An interesting proposal has surfaced for a 33-foot lot on Commercial Drive at the corner of Napier Street. The site, which is improved with a 2-storey heritage commercial building built in 1908, is now being planned for heritage preservation with an infill apartment building at the rear lane.

Details of the proposal include:

• retaining the existing 2-storey Heritage B building (now occupied by Moja Coffee)
• a new 5-storey infill residential building with 8 rental apartment units at the rear of this site;
• a maximum height of 48.5 feet;
• a density of 2.70 FSR (10,108 SF);
• one-car share parking space having vehicular access from the lane;
• removal of one street tree on Napier Street.

Under the site’s existing C-2C1 zoning, the application is conditional and requires the approval of the planning department. For this project, relaxations would be required on building height and some setbacks. The application references incentives under the Rental 100 program.

View from Napier St – existing heritage building on the right

View from rear lane

The architect for the project is Cornerstone Architecture.

The property was listed for sale in 2013 and sold for $1,690,000, which equates to approx. $125 per buildable SF when the existing building is taken to account.

An application has been submitted to rezone an 11,500 SF mid-block site at 8815-8827 Selkirk Street. Th plan is to rezone from the current MC-1 industrial zoning to allow for a 6-storey mixed-use building. The proposal is being made under the Marpole Community Plan, and the project includes:

• 33 residential units;
• 24 one-bedrooms, 6 two-bedrooms and 3 three-bedrooms
• 2,408 SF of commercial space on the ground floor;
• a building height of 61 ft.;
• a total density of 2.96 FSR; and
• 36 vehicle parking spaces and 42 bicycle spaces.

The site is currently improved with two older lowrise office/industrial buildings. The area south of West 70th Avenue has potential for new residential buildings, but so far has been slower to develop than other more established residential areas of Marpole.

The architect for the project is Wilson Chang.

Here is a construction update on Serracan Properties‘ office building project at the southeast corner of Seymour St. and West Pender St. in Downtown Vancouver.

510 Seymour will be 82,000 square feet and 10-storeys tall. Upon completion, the majority of the building will be occupied by Adler University and shoes.com.

The building looks to be nearly topped out now.

Photo courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/7Ap7Hh via @imageshack

Photo courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/RtRmLm via @imageshack

Photo courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/WE7jqj via @imageshack

1290 Homer Street is a 14,800 SF heritage style office building located at the corner of Homer and Drake Streets in the Yaletown area of Downtown Vancouver. The building sits on a 50.5 x 120 ft site and is an excellent candidate for repositioning and/or redevelopment.

Please contact me at david.taylor@colliers.com for details.

Below is a summary of current rezoning applications going before the City of Burnaby council.

2422 Alpha Avenue

The proposal for this 41,770 SF Brentwood town centre site, by Monark, was originally submitted back in September 2015 and calls for a 23-storey condo tower, that includes:

• 160 units, including 4 townhouses
• 59 one-bedrooms, 80 two-bedrooms and 21 3-bedrooms
• underground and structured parking
• total density of 3.6 FAR
• 176 parking spaces

6050 Sussex Avenue

The plan for this 2.9 acre site that includes an existing apartment building and church on the North side of Metrotown is for two towers including condos and rental apartments, under the RM5s designation in the Metrotown Centre Plan.The site is owned by Townline, and a preview of the proposal can be seen here.

Details of the proposal include:

• a 41-storey condo tower and a 31-storey rental apartment tower
• a redevelopment of the existing Burnaby West United Church
• 321 condo units
• 238 new rental apartment units
• a total density of 5.0 FAR
• retention of existing 18-storey and 15-storey apartment buildings with 254 units
• 362 underground parking spaces

3700 Hastings Street

The plan for this 10,000 SF site in the Hastings Heights area is for a 4-storey mixed-use development, including:

• 21 market rental apartment units
• 3-studios, 12 one-bedrooms, 6 two-bedrooms
• 6,278 SF of ground floor retail space
• 28 parking spaces

SOLO District Phases 3 & 4

Rezoning for Appia’s four tower SOLO District project was approved back in 2012, and since that time two towers have now been substantially sold out, with tower one having been completed, and tower 2 currently under construction.

Appia is now seeking a rezoning amendment to tweak some of the details of the remaining two towers. The design changes include:

• Phase 3 tower:
  • increase height form 39-storeys to 42-storeys
  • decrease unit count from 328 to 280
  • increase commercial area from 18,000 SF to 45,000 SF
• Phase 4 tower:
  • increase tower height from 43-storeys to 48-storeys
  • decrease unit count from 365 to 319
  • increase commercial area from 35,000 SF to 60,000 SF

The architectural design, by Chris Dikeakos, has also been amended.