Plan for Arbutus Assembly Includes 116 Rental Units

PCI Group has submitted their rezoning application for 3609-3687 Arbutus Street, a 33,000 SF site that they acquired earlier this year. The site is located on the West side of Arbutus between West 20th and West 21st Ave.

The five-lot, full block assembly is currently zoned RS-1 but is proposed to allow for the development of two 6-storey residential buildings including:

  • 116 market rental units;
  • 4 studios, 66 one-bedrooms, 32 two-bedrooms & 14 three-bedrooms;
  • a total density of 2.53 FSR;
  • a maximum height of 73 ft.; and
  • 74 underground parking stalls and 227 bicycle spaces.

The proposal describes the design rationale: “The proposed site is approximately 264 feet long and slopes over 2m down from the south to the north along Arbutus Street, and over 1.5m down towards the west at the lane. In response, and as per the City’s advice, the project has been split into two buildings, with the north building lower than the south building. The offsetting of the buildings follows the slope of the site, reduces
the height, and minimizes grade changes between the sidewalk and the ground oriented units facing the street. In addition, a courtyard space has been created between the buildings with amenity rooms located on each side.

The buildings provide further massing relief by stepping back at Levels 5 and 6 to create a four storey emphasis and to mitigate shadow impact on adjacent properties. This also provides generous terrace space for the units on Level 5. The rooftops have amenity terraces complete with planting, children’s play spaces, urban agriculture, BBQ and seating spaces. At the street and the lane, masonry portals are used to define balconies and anchor the building with elements that align with the scale of the neighbourhood.”

The architect for the project is BHA Architecture.

The application is being considered under the Affordable Housing Choices Interim Rezoning Policy.

The full rezoning application can be viewed here: https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/3609-3687arbutusst/index.htm