Vivagrand Developments has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop a 25,931 SF site at 1485 Davie Street, at the Northeast corner of Davie and Nicola in the West End. The site is currently improved with an older 3-storey walkup apartment building.

The plan for the site is a new 22-storey building with a three storey building to the rear. The proposal includes the following:

• 107 condo units on the 4th to 22nd floors;
• 51 social housing units on the first three floors;
• A total density of 5.81 FSR;
• A building height of approximately 190 ft.;
• Three levels of underground parking accessed from the lane with a total 198 parking spaces provided.

The architect, WT Leung., describes the design rationale: “The proposed development of 1485 Davie St. then is for market strata residential units as well as market rental residential units with the rental units replacing the existing 51 rental units now on site at a one to one replacement ratio. Taking advantage of the lay of the land sloping down from east to west, the market units will all be located in a 22 story tower at the lower west half of the site and the rental units located both at the base of the tower in it’s lowest 2nd and 3rd residential floors and also on those same floors in an attached 4 story podium which extends from the tower up the hill to the east end of the site. The street wall of the base and podium of the building frames Davie St. and Nicola St. and includes a landscaped setback to provide some privacy and separation between suites and the sidewalk public realm. Around the back at the Lane, beyond the driveway entry to the underground Parkade and the garbage/loading area which are tucked under the tower portion of the podium, a 3 story block of stacked rental townhouses populates the Lane buffered with a landscaped setback. A fourth story Amenity Room sits atop the Lane townhouse block, but is set back from the Lane façade to allow for better sunlight penetration to the Lane.”

Under the site’s existing RM-5D zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Development Permit Board.

VivaGrand acquired the site in 2016 for $36,500,000, or $225 per buildable SF based on the gross floor area in the application.

A community open house has been scheduled from 5:00 – 8:00pm on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at The Listel Hoel, Impressionist Gallery, 1300 Robson Street with the applicant team and City staff available to answer any questions.

The full development application can be viewed here: http://development.vancouver.ca/1485davie/index.htm