[New Westminster] Brewery District | 5 Towers | 97m | 32fl | U/C

[logan5]

nice anchor for the under rated sapperton neighborhood.

Originally Posted by officedweller

Read more: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/news/...#ixzz2IrUT5Lql

[twism]

A few months back I had asked one of the guys doing construction for an update on the pub. He mentioned the pub on the corner was no longer being built and they would have it on main floor of one of the buildings. I guess this is what he was referring to. Nice to see browns coming, however I was looking forward to the pub with outdoor patio and nice view.

[officedweller]

You'd think that the project could support more than one restaurant/pub. Maybe they just wanted to place it farther away from the residential parts of the project (which is unfortuante, view-wise)

[officedweller]

TransLink moves in at the end of this week.

[Chadillaccc]

Awe dang! I was hoping for a photo update. I used to live there, would be awesome to see what it looks like now.

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by Chadillaccc

Awe dang! I was hoping for a photo update. I used to live there, would be awesome to see what it looks like now.

As was I

The view upon crossing the bridge from Sapperton Station:


The path from the station leads to a nice little plaza fronted by (still to be leased) CRUs. The picnic tables have a great view of the river:

Perspective from the internal road perpendicular to Columbia. A Starbucks will be moving into one of the CRUs on the far side:


Can't really capture this side of the building in one shot as most of the site is still fenced off for future construction:


From Columbia:


Take Five Cafe, an insurance place, and a sales centre for the residential component of the project (far left) have moved into the CRUs of the first building:


A nice urban streetscape along Columbia:

Brown's timed their opening to coincide with Translink's move. It didn't look very busy when I was there, but apparently it's hopping in the evenings:


Bonus view of Phase 1 from the 6th-floor terrace of Trasnlink's new space:

[officedweller]

Thanks for the pics!

[Millennium2002]

I forget, but are the Transit Police supposed to be moving to this location as well? Or are they still stuck with their old premises and/or in the process of getting a new one elsewhere?

[BodomReaper]

Originally Posted by allan_kuan

I forget, but are the Transit Police supposed to be moving to this location as well? Or are they still stuck with their old premises and/or in the process of getting a new one elsewhere?

The Transit Police are/have moving/moved into the full 3rd floor; Translink gets floors 4-6; the Coast Mountain Bus Company gets the 7th. The 8th is to be privately leased. Good consolidation!

[Chadillaccc]

Wow that looks excellent. I used to walk home from Sapperton Station after work, or get picked up there by my ex. The development is looking amazing. Have they started on any of the res towers yet?

[GMasterAres]

Looks good. Will be nice to see the rest built up. Friend of ours had her baby at the hospital there so was the first time in a long time I had been in the area and the change is looking quite nice.

It's a good spot and with SkyTrain access, well situated.

[officedweller]

http://www.thebrewerydistrict.ca/development.htm#

Building 3 from the TaylorKurtz Architecture website.
Nice design, but it doesn't quite seem to embody "streetfront retail" - at least not continuous storefronts, but that may be because it's at the end of the site. They also call it an "office building".

Brewery Dsitrict - Building 3
Location: New Westminster BC
Floor Area: 27,000 sq.ft.

Taylor Kurtz was engaged by Wesdgroup Properties for schematic design services for the shell building of this 27,000 sq.ft. office building at their highly successful Brewery Dsitrict development in New Westminster, BC.



http://www.taylorkurtz.com/P-Brewery...rict%203.html#


http://www.taylorkurtz.com/P-Brewery...rict%203.html#


http://www.taylorkurtz.com/P-Brewery...rict%203.html#

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

I'm wondering when they will bring the 1st residential tower to the market .... should be pretty soon I would imagine

This is going back a ways, but they're planning on starting the first residential tower within the next couple of months. WesGroup announced that they planned on building an 18-storey building per the permitting limits (this would be at Building Four in the schematic on the first post in this thread), but there was blowback from the community. Apparently back in 2007, the plans were to have a larger tower on Building Seven, with stepped towers decreasing to an 8-storey tower at Building Four. The community didn't want a large tower (I think it was 35-ish storeys) so the city dropped the limit on the taller building to 28 storeys, allowing the developer to move square footage around to the other three buildings. Thus the limits for the four buildings became 280 feet, 180 feet, 180 feet, and 180 feet.

Wesgroup is now scaling it back to 15 storeys, and I think the design review goes to council tonight, or sometime this month, with final approval coming early February.

[Pinion]

Originally Posted by BodomReaper

As was I
Bonus view of Phase 1 from the 6th-floor terrace of Trasnlink's new space:

Thanks. I'm super late in noticing this thread but this is still a new update to me. Last time I was there it was just a pile of dirt.

The pic above looks like one of the proposed new developments on Esplanade in North Van:


260 West Esplanade

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by CanSpice

This is going back a ways, but they're planning on starting the first residential tower within the next couple of months. WesGroup announced that they planned on building an 18-storey building per the permitting limits (this would be at Building Four in the schematic on the first post in this thread), but there was blowback from the community. Apparently back in 2007, the plans were to have a larger tower on Building Seven, with stepped towers decreasing to an 8-storey tower at Building Four. The community didn't want a large tower (I think it was 35-ish storeys) so the city dropped the limit on the taller building to 28 storeys, allowing the developer to move square footage around to the other three buildings. Thus the limits for the four buildings became 280 feet, 180 feet, 180 feet, and 180 feet.

They should shoot for making Building 6 the tallest.

The Anvil condo is right next to Building 7, so I could see them sqawk if Building 7 were the tallest.

Sounds like the height reduction won't (or doesn't need to) affect the overall density across all 4 towers, since the extra height was density being shuffled around between towers.

Also, I read the quote below to mean that the shorter building will make the units more expensive.

The zoning approved in 2007 also allowed density from the site where a 28-storey highrise was proposed to be transferred to three other sites.

“Out of that 28-storey (building) they can transfer a total of 50,000 square feet, round numbers, and no more than 31,000 square feet to any one building,” said Jim Hurst, a development planner with the city. “They are still transferring some from the biggest building to this one, but not as much as they were proposing before.”

Jarvis said building being proposed is considered a “small tower” in the development world.

“A typical tower, particularly in the suburbs, is 150,000 to 180,000 square feet. That’s where you start to gain economies of scale with construction costs and things like that,” he said. “When we were at 180 feet on this tower, it was only 118,000 square feet. It was small to begin with and now we are closer to 100,000 square feet.”

Jarvis hopes construction of the tower could get underway this summer. No timelines have been set for future residential buildings on the site.

See more at: http://www.royalcityrecord.com/news/....3aRQvqxo.dpuf

The massing posted by Pinion also looks similar to Crossroads @ Broadway & Cambie.

[officedweller]

BIV Article on the Brewery District:

“Backward” development pays off in Royal City's Brewery District
http://www.biv.com/article/2015/1/ba...ys-royal-city/

I think building the office and retail space first also avoids protests by residents about view blockage, higher densities and construction noise - but that may not be feasible in areas without a customer base. Sapperton and nearby Royal Columbian Hospital provided a local customer base in advance of the residential construction.

[GMasterAres]

Originally Posted by officedweller

BIV Article on the Brewery District:

“Backward” development pays off in Royal City's Brewery District
http://www.biv.com/article/2015/1/ba...ys-royal-city/

I think building the office and retail space first also avoids protests by residents about view blockage, higher densities and construction noise - but that may not be feasible in areas without a customer base. Sapperton and nearby Royal Columbian Hospital provided a local customer base in advance of the residential construction.

Basically what PCI is doing with the King George Station development in Surrey Central. Coast Capital = all office first, and the second phase is a large retail and office component with only the first residential units for the project finally going in, and last.

Phase C will be office, but the bulk of the residential will be Phase D, the last phase. So there is some residence in the middle, but they've focused largely on the commercial and retail components first.

I think it is actually good to do it 'backwards.' Out in the suburbs I think they kind of have to do it that way for these types of developments since many of the areas haven't reached critical mass yet compared to say Metrotown, Downtown Vancouver, or even Brentwood. If you're not right next to a giant regional mall, it can be tough to sell this type of development compared to say single family homes or townhouses.

[officedweller]

Good comparison.

[CanSpice]

New Westminster city council accepted the design review for the first residential tower for this complex last night, so hopefully we'll soon see some floor plans and construction!

[GMasterAres]

Can't wait to see.