penciled in on the last page.

Calls it "Future ALRT station"

https://search.heritageburnaby.ca/me...-1984/3309.pdf

[owenhujb]

Renders.











(Via https://www.concordmetrotown.com/)

[officedweller]

Moved to Concord Merotown thread.

[trofirhen]

I would like to know the kind of streetscape that Kingsway will have.
What width will it be, what type of street lighting, street furniture, sidewalks, etc. Will it still be same 'ol Kingsway or a little more 'Wilshire Boulevard?'

[Lexus]

Originally Posted by trofirhen

I would like to know the kind of streetscape that Kingsway will have.
What width will it be, what type of street lighting, street furniture, sidewalks, etc. Will it still be same 'ol Kingsway or a little more 'Wilshire Boulevard?'

A portion of it is done. Which is Station Square. Three lanes EB with one been a metered parking space, then a protected bike lane and a sidewalk.

Hope link works. https://goo.gl/maps/gKvFW9se5Sh657Y68

[Metro-One]

While such urban form is great in the summer, it will suck in the winter if the majority of the existing mall is demolished to do so.

Not saying that this isn’t a great approach for the area around the mall and maybe a couple through streets can be added with the use of overhead walkways connecting a few podiums together, but removing the indoor mall completely will be a mistake.

There is a reason why Metrotown and Pacific Centre are so busy, it’s because there are many days of the year when the weather sucks and people want to shop inside. Now, I have argued before that this can be met halfway with large awnings and pedestrian arcades, but knowing Vancouver they would have to be on private property to ensure they didn’t become homeless camps.

Other concern is I hope there is more variation in tower heights than that.. Don’t want Concord Metrotown Tower 1 being the tallest forever there.

[Migrant_Coconut]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Not saying that this isn’t a great approach for the area around the mall and maybe a couple through streets can be added with the use of overhead walkways connecting a few podiums together, but removing the indoor mall completely will be a mistake.

Hit the nail on the head. Downgrading all the way to "Robson, but in Burnaby" will kill the attractiveness for locals and non-locals alike.

[logan5]

I thought the plan was to have at least 1 level of below ground mall, with a row of street level retail above.

It's still very early, and I've learned through the years on here that anything can happen. My guess is that there will be a major underground retail component.

[Migrant_Coconut]

If that's the case, IC hasn't mentioned it at all. All articles point toward 100% of retail being at street-level (half indoor, half outdoor); truck infrastructure will be underground, and that's it.

[Waders]

As far as I know, based on the information provided at the last Public Information Session a year ago, there is no underground mall. The existing mall will be reduced to a faction of the current size(phase 4).
The lease for Hudson's Bay doesn't end until 2086 so hopefully the master plan will be totally revised in 66 years.

Who would want to walk and shop outside on the street when it is dark, raining, snowing or a strong wind blowing?

[logan5]

Originally Posted by Waders

Who would want to walk and shop outside on the street when it is dark, raining, snowing or a strong wind blowing?

Me for one.

The success of neighbourhoods (like Mt. Pleasant) revolves around active street life. The majority of people who live in the inner city enjoy shopping along Main Street, West 4th, Robson Street.

[MistyMountain]

An underground mall with another level at street level, similar to the Pacific centre would be pretty good in my books.