A development application has been submitted for the first phase of the Oakridge Centre redevelopment, for which the overall development plan was approved earlier this year. 

The first phase will consist of two towers (Towers 3 and 4), and a portion of the future park. Details include:

• one 32-storey tower (Building 3) and one 42-storey tower (Building 4)
• 504 market condo units;
• 212 one-bedrooms, 260 two-bedrooms & 32 three-bedroom units;
• a podium containing retail/office Uses (Levels P1 – 6);
• 173,113 SF of office space in Building 3;
• all over three levels of underground parking;
• a portion of the future 9-acre Park;
• a total density of 0.74 FSR;
• a maximum geodetic building height of 189.38 m for Building 3, and 217.28 m for Building 4.

The application describes the design rationale: 

“Skin & Bones Concept
The metaphor of skin and bone is the ordering principle for the Architectural Tectonic. It is born from the idea of draping the Mall with a landscaped Park. The act of wrapping or revealing becomes architecturally significant when defining the relationship between the landscape and buildings, as an approach to breakdown the mass of the buildings, as a passive solar strategy to have the buildings respond to their environment, and for providing wayfinding and programmatic identity.

Skin as Veil
Expanding upon the skin & bones concept, the skin is treated like a fine light fabric that wraps the buildings in a unifying veil. It is both delicate and protective, and is expressed architecturally as a plane of Curtain Wall that extends past the building itself in vertical and horizontal fly-bys. The Curtain wall design is reduced to its essence of transparent glass using 4 sided SSG, grey sealant and gaskets, light colored shadow boxes and only horizontal spandrel. The extent of the wrapping of the veil is related to the buildings orientation, as the veil opens toward the light, allowing the deep recessed terracing of the bones to shade the spaces within.”

The architect for the project is Henriquez Partners Architecture.

Anthem Properties is proposing to rezone a 6.0 acre site at 319 North Road for their upcoming project, entitled “SOCO“. The site is currently home to the Best Western Plus Coquitlam Inn Convention Centre and liquor store. 

The application to the City of Coquitlam proposes to rezone the site from the existing C-2 General Commercial and RS-l One-Family Residential to C-7 Transit Village Commercial to accommodate a phased, mixed-use development.

The site is located within the Burquitlam-Lougheed Neighbourhood Plan (BLNP)
and the Burquitlam-Lougheed ‘Core’ area in the TDS. The current OCP land use
designation on 319 North Road is Transit Village Commercial, and the current
designation on 566 Lougheed Highway is High Density Apartment Residential.

The proposed development includes 1,386 market condo units in five towers,
along with retail, restaurant, and office space. The overall gross buildable area can be up to a maximum of 1,185,607 SF.

The first phase of the project is located along North Road, and includes two towers (27 and 31 storeys) with condo units above a podium with a large restaurant space, commercial retail units, indoor and outdoor amenity space, and office space. 

The other three towers, to be built in three further phases, include tower heights of 24, 34 & 44 storeys.

Details of the first phase include:

• 494 condo units;
• 50 studios, 192 one-bedrooms and 252 two-bedroom units;
• 7,501 SF of restaurant space;
• 7,990 SF of retail space;
• 50,316 SF of office space;
• a total site density up to 4.5 FAR;
• 843 parking spaces;
• a new East-West collector and North-South Road;
• $45.9 Million in density bonus funds and CACs.

The architect for the project is IBI Group.

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