Suburban Updates - All Other Metro Vancouver Municipalities

[vanman]

Where in Surrey is that exactly?

[androo3]

Originally Posted by vanman

Where in Surrey is that exactly?

I believe those constrution updates are the low rise buildings to the left of the towers in the bigger picture. These towers are supposed to be at the coner of king george and 108th

[jlousa]

Nothing we didn't already know, but the project has advanced to the pre-bid stage. Note the scope of the project.

Richmond, BC PREPARING PLANS
Pinnacle Park Place/Western Centre/Capstan Village, 3200-3360 No 3 Rd, 3131-3411 Sexsmith Rd, 8511 Capstan Way, V6X 1R3
Start: June, 2008 Complete: 2018
Further update in Spring 2008. This development will be phased construction over ~10years.
Project: Proposed comprehensive high-density mixed-use development may include: approx 177,860m2 of residential area (a portion of 4,645 sq m will allocated for affordable subsidized rental housing on two parcels, approx 100+ units); commercial will cover approx 125,114m2; there will also be a portion of live/work units; a transit commercial plaza & public park will cover 1.4 acres at the centre of the development.; low-rise/mid-rise bldgs will be between two-eight stys; high-rise towers will be up to 15-stys.
Scope: 302,974 m²; 15 storeys; 16 structures; 2150 units; 17 acres

[SpongeG]

Port Moody gets its connector

Port Moody will finally see the Murray-Clarke Connector.

TransLink's board of directors voted unanimously in favour of funding the long-awaited project Wednesday, and will allocate $50 million to the project -- double what was initially proposed.

"It's gratifying for me to see everyone coming together for a common cause and the result is great news for the entire Northeast sector," Port Moody Mayor Joe Trasolini said.

City manager Gaeten Royer said that if the item hadn't passed at Wednesday's meeting, it might not have been looked at for months.

"The fear was that the project was going to be falling between the cracks again," he said.

"This is absolutely huge for us."

Motivated by the urgency of the outgoing board's last meeting, more than 20 delegations, many of them Port Moody residents, spoke at the meeting held at Richmond City Hall.

The news came two days after Port Moody council staged a connector protest in which traffic lanes were closed to demonstrate the need for a four-lane overpass.

"We know very well that traffic flows ... are increasing," Trasolini said. "So we need the overpass with today's flow and we definitely, definitely need it for the increased traffic flow of the future."

He said the project should be underway by "the third part of next year," and should be completed in 2010.

He stressed the importance of finishing the project before the Evergreen Line gets underway.

"We don't want to have the only two corridors in Port Moody worked on at the same time," he said. "It is crucial and very timely that the project was approved to go ahead now."

http://www.canada.com/coquitlamnow/n...1-a1b16ebdd3cc

more info and this pic from city of port moody



that area can be a real pain to get through at the best of times - this really help considering all the condos and towers going up just east of the area

[hollywoodnorth]

totally......hopefully it helps smooth the way for Skytrain

[mr.x]

so what was the whole point in the first place of building LRT instead of elevated SkyTrain to protect this "precious view" the city has been raving about?

[westcoast604]

Just a heads up. Watch for news on that site to the north thats currently a lumber mill. BIG plans coming for that.

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

so what was the whole point in the first place of building LRT instead of elevated SkyTrain to protect this "precious view" the city has been raving about?

i think they meant they don't want to look at the ugly elevated skytrain concrete structure

the mayor lives in la la land - he envisions port moody to be a quaint little village and wants a small downtown feel - never gonn happen as long as there is the Barnet highway running through

he thinks the elevated guideway is ugly and an eyesore

[jlousa]

Some info on the Port Royal tower it's at the pre-bid stage

New Westminster, BC
Port Roya-Parcel 5 High Rise, Port Royal, eastern tip Queensborough
$20,000,000 est
Design development is complete. Further update Spring/09
Project: 164 unit luxury condo tower; two levels u/g prkg.
Scope: 150,000 square feet; 22 storeys, 2 storeys u/g parking, 164 condo units, parking for 242 cars.

[vanman]

^I thought that tower at Port Royal was reduced in height by the city to under 20 stories. I remember when it was first proposed alot of people from the highrises at the Quay were vehemently opposed.

[jlousa]

Don't know the details, only know that's what was submitted as pre-bid, not always 100% accurate but usally is. If I hear anything else I'll post it.

[giallo]

Originally Posted by westcoast604

Just a heads up. Watch for news on that site to the north thats currently a lumber mill. BIG plans coming for that.

BIG, eh? Anymore info you can leak?

[SpongeG]

Originally Posted by jlousa

Don't know the details, only know that's what was submitted as pre-bid, not always 100% accurate but usally is. If I hear anything else I'll post it.

i saw an ad for it but it left out the height - i was gonna ask here

it was pretty vague perhaps its still undecided

[westcoast604]

Originally Posted by giallo

BIG, eh? Anymore info you can leak?

Can't leak much right now as it's in the preliminary design stage, but basically expect something along the lines of Granville Island meets Concord Pacific.

[vanman]

Wow, sounds interesting.

[officedweller]

From the Tri-Cities News on the Dominion Triangle (north side of Lougheed next to the Pitt River Bridge):

http://media.bclocalnews.com/images/...gle_071219.jpg
An illustration of Townline Ventures’ Dominion Triangle proposal, which features a “lifestyle centre” with two highrise residential towers, two big-box store sites (about 11 acres each) and a destination shopping area. The proposed Fremont Connector is at the top and Lougheed Highway on the right. TOWNLINE VENTURES

Developer rolls out its plans for the Triangle
By Janis Warren - The Tri-City News - December 19, 2007

The first piece of the puzzle in Port Coquitlam’s last major commercial and industrial site will be up before city council next month.

Townline Ventures wants to rezone 44 acres (17.8 hectares) of its Dominion Triangle lands — just east of Costco and Home Depot — for two big-box stores, a “lifestyle centre” and a destination shopping area.

The proposal is several years in the making as Townline and the city waited for the province to decide the location of the Fremont Connector, which will link Lougheed Highway to Burke Mountain. It was unveiled last Thursday at the PoCo planning committee meeting.

Kyle Shury, Townline’s director of land and commercial development, told the committee the lifestyle centre would be similar to Park Royal’s concept in West Vancouver and would have a railway heritage theme as a salute to PoCo’s past.

Above the stores would be two highrise towers with a maximum 600 units, about half of which are anticipated to be rental suites, said Kim Fowler, the city’s development director.

With about 600,000 square feet of commercial space, Townline’s properties would be an “automobile magnet,” said Coun. Mike Forrest, planning committee chair, who noted his concerns about traffic circulation in and around the development.

According to the plans, the self-contained site would be linked via the Fremont Connector, Nicola Avenue and Lougheed Highway, with a new east-west arterial route, called Sherling Avenue, split down the centre.

Fowler said Dominion traffic is jammed now because the area was designed as an industrial centre — not a commercial zone, “which generates about 100 times more cars.”

Fowler said vehicles from Burke Mountain — Coquitlam’s massive new development that will accommodate 24,000 more people — will be using the east-west David Avenue connector or the north-south Coast Meridian Overpass, which will be built by the end of 2009.

The Fremont Connector won’t be ready for at least another 10 years, she said.

As for new roads in and around the Dominion Triangle, the city has to wait until the other property owners — including Jacqui Cohen (of Army and Navy), Northside Foursquare church and ConWest (a Vancouver-area industrial servicing developer) — generate their land-use bids and build their portion of the road network, said city planner Laura Lee Richard.

Coun. Mike Bowen, the committee’s deputy chair, said he believes downtown PoCo won’t be heavily affected by the Triangle development. The downtown core, which is in transition with high-density residential buildings, will service the surrounding homeowners, he said.

Still, the northside shopping district — around Prairie Avenue and Coast Meridian Road — “is going to have a significant impact” from the Triangle stores, Bowen said.

“The northside will suffer,” Forrest added.

But once the Coast Meridian Overpass is built, the northside shopping district will take on a new identity and “it will see significant increases in land values,” Fowler said. “It may take a while, though.”

Townline’s rezoning bid will go before city council in January and a public hearing is anticipated in February.

[email protected]

[officedweller]

From the Burnaby Newsleader:

New movie studio eyed for Big Bend
December 14, 2007

Hollywood’s presence in Burnaby could grow if construction goes ahead for another movie studio in the city’s Big Bend area.

If approved the studio would be built on a one-hectare parcel of undeveloped land on the northeast corner of Glenwood Drive and Trapp Avenue in Glenwood Industrial Estates.

At least two other film studios currently operate in South Burnaby, the Canadian Motion Picture Park, a stone’s throw away from the proposed studio, and MJA Studios on Byrne Road.

Several other studios make films in other parts of Burnaby, including Bridge Studios, located on a six-hectare lot on Boundary Road near Still Creek Avenue, where shows like the popular sci-fi drama Stargate Atlantis are shot.

Burnaby has more than half the available movie studio space for the entire Lower Mainland.

A rezoning bylaw for the proposed studio is expected to be presented to council Jan. 7, 2008 for first reading, with a public hearing on the project scheduled for Jan. 22.

[email protected]

[raggedy13]

I did up this quick future skyline rendering for Surrey. I've only added the towers that are either u/c or that I've seen renderings of. Otherwise there should be something like another 10 more proposed/approved. After looking at it a bit I've realized that the taller of the two Sky Towers should probably be taller looking but oh well, it gives you an idea. The other projects are CityPoint, Ultra, Infinity and that "107A Avenue" one with the rendering posted above.

[Canadian Mind]

God, in 10-15 years imagine that whole area full of Condo an office towers. If surrey plls the right strings I'm sure those large sites could accommodate buildings far taller than what is in Downtown Vancouver. Looking at the mall parking lot, I see room for a supertall if the city allows it.

[SFUVancouver]

^ And if the market warrants it.

Personally I do not want to see a super-tall "Vancouver special" condo tower. It will be difficult to attain the quality of architecture that a super-tall would warrant in an exclusively residential building unless it is full of high-end luxury suites and I do not think Surrey or anywhere outside of the core, West Van, and maybe some parts of the west side of Vancouver could pull in enough loaded people to make it feasible. Perhaps an exceptionally creative mixed-use project could get a tower up into the super-tall range but I'm not holding my breath. I also do not think there will ever be a significant enough FIRE commercial node south of the Fraser to warrant tall, let alone super-tall, office buildings.

I'm not trying to be dismissive of Surrey, far from it. I think we can scarcely imagine what the Central City and Guildford areas will look like in another lifetime but I doubt super-talls will be part of the equation. Then again I could be totally off the mark. The allure of a signature tower announcing Surrey's arrival as a major city is very attractive. I could even see Surrey going the route of Mississagua and approving an absolutely groundbreaking project that captures international attention. I'm referring to this, by the way: