281-Unit North Van Rental Proposal Moving Forward

Cressey has submitted their formal rezoning application for the 81,450 SF site that they own at 250 East 15th Street in North Vancouver, just North of Lions Gate Hospital.

The site is currently improved with two older lowrise apartment buildings totaling 101 units.

Cressey has owned the buildings for several decades, and began community consultation for the project in early 2019.

The site contains two designations – one designation each for the south and
north portions of the site -within the Official Community Plan: Residential Level 5 (R5) to the north and Residential Level 6 (R6) to the south.

The formal rezoning application consists of three rental residential buildings -two 12-storey buildings adjacent to East 15th Street and one 6-storey building adjacent to East 16th Street, and the provision of a public park on the site’s north-eastern quadrant.

Details include:

• 281 market rental units, including 28 mid-market units;
• 34 studios, 148 one-bedrooms, 44 two-bedrooms & 57 three-bedrooms;
• a max building height of 121 ft.;
• a total density of 2.95 FSR;
• a 24,600 square foot park;
• 266 parking spaces in two underground levels.

The application describes the design rationale: “The principle design element of the project, aside from the provision of the public park, is the span between the two 12-storey buildings along 15th Street. The proposed span will host the majority of the shared amenity spaces for the complex, including a games room, a reception area, a large lounge, washrooms, and a bookable event space that could be used for hosting a party or a cooking class for the building. The spaces will be available to the tenants of all three buildings and the applicant has stated the importance of forming a community for tenants that will provide renters with a greater social experience than a traditional rental building. Significant glazing of these amenity spaces will support the activation and attractiveness of the streetscape on East 15th Street and will provide passive surveillance of the bus stop located directly in front of the proposed project. Other street frontages are activated through the inclusion of at-grade entrances to units, or where the grade does not support entrances, balconies and landscaping are utilized to ensure an attractive and activated interface between the public and private realms. A rooftop amenity space – only accessible to residents – is included on the 6-storey building and the connecting span that includes: community garden plots, planters for additional vegetation, a lounge area and outdoor dining/cooking area, as well as a greenhouse structure with a washroom. The easternmost 12-storey building includes a rooftop component only accessible to the tenants of the top units.”

The architect for the project is Bingham Hill Architects.