800 Granville Street | 137.5m | 42, 38 fl | Proposed

[mcminsen]

I got this in the mail today.

[officedweller]

I got that too - they must have blanketed downtown.

[Migrant_Coconut]

This is going to make the 2538 Birch open house look like a tea party.

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by Migrant_Coconut

This is going to make the 2538 Birch open house look like a tea party.

you think there will be oppostion?

this is pretty much the perfect proposal for the area. it keeps the heritage buildings/facades, will help revitalize that part of Granville, its in central DT and on rapid transit, and it bring in offices, not residential. it is literally the perfect proposal.

[jollyburger]

Originally Posted by VancouverOfTheFuture

you think there will be oppostion?

this is pretty much the perfect proposal for the area. it keeps the heritage buildings/facades, will help revitalize that part of Granville, its in central DT and on rapid transit, and it bring in offices, not residential. it is literally the perfect proposal.

You would think the only possible opposition would be from other landowners/businesses but the propsal seems to do more to improve the area than negatively affect the strip.

[Metro-One]

Also the timing for such a project couldn’t be better after the decay that has been occurring along Granville, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, for revitalization.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Also the timing for such a project couldn’t be better after the decay that has been occurring along Granville, which has been exacerbated by the pandemic, for revitalization.

In fact, this side on the stretch between Robson and Smithe where the shops are is actually not in a state of decay, although close to Mc Donald's there are always undesirables hanging around. The worst stretches of Granville are found where there are plenty of rundown SROs and such, especially in front of the newly acquired youth hostel and Best Western. If those areas are not dealt with by authorities, eg preventing people from shooting up in public or OD-ing, then I'm afraid nothing will change even if we have a Taj Mahal built here.

[Migrant_Coconut]

And yet even here, you've got complaints that it's bland/oppressive/the wrong fit for the area, so I highly doubt it's going to be that easy.

[officedweller]

I think the biggest complaints will be about how it looms over the Commodore Ballroom -
from those who want to continue having a 2 storey "Main Street".

[TwoFace]

Lennox Pub has sprung back to life

[officedweller]

The other Bonnis project closer to Nelson would have more impact if it had retained more retail space for an anchor, but that area is probably too sketchy to attract an anchor.

[officedweller]

800 Granville revitalization project progresses to official application
https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties

The fins are gone (so no matchy-matchy theme with 725 Granville (above Nordstrom) and VCII.

The area above the historic facades are still a video screen, so they won't look like a rooftop mechanical enclosure (per first render below)
although it would benefit from some variation in the height of the panels or some other design aspect (i.e. raised panels like Davie St. Safeway)
to add interest when the display is turned off or in disrepair

As a mid-block site on its south end, I don't think they should be allowed to have expansive glass curtan wall on the south facade
since that will impair the future redevelopment of the adjacent sites on the corner.

New renderings:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties

Old Renderings:


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by officedweller

As a mid-block site on its south end, I don't think they should be allowed to have expansive glass curtan wall on the south facade
since that will impair the future redevelopment of the adjacent sites on the corner.

Hopefully that's just wishful thinking in the render 'cause yeah it doesn't make sense to have glass on the end wall when a new building would sit right next to it.

Originally Posted by dleung

It wouldn't kill their proforma to add a few ripples in the facade to break up the length of the giant alien mothership that is teabagging these heritage buildings. That continuous screen is awful and really disneyfies everything below it - how many layers of stuff do they need?? Would've preferred if they extended the wood reveal or part of the office mass down to a 3rd level terrace instead:

I prefer the boxier shape and the bigger continuous screen. I'm with you on the wood though - it would be good to see more of that shown off.

Originally Posted by Metro-One

If it were overpriced condos they were proposing as “revitalization” I would have concerns, but this is commercial and office which is entirely appropriate for the location. So the argument of people not being able to find affordable housing as a knock against this project doesn’t really fly here.

[dleung]

It wouldn't kill their proforma to add a few ripples in the facade to break up the length of the giant alien mothership that is teabagging these heritage buildings. That continuous screen is awful and really disneyfies everything below it - how many layers of stuff do they need?? Would've preferred if they extended the wood reveal or part of the office mass down to a 3rd level terrace instead:

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

Originally Posted by officedweller

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/800-...nis-properties

Originally Posted by dleung

of course, they got rid of that twisting up at the corner to make it a flat boring box; sigh.

[GenWhy?]

You still can't revitalize an area if you don't deal with the core issues affecting it...

[jlousa]

Exactly. Letting an area deteriorate and then proposing an out of scale development as the answer is one of the reasons people hate gentrification. The city has no will to tackle the real problem and will gladly pretend this will fix things.

[Metro-One]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Exactly. Letting an area deteriorate and then proposing an out of scale development as the answer is one of the reasons people hate gentrification. The city has no will to tackle the real problem and will gladly pretend this will fix things.

Well, it’s not the city proposing this project, but an independent developer.

Why should they abandon their proprieties / put their projects on hold because the city government can’t get their shit together?

This project won’t solve the issues, but it won’t hurt either bringing in thousands of working class people during the day.

Also fail to see how it is out of scale, it is in the heart of downtown near one of our regions largest transit exchanges. If anything it should be larger.

And if people don’t like the form, we’ll, we can all thank our good old view cone friends for that.

PS, love the screen. The Granville strip needs some bold video animation along it.

[jlousa]

You're right the developer shouldn't abandon their plans because the city can't get their act together. But lets not kid ourselves and pretend they aren't using the current situation to advance their project. And I have as much hope this will change the situation of Granville about as much as the "screen" did across the street, or the hundreds of workers in the Microsoft office above Nordstrom. Streets like Granville and Robson were special because of their low height form, once lost it's gone forever.

[phesto]

If it's a spot rezoning anyway, why not show an alternative massing scheme with same density that goes higher than the height limit/view cone? At least staff and council could compare?

As it is, I'm not a fan of the massing...and I love density.