Adera has completed the acquisition of a rental development site at 2762 Lonsdale Avenue, in the Upper Lonsdale area of North Vancouver. The purchase price is $9,450,000.

The site is 17,353 sq ft. in size and improved with an older 3-storey walkup apartment building. There is now a development application on the site to allow a 6-storey market, 60-unit market rental development.

The City of Vancouver is proposing changes to the I-1 Zoning in Mt. Pleasant as part of a “quick start action” under a broader Employment Lands and Economy Review.

Allowing Medical Office Use in I-1

The first proposed change is to add ‘Health Care Office’ as a conditionally permitted use in the I-1 zone in response to a request from the development
industry who have identified Mount Pleasant as an attractive location for medical offices at the relative mid-point between VGH and the future new St. Paul’s Hospital. This amendment is mainly intended for Mount Pleasant, but also introduces this use to one block of I-1 at the southwest corner of 6th Avenue and Clark Drive.

New I-1C Zone Along South Side of West 2nd Avenue

The second and potentially more major proposed change is increased heights and densities along the South side of West 2nd Avenue via a new zone called I-1C. The new zoning would apply to 32 individual land parcels that would be consolidated into approximately 9 or 10 developments.

Details of the proposed new zone include:

• Allow double the density from 3 to 6 FSR (as long as a full 2 FSR is dedicated to light industrial uses such as production, distribution and repair);
• Maintain the same use provisions as the I-1 industrial zone, except that mini-storage and other low-intensity uses are not permitted;
• Allow a maximum height for up to 152.5 ft. to reflect the form and scale of SEFC across the street to the north and balance the 2nd Avenue streetscape;
• Limit shadowing on the north sidewalk of 2nd Avenue and secure a 5 ft. dedication along 2nd Avenue for public realm improvements including wider sidewalks;
• Introduce building setbacks above 4-storeys to ensure that new higher buildings are sculpted to relate to lower buildings;
• Permit a variety of new building forms, including terraced, tower and childcare forms.
• For developments proposing leasehold developments, the City will apply the commercial linkage target for non-stratified commercial development.
• For developments proposing strata, a negotiated CAC approach will be required to estimate the additional value that Council’s enactment of a rezoning would generate above the current land value.

The City estimates that the 32 individual parcels in the subject area could consolidate into approximately 9-10 rezoning projects in the proposed I-1C rezoning area.

As a result, redevelopment could help deliver
approximately:

• 1.07 million sq. ft. of new job space over the present condition;
• 685 thousand sq. ft. of job space above current zoned capacity;
• 3,500+ new jobs; and
• $7.2 million in public benefits (based on commercial linkage targets as described above) or more if developments are stratified.

The full City of Vancouver report can be viewed here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20201124/documents/rr1b.pdf

Intracorp has submitted a new rezoning application for a 29,100 SF site they own at 1837-1849 E 11th Ave and 2631 Victoria Drive, this time with a lower woodframe building and 100% rental use.

A previously rezoning application for the site was approved in 2018 for a 11-storey, 138-unit mixed 50/50 condo/rental building on the site at a density of 3.59 FSR. Due to “market forces”, that application has now been rescinded and replaced with the new more efficient and likely more cost effective project.

The new proposal calls for a 6-storey market rental building and a 4-storey revitalized heritage house.

This proposal includes:

• 136 market rental units;
• 81 studios, 6 one-bedrooms, 47 two-bedrooms & 3 three-bedrooms;
• A total density of 2.89 FSR;
• A building height of 65.0 ft.;
• 43 vehicle parking spaces and 270 bicycle parking spaces.

The application is being considered under the Grandview Woodland Community Plan.

The architect for the project is Metric Architecture.