Rize Alliance has submitted a rezoning application for a site at the corner of Fraser Street and East 19th Avenue in East Vancouver. The site, currently zoned C-2, is currently developed with an older 2-storey commercial building and a parking lot. 

The proposal calls for a new 6-storey rental building, including:

• • 104 market rental units;
    • 33 studios, 32 one-bedrooms, 28 two-bedrooms & 11 three-bedrooms;
  • 13,027 SF of retail space;
  • a total density of 3.43 FSR;
  • a building height of 71 ft.; and
  • 112 underground parking spaces and 213 bicycle spaces.

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

The architect for the project is Yamamoto Architecture.

A development application has been submitted by Bonnis Properties for 950 Granville Street, a 21,000 SF site (consolidated as 950, 958 and 968 Granville Street) that is currently built out as a retail building. 

The proposal calls for a new 4-storey, commercial building with 3 levels of underground parking, including:

• 54,000 SF of retail space;
• 4 ground level CRU’s and 35,000 SF of retail on 2nd and 3rd floors;
• 18,321 SF of office space on the 4th floor;
• a total density of 3.38 FSR;
• 95% site coverage;
• 102 underground parking stalls on three levels.

Under the site’s existing DD zoning, the application is “conditional” so it may be permitted; however, it requires the decision of the Director of Planning.

PortLiving has submitted a rezoning application for 1940 Main Street, a 17,424 SF site at the Northeast corner of Main Street and East 4th Avenue in Mount Pleasant.

The site, currently improved as “ABC Tireland”, is zoned IC-2 but can be rezoned per the Mount Pleasant Community Plan.

This is the second project for PortLiving on Main, with a 65-unit proposed project at Main and East 6th, called Main Street Arts.

The proposal, dubbed “Main Street Arts 2” consists of a 6-storey mixed-use building, including:

• 49 condo units;
  • 26 studios, 4 one-bedrooms, 13 two-bedrooms & 6 three-bedrooms;
• a 37-space childcare facility;
• 9,677 SF of ground floor retail;
• 12,178 SF of below grade retail space;
• a total density of 3.0 FSR;
• a building height of 72 ft.; and
• 112 underground parking spaces and 77 bicycle spaces.

The application describes the design rationale: “The project is a 6-storey mixed use building. The ground floor along the Main Street frontage proposes a series of retail spaces that reinforce a scale of walking and shopping with high-quality storefront, weather protection, and floorfloor heights that can accommodate a variety of uses over
time.

There is also lower retail space connected to ground floorwith stairs, floor openings, passenger elevator and skylights to create visual connections with pedestrians along Main St.

The ground floor is pulled back from the south-west corner of the site to create a partially covered public plaza with seating on a sunny corner. A public elevator which frames the plaza along East 4th Ave will provide access to belowgrade retail parking and childcare above.

East 4th Avenue is fronted by retail units and the residential entry lobby. The second to sixth floors are market housing including a significant number of family units. A group
Childcare facility is proposed on the second floor with access from below-grade parking and ground floor plaza via elevator directly off East 4th Ave.”

This rezoning application is being considered under the Mount Pleasant Community Plan and Implementation Strategy.

The architect for the project is Formosis Architecture (formerly Studio B Architects).

The development permit application has been filed for Oakridge Centre’s second phase. Oakridge Centre is owned by Quadreal and Westbank who previously rezoned the 28-acre site to allow a reconfigured mall, with several residential towers, office space, amenities and a public park.

The first phase of ‘Oakridge Vancouver‘ (Buildings 3 & 4 on the Northern portion of the site fronting West 41st Avenue) were approved for a development permit in late 2018 and subsequently launched for pre-sale. 

This second development permit application consists of Southeast corner of the site at Cambie and 45th, currently home to the Safeway and surface parking lot.

Details of this phase of the project include:

• Three towers, 32, 17 and 34-storeys in height;
• 615 condo units;
  • 199 one-bedrooms, 326 two-bedrooms and 90 three(+)-bedrooms;
• a podium containing retail and office uses;
• 358,397 SF of retail space including new below-grade grocery and liquor store;
• 119,582 SF of office space;
• a total density of 0.95 FSR (based on total Oakridge site);
• 3 levels of underground parking;
• A portion of the future 9-acre park;
• A “Summer House” pavilion to act as a stage for performances.

The application describes some of the design rationale:

“Building 6 & 7 –  Skin & Bones Concept
The metaphor of skin and bone is the ordering principal for the architectural tectonic for buildings here and elsewhere in the project. It is derived from the idea of draping the mall with a landscaped park. The acts of wrapping and revealing are used to help define the relationship between the landscape and buildings, as an approach to break down the mass of the buildings, as a passive solar strategy to have the buildings respond to their environment, and for providing way finding and programmatic identity. 

Building 8 – Mountain Concept
While much of the Oakridge project is conceived as a topographical emergence of architecture from landscape, Building 8 is more geologically expressive as if smoothed by eons of wind and water as it terraces up from the Woodland Park. The building seen as a newly formed mountain, we can analyze its parts: the forested valley floor at its base, the spur ascending to the summit, and the precipitous east and west faces.”

The architect for the project is Henriquez Partners Architects.

A development application has been submitted for the Southwest corner of Robson and Seymour Streets in Downtown Vancouver. The site was sold in 2018 for $40 Million to Bonnis Properties. The existing building is an older single storey retail building.

The application for the site is for a new 13-storey, commercial building. The proposal consists of the following:

• • 61,700 SF of office space;
  • 4,300 SF of retail space;
  • amenity space including outdoor terrace, gyms and yoga area on the 6th floor;
  • a building height of approximately 215 ft.;
  • a total density of 5.5 FSR;
  • all over 3 levels of underground parking accessed from Seymour Street through a shared access agreement with Capitol Residences.

The application describes the design rationale: “A number of strategies are employed to create a respectful and considerate massing.

The building reduces in width along the Robson Street frontage to limit the width of the building facing neighbors. The overall composition of the building is arranged as three elements, each responding to the conditions around them.

At the lower levels, retail uses line the street and will extend down Seymour Street at the corner. With the addition of a public plaza along Seymour that creates an entry to the office lobby, a high degree of transparency and a number of access points creating a welcoming frontage, an improved public realm, and renewed set of commercial uses will reinvigorate the site. Importantly, the building configuration creates a three-sided storefront that addresses the significance of the corner.

An outdoor amenity terrace is arranged on the second level of the building, overlooking Robson and Seymour Streets, which is accessible by all building users. Clearly visible and legible from the street, the activation of a second floor use is intended to improve the experience in the public realm. The existing large oak trees on Robson Street
encroach beyond the property line, and the building massing responds to accommodate their continued life on the street.

At the middle section of the building, larger floor office spaces are provided, is set off from the adjacent building to the south, providing a welcome interruption in a city block that is highly regular and large (Orpheum Theatre and Capitol Residences). Setting the massing off the party wall allows the floor space to benefit from greater access to daylight and air, with the space between the new space and party wall acting as a light well. A vegetated wall is introduced in the interstitial space, which covers the existing blank party wall of the neighboring building to the south. Introducing meaningful landscape downtown is intended as a public amenity and as an unexpected addition of nature downtown.”

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

The architect for the project is Perkins + Will.

The full development application can be viewed here: https://development.vancouver.ca/600robson/index.htm