Here is an interesting map from 1956 from the City of Vancouver Archives showing land value assessments by $/SF from 1954 assessments in Downtown Vancouver.

Granville Street was the prime area back then at over $24.00 per SF of land! Conversely, Coal Harbour and Yaletown were steals at less than $1.50 per SF. Of course, these areas were still primarily industrial areas and condos were simply an idea that wouldn’t take hold for another decade. Fast forward sixty years and land values in those ‘hoods have increased approximately 2000%.

(click on the map for a zoomed in view)

“Scope and content Item is a map showing land values in dollars per square foot for the downtown area bounded by Burrard Street, Robson Street, and Nicola Street in the west and Main Street in the east.”

A rezoning application has been filed for a 17,000 SF two-lot assembly site at 7638-7662 Cambie Street, on the east side of Cambie between West 60th and West 61st Street.

The proposal is for a 6-storey condo building that includes:

• 34 units;
• 2 studios, 4 one-bedrooms, 22 two-bedrooms and 6 three-bedrooms
• a building height of 70 ft. ;
• a total density of 2.43 FSR; and
• 71 vehicle parking spaces and 49 bicycle spaces.

The application is being considered under the Cambie Corridor Plan.

The architect, GBL, explains the design rationale: “The Cambie Street facade comprises of stacked linear interowoven layers that playfully mirror the vehicular energy and movement of the adjacent street. The long projecting balconies act as giant louvers that shield the building face from mid to late afternoon sun, while also providing some acoustic buffering depth from the busy traffic.”

Here is an update for an interesting rental apartment project at Oak and West 14th Street. The project, by Aquilini Development, involved heritage retention of an existing 14-unit apartment building known as the Santa Fe Apartments.

As part of the heritage retention, Aquilini received approval for a 10-storey, 50-unit rental apartment building in behind the current structure, with a total density of 2.8 FSR under the RM-3 zoning. The project was unique in that only 14 units existed on a 12,500 SF site.

The project was approved at public hearing in May 2014.

The concrete tower is now topped out, although completion appears to be several months away yet.

courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/k9iCuZ via @imageshack

courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/9zUcFu via @imageshack

courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/2BrZjX via @imageshack

courtesy mcminsen http://po.st/RZscJv via @imageshack