We are pleased to announce the sale of this 17,292 SF land assembly in the Burrard Corridor sub-area of the West End.

Coromandel Properties has submitted a development application for a prominent former Esso gas station site, now vacant, at the Northeast corner of 41st and Cambie. 

The site falls within the City of Vancouver’s recently released vision for the Cambie Corridor Oakridge Municipal Centre, which would allow a rezoning for a mixed-use/residential tower potentially as high as 20-storeys for the site. 

The development permit application now submitted for the 130′ x 122′ site indicates plan for a new 3-storey, mixed-use building, consisting of:

• Retail & restaurant uses on the ground floor;
• Office uses on the 2nd and 3rd floor;
• A total building size of 26,686 SF;
• A total density of 1.7 FSR;
• Peak Height: 59 ft.; and
• 48 underground parking spaces on 1 1/2 levels all having vehicular access from the lane.

It’s unclear if this potential development plan is simply an effort to secure a permit now under the existing zoning, or if the potential for a tower rezoning is still in the long term plan. Under the site’s existing C-2 zoning which allows 2.5 FSR, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Director of Planning.

Coromandel acquired the site in October 2014 for $15,800,000, or $398 per buildable SF based on the existing C-2 zoning of the site, or $592 per buildable SF based on the proposed plan.

The architect for the project is McFarlane Biggar Architects and Designers .

Porte Communities and Reliance Properties have applied to rezone a 48,072 SF site in the False Creek Flats area for a new office building.

The plan for the site at 339 East 1st Avenue, adjacent the Red Truck Brewery, is to rezone from the current I-3 zoning to allow development of a 6-storey office building. The proposal includes:

• general office space on floors 2-6;
• ground floor retail;
• a total floor area of 144,216 SF;
• a total density of 3.0 FSR;
• a building height of 100 ft; and
• two levels of underground parking accessed from E 1st Avenue, with 275 vehicle parking spaces, 46 bicycle parking stalls and six loading spaces.

The I3 zoning schedule permits the density and built form being proposed, but restricts uses, so the rezoning is required to allow general office use.

The rezoning application describes the design rationale: “On the roof tops are amenity spaces to provide the building occupants with an easily accessible green space. This is in addition to the landscaped areas fronting Brewery Creek. The building facade colour is meant to invoke both typical rail engine colour schemes as well as colours of autumn. Distributions in glazing on the facade are meant to create a horizontal movement along the building exterior as well as solar heat gain control due to its 50:50 ratio. On the South and West elevations of the building, there are also diagonal solar shading devices which serve not only for sun control but as distinctive design elements.”

The architect for the project is IBI Group.

The full rezoning application can be viewed here:  http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/339e1st/index.htm 

Pennyfarthing Homes has submitted a development application for a 26,873  SF site at 705 – 717 West 15th Street at the Southwest corner of Bewicke Avenue, just North of Marine Drive in North Vancouver. The site is currently improved with three older industrial/commercial buildings.

The original application was made one year ago and envisioned a 6-storey building, which was later shelved due to neighbourhood opposition to the height. The new application envisions a 4-storey building for the site, and includes:

• 52 units;
• 20 one-bedrooms, 27 two-bedrooms and 5 three-bedrooms;
• 3,300 SF of ground floor retail space;
• a total density of 2.10 FSR;
• two levels of underground parking
• a total density bonus payment of $110 per SF

The OCP permits a density of 2.0 FSR with a bonus of 0.5 FSR at the City’s discretion.

The application describes the design rationale: “Massing of the building has been carefully considered to respond to the diverse residential context and large grade changes across the site. The building is composed of two distinct elements: a strong commercial base facing Bewicke and a four-storey residential component which wraps around the site. The first level facing Bewicke is buried due to a storey of grade change across the site, reducing the building to three storeys above grade. The single-family houses sitting high on the slope across Bewicke are met with a single storey of commercial and two storeys of residential. Towards the south and west, the grade falls away revealing four storeys to match the neighbouring three-to four storey developments.”

The architect for the project is Shift Architecture.

The City of Vancouver is updating its DCL by-law to include new rates, new by-law rate categories, updated DCL allocations, and select new uses for DCL relief following a comprehensive review of forecasted growth and DCL eligible growth costs.

The rationale for the changes is outlined in the City’s policy report:

“In July 2015, Council directed staff to review and update the City-wide DCL Bylaw. The City-wide DCL update is a based on a 10-year timeframe (2017-2026) and includes the following components:  

• Updating population and job growth projections.
• Identifying capital costs for corresponding DCL eligible public amenities and infrastructure (including sewer, drainage, and water programs as new items)
•  Determining DCL allocations and rates
• Establishing a new City-wide DCL by-law

As a result of the review, staff recommends that the City-wide DCL rates be adjusted to recover a share of the updated costs associated with the forecasted 10-year DCL capital program. The recommended DCL rates in this report are anticipated to generate approximately $1.0 billion that will help fund approximately 60% of the contemplated growth costs over the next 10 years (2017-2026), with the residual amount of approximately $0.8 billion across Engineering, Housing, Childcare and Parks to be addressed in the 2019-2022 Capital Plan.”

Recommendations include:

• Adjustment of City-wide DCL rates (see below)
• Addition of new DCL rate categories
• Hold industrial and commercial DCL at current rates
• Adjust DCL allocations
• Reducing DCL rates for social and community uses
• Replacement of Downtown South DCL with City-wide DCL ($17.36/SF)

The proposed rate changes and categories are outlined as follows:

The full policy report can be viewed here: http://council.vancouver.ca/20170726/documents/pspc4.pdf