The owner of Lansdowne Centre, Vanprop Investments, has submitted their formal OCP amendment application to the City of Richmond for the purpose of approving a Master Land Use Plan for the 50 acre site, located in the heart of Richmond’s City Centre at the centre of the Lansdowne Village. It is immediately adjacent to the Lansdowne Canada Line Station, and is bound by No.3 Road, Alderbridge Way, Kwantlen Street and Lansdowne Road. Initial plans to redevelop the mall were announced two years ago.

While the density for the site is already established in the City Centre Area Plan (“CCAP”), the Master Plan is required to organize the eventual phasing, massing and heights of the future mixed-use development, as well as the location of the 10 acre park planned for the site. City of Richmond council endorsement means that the proposal can now move toward a community consultation phase. 

The shopping centre on the site was built in 1977 and exemplifies the auto-oriented enclosed shopping centre design popular in the 60’s and 70’s. The arrival of the Canada Line in 2010 with a station right next door and the subsequent CCAP made this site a prime target for future redevelopment, particularly since the surface parking can accommodate immediate development without requiring demolition of the existing mall.

The site has a mix of zoning designations, including Urban Core T6 (up to 4.0 FAR) on the westerly 1/3 of the site, and Urban Centre T5 (up to 2.0 FAR) on the easterly 2/3 of the site. The CCAP also identified the site for a 10 acre linear park running east/west along the southern portion of the site fronting Lansdowne Road.

Here is a summary of some of the concepts identified in the proposed master plan which has already achieved support for moving through the next steps in the process:

• An overall density of 2.77 FAR (approx. 6,000,000 SF)
• 22 residential towers and 2 office towers
• 73% of the density within 400 metres of Lansdowne Station
• A 53,500 SF community amenity building at corner of No.3 Road & Lansdowne
• A new 10 acre park in the centre of the site (revised shape from CCAP)
• Retail/entertainment space with residential and office space above fronting Hazelbridge Way (high street)
• A new civic plaza near the Canada Line Station
• Building heights up to 47 metres
• New north/south extension of Hazelbridge Way and Cooney Road between Alderbridge Way and Lansdowne Road
• New east/west road to connect No. 3 Road and Kwantlen Street
• Target of 2035 for entire build out

Next Steps

The proposed OCP amendment process will require further consultation and refinement to the details in the master plan before final council approval and subsequent rezoning applications for individual phases. Consultation would take place in the spring 2018 with approval likely later next year. Below is the City’s flowchart outlining the process:

Proposed Master Land Use Plan

The architect for the master plan is Dialog.

Thind Properties has applied to the City of Burnaby to rezone a 57,809 SF site at 6525-6585 Sussex Avenue for a new mixed use development including market residential, non-market rental and retail and office uses. The original rezoning application was made over a year ago, but the details have now been finalized and it is now ready to move forward to public hearing.

As detailed in the Burnaby Now, the project is a partnership between Thind, New Vista Housing Society and BC Housing. 

The existing site is located just a few steps East of Metrotown Skytrain Station on Beresford and is comprised of three lots improved with three older walkup apartment buildings totaling 64 units.

The plan calls for rezoning per the Metrotown Downtown Plan to RM5s, RM4 and C2 zoning districts. Details include:

• a 48-storey tower including 10-storeys of office and 38-storeys of residential on the North portion of the site
• 327 market residential units
• 160 one-bedrooms units, 125 two-bedroom units and 41 three-bedroom units;
• 4,700 SF of retail uses at grade;
• 69,515 SF of office space;
• a 14-storey tower with 125 non-market rental units on the South portion
• A combined total density of 8.0 FAR;
• Building heights of 520 ft. and 155 ft;
• 544 underground parking stalls

Somewhat hidden behind the news of the Housing Vancouver Strategy announcement, is a new policy proposal for CACs for commercial and rental-only residential developments. The overall plan proposed in the policy report entitled “CAC Policy Update: Simplifying CACs on New Rental Housing and Commercial Development” is to cease negotiating CACs on commercial rezonings and some rental rezonings.

The City’s proposal is intended to “simplify the City’s development contribution system which includes DCLs, CACs, density bonusing and other mechanisms. The proposed changes will provide greater clarity and certainty on development contributions for rezoning applicants. The recommended changes will streamline the CAC process for both secured market rental and commercial-only rezoning applications to enable a majority of these project types to be brought to market sooner.”

The recommendations in the proposed policy include the following:

Recommendation A – Exempt routine, lower density secured market rental rezoning applications from CACs

The City would exempt rental applications from CAC negotiations where the density proposed is low, or consistent with area zoning. The table below shows where CACs would be exempt for rental based on height guidelines:

Recommendation B – Remove CAC negotiation on commercial-only rezoning 

The City intends on removing the CAC negotiation process (which can prolong the application timeline significantly) for commercial applications in the Downtown, Metro Core, Grandview Employment Area and South Vancouver Industrial Lands. This would not apply for proposed stratified commercial space.

The City will also introduce commercial linkage targets, which are intended to show the correlation between additional commercial space and workforce related childcare spaces and affordable housing. The commecial linkage targets will be fixed $/SF amounts calculated on the net additional density for commercial rezonings in the Downtown and Metro Core areas. 

The interim Commercial Linkage Targets will be as follows:As industry consultation has already occurred for these items, they could take effect almost immediately after Council adoption.

A full copy of the policy report can be viewed here: http://council.vancouver.ca/20171128/documents/a4.pdf

1985 West Broadway has sold to The Property Management Group for $39,000,000. The 5-storey ‘A’ Class building, known to most as the Wawanesa Building at Broadway and Maple, was built in 1985 and totals 50,981 SF. The sale price equates to $765 per SF, or a 3.30% cap rate. Wawanesa was the seller in the transaction.

The property had been listed for sale by Avison Young. Below is a marketing video depicting the property:

The C-3A zoned property is located on a 17,280 SF site just a block East of what is anticipated to be a future transit station at Arbutus.

Concord Pacific‘s preliminary rezoning application will go to City of Burnaby council next week for the master plan of the 8.9 acre Sears Metrotown site at 4750 Kingsway. Concord acquired the site from Sears Canada in 2015 for $100,000,000.  The site is currently home to a soon to be closed Sears store, a Toys-R-Us store and a presentation centre.

Initial planning work got underway in 2013 when Sears selected Concord Pacific as the developer, but had been partly delayed pending the City of Burnaby’s revision of the Metrotown Downtown Plan, completed earlier this year.

The purpose of the current rezoning application is to establish a Conceptual Master Plan, Design Guidelines and a detailed first phase of development, which would provide for specific development rights for the initial phase; and guide further applications for the development of the site which will include substantial commercial and residential components. The site is designated for high density development utilizing the RM-5s and C3 guidelines.

The overall vision for the site is described as: ” a pedestrian-oriented, transit-connected
community that reflects the strong urban design principles and an urban form unique in the City. The Sears Metrotown site is envisioned to be fully integrated with the surrounding Metro Downtown neighbourhood and the broader Town Centre through the creation of new vehicle, pedestrian and cycling connections to existing streets to the north including McMurray and McKercher Avenues, as well facilitating new future connections to the south and west through the Metropolis at Metrotown site and Station Square.”

Preliminary details for the overall master plan include:

• Seven towers
• Four development phases
• 1,945,855 SF of residential space
• 660,734 SF of commercial space
• a total density of 9.75 FSR

Phase 1 details include:

• 1,309 units in Phase 1
• 3 towers ranging from 33 to 65-storeys
• 1,485 parking spaces on 7 levels of underground parking 
• a 48,000 SF indoor amenity space
• towers designed with a ceramic frit super graphic design element
• addition of a new East-West road “Metro Way”

The application describes the first phase: “Phase I is the initial phase of development, located along the Kingsway frontage between McMurray Avenue. The Phase I site measures approximately 132,364 sq.ft., with a frontage on Kingsway of 1,053 ft. Phase
I consists of three residential high-rise apartment buildings.  All three residential buildings are located atop a 3 storey commercial and amenity podium.

The signature tower at the corner of Kingsway and Nelson Avenue does not have commercial uses on the Nelson Avenue frontage, but maintains the high volume in amulti-storey atrium lobby fronting on to the Lake Plaza. Tower 2’s lobby fronts onto Kingsway, in between commercial storefronts, while Tower 3’s lobby is oriented toward McMurray Avenue fronting on to the River Plaza.”

The architect for the project is IBI Group.