After more than 50 Vancouverites signed up to speak at a public hearing Tuesday night, city council planned to push back its vote by two weeks on a controversial plan to rezone a prime piece of waterfront real estate in the city’s West End.

Many of the planned speakers were locals asking city hall either to reject the plan or force affordable housing into a Beach Towers rezoning application that proposes the development of 133 units available at above-market rental prices.

“We want a third of these units to have a starting rent that’s targeted to the median income in our community,” said Christine Ackermann of the West End Residents Association. “I think it’s our job to push city hall for more affordability and I think they can get it.”

The rezoning hearing for the Beach Towers STIR project (click here to view rezoning application documents) is happening now. 

Click here to watch the proposal live.

The owners of 1551 Pemberton Avenue, located just south of the McDonalds parking lot, are proposing a 4 storey mixed use building, consisting of 5,642 SF of commercial floor space on the main floor and 30 residential units on the upper 3 floors. The residential units are a blend of 1 and 2bedroom units ranging in size from 530 square feet to 918 square feet. There will be 59 underground parking spaces.

Source: District of North Van

From the LA Times:

Vancouver developer building $100-million apartments downtown

A Canadian developer has started work on a $100-million luxury apartment building in downtown Los Angeles, the first of three high-rise residential complexes it plans to build in the booming neighborhood.

Vancouver-based Onni Group is erecting a 32-story tower on a former parking lot at the northeast corner of Olive and Ninth streets. The site is next door to a well-known 12-story office building that opened in 1926 as the headquarters of Pacific National Bank.

Onni’s building, to be known as 888 Olive, will have 283 units – each with a private balcony — over street-level shops and restaurants. It will have a swimming pool and fitness center, Onni said. Completion is set for early 2015.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-apartments-downtown-20130201,0,2345668.story

Colliers has acted on behalf of the Vendor in the sale of 5895 Barker Avenue, a 48-unit apartment building in Metrotown, that represents a 31,520 SF development site. The purchase price was $12,500,000, representing about $117 per buildable SF based upon anticipated rezoning to allow a high-density residential project. The RM-3 zoned site is located about l 100 metres from Patterson Skytrain Station.