[soleri]

In Vancouver over New Years, it was wet, cold, slushy, and sublimely urban. It's a world city now: discovered, coveted, bid up, and out of reach for most of us. I've never been in a place so confidently cosmopolitan - even San Francisco seems a little starchy by comparison. But Vancouver's status is a virtue of its new, mainly Asian wealth. It's a Pacific Rim city now, and the global flow of capital loves it.

Looking up the Cambie bridge:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/5226/p1010240ze1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Looking north from Broadway to downtown:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/835/p1010247hy1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/5528/p1010244yp6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
False Creek construction: Olympic Village preparations:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/2271/p1010232rj4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Robson & Thurlow, late afternoon on Dec 31. It's cold, it's dim, and the sidewalks are packed:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9859/p1010148fo1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7320/p1010155na8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7251/p1010168sn0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Quintessential Vancouver: condo towers, Starbucks, clouds:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6572/p1010131za6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4564/p1010132cs1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Looking north from Robson, a neighborhood transformed:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/3499/p1010133ur9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Robson St condos atop 7-11:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6606/p1010311jt9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6907/p1010139in4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
At Burrard & Alberni, a Hermes and Tiffany stand guard. Vancouver's retail is hugely diverse, but lots of major players are not seen. Over time, as Vancouver becomes even more upscale, look for fewer midlevel retail outlets as the luxury retailers move in:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7033/p1010291vq5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
West Robson still shows some older buildings:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8513/p1010302lh0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/220/p1010316af2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

From the 19th floor of my hotel room, looking west to mid-downtown:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/183/p1010184wh9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Yaletown Park condo towers:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8217/p1010222qp7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

North Vancouver:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/6103/p1010394ds9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Work in progress: condo towers in SE downtown:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/1576/p1010383tx6.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Granville Streetscape:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7749/p1010278zr4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/8492/p1010284ct3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3088/p1010281fa3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
Urban Outfitters getting ready to open:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/8250/p1010282pg1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

New office tower topping off:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/2776/p1010297lu3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

City's tallest skyscraper under construction: Shangri-La Hotel & Residences. Of the over 300 units, only five remain unsold, each for over $3 million:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/7116/p1010305in0.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Tinseltown shopping center in background, Skytrain in front, and more condo towers to fill the inbetween:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/4365/p1010556of2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/96/p1010553rz3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7363/p1010550cn4.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

New condo towers around GM Place. Concord Pacific has expanded its color palette to include a few bold accent colors:
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/3619/p1010533jq2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9425/p1010205ow5.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
At street level, a Costco is already open:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4153/p1010209rr2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4919/p1010217dk9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Yaletown condo towers peaking above deflated BC dome:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4460/p1010532cv2.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

TOD heaven: Stadium/Chinatown Skytrain stop, new condo towers, urban planners' orgasm:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/1790/p1010562eg1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/6126/p1010549tf8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

Midcentury modern glory: downtown post office:
http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/7826/p1010220sm9.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[StreetsOfOmaha]

Beautiful! Thank you.

[JonnyBoy]

The one city I've always wanted to live in; definitely the most beautiful city in the Americas... this is excellent proof!

[WHISTLERINMUSKOKA]

Cool, I like this tower, what's it called and who is the developer?

http://img135.imageshack.us/img135/9425/p1010205ow5.jpg

[kool maudit]

wow, you really liked it there.

great photos.

[soleri]

Cool, I like this tower, what's it called and who is the developer?



Concord Pacific, is the developer. I'm not sure what the tower's name is, but they have verbiage about Gastown on their sign. They built the four towers simultaneously, which gives you a clue about the hot market there. The towers are located between two viaducts which in any other city might be the most improbable location imaginable for high-dollar development. Downtown Vancouver has no "bad" areas left. Even their skid row - in Gastown - is being gentrified.

[Dougall5505]

why was the dome deflated?

[flar]

Nothing else like Vancouver in North America

[soleri]

why was the dome deflated?

A snow and wind storm ripped the fabric late last Friday. Crazy weather there....

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/4147/p1010413hn3.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

http://img475.imageshack.us/img475/1088/p1010420sj7.jpg (http://imageshack.us)

[OhioGuy]

What a great city!

[Kilgore Trout]

nice photos. i'm heading to vancouver in february for chinese new year and i'm looking forward to it.

my girlfriend's sister just moved into one of those yaletown park towers... her parents live several blocks away in azure at pacific and richards. they bought their unit in 2003 for $275k... now it's worth $400k+. no wonder the hong kong housing listings are full of ads for vancouver condos!

[Wheelingman04]

What an incredible city. That is all I can say right now.

[Calgarian]

Nice pics but i think Vancouver desperately needs new office developement, the only downtown i can think of that is absolutley dominated by condos. Still a beautiful city though.

[J. Will]

soleri - do you think Phoenix should try to improve it's downtown by emulating some of Vancouver's policies and strategies for urban development.

[mSeattle]

It is stunning and inspiring. I see a couple of developers down here are planning to copy-cat that building with the yellow/red accents.

[vanman]

It is stunning and inspiring. I see a couple of developers down here are planning to copy-cat that building with the yellow/red accents.


Really? Can you elaborate?

[raggedy13]

Cool, I like this tower, what's it called and who is the developer?

The project is not so surprisingly called Spectrum.

Awesome pics soleri. Even during our worst time of the year for weather you still managed to make the city look not too shabby. I always enjoy seeing non-local perspectives on Vancouver. The way newcomers look at things as they're seeing them for the first time is so refreshing compared to locals who too often overlook the familiar.

[A-town]

From the look of these pictures it seems like Vancouver was built in 20 years, everything looks so modern, great pics, thanks for sharing.

[excel]

Lots of good pictures there, some different perspectives of Vancouver.
Thanks.

[oliveurban]

Great pictures, of a beautiful city.

What hotel did you stay at?

[hulkrogan]

I'll never understand the Vancouver hype. Stanley park is beautiful, the ocean and mountains are great, but dear god a pile of condos is a pile of condos. Yuck.

[soleri]

Great pictures, of a beautiful city.

What hotel did you stay at?

The Rosedale on Robson, excellently located near the stunning Vancouver Public Library. Let me plug a hole-in-the-wall restaurant a block away: The Homer Cafe. This is what great cities have: lots of cheap places to eat! Unfortunately, a new condo tower will soon close it down. The historic building will survive but probably result in another Starbucks.

http://img316.imageshack.us/img316/6869/p1010430sq8.jpg (http://imageshack.us)



soleri - do you think Phoenix should try to improve it's downtown by emulating some of Vancouver's policies and strategies for urban development.

There's nothing Phoenix can do to emulate Vancouver. There was an actual city in place before the condo boom started so Vancouver was never entirely reinvented. Phoenix, by contrast, would be a wholly new creation. This is a problem since real cities cannot be planned. Even in Vancouver, the planning has not been entirely without its problems. Fortunately, the existing density, retail infrastructure, and mass transit was capable of absorbing the new influx of urban cliffdwellers. Parts of downtown Vancouver do feel a little raw but the city has been very good at promoting ground-floor retail, or other amenities like parks, museums, even movie theaters in new development.

As a side note, I will make this observation about Phoenix: there is virtually no lobby or constituency for a real city here. Even in our Phoenix forum, I note with dismay the enthusiasm for new freeways (translation: more sprawl). It's as if we think the skyscrapers will simply sprout like mushrooms someday. This is a delusion. A real city has actual physical constraints which impel vertical growth: water, mountains, borders, or in the case of Portland, growth boundaries. Phoenix, alas, has too few, and certainly no will to contain growth. When the few urbanists Phoenix has don't get the nature of the problem, it's really hopeless. I'll probably leave Phoenix within a couple of years. A city like Vancouver makes me realize life is too short. Great cities are a pure joy everyone should experience.

[Hoodrat]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4564/p1010132cs1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


That ochre yellow hotel (Pacific Palisades) on the left is where I stayed the last time I was in Van. Robson is the place!

[Ex-Ithacan]

From the look of these pictures it seems like Vancouver was built in 20 years, everything looks so modern, great pics, thanks for sharing.


It sure didn't look like that back in 1970. :shrug:


If I hit the Mega-Millions lottery, I'm gonna buy me one of them condos in Vancouver (among other places). I'll have a spare bedroom for visitors, you're all welcome. :D

[SpongeG]

nice pics

right now all that stuff is covered in snow

the trees look great

[EventHorizon]

I love Vancouver! Great city and great pics!

[the dude]

ya, vancouver's pretty good...i guess. you didn't show any shots of the downtown east side. the nastiest, most dangerous place in canada. hmmm, not so perfect now, eh?:haha:

[crazyjoeda]

ya, vancouver's pretty good...i guess. you didn't show any shots of the downtown east side. the nastiest, most dangerous place in canada. hmmm, not so perfect now, eh?:haha:

You mean the 2 blocks around Hastings and Main? I cant think of major city that doesn't have its gritty neighbourhood. Even that area is very safe by international standerds. It is extreamly small minded to judge an entire city by one extreamly small part of it.

BTW Vancouver also has the most wealthy neighbourhoods in Canada.

http://img243.echo.cx/img243/6733/20538110db9da82de3o7le.jpg

http://img277.echo.cx/img277/2183/cityaerial30jo.jpg

http://img225.echo.cx/img225/4721/grousemountain1cs.jpg

http://img239.echo.cx/img239/115/17179436cef94d56b0b0gm.jpg

LOL maybe your right it is nasty. :haha: :haha: :koko:

[soleri]

ya, vancouver's pretty good...i guess. you didn't show any shots of the downtown east side. the nastiest, most dangerous place in canada. hmmm, not so perfect now, eh?:haha:


I took a ton of pictures including the east side. I didn't exclude them from this thread for any other reason than I finally got wore out with all the uploading.

Vancouver absolutely amazes me, even the worst parts of it. The druggie areas by Gastown have incredible potential. Over time, I imagine real-estate pressures will push the "elements" out as the yuppies take over. I won't argue about the justice here. It's happening because Vancouver is too valuable to discard even a block or two.

Okay, I'll post a new thread today or tomorrow: Vancouver: Downtown East Side.

[He11razor]

http://img207.imageshack.us/img207/4564/p1010132cs1.jpg (http://imageshack.us)


That ochre yellow hotel (Pacific Palisades) on the left is where I stayed the last time I was in Van. Robson is the place!


I've stayed at that hotel too. I'm from Vancouver, but I rented out a room there for a friend's bachelor party. Went swimming and hung out at the whirlpool with a bunch of Americans and Brits.

[boden]

Good photos and accurate comments..... Vancouver is indeed becoming a world class city.

[Independence]

It sure didn't look like that back in 1970. :shrug:


If I hit the Mega-Millions lottery, I'm gonna buy me one of them condos in Vancouver (among other places). I'll have a spare bedroom for visitors, you're all welcome. :D


Well. good luck then.
Be prepared for my arrival, okay? (Travelling with another person!):yes:

[Ex-Ithacan]

When I start booking the place, remind me to let you have first pick.:D

[Connect]

Different perspectives plus helpful commentary = Great thread!

[vanman]

I took a ton of pictures including the east side. I didn't exclude them from this thread for any other reason than I finally got wore out with all the uploading.

Vancouver absolutely amazes me, even the worst parts of it. The druggie areas by Gastown have incredible potential. Over time, I imagine real-estate pressures will push the "elements" out as the yuppies take over. I won't argue about the justice here. It's happening because Vancouver is too valuable to discard even a block or two.

Okay, I'll post a new thread today or tomorrow: Vancouver: Downtown East Side.


I look forward to it.
BTW your comments on the eastside are very accurate, it is a deplorable neighborhood with amazing potential that is quickly changing ( the massive, sold out woodwards project, plus the many heritage restoration/ lofts in and around chinatown and gastown)

[raggedy13]

Okay, I'll post a new thread today or tomorrow: Vancouver: Downtown East Side.

I'm looking forward to that. Should be quite interesting. Personally I find the DTES to be a fascinating neighbourhood. It has a really unique character to it and is a refreshing contrast to the sea of upscale condos only blocks away. All the heritage architecture in the area is great too. It's like travelling into the glory days of Vancouver's infancy. I'm also intrigued by the irony in the fact that Vancouver's original downtown and onetime most significant neighbourhood and focal point has become the poorest neighbourhood in the region and an area of great neglect.

Something that I found interesting about the area is how busy it is at night. One night last year I took a bus to Hastings and Main while on my way from a Giants game at Pacific Coliseum to the Blarney Stone. I have to admit I'd never walked through the heart of the area at night so it was a memorable experience. I've only ever seen Granville Street busier than that at night. People hanging out in crowds on the street, going in and out of pizza places and other misc storefronts. If it weren't for the fact that the area is a slum for the drug addicted and mentally ill it could've almost passed for a thriving and successful urban neighbourhood. It'll be really interesting to see how things change there over the next decade or so.

[the dude]

You mean the 2 blocks around Hastings and Main? I cant think of major city that doesn't have its gritty neighbourhood. Even that area is very safe by international standerds. It is extreamly small minded to judge an entire city by one extreamly small part of it.

frig, you can't possibly think i was being serious can you? you need to chill, dude.

[James Bond Agent 007]

Great pics!

Hard to believe I haven't been to Vancouver in about 3 years. I used to go, like, almost every year.

[officedweller]

Nice pics.
Yeah, the Homer Cafe is great!
The complex with the Cinemark Tinseltown is actually called International Village.

[subdude]

In Vancouver over New Years, it was wet, cold, slushy, and sublimely urban. It's a world city now: discovered, coveted, bid up, and out of reach for most of us. I've never been in a place so confidently cosmopolitan - even San Francisco seems a little starchy by comparison. But Vancouver's status is a virtue of its new, mainly Asian wealth. It's a Pacific Rim city now, and the global flow of capital loves it.


Funny, I'm from Vancouver and was in Phoenix during the time you were in Van ... and yeah what a contrast - you couldn't find two more different cities. My memory of Phoenix will forever be freeways, freeways, freeways and saguaro cactus. I'm sure there was a downtown somewhere, but I only ever caught a glimpse. Didn't even see it from the plane.

[SFUVancouver]

The roof of BC Place was deflated by venue staff after a tear formed during a powerful wind and sleet storm a week ago. The building and its roof are 23 years old and the air-supported roof is nearing the end of its lifespan. It is made out of teflon-coated fiberglass and I believe it is the largest air-supported roof in the world, or at least it was until it popped. A replacement panel is on route and the venue will still be used for the opening and closing ceremonies for the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Soleri, I'm thrilled you had such a good time in Vancouver. Come back in a few years and the 30 or so towers and mid-rises that are under construction downtown right now should be finished and about 40 are in the proposal stage.

The Vancouver Thread if you're interested in following the city's progress: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=122494

[mSeattle]

Crazyjoeda, those are crazy... nice! Thanks especially for the last shot.

[shappy]

wow, I don't think I've ever read such flattering reviews from a first time visiter to any city here on SSP before. I had a good time in Vancouver as well. It was a few years ago and I imagine a shitload has changed since then. My favourite part of the city was the east end... looking forward to your pics.

[bandit]

is a nice city..but its also a dangerous city to live in.. just look at all the crimes in the city, and you'll have second thoughts about Vancouver.

[excel]

^ummm plenty cities with far more crime than vancouver especially next door in the states.

[vanman]

^^^true enough.

Vancouve has plenty of crime but is is mostly property crime such as car thefts and B&Es. And tell me what North American city doesnt have crime.

[pdxtex]

vancouver is nipping at toronto's heels to be the alpha canadian city. and sheesh, its metro population is not much larger then portland, but it seems waaaay more urban then it is here. vancouver, seattle, and portland are hands down my favorite north american cities.

[Canadian Mind]

Nice pics but i think Vancouver desperately needs new office developement, the only downtown i can think of that is absolutley dominated by condos. Still a beautiful city though.


thats probably because it IS the only downtown that is absolutely dominated by Condo', and many of us who call ourselves vancouverites or atleast accosiate ourselves with the city are beginning to despise it.

R.I.P. Office developments.:(

And thanks for the wonderful comments... please post something negative so we know what to improve next. :)

[pdxtex]

interesting article talking about the condo boom and its effect on commercial developments.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/01/17/business/vancouver.php


seems like promoting mixed use condos could solve everybodys' problem.

[crazyjoeda]

^^^true enough.

Vancouve has plenty of crime but is is mostly property crime such as car thefts and B&Es. And tell me what North American city doesnt have crime.


Tell me what city in the world doesn't have crime? I've lived in the Vancouver Area my whole life and I've never been the victim of crime in the city. In fact I have lost my wallet on the bus several times and I have got it back everytime. Most people here are honest.

Anyone who takes an objective look at Vancouvers crime statistics will see that it is a very safe place, random violent crime is almost unheard of.

[Coldrsx]

vancouver is nipping at toronto's heels to be the alpha canadian city. and sheesh, its metro population is not much larger then portland, but it seems waaaay more urban then it is here. vancouver, seattle, and portland are hands down my favorite north american cities.

wrong

[giallo]

Missed this one.

Great pics, man. All those developments around International Village are finished now. It looks really nice.