Polygon has submitted their rezoning application to develop the site that they own at 114-132 West 15th Street in the Central Lonsdale area of North Vancouver. The 25,206 SF site is currently improved with two older lowrise commercial buildings.

The site is designated Mixed Use Level 4B (High Density) in the Official Community Plan. This designation allows for a mix of higher-density multi-family and commercial uses with a maximum density of 4.0 FSR (including 1.0 bonus FSR). A further density transfer is proposed.

The application proposes a 22-storey mixed-use building, with two levels of commercial including retail and services at ground level, office commercial uses at level two, and 20 storeys of condo units above.

The proposal includes:

• 136 condo units;
  • 38 one-bedrooms, 77 two-bedrooms & 21 three-bedrooms;
• 7,452 SF of ground floor retail space;
• 16,985 SF of 2nd floor office space;
• a total density of 7.05 FSR;
• 198 underground parking spaces.

The proposal includes 76,993 SF of density transferred from the Harry Jerome lands owned by the City. The purchase of the density comes at a price of $19,248,250 or $250 per SF.

The architect for the project is IBI Group.

Pinnacle International is seeking City of Burnaby Council approval to allow a density transfer to facilitate the development of both their Austin-Gatineau Place property, and a nearby site also owned by Pinnacle, called Carrigan Court.

The Gatineau proposal was first unveiled in 2019, and generated some attention by proposing three towers totaling 1.9 Million SF, the tallest of which envisioned at 82-storeys, likely a new tallest for Metro Vancouver. The new proposal would now see four towers for the site with the tallest at 80-storeys.

The 6.2 acre Austin-Gatineau site is located in the Lougheed Town Centre Plan area. It was acquired by Pinnacle from Shape Properties in 2018.

Following the initial proposal, a number of issues were identified relating to both the ability to accommodate the site’s allocated density and density associated with the Rental Use Zoning policy which came into place in 2020. It was determined that the site could not accommodate the non-market rental density. Also, the British Columbia Transportation and Finance Authority (BCTFA) would not permit any encumbrances over adjacent Provincial-owned land, which had a significant impact on the siting of one of the Austin-Gatineau Site’s towers identified in the Master Plan.

In 2021, the City of Burnaby a Density Transfer Policy allowing density transfers to accommodate non-market rental housing on concurrent rezonings for nearby sites.

As Pinnacle is the owner of a nearby 3.40 acre property at 3846 Carrigan Court, an existing 141-unit rental apartment property that they are now proposing to transfer the inclusionary rental from the Austin-Gatineau site to a redeveloped Carrigan Court.

The revised proposals for both sites are as follows:

Austin-Gatineau Site

• Four condo towers of 80, 76, 73 & 50-storeys in height, each atop commercial podiums;
• Three phases;
• 2,474 condo units;
• a total floor area of of 2.3 Million SF;
• a total density of 11.82 FAR.

Carrigan Court

• Three residential towers of 33-storeys, 25-storeys & 23-storeys;
• Two phases;
• 900 total residential units;
• 546 rental units including:
  • 141 replacement rental units;
  • 405 inclusionary units transferred from the Austin-Gatineau site;
• a total floor area of 734,810 SF;
• a total density of 4.95 FAR.

The architect for the project is JYOM Architects.

The conceptual master plan for the 7.9 acre Grosvenor Brentwood site goes to Burnaby City Council next week.

The site, acquired by Grosvenor in 2020, includes five parcels at Lougheed and Alpha that were formerly occupied by a Chrysler dealership, and are currently being used for a weekend public market and food truck festival. The largest parcel, 4664 Lougheed Highway is occupied by an older office building.

The first step in the planning process for this transit oriented, high density site involves preparation of a Conceptual Master Plan for the site, and Committee and Council consideration of amendments to the prevailing land use framework of the current Brentwood Town Centre Plan.

The preliminary concept is summarized as follows: “The preliminary concept plan for the subject site is comprised of different districts, each with a distinct and unique architectural and landscape expression. These districts are described more fully in Section 3.4 of this report. The site sits at the centre of the Brentwood Town Centre and will become a hub of activity with a variety of open air shopping experiences, cafes and restaurants, office space, and highdensity rental and strata residential opportunities, all designed around new public plazas, and terraced open spaces. These changes will help create a new, high quality, integrated neighbourhood in Burnaby that will be a seamless extension of existing surrounding neighbourhoods.”

The site is envisioned to have multiple phases, broken down into 5 districts, as follows:

The High Street District

• Corner of Alpha and Dawson
• A condo tower between 30-45 storeys, over a podium with 3-storeys of condo and 2-storeys of commercial

Urban Gateway District

• Northwest corner at Alpha and Lougheed, next to Brentwood Station
• Two high-rise market rental towers between 45 to 65 storeys in height, over mid-rises with up to 9 storeys of non-market rental, with retail and flex office at grade

Civic Heart District

• At centre of the site fronting Dawson
• Comprises a community centre and pathways linking the site, described as a multi-story cantilevering structure designed to shelter outdoor areas on the south side and provide open sunny balconies and a sky park over the rest of the structure, with large recreational facilities cut into the grade of the sloping site to provide easy access for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and motorists of all ages and abilities.

Oasis District

• Northeast corner of the site at Lougheed and Beta
• two high-rise market rental towers between 40 to 60 storeys in height, over mid-rises with up to 9 storeys of non-market rental atop retail, flex office and amenity space at the ground level.

Green Link District

• Southeast corner of the site at Beta and Dawson
• Condo tower between 35 to 45 storeys in height, over a 5-storey podium including condo and retail

The total proposed density for the site is 9.0 FAR, or 3,080,000 SF.

The site will be rezoned in multiple phases and utilizes the RM5s and RM5r Multiple Family Residential Districts; commercial utilizing the C3 General Commercial as guidelines and for a community centre utilizing the P3 Park and Public Use.

Below is a breakdown of the permitted and proposed density per the rezoning guidelines:

Virtual open houses will be held on March 16th and 17th.

Project website.

Polygon has submitted a revised formal application to the City of Richmond for permission to rezone a 13.5 acre
site at Cambie Road and Sexsmith Road. An earlier application from 2020 envisioned a similar overall plan, however, a revised proposal includes more affordable housing and more public space.

The assembly acquired by Polygon in 2018 for $147 Million sits on the Eastern edge of Richmond’s City Centre Area.

The proposal for the site, entitled ‘Talisman’, which has gone through a couple of rounds of feedback and revision, in part due to request for tree retention and more rental housing, includes development of a mixed-use, mid-rise and high-rise development consisting of two woodframe lowrise buildings and six concrete highrises. The overall master plan includes:

• 1,014 condo units;
• 156 affordable (low end of market) rental units;
• 171 market rental units;
• 8,438 sq ft of commercial space fronting Capstan;
• 1.23 Million SF of total gross floor area;
• 1.34 acres of new City Park;
• 2.10 acres of public open space.

The site is to be developed in four phases, as follows:

The proposed unit mix is as follows:

The architect for the project is IBI Group.

Strand Development has submitted a rezoning application for the gas station site at the Southwest corner of Arbutus & West 16th in Vancouver. The site at 3205 Arbutus Street is 16,776 SF and currently zoned C-2.

The proposal is a 4-storey rental building that includes:

• 54 market rental units;
  • 12 studios, 23 one-bedrooms, 17 two-bedroom & 2 three-bedrooms;
• 4,274 SF of retail space facing Arbutus;
• A total density of 2.50 FSR;
• rooftop amenity space;
• A building height of 60 ft.;
• 39 car parking spaces and 102 bike parking spaces.

The application is being considered under the Secured Rental Policy

The slope of the site allows parkade access directly into the P1 level and facilitates a mezzanine level of residential units along the lane, while maintaining a 4-storey expression along Arbutus Street.

The project is meant as a “sister” building to the recently completed Kits Walk building located at 2075 West 12th Avenue.

The architect for the project is Yamamoto Architecture.