Radius – W4th and Fir

Posted on April 30, 2013 by

Radius 4th model

Back in June 2012 we suggested Ledingham McAllister were obviously quietly confident of getting a development permit for their next project at West 4th Avenue at Fir Street. We said that because they were running advance notices in the Condo Guide and on their website,  and were preleasing the retail space, with a render of the building – all before a permit had been submitted.

When one was submitted it was promptly rejected by the Urban Design Panel. Now the company can move forward because the revised design has been supported by the panel. Designed by Rositch Hemphill, the model shows a much simpler contemporary building than the earlier design.

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Wall Centre 900 Hastings

Posted on April 29, 2013 by

755 Hastings model 4.13

We first mentioned this project back in January 2012, it was given a green light for rezoning in November, and now the revised design has been supported by the Urban Design Panel. It’s surprisingly big, and will make a huge difference to the neighbourhood. We wondered if the Development Permit would look any different from the rezoning design (which references the stacks of shipping containers found just to the north in the Port of Vancouver). The new model is shown above, and the rezoning render is below – and very little has changed. The red material will be corrugated, just like containers.

955 E Hastings render 2Right now 900 E Hastings is a set of what look like 1 storey buildings, although as they’re on the edge of the bridge that goes over the railway, actually they’re quite a bit taller on the lane. GBL have designed a building for Wall Financial of 10 to 12 storeys, with over 280 market units, 70 non-market units and light industrial uses both at street level and below.

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508 Helmcken Street

Posted on April 26, 2013 by

508 Helmcken v2 render 2We only featured this tower (or rather, an earlier version) three weeks ago, and commented that it would change as the Urban Design Panel found the earlier design somewhat overbearing for its context right next to the Emery Barnes Park.

So here it is, redesigned and now supported by the panel (although by a 5-3 margin). It’s simpler, squarer and quite a bit more contemporary in its design.

Right now there’s a 3-storey non-market housing project that dates to the mid 1980s, called Jubilee House. The site for the new tower will be bigger than the existing building as it includes the now unused lanes behind and beside the current building. It was once part of a block of mixed commercial spaces, but today everything except the 1910 Lightheart Brothers building next door is Emery Barnes Park.

This new version still has a 36-storey tower designed by GBL Architects with a mix of 355 condo and 109 market rental units, with a pre-school and kindergarten occupying two floors at the base of the tower. The scheme is tied to another site across Helmcken Street that currently houses a Montessori school. A development application for that site will see a 13 storey replacement for Jubilee House with over 150 units of new non-market housing.

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1121 Seymour Street

Posted on April 20, 2013 by

1111 seymourHere’s a recently submitted infill project in Downtown South that seems to be moving forward at a surprising pace. The address is 1121 Seymour on the Development Permit Board agenda (it’s scheduled for a June decision) but 1111 Seymour on the architect’s website. Either address applies to a 75 foot wide lot to the south-west of 1107 Seymour, another project that’s about to be considered at a public hearing for rezoning.

This project isn’t a rezoning, and there are no details on the City’s website other than the name of the architect, Endall Elliot (who are also designing the building next door) and the information that it’s an 8-storey building with 39 apartments and one 2-storey house. The Urban Design Panel got to see it, and unanimously supported it.

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Rogers Arena towers

Posted on April 12, 2013 by

Rogers model

We first saw this project in an earlier design in mid 2012, and again at the start of the year. Here’s what we believe is the final version, with approved development permits for all three towers. Aquilini Developments are developing the towers to wrap the edges of the Rogers Arena. The curved designs by Walter Francl (on the left and at the back) pick up on the design of the first tower proposed some years ago by Busby Associates and revised by B+H Architects – in the foreground. Office uses are intended for the lower floors of the tower at the back, and the one in the front of this model. The upper parts and the third tower will be residential. All the 614 units will be rental, and while the developer would like to have added a fourth tower as well, the city’s planners did not support that idea.

Obviously if the decision is made to remove the viaducts, the context will change, especially for the all residential tower (on the left). These three towers will be the first of a cluster in this area, with development sites also owned by both Concord Pacific and the rezoning of the Plaza of Nations.

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2290 Main Street

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

2290 Main model

We first featured 2290 Main Street at the end of January. At that point we had a rather dramatic render of a very contemporary building. Right now the site is a former used car dealers lot on the ’2nd to 7th’ stretch of Main Street that is currently mostly small scale industrial and auto-related use. However, the Mount Pleasant Plan allows the possibility of rezoning, and this is a location that the plan contemplated buildings close to those already around it – like the 10-storey District that’s behind it.

The rezoning submitted by Arno Matis Architecture is for a nine storey building on the entire site, although the top three storeys are quite a bit smaller. Like his Cambie Street project, the new proposal is a striking contemporary design that, if approved, will contrast with the much more cautious Busby Associates design of the 10-storey No. 1 Kingsway (which includes the Mount Pleasant library and Community Centre) to the south. The project includes commercial space at grade, artists production space and some artists live-work studios. The building would be set back a little from Main Street with landscaping and seating in front.

We can now update the appearance of the building with an image of the model that went to the Urban Design Panel, who gave it enthusiastic support. What the model makes clearer is that the materials proposed are wood panel and glass – and as it’s a rezoning the building will still have to perform at a LEED Gold level.

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411 Dunsmuir Street

Posted on April 5, 2013 by

411 Dunsmuir

Currently 411 Dunsmuir is receiving a major makeover – it’s over 100 years old, and it’s being restored as an office and retail building by new owners. It started life as the Labour Temple in 1911, and most recently was the 411 Seniors Centre. What this illustration shows is that there’s an 11,000 square foot addition designed by Omicron proposed to be added on the vacant 25 foot wide lot to the north. So the building is renovated and will be expanded – and the city gets more office space for tenants with more modest expectations.

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