Westbank‘s rezoning application for the Budget Car Rental site at 400 West Georgia Street has been submitted to the City. The site is located at the corner of West Georgia and Homer Street, across from the Central Library Branch. The letter of intent submitted by Westbank, suggests that the building will be built “on spec”.
The plan for the 20,992 SF (175′ x 120′) site calls for rezoning from Downtown (DD) District to Comprehensive Development (CD-1) District to allow for a 24-storey office building. The proposal includes:
- 350,000 SF of office space;
- 5,775 SF of retail space;
- a building height of 301 ft.;
- a total density 17.51 FSR;
- steel construction;
- six levels of underground parking; and
- 125 bicycle parking spaces.
Design features will include triple-paned curtain wall, openable windows, large spans of column free space, glass floors. It will also incorporate a 4-storey high lobby.
The application describes the design rationale:
“The building is conceived as a cluster of white cubes that are bound by lush gardens. Pristine boxes project outward from the crevices filled with thick vegetation. The greenery is as expressive as the geometry is abstract. Together they merge into a staggered silhouette that is neither a tower nor warehouse, but a 3-dimensional campus.”
“The proposed building will be utilizing a concrete core with structural steel beams and steel decking c/w concrete topping. The steel construction seemed better suited to the architectural design and provides the desirable aesthetic of seeing the buildings structure visible through the transparent exterior glazing. The “truss” elements are cantilevering from 6 large column supports extending up through the entire building resulting in large open / column free interior spaces allowing flexible internal office planning configurations.”
This rezoning application is being considered under the Rezoning Policy for the Central Business District (CBD) and CBD Shoulder.
The architect for the project is Merrick Architecture.
Under the site’s existing CD-1 zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Director of Planning.
