A cluster of rival luxury condo towers is rapidly emerging in the small area around Alberni and West Georgia where the West End Plan contemplated higher towers. The latest design was presented at a pre-rezoning open house, before submission to the City for consideration.

This isn’t the first pair of towers designed for this site; it was initially assembled by Wall Financial who commissioned a more contemporary design for a pair of towers, before selling the site on to Landa Properties and Asia Standard for twice what they had acquired it for. The new owners have commissioned New York architect Robert A M Stern (with Vancouver’s MCM) who have produced this initial design. It’s a very retro design, looking like New York towers from the 1930s, and also a very similar tower designed by the same architect in Toronto. If these are approved (after the many steps they face) they will look very different from the much more contemporary designs proposed so far in this area. 129 of the units are proposed to be rental, and 314 more would be strata units. This is intended to be the tallest building in the world built to date to Passive House standards. There would be a 56 space childcare on the 7th floor, to be owned by the City of Vancouver, and it’s proposed to close Nicola Street to create a new city park.