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Vancouver Sun

Flatiron-style building proposed for foot of Granville Street Bridge

The developer that built Vancouver’s tallest building, the Shangri-La, has applied to the city of Vancouver to build a 49-storey condominium tower at the corner of Howe Street and Beach Avenue near the north end of the Granville Street Bridge.

The tower proposed by Westbank Projects Corp. starts as a triangle at the lower level and then becomes a square as it rises above the bridge.

“In doing so, it also increases the desirable spaces for living at its top, while freeing up a new common space at its base,” the building’s architect, Bjarke Ingels, writes in the rezoning application. “The Beach and Howe tower is a contemporary descendent of the Flatiron Building in New York City, one of the city’s most important landmarks.” New York’s Flatiron Building is also triangular.

Ingels is a Danish architect who has won several awards and was named Wall Street Journal’s Architectural Innovator of 2011, according to his online biography.

The project is in the pre-approval stage with the city and an open house is planned for late March.

The plans call for a 49-storey residential tower with a nine-storey base that includes market rental housing, commercial uses and a child care facility on the site at 1412 – 1460 Howe St. The tower would have 600 homes including 180 market rental suites.

On neighbouring sites at 1429 and 1410 Granville St. and 710 Pacific St. the plans call for six-storey buildings with retail and office uses. The retail space would include a grocery store, a drugstore and a liquor store.

Vancouver architect James K.M. Cheng called the project “special” and “unique” in his letter of support included with the rezoning application to the city.

“This proposed rezoning by Bjarke Ingels of [Bjarke Ingels Group]. is an extremely imaginative and thoughtful response to a unique site that is both next to, and sandwiched in between the Granville Bridge and it’s ramps,” Cheng wrote. “It is an important gateway location into our city and deserves special consideration.”

Westbank did not comment on the proposed development because it is still under the approval process.

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