[Surrey] Whalley District | 6 + 35 + 37 + 46 fl | U/C

[Shift]

Would say Surrey is moving at a good pace now, with currently 14 towers and 7 low rise (4-6 Storey) under construction / excavation in the City Centre.

https://urbansurrey.blog/active-proj...y-city-centre/

Those numbers should remain pretty consistent with everything approved and under review in the pipeline (and additional 57 towers / 40 low-rise list that's always growing). Expect there to be constantly numerous cranes / pits / towers under construction from now on.

Take the Whalley District / Station renderings with a grain of salt - they look very preliminary. The plaza wouldn't be shown to much accurate detail on this level of a rendering - the Landscape Plan likely hasn't even been started.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by Shift

Would say Surrey is moving at a good pace now, with currently 14 towers and 7 low rise (4-6 Storey) under construction / excavation in the City Centre.

https://urbansurrey.blog/active-proj...y-city-centre/

Those numbers should remain pretty consistent with everything approved and under review in the pipeline (and additional 57 towers / 40 low-rise list that's always growing). Expect there to be constantly numerous cranes / pits / towers under construction from now on.

Take the Whalley District / Station renderings with a grain of salt - they look very preliminary. The plaza wouldn't be shown to much accurate detail on this level of a rendering - the Landscape Plan likely hasn't even been started.

Yeah I think we can thank the virus for plenty of potential slowdowns (from sites shutting down to the state of the world economy right now). Plus one site taking a long time doesn't describe an entire area.

A question for you Shift. How much of the current / future construction in Surrey Central is residential vs office? As much as I want to see the area built into the SoF downtown, a lot of what I'm seeing is residential and that doesn't scream 'downtown'.

[officedweller]

I like the plazas - especially as a Gateway to the area.
Remember that downtown Vancouver also has 2 ceremonial main streets - West Georgia and Burrard, which have open plazas in the CBD to create an inviting environment.
Isn't there a north-south retail high street in the plans east of KGB?

[rpvan]

Originally Posted by officedweller

I like the plazas - especially as a Gateway to the area.
Remember that downtown Vancouver also has 2 ceremonial main streets - West Georgia and Burrard, which have open plazas in the CBD to create an inviting environment.
Isn't there a north-south retail high street in the plans east of KGB?

East-west, actually. Retail will be fronting 102A Ave between Whalley Blvd and City Parkway, connecting to Civic Plaza.

[officedweller]

Thanks!

[Shift]

Originally Posted by Sheba

A question for you Shift. How much of the current / future construction in Surrey Central is residential vs office? As much as I want to see the area built into the SoF downtown, a lot of what I'm seeing is residential and that doesn't scream 'downtown'.

Stats of office vs residential at the top of this page:

https://urbansurrey.blog/active-proj...y-city-centre/

[Nites]

Would it make sense to name this thread "Flamingo Towers"? As Tien Sher is using the name "Whalley District" as an area more so then the project itself judging by the website.

[officedweller]

Even if there are 2 Tien Shier projects across from each other, I don't see a problem with them both in the same thread. ie like the River District thread.

[Nites]

Originally Posted by officedweller

Even if there are 2 Tien Shier projects across from each other, I don't see a problem with them both in the same thread. ie like the River District thread.

Fair enough.

[Nites]

https://dnyhc7e4ce952.cloudfront.net/media/pdfs/brochure_03d637a14f.pdf

[EhJay]

It looks like that is dating back to 2018, but they are looking for a huge financial backer or even someone to outright buy it off of them. That's not promising.

[officedweller]

See this March 5th post by Shift.

This is more recent than the brochure linked by Skymaster above.

Originally Posted by Shift

Interesting.. so they have 2 applications on the go now on either side of King George Blvd.

• Application 20-0018 on one of the lots created under their previously approved application for Whalley District. They are applying for a "major amendment" to the previously approved DP to include office as a principle use. This site is not one of the tall iconic towers shown. It is the shorter tower on the far left in the image.
• Application 19-0367 on the Whalley Station strip mall site on the west side of King George - which will contain one of the tall iconic towers shown, along with some lower-rise office it looks.

The 2nd tall iconic tower on the flamingo site will be subject to a future DP application, within the subdivision created under the previous Whalley District application, as there is no current application on that site.

[Vin]

With such proposals coming I want to live a ripe old age to see Surrey Central bloom into the kind of CBD/downtown it is envisioned to become.

[EhJay]

Originally Posted by officedweller

See this March 5th post by Shift.

This is more recent than the brochure linked by Skymaster above.

They've been pushing new proposals and pushing dates further and further away with other projects (ie: focusing on the West side of KGB first vs the first site on the East side which is set to be 3 phases). It's great to have a grand vision and lots of proposals, but until I see a hole in the ground all they've done so far is push more ideas and rip down an old building. Fingers crossed it happens though.

[e-clam9]

Nice addition to new downtown. With so many new residential condo in Surrey, can Skytrain handle it in busy hour ?

[montyhallgoat]

Originally Posted by e-clam9

Nice addition to new downtown. With so many new residential condo in Surrey, can Skytrain handle it in busy hour ?

Pre-COVID, probably not. If more people tried to get on at Gateway then Scott Rd will be overcrowded beyond the acceptable level.
Between Waterfront and King George, I always find the Main St-Broadway and Columbia-Scott Rd to be the busiest part of the system.
Columbia-King Geroge section is usually busy as only 2/3 of Expo trains travel to Surrey during rush hours and all bus routes in North Surrey feed the SkyTrain stations.

To make matters worse, Translink reduced rush-hour frequencies to Surrey after Evergreen Extension was completed as they had to increase frequencies on Millenium Line.
In the morning rush-hours, all the seats would be taken at King Geroge with people transferring from 96 and 503, then 90% capacity at Surrey Central, then only a few people get on at Gateway, then the train is packed at Scott Road with transfers from 319 and Park and Ride with some pass-ups occurs.

Post-COVID will change everything as some are permanently remote-working while someone like me has decided to drive instead of taking transit.
Also post-secondary switched to online lectures (for now) and I bet the number of international students is down as well.

[Galaxy]

I imagine as more office space is built up around downtown Surrey that more people will also choose to live and work closer to where they live and thus helping the overall system out. The trains will be packed no matter what but if we provide the services to people in the right places all should be good!

[officedweller]

Hopefully with some counterflow too.

[rpvan]

Originally Posted by e-clam9

Nice addition to new downtown. With so many new residential condo in Surrey, can Skytrain handle it in busy hour ?

I'd expect to see an upgrade to gateway station sometime in the next 10-15 years given how much construction is planned for the direct vicinity. They'll probably add a new entrance/exit and expand the existing one.

[officedweller]

Vanouvermarket.ca confirms that Tien Sher has now purchased the "Whalley Station Square" strip mall site,
marked "Iconic Tower 1" above.

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2020/0...-million-deal/