Richmond Updates

[libtard]

Originally Posted by Vin

Where's your source?

I knew someone had to come in here and make all these skewed claims.



As far as I'm concerned, the quality of life has already improved by leaps and bounds compared to 15 years ago, where most areas were just run-down industrial blight. Now there are many improved urban areas where people can go to. Only thing that brings in criticism is the demographic makeup in this city. As a result, Richmond and its population never fail to attract the usual racist comments. Note scrapin's choice of wordings: "it's a takeover". This is darn Trumpish.

Happy Canada Day!

The amount of “blight” is at an all time high in Richmond with all the empty lots sitting vacant waiting to be developed.

[svlt]

Originally Posted by scrapin

Ah yes, dozens of high rises to be built and bought out by mostly corrupt money from China, in condos where nobody will live, and resulting in the ever growing inflation of housing prices in Vancouver which makes it unaffordable for actual residents of Vancouver. You dont need war machines to take over countries these days, just buy out all the politicians with ill gotten money. What is happening in Vancouver, especially Richmond are not exciting property developments, its a takeover.

Right... and the other cities in the Metro are exempt from this? Scores of condo units in towers in Vancouver, Burnaby and even Coquitlam have been scooped up by "foreign money". Canada is an open market and economy and it's just the way the country is built and run. Perhaps in the future a different elected government will change the course it's on, but given the way our neighbors to the south are treating immigrants, it's not a bad time to continue capitalizing on foreign investment and talent.

I think we do have a huge problem with unaffordability and rampant housing speculation but criticizing growth and development and an increasing supply of condos as anathema is missing the point of being on this site, I think.

Updates in Richmond deserve a thread and I for one thank the OP for collecting all this information together. I also spent many young years in Richmond and it's unrecognizable today...for the better.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

Unattractive industrial areas do not hurt quality of life nearly in the same way that unaffordable housing does. I know we all have a growth fetish on here, but the bigger picture needs to be kept in mind.

What about underutilised or abandoned industrial lots, such as those in the River Rock Casino neighbourhood, or the blight south of Marine Gateway? You rather they continue that way?

It's not about growth fetish; it's about improving neighbourhoods going through periods of decay. This region has always been trying to keep afloat by attracting foreign funds here, and when they do arrive to drive the local economies, you want to have your cake and eat it too? Sure, funds coming from abroad are not always clean money, but to stereotype housing in Richmond as mostly bought by unclean money is more than bordering racism.

The bigger picture is that you have a job, not starving and still living in this region. If you want to change the status quo, don't blame it on the wrong people.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by libtard

The amount of “blight” is at an all time high in Richmond with all the empty lots sitting vacant waiting to be developed.

And that's the problem of the developers and Richmond condo buyers? Do you know how backlogged the City of Richmond's approval waiting list is? There are literally hundreds of DP applications waiting in line to be approved, with an overloaded Richmond staff not having streamlined procedures to approve many of the applications, making conflicting rules and having constant changes to all forms of designs.

Also, are we building a city for the future of this region or for the past? The blight of today will turn into the vibrant neighbourhoods of tomorrow. You have a problem with that too? Might as well keep the whole region forested and green so that the local animals will always be at ease.

Originally Posted by svlt

Right... and the other cities in the Metro are exempt from this? Scores of condo units in towers in Vancouver, Burnaby and even Coquitlam have been scooped up by "foreign money". Canada is an open market and economy and it's just the way the country is built and run. Perhaps in the future a different elected government will change the course it's on, but given the way our neighbors to the south are treating immigrants, it's not a bad time to continue capitalizing on foreign investment and talent.

I think we do have a huge problem with unaffordability and rampant housing speculation but criticizing growth and development and an increasing supply of condos as anathema is missing the point of being on this site, I think.

Updates in Richmond deserve a thread and I for one thank the OP for collecting all this information together. I also spent many young years in Richmond and it's unrecognizable today...for the better.

It's just racist talk: pure and simple. The world get that a lot these days.

[whatnext]

Originally Posted by Vin

And that's the problem of the developers and Richmond condo buyers? Do you know how backlogged the City of Richmond's approval waiting list is? There are literally hundreds of DP applications waiting in line to be approved, with an overloaded Richmond staff not having streamlined procedures to approve many of the applications, making conflicting rules and having constant changes to all forms of designs.

Also, are we building a city for the future of this region or for the past? The blight of today will turn into the vibrant neighbourhoods of tomorrow. You have a problem with that too? Might as well keep the whole region forested and green so that the local animals will always be at ease.

It's just racist talk: pure and simple. The world get that a lot these days.

That whole shaky house of cards is about to fall down. Beginning in September Canada and China will be sharing taxation information. If you have relatives holding property, do them a favour and tell them to get out of the market now.

[libtard]

Originally Posted by Vin

And that's the problem of the developers and Richmond condo buyers? Do you know how backlogged the City of Richmond's approval waiting list is? There are literally hundreds of DP applications waiting in line to be approved, with an overloaded Richmond staff not having streamlined procedures to approve many of the applications, making conflicting rules and having constant changes to all forms of designs.

Also, are we building a city for the future of this region or for the past? The blight of today will turn into the vibrant neighbourhoods of tomorrow. You have a problem with that too? Might as well keep the whole region forested and green so that the local animals will always be at ease.

I’m just touching on your comment about industrial blight. Having been born and raised in Richmond I don’t remember there ever being as much “blight” as there is now, due to the dozens of empty lots waiting to be developed. Obviously this comes along with a city that’s growing. But saying Richmond has gotten rid of a lot of blight is not true

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Vin

What about underutilised or abandoned industrial lots, such as those in the River Rock Casino neighbourhood, or the blight south of Marine Gateway? You rather they continue that way?

It's not about growth fetish; it's about improving neighbourhoods going through periods of decay. This region has always been trying to keep afloat by attracting foreign funds here, and when they do arrive to drive the local economies, you want to have your cake and eat it too? Sure, funds coming from abroad are not always clean money, but to stereotype housing in Richmond as mostly bought by unclean money is more than bordering racism.

The bigger picture is that you have a job, not starving and still living in this region. If you want to change the status quo, don't blame it on the wrong people.

I'm from Richmond and I love it, believe me I am not singling it out. All I'm saying is I can't get that excited over these condo developments because I know very few of my peers will be able to afford to live in them. To me, they are symbols of inequality and money trumping all. And this goes for the whole region.

You shouldn't put words in my mouth. When did I even mention the cleanliness of the money or stereotype that most of it is bought by the dirty variety? I don't care how the money is made, I care that it's had the impact of pushing many people in our region into extremely precarious housing situations.

I never mentioned that I'd prefer they stayed vacant lands either. I like the way the development all looks. These projects that SkytrainCar026 put together so well are great. I just wish they weren't coming in under these circumstances. And actually, as a long-time resident of Richmond, I resent you calling these "neighbourhoods going through periods of decay." They were never the prettiest, but they served our community just fine.

*******************************************************

In any case, I was worried about this taking over the thread right away. I imagine this might still go on for a bit, but I really hope that anyone who has updates to share on Richmond developments still does so. I'll certainly always be very interested to see them. I am still very attached to Richmond and am always excited to see how it grows.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by whatnext

That whole shaky house of cards is about to fall down. Beginning in September Canada and China will be sharing taxation information. If you have relatives holding property, do them a favour and tell them to get out of the market now.

Nope, don't have any blood ties in China, if that's what you are implying, and thank you very much for your concern. It's good news that Canada and China are taking steps to address the problem of illegal money parked here, but this has nothing to do with racist attacks from yourself, plus a few others.

Originally Posted by libtard

I’m just touching on your comment about industrial blight. Having been born and raised in Richmond I don’t remember there ever being as much “blight” as there is now, due to the dozens of empty lots waiting to be developed. Obviously this comes along with a city that’s growing. But saying Richmond has gotten rid of a lot of blight is not true

There is no reason for you to step into those areas, right? Would you hang out at those gravel car junkyards close to the River Rock casino on any ordinary day?

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I'm from Richmond and I love it, believe me I am not singling it out. All I'm saying is I can't get that excited over these condo developments because I know very few of my peers will be able to afford to live in them. To me, they are symbols of inequality and money trumping all. And this goes for the whole region.

You shouldn't put words in my mouth. When did I even mention the cleanliness of the money or stereotype that most of it is bought by the dirty variety? I don't care how the money is made, I care that it's had the impact of pushing many people in our region into extremely precarious housing situations.

I never mentioned that I'd prefer they stayed vacant lands either. I like the way the development all looks. These projects that SkytrainCar026 put together so well are great. I just wish they weren't coming in under these circumstances. And actually, as a long-time resident of Richmond, I resent you calling these "neighbourhoods going through periods of decay." They were never the prettiest, but they served our community just fine.

*******************************************************

In any case, I was worried about this taking over the thread right away. I imagine this might still go on for a bit, but I really hope that anyone who has updates to share on Richmond developments still does so. I'll certainly always be very interested to see them. I am still very attached to Richmond and am always excited to see how it grows.

Glasscity, you did not say that, and I was pointing to scrapin's remarks:

Originally Posted by scrapin

Ah yes, dozens of high rises to be built and bought out by mostly corrupt money from China, in condos where nobody will live, and resulting in the ever growing inflation of housing prices in Vancouver which makes it unaffordable for actual residents of Vancouver. You dont need war machines to take over countries these days, just buy out all the politicians with ill gotten money. What is happening in Vancouver, especially Richmond are not exciting property developments, its a takeover.

Glasscity, you did say you want Richmond to grow, so pray tell how you want it to grow if you think the direction the City is currently taking isn't improving the quality of life of people in Richmond? As far as I know, Richmond now has the Olympic Oval (a sports facility that the public can access). Even Vancouver does not have such a good public sports facility! The City also has a new recreational centre including a brand new swimming pool and aquatic centre behind City Hall. It also allows Walmart to open a new store at Garden City neighbourhood. There are other public/private developments coming up for the City, so what makes you think that all these developments are not contributing to the improvement of the standard of living for Richmond dwellers?

As for over-inflated housing: this is a problem that affects the entire region and not just Richmond alone, and is the result of short-sighted government policies, and the greed of local property owners. Rich people from abroad only come in to do what the policies allow them to, but they get most of the blame when problems fester. Now locals are labelling these people criminals for bringing in illegal money, driving up property prices. That's dangerous stereotyping. I just want to point that out. *Note to Whatnext*

[libtard]

Originally Posted by Vin

There is no reason for you to step into those areas, right? Would you hang out at those gravel car junkyards close to the River Rock casino on any ordinary day?

They are highly visible without stepping into the area though. For example the large parcel of land across from Landsdowne mall. Completely vacant eye sore of a lot that has been sitting there for over a year. Saem goes for many lots along 3 road. That's my point, these are highly visible blight which Richmond has never had before. Not sure what actually walking into the lot has to do with anything.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by libtard

They are highly visible without stepping into the area though. For example the large parcel of land across from Landsdowne mall. Completely vacant eye sore of a lot that has been sitting there for over a year. Saem goes for many lots along 3 road. That's my point, these are highly visible blight which Richmond has never had before. Not sure what actually walking into the lot has to do with anything.

I did say previously that the City has a huge backlog of development permits waiting to be approved. There is no point blaming builders, developers and condo buyers for that. The lot you mentioned is highly visible from the skytrain, and I do agree the visual impact is pretty huge, but what other areas are a "blight" besides that one? A lot of the structures that were torn down were ugly low-density single-storey buildings sitting on huge parking lots in the first place, so to take the initial step to redevelop these buildings is a good thing.

I also did mention that we are building the city for the future, and without all the developments going on now, we will have worse housing affordability problems than what we are experiencing now.

[officedweller]

...coincidentally (and back on topic re: actual developments...)

PS - remember that most of downtown South in Vancouver was light industrial warehouse type building until the 1990s.
- also note that as time goes on, the public is generally receptive to denser development, so playing a waiting game may not be so bad.

Here's more on the Townline proposal across from Lansdowne Mall on No. 3 Rd. @ Lansdowne.

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

No. 3 Road & Lansdowne

Townline has applied to the City of Richmond for permission to rezone a 97,400 SF site on the west side of No 3 Road in Richmond. The assembly of four lots is located at the corner of Lansdowne Road, across from Lansdowne Centre. The lots are improved with older lowrise commercial buildings including the Milan Ilich Arthritis Research Centre. The site sits directly South of another large scale rezoning proposal currently in the latter stages of approval, named ‘Atmosphere‘, and directly across from the Lansdowne Canada Line Station.

The proposal calls to rezone the properties at 5591,5631,5651 and 5671 No.3 Road to “High Density Mixed Use – Lansdowne Village (City Centre)” in order to permit a high-density commercial, office and residential use development.

The proposal is for a new mixed use development comprised of a podium and tower form of development with below and above grade parking, ground level commercial, a signature 12-storey office tower and three 10-storey residential towers.

Details include:
◾365 residential units; ◾354 condos;
◾20 affordable housing units (low end market rental);

◾19,279 SF of retail space on the ground level;
◾77,740 SF of office space;
◾a total density of 4.0 FAR;
◾A 6,000 SF on-site community facility;
◾Dedication for new north-south road on West side of site;
◾Design, construction and transfer to the City of the area of the site designated for the Lansdowne linear park;
◾548 parking spaces (below and above grade).

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/


http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Vin

Glasscity, you did say you want Richmond to grow, so pray tell how you want it to grow if you think the direction the City is currently taking isn't improving the quality of life of people in Richmond? As far as I know, Richmond now has the Olympic Oval (a sports facility that the public can access). Even Vancouver does not have such a good public sports facility! The City also has a new recreational centre including a brand new swimming pool and aquatic centre behind City Hall. It also got a new Walmart at Garden City area. So what makes you think that all these developments are not helping to improve the standard of living for Richmond dwellers? As for over-inflated housing, this is a problem that affects the entire region and not just Richmond alone. This is the result of short-sighted government policies, and the greed of local land owners and developers. Rich people from abroad only come in to purchase what the policies allow them to do, but see how these people get most of the blame.

All those new amenities are awesome (except for the Walmart, that was ridiculous). But I don't think there's a direct connection between the new condo buildings and those amenities, which largely serve the new buildings anyway. The oval is the one exception, and would've been built regardless.

I know that over-inflated housing is a region-wide problem, and I'm complaining about it in a region-wide sense. Just that the topic happened to come up here, so I responded here. In no way do I think is Richmond distinct in this problem from Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey or anywhere else.

My beef is both with rich people from abroad AND government, to be perfectly clear. Although my issue with government is that they're lax with these rich people, not that they're not allowing more stuff to be built for these rich people to buy.

I appreciate that the city centre looks a lot nicer now, and as I said, I do like watching these things get built. Just in the back of my mind, I know that for all the good they bring, they're emblematic of a huge issue we have in the city too, which diminishes my full appreciation of them. I lived/worked in Richmond from 2002-2017. The city changed extraordinarily in that time. Can I say that my quality of life was in any way improved with these changes? Not really. I still ate at the same places, took a bus that came with the same frequency but now was more crowded, etc. I think it's great what's happening to Richmond's city centre from an urban fanatic's point of view, but because very few people already living in the region seem to be buying into those projects, it doesn't really give me the sense that it's contributing anything good except to those rich people from abroad that are moving into them, except that they're nicer to look at I guess.

If I could choose an alternative timeline where Richmond sees drastically less development but housing remains more affordable, I'll choose it 100% of the time. And I'm not blaming these developments for creating this situation, I'm just saying it's hard for me to see all these nice condo buildings go up and not think about how no one I know would be able to take advantage of them by moving in. They're essentially long-term hotels for people not from here, with little intention of ever getting involved in the community. Just not something I can get all that excited about.

[Vin]

Agreed, Officedweller!

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by officedweller

...coincidentally (and back on topic...)

PS - remember that most of downtown South in Vancouver was light industrial warehouse type building until the 1990s.
- also note that as time goes on, the public is generally receptive to denser development, so playing a waiting game may not be so bad.

Here's more on the Townline proposal across from Lansdowne Mall on No. 3 Rd. @ Lansdowne.

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/



http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

http://www.vancouvermarket.ca/2018/0...oad-lansdowne/

I'm a fan of the growing number of proposals with office components we're seeing, substantial ones too. If the Metro Vancouver Growth Strategy is predicated on a series of downtowns throughout the regions, they should be destinations as much as they are starting points for people going downtown. This means they should have offices as well as residential. Good to see that's happening!

[libtard]

Originally Posted by Vin

I did say previously that the City has a huge backlog of development permits waiting to be approved. There is no point blaming builders, developers and condo buyers for that. The lot you mentioned is highly visible from the skytrain, and I do agree the visual impact is pretty huge, but what other areas are a "blight" besides that one? A lot of the structures that were torn down were ugly low-density single-storey buildings sitting on huge parking lots in the first place, so to take the initial step to redevelop these buildings is a good thing.

I also did mention that we are building the city for the future, and without all the developments going on now, we will have worse housing affordability problems than what we are experiencing now.

The vacant lot across from city hall, the huge vacant lot across from Richmond centre, the numerous vacant lots around the 3 road/Sea island way area. The list goes on. I'm not blaming developers or buyers. You mentioned that Richmond has gotten rid of blight in an earlier post and I'm merely pointing out that Richmond has more blight now then ever before.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

All those new amenities are awesome (except for the Walmart, that was ridiculous). But I don't think there's a direct connection between the new condo buildings and those amenities, which largely serve the new buildings anyway. The oval is the one exception, and would've been built regardless.

I know that over-inflated housing is a region-wide problem, and I'm complaining about it in a region-wide sense. Just that the topic happened to come up here, so I responded here. In no way do I think is Richmond distinct in this problem from Vancouver, Burnaby, Surrey or anywhere else.

My beef is both with rich people from abroad AND government, to be perfectly clear. Although my issue with government is that they're lax with these rich people, not that they're not allowing more stuff to be built for these rich people to buy.

I appreciate that the city centre looks a lot nicer now, and as I said, I do like watching these things get built. Just in the back of my mind, I know that for all the good they bring, they're emblematic of a huge issue we have in the city too, which diminishes my full appreciation of them. I lived/worked in Richmond from 2002-2017. The city changed extraordinarily in that time. Can I say that my quality of life was in any way improved with these changes? Not really. I still ate at the same places, took a bus that came with the same frequency but now was more crowded, etc. I think it's great what's happening to Richmond's city centre from an urban fanatic's point of view, but because very few people already living in the region seem to be buying into those projects, it doesn't really give me the sense that it's contributing anything good except to those rich people from abroad that are moving into them, except that they're nicer to look at I guess.

If I could choose an alternative timeline where Richmond sees drastically less development but housing remains more affordable, I'll choose it 100% of the time. And I'm not blaming these developments for creating this situation, I'm just saying it's hard for me to see all these nice condo buildings go up and not think about how no one I know would be able to take advantage of them by moving in. They're essentially long-term hotels for people not from here, with little intention of ever getting involved in the community. Just not something I can get all that excited about.

Without the increase in property taxes paid by new owners, property transfer taxes, and contributions from developers, do you think Richmond and the province would have the ability to come up with funds for City projects?

To be fair, where in the world which is at least half decent is really affordable these days? Human population is increasing, and the planet Earth isn't really making new land, so huge price increases is expected, especially for cities and countries that want huge population increases. You can mitigate the situation, but you can't turn back the clock on that.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by GlassCity

I'm a fan of the growing number of proposals with office components we're seeing, substantial ones too. If the Metro Vancouver Growth Strategy is predicated on a series of downtowns throughout the regions, they should be destinations as much as they are starting points for people going downtown. This means they should have offices as well as residential. Good to see that's happening!

It would be nice is a convention hotel / convention centre was built on No. 3 Rd. near a Canada Line Station.
I suppose the River Rock fills that role somewhat, but I recall there was a desire to put on in the boonies
on the Garden City Lands (wrong place in my view)

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by officedweller

It would be nice is a convention hotel / convention centre was built on No. 3 Rd. near a Canada Line Station.
I suppose the River Rock fills that role somewhat, but I recall there was a desire to put on in the boonies
on the Garden City Lands (wrong place in my view)

Are one of those huge developments by the airport/Bridgeport Station not gonna have any? Like the International Trade Centre or whatever other ones there are.

[Vin]

Originally Posted by libtard

The vacant lot across from city hall, the huge vacant lot across from Richmond centre, the numerous vacant lots around the 3 road/Sea island way area. The list goes on. I'm not blaming developers or buyers. You mentioned that Richmond has gotten rid of blight in an earlier post and I'm merely pointing out that Richmond has more blight now then ever before.

Those places you mentioned were never nice: they were pretty run-down in the first place. We are just experiencing a transitional period right now. As for other areas where developments have completed, the previous "blight" is now gone.

[GlassCity]

Originally Posted by Vin

Without the increase in property taxes paid by new owners, property transfer taxes, and contributions from developers, do you think Richmond and the province would have the ability to come up with funds for City projects?

To be fair, where in the world which is at least half decent is really affordable these days? Human population is increasing, and the planet Earth isn't really making new land, so huge price increases is expected, especially for cities and countries that want huge population increases. You can mitigate the situation, but you can't turn back the clock on that.

I get that affordability is a concern everywhere, but let's not pretend Vancouver is like everywhere. Housing prices are way out of whack of local incomes and economies, especially when compared to other expensive cities around the world. This is more than just capitalism run amok.