Burnaby Updates

[mgbcca]

Wow Lumina looks so close to the Milano development on the neighboring lot to the west.

[cairnstone]

Originally Posted by sburnaby33

First renderings I have seen of Lumina. The pace of construction in Brentwood is staggering. Roughly 25 buildings on the go or propsed for the next 5 or so years.

With all the development occuring around Carters, I wonder how much longer they can hold out. The same goes for Olympic Tile to the south of Dawson. For those people than know master planning of high rise developments how many high rises can fit on Carters and the adjacent business center on Beta Street?

What business is there now

[MetrotownMary]

I'm doing research about public space in the Metrotown area and I'm curious to know how people living in the area use the Metropolis Mall site. A significant portion of the site is outdoor space, mostly covered in surface parking but there are also a number of public spaces with water fountains, benches, etc. I was just curious how these spaces are generally used, for example, are they mainly occupied by people that have come to shop and want to step outside for a little while? Or is it a place that people that live in the area come to use and meet friends, etc. without going into the mall to shop. I know that at Oakridge Mall there are informal exercise groups that meet in the parkade to workout. Are there any similar sort of informal uses that occur in the Metropolis Mall area?

Any info from people that live in the area would be really appreciated, these are the sorts of things that you can't just research online, you really need local insight! Thanks.

Cheers!

[officedweller]

The plaza around the MetroTowers would be lunchtime eating spots during the summer for office workers (same as downtown Vancouver).

[Tetsuo]

Ledingham McAllistair has acquired the BC Housing site across 14th avenue from the Safeway site, in exchange they are going to build one tower for seniors on the site and they will build a 90unit non market three story on 15th Street and 14th Avenue. to replace the old site (which will also have several market towers)

[BobLoblawsLawBlog]

Originally Posted by MetrotownMary

I'm doing research about public space in the Metrotown area and I'm curious to know how people living in the area use the Metropolis Mall site. A significant portion of the site is outdoor space, mostly covered in surface parking but there are also a number of public spaces with water fountains, benches, etc. I was just curious how these spaces are generally used, for example, are they mainly occupied by people that have come to shop and want to step outside for a little while? Or is it a place that people that live in the area come to use and meet friends, etc. without going into the mall to shop. I know that at Oakridge Mall there are informal exercise groups that meet in the parkade to workout. Are there any similar sort of informal uses that occur in the Metropolis Mall area?

Any info from people that live in the area would be really appreciated, these are the sorts of things that you can't just research online, you really need local insight! Thanks.

Cheers!

I use the mall unconventionally to walk through it. Usually from the bus loop to the Sears. A lot of people I know usually walk through the Sears to get through the mall. I never meet friends at the mall, usually I meet them outside of Royal Oak, Metro or Patterson stations, meeting in the mall is too difficult. When Pokemon Go was all the rage the fountain thingy on the corner of Nelson and Kingway was always full of people, I'm not sure if that's still the case.

[Sheba]

Looking through the latest Major Development Projects, over by the corner of Central and Imperial is going to be a "Low-rise Multi-family residential development". It would have been nice to put a statement tower there, but probably not all that practical with a school next door. Also North Road from Cameron up to Sullivan (where there's a small strip mall and some trees now) is listed as "a mixed-use development with commercial, including an office tower and two residential towers.

At the moment I'm more interested in developments next door to some of the big master planned communities, as they should be done in years instead of decades.

[sburnaby33]

Originally Posted by cairnstone

What business is there now

There used to be a Curves there. Dont know if it is still there. As well the representative for children and youth is also in the building. Most spaces are empty and ready to be leased.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by MetrotownMary

I'm doing research about public space in the Metrotown area and I'm curious to know how people living in the area use the Metropolis Mall site. A significant portion of the site is outdoor space, mostly covered in surface parking but there are also a number of public spaces with water fountains, benches, etc. I was just curious how these spaces are generally used, for example, are they mainly occupied by people that have come to shop and want to step outside for a little while? Or is it a place that people that live in the area come to use and meet friends, etc. without going into the mall to shop. I know that at Oakridge Mall there are informal exercise groups that meet in the parkade to workout. Are there any similar sort of informal uses that occur in the Metropolis Mall area?

Any info from people that live in the area would be really appreciated, these are the sorts of things that you can't just research online, you really need local insight! Thanks.

Cheers!

Teens and mall patrons seem to hang out in front of Chapters, especially smokers.

Teens tend to hang out in front of The Metro Tower's plaza with business lunch crowd as previously mentioned. I guess groups and types of usage change over the day (afternoon and night its mostly teens and 20 year olds). This plaza is probably the busiest of them all.

I have never seen plaza in front of Target get much use.

The plaza on the corner of Nelson and Kingsway is usually empty apart from, as mentioned before, the Pokemon invasion which brought probably the largest group of people to that corner ever. This plaza is sometimes frequented by parents with young kids (water + birds entertain kids).

I live right across the mall and the mall is definitely not where I meet friends. I meet my friends and family in various coffee shops away from the mall. I use the mall for two things: to shop when things are quiet (say Tuesday night) or to go through on my way to work (McDonalds entrance to SkyTrain and SkyTrain to Sears on the way back).

Maybe I am too old, but I find the mall to be the last place where I would want to meet anybody or hang out. That seems to be what 15-25 year olds enjoy. Metrotown mall is literally overrun by young people. Somebody should do official study of all malls by patron age, but I think Metrotown is frequented by the youngest crowd by far in LM. And in terms of where people go - the new food-court is definitely the place - it is jam-packed most of the time and especially on the weekends.

[Tetsuo]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Looking through the latest Major Development Projects, over by the corner of Central and Imperial is going to be a "Low-rise Multi-family residential development". It would have been nice to put a statement tower there, but probably not all that practical with a school next door.

Does this include the smaller building next door (the one that hugs Central)

[MetrotownMary]

Thanks for all of your thoughtful replies! Much appreciated. If anyone else can think of any other informal uses around the Metropolis Mall, keep them coming

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Tetsuo

Does this include the smaller building next door (the one that hugs Central)

That only lists 4675 Imperial (the larger L shaped building). It's also a rental building. There's info on what they have planned here.

Nothing yet for the non-rental next door - although based on the lack of exterior maintenance I wouldn't be surprised to see it go.

[red-paladin]

6695 Dunblane Avenue & 4909-4971 Imperial Street

Transca Development initially submitted a rezoning application for this L-shaped site earlier this year, and the plan is now likely heading to public hearing. The proposal is a single 36-storey apartment tower with a 2-storey form fronting Nelson Avenue, a 3-storey residential form fronting Dunblane Avenue, and a 4-storey form fronting Imperial that includes 2-storey townhouses with double height amenity space above. There will be a total of 313 units, and a total density of 5.11 FAR per the RM-5s designation.

From: http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2016/1...pplications-3/

[urbancanadian]

Here's a render of the church component of the upcoming Sussex development. The rental tower is to the left in the background, and the condo tower is on the right. Looks like the north side of the rental tower is going to be quite thin!


https://wbuc.ca/development/

[vanman]

Nice to see some purpose-built rental in Metrotown. Hopefully there are a decent amount of two and three bedroom units planned.

[WBC]

Originally Posted by vanman

Nice to see some purpose-built rental in Metrotown. Hopefully there are a decent amount of two and three bedroom units planned.

That rental tower will be very, very close to the other two existing rental towers and the new condo tower...I am not sure how spacing will work - I am guessing they will put it on an angle...

[Spr0ckets]

Great to see some development north of Kingsway at Metrotown, especiall with all the projects going on just south of the Mall along the skytrain line..

There's quite a few walk-ups and single/double storey retail units that could really do with some redevelopment....not to mention the parking lots.

[Skygazer]

Any word on what the rents might be in that rental tower?

[vanciti]

Originally Posted by Skygazer

Any word on what the rents might be in that rental tower?

$2.50 to $2.80 PSF.

Its going to be owned by BCIMC

[Skygazer]

Originally Posted by vanciti

$2.50 to $2.80 PSF.

Its going to be owned by BCIMC

Wow, not bad at all. I'm currently paying roughly $2.10 per square foot and that's going up to about $2.17 in a month, and I've lived here for four years so my rent hasn't gone up by market value in that time. If I were to leave today they would probably rent it out for pretty close to $2.50.

And this is an old woodframe apartment. So $2.50 to $2.80 in a newly built highrise actually seems like a pretty sweet deal