Downtown Vancouver Updates

[deasine]

Oh wow that's huge.

[mr.x]

I'm quite sure we will see a building wrap for Granville Square, now that Canwest is an official sponsor of the Games. If anyone remembers, the Sun and Province were backers of the bid and the bid committee put up a huge banner on Granville Square:






They could also do something for the Molson plant on Burrard, since Molson is now an official sponsor.

[Hed Kandi]

For those who haven't seen the Waterfront transportation plan....

http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?p=3531045#post3531045

Thanks Jlousa!

[mooks28]

There's a development permit application on Balthazar at Bidwell and Davie. Tower proposed.

[wanchai888]

Originally Posted by mr.x2

^ sweet? are they lit up at night?


They're not very big, if only they could've gone with something huge like:

Looks like Hopewell Centre in HK

[westcoast604]

The lighting feature at the top of L'Hermitage is now fully functional.
I posted about it on here last summer - but it hasnt been lit up since.
I saw it again last night and now the whole perimetre along the top of the tower has a changing colour band of light with colours moving in a horizontal direction. Looks really good!

[officedweller]

Thanks - will have to check it out. Haven't seen it change colour yet.

[Hed Kandi]

Anyone else check out the recently restored facade of the Bay building along Granville St? Very beautiful restoration!

Also, the Pacific Centre street along Granville is coming along nicely.

[deasine]

Originally Posted by Hed Kandi

Anyone else check out the recently restored facade of the Bay building along Granville St? Very beautiful restoration!

Also, the Pacific Centre street along Granville is coming along nicely.

Yup it does look great. I hope they can maintain this for a longer time...

[Delirium]

i noticed the other day that there's a "for sale" sign on this beautiful old building wedged in between Woodward's and the Flack block along hastings. does anyone know what it's called? i'm curious as to its history.

hopefully a developer like Salient will buy it and bring it back to life. given that it's now adjacent to SFU, it's in a great location.
hmm..who would have thought?

[jlousa]

*l* you can have it for only $6.9Million.
That's the new problem that area is about to face, every owner now thinks their building is worth a fortune, fact is it's overpriced, no one will buy it at that price, and the area suffers longer then it should.

[officedweller]

And the City cancelled a heritage restoration program, making it uneconomical to restore heritage buildings.

[vanman]

^What?? When did that happen and more importantly why?

[officedweller]

http://www.vancouverreflections.com/2008...-gastown-city-heritage-on-hold/#more-707

[Delirium]

thanks. but wow, that really sucks.

i'm not sure i quite understand the reason for halting the program;

"Vancouver’s senior heritage planner, Marco D’Agnostini, said the Vancouver Gastown Heritage Program was suspended “because the city was concerned that a potential surplus of transferable density would reduce its market value”

can someone explain that? does it also affect Chinatown? it doesn't mention that..

given the 6.9mil price tag (thanks Jlousa) and without this incentive program, it'll probably sit vacant for a while. too bad.

[vanlaw]

Originally Posted by deasine

Yup it does look great. I hope they can maintain this for a longer time...

Looks really good - they did Seymour side last summer, and have just moved all the scaffolding to Georgia side - so a few more months and it will be complete.

[phesto]

Originally Posted by Delirium

thanks. but wow, that really sucks.

i'm not sure i quite understand the reason for halting the program;

"Vancouver’s senior heritage planner, Marco D’Agnostini, said the Vancouver Gastown Heritage Program was suspended “because the city was concerned that a potential surplus of transferable density would reduce its market value”

can someone explain that? does it also affect Chinatown? it doesn't mention that..

given the 6.9mil price tag (thanks Jlousa) and without this incentive program, it'll probably sit vacant for a while. too bad.

They're concerned that there is too much density currently banked which would theoretically drive down the value of density on a psf basis and reduce the effectiveness of the progam, but the timing on the decision really coincides with the Metro Core jobs study and implications for density changes that are recommended within.

Here is an excerpt from the City report recommending freezing the program:

An oversupply of banked density could affect the value of the density leading to even larger bonuses, and could potentially undermine the viability of the bank as a heritage incentive. This would affect both current as well as future heritage projects. Therefore, it is prudent to pause and review the bank's capacity, the density bonusing formula, and other possible heritage incentives to mitigate the current size of bonuses being generated by heritage projects to ensure the bank remains a viable heritage revitalization tool.

Staff are concerned the current situation could be exacerbated by the number of applications potentially coming on stream over the next few months. Rather than a moratorium on all heritage density projects, staff are proposing to proceed with those already well on in the development process. Although not recommended, there is an option for Council's consideration to proceed with applications which are not as far along in the process, noting that a further, significant amount of density will be added to the bank without benefit of the review.

btw, 155 W. Hastings (the Asia Imports Building next to Flack Block) is probabbly worth less than $5 million. I wouldn't actually be surprised to see it sell at 6.9 million, but don't expect redevelopment for a few years...

[officedweller]

Found this link on the UrbanDiner.ca website of all places:

http://www.rsdv.net/parayso_hotel__vancouver

The Parayso Hotel @ 620 Seymour Street (just north of the Bay Parkade entrance - The Source site and neighbouring lot?? - looks very narrow):

91 Suites, Eco Roof Top Lounge
Lobby, Boutique Restaurant
Business District Downtown Vancouver

[quobobo]

edit: oops, phesto beat me to it.

Originally Posted by Delirium

thanks. but wow, that really sucks.

i'm not sure i quite understand the reason for halting the program;

"Vancouver’s senior heritage planner, Marco D’Agnostini, said the Vancouver Gastown Heritage Program was suspended “because the city was concerned that a potential surplus of transferable density would reduce its market value”

can someone explain that? does it also affect Chinatown? it doesn't mention that..

given the 6.9mil price tag (thanks Jlousa) and without this incentive program, it'll probably sit vacant for a while. too bad.

City hall tends to use density bonuses as a way to encourage developments that might not otherwise be profitable, they let a developer include more units than are permitted by zoning (and the bonuses can either be used by the developer or sold to other developers). The reason the program was suspended was just supply and demand, if they give out too many density bonuses they become worth less.

(If this doesn't demonstrate excessive limitations on development - to the point where permits to allow extra units are very valuable - I don't know what does)

[Delirium]

thanks Phesto & quobobo for the explanation. makes sense however unfortunate.

and thanks OD for the Parayso Hotel rendering. interesting.
there was also a short news story about this hotel this week -

VANCOUVER, British Columbia, Canada, May 5 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Rancho Santa Monica Developments, Inc., (BULLETIN BOARD: RSDV) , ('the Company'), has signed an irrevocable contract of purchase and sale for the lands at 620 Seymour Street for $5,500,000 Canadian Dollars.

The Company plans to build a Hotel with a roof top bar lounge, of up to 91 nicely designed interior suites, and energy efficient Hotel. The interiors will be exquisite but will be for the 20th century where beauty, green and energy are of high concerns. The development is lead by Graham Alexander, a developer of hotels in Mayan Riviera Mexico and Chilliwack, B.C., Canada.
The Hotel is located in Downtown Vancouver Financial District, within 1 block of the new Canada Line shuttle from the Vancouver International Airport and 2 blocks from the new Canada Convention Center.

Upon completion of the lands and obtaining our development permits, the Company plans to commence construction in the summer of 2009 and complete in the summer of 2011.

"After all the infrastructure projects for the 2010 Winter Olympics are completed in 2009, we expect labour to be more abundant and the costs of construction to be more reasonable than they are now. We will also be in time for the after boom expected from the 2010 Olympics, similar to Expo 86 after boom that occurred here in Vancouver" quoted Angela Manetta, the Company Vice President.

http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/hotel-investments--parayso-hotel,379271.shtml