[New Westminster] Riversky | 33fl & 28fl | Completed

[officedweller]

That latest rendering shows that the public market site is prime redevelopment site.

[Sheba]

I suspect the majority of waterfront towers will be between Columbia and Royal Ave - just uphill from the Fraser (where there should be less problems with digging down for parking).

[NewWester]

New West build out:

Waterfront:

There is the Larco site (East of the Market) will be a sizeable development built over the river with underground (water) parking.

There is also, on the far side of the Quay a large empty field with a water treatment plant. The plan has been to build a park there, likely with some sort of condo tower on the periphery either as Co-op housing, or IMO market condos to finance the park. But this hasn't happened in forever so...

I don't see them redeveloping the River Market anytime soon since it's been fixed up and is the amenity crown jewel of downtown these days.

Columbia and Carnarvan:

There is the fourth tower at Plaza 66 in the works.

Directly across the street on Carnarvon there is also another large tower going through the development process where the old sketchy garages are. The boards have been up for a while so I suspect we'll see something sooner than later.

I'd also wager that it won't be too, too long until we see Columbia Square, a pretty large stripmall adjacent to plaza 66 go through some sort of densification.

Also, there are some spaces along antique alley that seem primed to see some sort of development with the site of the new west fire needing rebuilding, a pretty rundown building and half-block-depth building adjacent to Trapp (which I really *hope* salient owns), and the arseugly and rundown Army Navy block-long building that former mayor Wright has talked about wanting to see something new done with.

Between Carnarvon and Royal:

There is a stupid amount of stuff happening in this area in various stages of planning/development. Currently they are digging a hole for the Elliot Street highrise (close to royal on the East side of downtown... by Northbank). This area still has some empty lots and lots of ratty old walk ups so I would expect to see more build out here.

Just to the West of this is a weird old school/gravel parking lot property that is applying to build a big, wide six story style apartment complex. Something like what was recently built on Royal across from City Hall, I think. Not the most exciting, but should bring a lot of density.

The old masonic hall has a rental highrise going through the motions where they will preserve the historic facade of the hall and incorporate it into the tower. I strongly suspect this will be approved.

Kitty corner to the masonic hall on sixth street there is another high rise planned. This one might already have the go ahead since they are presently digging the hole for the tower.

Right next to this, where the New Westminster Anglican Cathedral is, there is another tower planned with a similar deal to the Masonic hall one: build a rental tower to finance renovating the cathedral and building a new community hall space for the church.

I've also heard rumours about developers buying up additional properties in this area along lower sixth street and wouldn't be surprised that as these other projects build out that we'll see more proposals for this chunk of street.

Also, no rumour here, but the Royal Towers Hotel is bloody ugly and sits on a giant chunk of property adjacent to city hall and would make an excellent place to build.

[Sheba]

Originally Posted by NewWester

Columbia and Carnarvan:

There is the fourth tower at Plaza 66 in the works.

Directly across the street on Carnarvon there is also another large tower going through the development process where the old sketchy garages are.

I'd also wager that it won't be too, too long until we see Columbia Square, a pretty large stripmall adjacent to plaza 66 go through some sort of densification.

Also, there are some spaces along antique alley that seem primed to see some sort of development

Who will blink first - the Plaza 88 developer wanting to build a tower mostly of bachelor and 1 bedroom suites, or the city wanting to see mostly family sized (aka more than 1 bedroom) suites?

The garages are pretty ancient. Just as long as the pawn shop up the street sticks around for awhile (I've picked up a stack of cheap dvds from there).

Save-On recently moved into the IGA space not that long ago - I don't see much happening there for awhile.

Originally Posted by NewWester

Between Carnarvon and Royal:

There is a stupid amount of stuff happening in this area

I've also heard rumours about developers buying up additional properties in this area along lower sixth street and wouldn't be surprised that as these other projects build out that we'll see more proposals for this chunk of street.

Also, no rumour here, but the Royal Towers Hotel is bloody ugly and sits on a giant chunk of property adjacent to city hall and would make an excellent place to build.

When I looked on google maps I saw a bunch of 3 - 4 story buildings with groups of small houses in-between - it's nuts that they still exist next to downtown New West. Hopefully that gets built out.

Royal Towers Hotel wouldn't look quite so bad if they did something to the parking. There's surface parking plus something of a parkade going on there. Did you notice my cheering about the Station Square parkade coming down? Plus is it mud green or mud brown? Some colour would go a long way to making it less bad too.

[NewWester]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Who will blink first - the Plaza 88 developer wanting to build a tower mostly of bachelor and 1 bedroom suites, or the city wanting to see mostly family sized (aka more than 1 bedroom) suites?

Haha. Well, to be fair their request to make a giant tower filled with tiny, tiny units is against like, every building policy in New West and their plan to be "well, I guess we just won't build it then!" was a pretty empty threat with all of the other development happening downtown. I get the impression that they are starting to move with it again and I think the fact that largely the same council came back after the election kind of sealed the deal.

Also I think the city wants to see a mix of different sized suites, which I for one am really keen on. Being a late-20s person starting a family, I have no idea where the hell I'm going to be able to live in metro in five years. Houses are too expensive for normal people and all these tiny, tiny condos aren't really useful for a family of four or five. We desperately need family scale apartments, townhomes, and row houses in metro and forcing developers to actually build 2, 3, and 4 bedroom units in large developments is going to have to be part of that.

[CanSpice]

Originally Posted by Sheba

Who will blink first - the Plaza 88 developer wanting to build a tower mostly of bachelor and 1 bedroom suites, or the city wanting to see mostly family sized (aka more than 1 bedroom) suites?

Unless they get some kind of variance, or if for some reason they've been grandfathered in, the Plaza 88 developer will have to include a minimum of 30% two- and three-bedroom units, with at least 10% of the total units being three-bedrooms or more, if they don't get their development application in before January 1 2016. I don't know where they are in that process, so maybe they've got it in in time.

[paulsparrow]

Originally Posted by NewWester

There's some sort of pile driving crane over there, so I would think *something* should start soon. I'll drop a post if I notice any digging.

They have driven four test pilings. Not an expert here but I assume they are for testing rock base. Digging is suppose to start early fall.

Shortest piling went 36 feet and longest went 80 feet

[McPaul]

They started drilling test holes this week. Nothing crazy. Just a couple pieces of equipment onsite and a bit of noise.

[paulsparrow]

Digging has begun. Looks like the foundation for a crane is going in. Lot has been blocked off and soil samples were done.

[Sheba]

I walked into the sales center to look at the model. Apparently a lot of people have been commenting about how the lot looks too small to hold everything. The display suite was too small to house my furniture.

The back of the podium will face Columbia and there'll be stairs and a glass elevator going from the overpass down to ground level. 10th St will still wrap around to the front / river side, which will have four small retail spots - the woman there said for coffee places and the like, so you can imagine the size of them. I don't know that anything bigger there would survive, with the River Market and all its eateries next door, and New West Station across the street.

[JamesOwnz]

Really interested in this development looking into it has my attention for sure.. it is either here or the Solo/Brentwood towers for me.

Only thing I'd be worried about is getting a north facing view.. ick... I don't need an amazing view but a bad view will kill a place for me for a laugh I saw an open house at Station Square a week back or so.. and the view was of the Metrotown Parking lot... for 430k.. hmm no thanks.

[retro_orange]

any news or updates on this one?

[MBPMAN]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

any news or updates on this one?

Well it's sold out now and there's a big hole in the ground.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by MBPMAN

Well it's sold out now and there's a big hole in the ground.

Thanks! better then nothing Maybe BOSA will get going on the former Larco lands soon!

[MBPMAN]

Originally Posted by retro_orange

Thanks! better then nothing Maybe BOSA will get going on the former Larco lands soon!

Former? Did they sell?

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by MBPMAN

Former? Did they sell?

Hmm, i just tried doing some research and i guess the only place i heard that 'hearsay' was on CanSpice's post #161 in the new westminster pier park thread. Either way hopefully sooner then later.

Quote:
Originally Posted by NewWester View Post
I think as recently as last year Larco renegotiated with the city to shave the project down to two (three?) towers rather than five, give half their land to expand the riverfront park, and build a level crossing at the foot of fifth street (instead of an overpass)? I suspect part of the hold up on starting the project is that the new level crossing needs to be completed for park access before they demolish the parking lot pier between the park and rivermarket. Which basically means that the parkade removal needs to be completed first.

The land in question has been sold to Bosa. I can't find anything about it on the internet, but I've heard this news from several well-connected people in New West.

Expect the property to be developed after Bosa finishes off the Riversky towers.

quote from thread: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/show...&postcount=161

[Marshal]

I have heard the same thing from 2 NW architects I know. Certainly hope its true. (If it is, there's a chance that the design will be altered/developed/improved.)

[MBPMAN]

I could see it for sure. They have done business together a few times.
If I had to guess Bosa will manage the development and Laco probably wants to manage the Hotel portion through the Larco hospitality arm.
Total speculation though.

[Burnaby Craig]

This project is already behind schedule. As they were starting the excavation they discovered that the site is much more contaminated then the testing revealed. The info I've heard is that the site is full of industrial contaminants that were dumped there quite a long time ago. The site was filled in to create better access to the river a long, long time ago and it was done with no environmental considerations in mind.

[retro_orange]

Originally Posted by Burnaby Craig

This project is already behind schedule. As they were starting the excavation they discovered that the site is much more contaminated then the testing revealed. The info I've heard is that the site is full of industrial contaminants that were dumped there quite a long time ago. The site was filled in to create better access to the river a long, long time ago and it was done with no environmental considerations in mind.

I'm curious what building was on that exact site before the 80's. There's basically nothing older then 30 years on the Quay