1780 E Broadway (Commercial-Broadway Safeway) | 39, 36, 35fl | Proposed

[csbvan]

I posted this in the General Discussion thread, but figured it should probably have its own thread as well.

Originally Posted by csbvan

Vancity Buzz has info on the Commercial Broadway Bing Thom development. 4 towers of 11, 17, 21 and 24 stories. 649 residential units, with a mix of market condominiums and affordable rentals. The podium will have a new 56,000 sq. ft. Safeway, along with 50,000 sq. ft. of office space, a daycare, 11,200 sq. ft. of retail, and a covered public breezeway that connects East Broadway and East 10th Avenue with pop-up retail opportunities. As a CAC, a plaza is still being proposed to be built over the Grandview Cut.

More info in the source link at the bottom.

Images:















Source: http://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780-...-redevelopment

[Alex Mackinnon]

This looks great. I'll start the 5 minute countdown for the anti-development crown to start complaining.

[Feathered Friend]

I disagree, this concept shouldn't have had it's own thread yet, primarily as this information is from the pre-application open house. For this reason, the stats for this project will likely be somewhat different when the actual rezoning application goes up on the City's website.
More importantly, there is a chance this vision of the project will never materialize, it's all contingent on whether the plaza over the cut is approved. In other words, if you want to see this project go ahead make sure to write in and let council/staff know you support both, the proposal for the building, and for the plaza.

Besides, The Daily Hive story is lacking details, and renderings for that matter. Someone shared far more information about the project in the General Thread a few months ago

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

I'll start with the plaza photos first.

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

So, this post is about the other public and private features that the building will be adding.

Originally Posted by Feathered Friend

The last one for tonight.

[jlousa]

I agree, this is not at the application stage yet and is probably going to get a decent rework. It's a little premature to have it's own thread until that time, but are welcome to discuss it in the general thread until then.

[jlousa]

Reopening as this one is back.

https://www.vancourier.com/real-esta...ent-1.23950524

[osirisboy]

That looks pretty good!

[jlousa]

Here is the new rezoning application.
https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applic...dway/index.htm

[VancouverOfTheFuture]

exactly 2yrs later. haha.

it doesn't seem much different from the original proposal though.

[csbvan]

Love seeing some office space in there! Looks good!

[Feathered Friend]

Well that was more or less on the rumoured time frame . Glad to see the Courier got the scoop.

I would say there's been substantial changes with the new architects. For instance, the heights of the towers and their placement/orientation. There's also an at grade plaza, large art piece in the private courtyard, the Safeway is at grade, there's two overpasses over the cut, and a few other things too.

[Metro-One]

A big improvement for sure.

Is the patio over the cut along Commercial still on the radar? That was a plan I liked seeing how awful and full of trash (embarrassingly) that area is now.

[GenWhy?]

Surprised the street level interaction and activation is so minimal. Only CRU on any of the public realm is a CRU "lobby". Very concerning.

[Vin]

Daily Hive has a lot more renderings:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive

A bit late to the game of creating a high-rise, dense neighbourhood: but better be late than never.

Originally Posted by GenWhy?

Surprised the street level interaction and activation is so minimal. Only CRU on any of the public realm is a CRU "lobby". Very concerning.

Not true at all. The mall or retail units, plus all the fancy art structures and plaza, give plenty to street level interaction.

[officedweller]

Looks better than the previous version.
The at-grade plaza is much more user friendly and less likely to become unused and disconnected.

Not just trees on the roof, but EVERYWHERE!
Looks like a futuristic scene post-humans where everything is overgrown with plants.


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive


https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive

One screwy part of the proposal are "loading bridges" direct from Broadway over the Grandview Cut
to the project for retail, office and commercial loading and parking.
I think that would negatively impact any future decking over of the Grandview Cut (ie for a plaza).
You can see them on the right in this plan.
The site is big enough they can fit a loading driveway elsewhere (i.e. The Rise only has one shared entrance for mixed use).

https://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applic...dway/index.htm

[SpongeG]

finally lets hope it gets going.

[s211]

Westbank needs to drop the greenery marketing. It's pure BS.

[logan5]

Yeah I don't think anybody here is going to fall for the old bait and switch trick.

So if they are building that plaza as shown in render, does that mean that they aren't building the Grandview Cut plaza?

[GenWhy?]

Originally Posted by Vin

Daily Hive has a lot more renderings:

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/1780...mmercial-drive

A bit late to the game of creating a high-rise, dense neighbourhood: but better be late than never.



Not true at all. The mall or retail units, plus all the fancy art structures and plaza, give plenty to street level interaction.

Just going off City policy and precedents and interactions with Staff and Council lately, this mainfloor design doesn't seem to fit.

There is no mall. There is only 1 CRU on lvl2 which is restaurant. There are no retail units at the street. The one CRU at street level on the drawings is labelled as "lobby". All the entrances on the street level are lobbies. Broadway is unactivated, and 10th Ave is essentially a blank wall with bike parking. Something is out of place from Staff and through this being proposed in a formal rezoning to end up with a street level design like this with a major uplift in FSR, mix of uses, and a major tenant.

I'd like to see some Letters of Intent for activations of the plaza before it goes ahead as a bare paved surface with no CRU's opening up into it. Even if the Safeway had an ancillary use like a bistro / cafe would work. The landscape plan is almost zero for the public plaza which is concerning too.

[GenWhy?]

Reading this more closely my hunch seems correct that they designed the main level with no small scale retail or retail activations as they're putting their eggs into the possibility of temporary "pop-up" CRUs on the plaza. Their design principles even detail this out. They address that dead spaces will be an issue, and then essentially say we're proposing an "alternative" to what is typically recommended and done... which is to not provide small scale retail (as per policy) or activate the edges and corners.

"The proposal presents an alternative recommendation, where the
smaller scale retail is clustered along the public plaza with the
Broadway elevation at grade being dominated by a glazed elevation
for the grocery store. "

This is a big cop out. They're intending to use square footage from the public plaza space to install pop up businesses so they don't have to put them into the design of their building floorplate on their mainfloor.

[giallo]

It looks good, and is at a scale that should have been implemented decades ago in that area, but my god will they have an uphill battle trying to get this built. People in the community are going to go apeshit.