Darwin Properties, in conjunction with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation have submitted a rezoning application to the District of North Vancouver for the “North Shore Innovation District”, a 45-acre site located on Dollarton Highway.

Details can be viewed on the project’s website: https://www.darwinconstruction.ca/nsidlands

The site is currently vacant and treed, save for the Canadian International College property (also part of the proposal) which has been leased by Capilano University for student housing.

Darwin’s ambitious vision for the property is a mixed-used “innovation district” which includes a mix of light industrial commercial, institutional, recreational and residential uses concentrated within a compact employment hub to co-locate people and jobs. The proposal is in keeping with the Official Community Plan and the Maplewood Village Centre and Innovation District Implementation Plan and Design and Guidelines which was passed by council earlier this year.

Details of the proposed rezoning include:

• 18 buildings ranging in height from 2 to 8-storeys;
• 1,424,905 SF of employment floor space;
• 713,544 SF of residential floor space;
• 680 rental units (450 affordable & 230 market);
• 220 condo units with discount to site employees;
• 200,000 SF of student/faculty housing;
• 56,295 SF of hotel space;
• 73,459 SF of live-work space;
• child care space;
• a 52,000 SF central plaza;
• a new Berkley Road connector linking Dollarton and Mount Seymour Parkway;
• a maximum density of 1.1 FAR;
• a new 1.17 acre “Hillside Park”;
• 6.5 kms of multi-use trails;
• a $7.5 Million CAC in addition to offsite improvements and DCC’s.

The application describes the site layout: “The project includes two specific character areas with different uses which generally align with the OCP designations: the “Upper Bench” and the “District Heart” as shown on the map below. The District Heart and the Upper Bench are divided by the Berkley Road and Internal Road A alignments. The central part of the site is anchored by a public plaza, surrounded by industrial, office and retail uses. A new creek channel for the existing seasonal watercourses runs north/south through the site and divides the site into east and west portions.”

Upper Bench
The “Upper Bench” or northern portion of the site is proposed to include mixed-use residential with commercial/ industrial buildings and live-work units at grade.

District Heart
The “District Heart” is the primary site for employment uses within the Maplewood Innovation District. It is located on the south portion ofthe site immediately north of Dollarton Highway across form the Maplewood Conservation Area and east of Berkley Road.

Central Plaza
The central plaza is the focus of the public realm and is designed to be programmed for a variety of events, activities, and seasonal uses such as a water play park in summer, outdoor skating in the winter, and opportunities for concerts, markets, and festivals. Industrial uses and retail use at-grade provide vibrancy to the public space and help attract a wide range of people.

The project will be built in a number of phases with a minimum of 50% of the employment space being in the first phase.

An rezoning application has been submitted to the City of Richmond for a 109,969 SF site in the Brighouse Village area of Richmond’s City Centre.

The site, located at the intersection of Park Road and Buswell Street, is currently occupied by lowrise commercial buildings including the strip retail plaza “Park Village”. it is slated for rezoning under the City of Richmond’s City Centre Area Plan which designates the site as Urban Core T6, allowing a conditional density up to 4.0 FAR.

The owners of the site are Grand Long Holdings Canada Ltd. & Park Village Investments Ltd.

The plan for the site calls for a large mixed-use development including two residential towers and one office/residential tower on a commercial podium with street-oriented commercial and retail uses fronting Park Road and Buswell Street at ground level. Further details include:

• 339 residential units including 21 affordable rental units;
• 58,605 SF of office space;
• 43,791 SF of retail and restaurant space;
• A total density of 3.86 FAR;
• A new 4,000 SF public plaza on the South side of the property;
• 618 total parking spaces.

The architect for the project is WT Leung Architects.

Bene Richmond Development Ltd. has applied to the City of Richmond to rezone a site at 6560 – 6700 No.3 Road from the “Downtown Commercial (CDT1)” zone to a new site-specific zone in order to permit the development of a new mixed-use development in the City Centre’s Brighouse Village. The Official Community Plan (OCP) designates the subject site as “Downtown Mixed Use”. 

The 47,286 SF site is currently improved with a single-storey strip retail plaza known as Time Square. The site sits directly across from Richmond Centre, which is currently embarking on an ambitious redevelopment plan.

The proposed project would see two residential towers (8 & 11-storeys) all above a 4-storey podium containing parking, office, retail and restaurant uses.

Details of the proposal include:

• 166 residential units (157 market and 9 affordable housing)
• 14,278 SF of retail and restaurant space;
• 33,008 SF of office space;
• A total density of 4.0 FAR.

The architect for the project is Dialog.

The City of Vancouver has released the Policy Statement for the Heather Lands site, a 21 acre site located just West of Cambie Street, between West 33rd and West 37th. The site is jointly owned by Canada Lands Company,  the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation (the “MST Nations”). It was previously occupied by the RCMP, which moved to a new headquarters in Surrey in 2012. There remains a heritage building on site, the Fairmont building.

A comprehensive planning program was initiated for the site in 2016, which aligned with the recently adopted Cambie Corridor Phase 3 planning program. Several stakeholder and community consultations sessions and open houses occurred over 2017, culminating with the Policy Statement which will guide the future rezoning and redevelopment of individual parcels within the overall Heather Lands site, similar to processes for other large sites like Pearson Dogwood, Oakridge Transit Centre Site, and Langara Gardens.

An important aspect guiding the policy statement has been reconciliation with the MST Nations.

Details of the overall land use policy include:

• An overall maximum density of 2.50 FSR (2,296,000 SF);
• Approx. 2,500 residential units;
• Heights from 3 to 24-storeys;
• A minimum of 20% of units for affordable housing (approx. 530 units);
• 20% of units as ‘attainable home ownership’ (approx. 530 units);
• 20,000 – 60,000 SF of local serving retail & service uses (ie. cafe, small grocery, pharmacy, medical office);
• One acre site for potential 4-storey Conseil Scolaire Francophone school;
• Minimum 4 acres of secured park and open space (min. 2 acres public park);
• A new 69-space childcare facility;
• A cultural centre (minimum 15,000 SF);
• Potential demolition or relocation of the Fairmont building;
• New 35th Avenue connection through site;
• A new neighbourhood commercial street inside the site;
• Extension of Baillie Street and Manson Streets into the site;
• Redesign of Heather Street to accommodate new Heather Street bikeway.

The Policy Statement describes the built form: “The Heather Lands will be characterized by a variety of building forms, including lower forms and townhouses framing parks and open spaces, mid-rise buildings along the streets and some taller buildings organically located to follow the forest trail. The cultural centre and childcare facility will be prominently located on the site, anchoring the neighbourhood heart.”

The full policy report can be viewed here: http://council.vancouver.ca/20180515/documents/rr3.pdf

Two new tower proposal go to first reading at the City of Coquitlam next week, one in Burquitlam and one in the City Centre area of Coquitlam. The two projects are detailed below:

545 Sydney Avenue

This proposal is by Ledingham McAlister for a site in the booming Burquitlam neighbourhood along North Road. The site is 0.8 acres and is located at the Northeast corner of Westview Street and Sydney Avenue. 

The site is currently occupied by a 3-storey condo building and the plan calls for rezoning from RM-2 to a Comprehensive Development Zone (CD) based on the RM-6 Multi-Storey High Density Apartment Residential Zone in the Official Community Plan.

The plan is for a new 25-storey residential tower that includes:

• 235 total residential units;
  • 157 condos
  • 78 rental apartments;
• a total density of 5.50 FAR;
• 283 underground parking spaces.

  The site sold in January 2018 for $15,575,000.

The architect for the project is IBI Group.

1108 Westwood Street

Polygon Homes has submitted their application for this site at the southwest corner of Glen Drive and Westwood Street in the City Centre area of Coquitlam. The 1.1 acre site is mostly vacant and comprises an assembly of three lots.

The site sits adjacent a site controlled by Onni (fronting Pinetree Way), which will also be applying for a rezoning for a tower using the same architect, Chris Dikeakos. There is a master plan in place which governs the development of both sites.

The site is located within the City Centre Area Plan (CCAP), is designated City Centre Commercial in the OCP, and is located within the “Core” area of City Centre in the Transit-Oriented Development Strategy (TDS). The proposed rezoning to CD is based on the C-4 Zone which is the applicable zone in the City Centre Commercial designation in the CCAP.

The plan calls for a 40-storey residential tower that includes:

• 273 residential units:
  • 222 condo units;
  • 51 rental apartment units;
• Four retail units;
• 4 floors of office space (24,000 SF total commercial space);
• 19,813 SF of amenity space;
• A total density of 6.40 FAR;
• A total building height of 406 ft.;
• 437 underground parking spaces above and below grade (due to high water table)