A development application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver to develop a new mixed-use rental apartment building on the Granville Strip. The site at 1250 Granville Street is 8,998 sq ft and is currently occupied by the National Rental Car building and parking lot.

The redevelopment plan for the site is a 9-storey passive house rental apartment building with retail on the ground floor.

The application comes following the City’s current planning work to consider allowing more rental housing on the two block stretch of Granville between Helmcken and Drake Streets. Previous policy allowed a maximum of 3.50 FSR.

Details of the proposal include:

• 61 market rental units;
• 46 one-bedrooms & 15 two-bedroom units;
• 2,425 sq ft of ground floor retail space;
• a total density of 4.54 FSR;
• a building height of 95 ft.;
• shared rooftop amenity space;
• 22 parking stalls on one level of underground parking having vehicular access from the lane.

Under the site’s existing DD-K3 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 Lang Wilson Practice in Architecture Culture.

Next week the City of Vancouver will consider allowing a rezoning enquiry for PCI Group‘s site at the Northeast corner of Broadway & Granville to move ahead to the application stage.

PCI already secured a Development Permit for the site at 1477 West Broadway in 2019 for a project including 6 floors of underground parking and storage, retail uses, a subway station entrance, and three floors of office above. The project is already under construction at the P5 parking level.

A higher density rezoning had been contemplated for several years, although the forthcoming Broadway Plan had essentially placed a moratorium on new rezoning applications. PCI’s rezoning inquiry will now be considered as an exceptional circumstance under the Broadway
Plan Interim Rezoning Policy given impacts on the station entrance construction should the project be delayed beyond the station construction timeline.

The preliminary proposal is a rental residential tower above a retail and office podium with integrated station entrance, to a height and density
significantly above what is permitted under existing zoning. Overall, it includes:

• additional retail capacity including a grocery store;
• additional office space;
• market rental residential units including 20% moderate income units.

The rezoning application is expected to pause the current construction, although it is expected to save significant delays later on thereby minimizing impacts on circulation and access to the South Granville station when the Broadway Subway opens in 2025.

The City report can be viewed here: https://council.vancouver.ca/20210721/documents/cfsc3.pdf

The leasing brochure for the existing project can be viewed here: https://www.cbre.ca/properties/search/office/details/CA-Plus-298159/1477-w-broadway-vancouver-v6h-1h6?view=isLetting

A rezoning application has been submitted by Enrich Developments to the City of Vancouver for a 68,313 sq ft. site at the Southwest corner of Oak Street and West 64th Avenue in Marpole.

The site is an assembly of 12 single family homes.

The proposal calls for the development of three buildings of 6 to 8-storeys in height, and includes:

• 231 condo units;
• 1 studio, 106 one-bedrooms, 102 two-bedrooms & 22 three-bedrooms;
• 11,000 sq ft of ground floor retail space;
• A total density of 3.10 FSR;
• Building heights of 70 ft, 75 ft. and 95 ft.;
• 272 vehicle parking spaces and 497 bicycle parking spaces.

The application is being considered under the Marpole Community Plan.

The architect for the project is Arno Matis Architecture.

The site was sold in 2017 for $57,000,000 or $269 per buildable sq ft based on the rezoning application.