By Frances Bula

Interesting for me to see the new Burnaby First party trying to ride the anti-development horse there. Burnaby has been building towers for quite a while now, apparently with no backlash from anyone. But I have heard more grumbling about the Brentwood development in the last year than I’d heard the previous decade, so maybe there’s something there.

This is the news release that Burnaby First sent out today

Burnaby First Mayor candidate Daren Hancott & Council candidate Helen Ward plan to speak tonight at the public hearing for the controversial 56-story Brentwood Tower II. It will be held at 7:00 pm in the City Council chambers at 4949 Canada Way.

This hearing will be the one opportunity for the general public to have their say on this project before Burnaby’s current BCA monopoly council votes on whether or not to send this project forward.

The previously-approved Brentwood Tower I has already resulted in the closure of vital public transit infrastructure (the bus loop and related access ramp) making it extremely difficult for mobility-challenged transit riders to access Brentwood Mall shops and SkyTrain ground transit connections.

It has further resulted in significant slow-downs of rush hour traffic along Lougheed Highway at …read moreSource:: Frances Bula

Kenstone Properties has applied to rezone a 32,681 SF site at 468 West 33rd Avenue and 4956-4958 Cambie Street under the Cambie Corridor Plan, which allows residential uses up to 6-storeys in this location.  The proposal includes:

• 68 residential units, including 8 townhouses;
• a 906 SF retail space on the ground floor;
• a density of 2.57 FSR;
• 30 three-bedroom units;
• 2-levels of underground parking

This site sold back in June 2012 for $13,600,000, or $159 per buildable SF.

By ChangingCity

Grace Court is a 1912 7-storey 26 unit concrete apartment building designed by R MacKay Fripp for D D Hutchinson. When it was built it cost $40,000 and filled just over half the lot it sits on. Recent changes to the West End zoning from the West End Plan allow an infill building on the remainder of the site. (Generally the infill is allowed on the lane, although in this case it’s the end lot so it will be addressed as 1071 Cardero Street).

…read more

Source:: Changing City Updates

A number of development applications have begun popping up in the West End; partially a result of the West End Community Plan that was adopted by the City of Vancouver in late 2013.

Most of these projects, including a site I sold at 1546 Nelson Street earlier this year, have an underutilized land area such as a surface parking lot or oversize backyard.

Here are  few that have come up for application this summer:

1546 Nelson Street  (sold in February for $2,050,000)

1071 Cardero Street

1529 Comox Street

Bogner Development has submitted a new rezoning application for the church property it owns in Kerrisdale at 2095 West 43rd Avenue (East Blvd and West 43rd Ave).

Bogner had filed an application in January for a 6-storey, 56-unit rental apartment building at 3.25 FSR. After community feedback, that proposal was withdrawn last month.

The new proposal is for a 4-storey condo building that includes:

• 17 residential units;
• a density of 2.30 FSR;
• commercial uses at grade; and
• 27 underground parking spaces.