The latest on a long list of Kingsway Rental 100 rezoning applications comes for a site at the corner of Kingsway and East 15th Avenue, just West of Fraser Street.

610-644 Kingsway is an assembly of several older lowrise commercial buildings on the South side of the street, zoned C-2C. The curved site totals 13,830 SF. 

Details include:

• 53 secured market rental units;
• 9 studios, 19 one-bedrooms, 19 two-bedrooms & 6 three-bedrooms;
• 7,151 SF of ground floor retail;
• a total density of 3.75 FSR;
• a building height of 69 ft.; and
• 2 levels of underground parking.

This application is being considered under the Secured Market Rental Housing (Rental 100) Policy.

The architect for the project is Studio One Architecture.

The full rezoning application can be viewed here: http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applications/610kingsway/index.htm

The City of Coquitlam, YMCA and Concert Properties have entered into a partnership to exchange lands and rezone two sites in the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan area to permit redevelopment on both sites. 

The two sites include:

• Burquitlam Park – a 3.96 acre site on Smith Avenue, adjacent Bosa’s Uptown Development
• Whitgift Gardens – a 5.45 acre site on Cottonwood Avenue, directly North of Bosa’s Lougheed Heights development, and West of Cottonwood Park

The sites are located in the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan “Core” and “Shoulder” areas respectively. The proposal involves a property exchange between
the City (at Burquitlam Park) and Concert (Whitgift Gardens – an existing older rental residential complex).The exchange involves 2.15 acres of park land from Burquitlam Park to the Whitgift Gardens site to facilitate the expansion of Cottonwood Park and in return, the same area of developable land, with its associated density, is moved from the Whitgift Gardens site to the Burquitlam Park site.

The two components of the proposal include:

Burquitlam Park Site

• A 50-storey condo tower and 30-storey rental tower;
• 275 rental units;
• 435 condo units;
• a new 60,000 SF 3-storey YMCA recreation facility;
• a new community police station;
• total density of 6.30 FAR;
• 930 parking stalls;
• New 1.5 acre Burquitlam Park.

Whitgift Gardens Site 

• Six highrise residential towers from 24 to 48-storeys in height;
• Two rental towers of 37-storeys;
• Four condo towers of 24, 25, 43 & 48-storeys;
• 654 rental units;
• 1,187 condo units;
• 132 seniors market rental units;
• 20-40 below market rental units;
• standalone amenity building;
• total density of 5.50 FAR;
• 2,350 parking stalls;
• Extension of Emerson Street and new East-West road.

The proposed market rental units represent a roughly 3:1 replacement ratio of the
existing rental units at Whitgift Gardens. The total value of all the public benefits including bonus density funds and CAC’s is $120 Million.

The architects for the project are Raymond Letkeman Architects and Endall Elliott.

A rezoning application has been submitted for the Southwest corner of West 4th & Cypress in Kitsilano, currently improved with the Salvation Army Thrift Store and a detached house.

The 10,496 SF site is currently zoned C-2B. The plan for the site is a new 5-storey mixed-use building that includes:

• • 32 market rental units;
  • 1 studio unit, 7 one-bedrooms, 18 two-bedrooms & 6 three-bedrooms;
  • 4,205 SF of retail space on the ground floor;
  • a total density of 3.13 FSR;
  • a building height of 62 ft.; and
  • 2 levels of underground parking.

This application is being considered under the Secured Market Rental Housing (Rental 100) Policy.

The architect for the project is Rositch Hemphill Architects.

A rezoning application has been made for an existing apartment property at Lonsdale and 26th Street in North Vancouver. There was a fire in the building one year ago and the existing apartment property has been vacant ever since. The proposal for  the new building includes the potential acquisition of a road right of way totaling 9,625 SF to expand the site to a total of 17,962 SF. The site is designated Residental Level 5 in the City of North Vancouver’s Official Community Plan.

The proposal is for a new 6-storey building that includes:

• 16 condo units (6 one-bedrooms, 6 two-bedrooms & 4 three-bedrooms);
• 28 rental units (19 one-bedrooms, 6 two-bedrooms & 3 three-bedrooms);
• A total density of 2.06 FAR (after consolidation);
• 36 underground parking stalls.
• A 15-foot wide pedestrian right of way connecting Lonsdale.

The architect for the project is GBL Architects.

Vivagrand Developments has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop a 25,931 SF site at 1485 Davie Street, at the Northeast corner of Davie and Nicola in the West End. The site is currently improved with an older 3-storey walkup apartment building.

The plan for the site is a new 22-storey building with a three storey building to the rear. The proposal includes the following:

• 107 condo units on the 4th to 22nd floors;
• 51 social housing units on the first three floors;
• A total density of 5.81 FSR;
• A building height of approximately 190 ft.;
• Three levels of underground parking accessed from the lane with a total 198 parking spaces provided.

The architect, WT Leung., describes the design rationale: “The proposed development of 1485 Davie St. then is for market strata residential units as well as market rental residential units with the rental units replacing the existing 51 rental units now on site at a one to one replacement ratio. Taking advantage of the lay of the land sloping down from east to west, the market units will all be located in a 22 story tower at the lower west half of the site and the rental units located both at the base of the tower in it’s lowest 2nd and 3rd residential floors and also on those same floors in an attached 4 story podium which extends from the tower up the hill to the east end of the site. The street wall of the base and podium of the building frames Davie St. and Nicola St. and includes a landscaped setback to provide some privacy and separation between suites and the sidewalk public realm. Around the back at the Lane, beyond the driveway entry to the underground Parkade and the garbage/loading area which are tucked under the tower portion of the podium, a 3 story block of stacked rental townhouses populates the Lane buffered with a landscaped setback. A fourth story Amenity Room sits atop the Lane townhouse block, but is set back from the Lane façade to allow for better sunlight penetration to the Lane.”

Under the site’s existing RM-5D zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Development Permit Board.

VivaGrand acquired the site in 2016 for $36,500,000, or $225 per buildable SF based on the gross floor area in the application.

A community open house has been scheduled from 5:00 – 8:00pm on Thursday, February 15, 2018, at The Listel Hoel, Impressionist Gallery, 1300 Robson Street with the applicant team and City staff available to answer any questions.

The full development application can be viewed here: http://development.vancouver.ca/1485davie/index.htm