Ledingham Mcallister is in the latter stages of rezoning approval for it’s second Aviara tower in the Brentwood are of Burnaby. Originally conceived as a 52-storey tower for which they received second reading in 2013, this second phase of the project has now been scaled back to 42-storeys, with 4-6 storeys fronting Gilmore Avenue and Douglas Road.

The report to council explains the change:

“Through this design work it became apparent to the applicant that the structure required to support the specific building form for the proposed 52 storey building would be inefficient and uneconomical. As a result, the applicant has redesigned the tower and reduced its height to 42 storeys, with a reduced development density. Given the change in form and density of the tower, the rezoning is required to be forwarded to a new Public Hearing.”

The previous proposal had 595 units in a 5.0 FAR density. The new proposal has 520 units and 4.41 FAR. There is a community amenity contribution of $73 per buildable SF, or $11,027,061.

This is not the first Burnaby highrise development that has not pursued maximum allowable height upon rezoning. The tallest towers at Station Square in Metrotown were also scaled down in 2014 after initially proposing towers as tall as 57-storeys (all towers are reportedly less than 50-storeys now). Shape Properties’ Amazing Brentwood project is envisioned as two 56-storey towers despite preliminary approval to go as high as 70-storeys.

These cases in Burnaby are an interesting contrast to the City of Vancouver, where taller buildings are more economically viable due to higher residential sales values for view units higher up in towers. In Vancouver however, building height limits are vigorously enforced by the City, particularly downtown where view cones now restrict heights on all but a few remaining sites.