Larco Investments has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop a site they own at Davie and Cardero with an additional new 23-storey building. The proposal for 1668 Davie St. includes the following:

• 158 secured market rental residential units;
• 105 studio and one-bedroom units, and 53 two & three bedroom units.
• Retention of the London Drugs
• Retail on the ground floor;
• Building height of approximately 210 ft;
• Total floor area of 123,895 SF; and
• 95 underground parking spaces accessed from the lane.
• Density of 6.1 FSR

The site is currently zoned C-5A and the application is being made under the existing zoning, which allows for planning to conditionally approve the proposal. The site also falls within the newer West End Community Plan, under the Lower Davie Village subarea, which allows up to 7.0 FSR.

The proposal calls for demolition of an existing parking garage next to the London Drugs.

The architect for the project is DA Architects & Planners.

1668 Davie Street is just one of several existing and pending applications that have resulted from the 2014 West End Community Plan, including 1177 Jervis Street, a project three blocks East on Davie that is being developed by Intracorp. Several other sites are in the process of being sold for future applications.

Larco has applied to the City of Vancouver for permission to develop the first phase of Arbutus Village. The plan calls for development of the Northeast corner (“Block A”) of the 7-acre site with one mixed-use building comprising office space, a below-grade self-storage facility, a grocery store, and residential rental apartments. The proposal includes the following:

• a mixed-use building comprising office space and a grocery store on the ground floor, and seven floors with 215 apartments units above;
• total floor area of 395,000 SF (including 120,000 SF below-grade self-storage facility and a 54,000 SF new Safeway grocery store);
• four levels of underground parking (374 spaces) and self-storage facility, accessed off of a proposed Yew Street extension.
• First step will be demolition of the Northeast portion of the existing mall, followed by new internal streets and eventual relocation of Safeway

The rezoning for the site was approved back in July 2011, but no further development approval activity has taken place since. The whole plan calls for 508 residential units. The development application effectively quiets any previous rumours that the site may have been for sale.

The Development Permit Board meeting is scheduled for this application on September 8, 2015. Subsequent phases of the project will require additional development permits.