Here are a few photos. I didn't have time to take anything comprehensive this weekend. I'll probably just add a few here and there as I have time (and daylight).
Coming along nicely now, with work on the width of the site. Nothing on the demolition of the final building on the far East of the site (corner of Columbia & 8th). There also may finally be a tenant going in on the other side of the building beside Azure II.
This shot is looking West. The station and tracks are to the right of the iamge. You are looking at what I believe will be the floor of the Safeway being rebar-ed and soon to be poured. The concrete here will be about a metre thick, as it has few columns and is right above the future bus loop. There will be an escalator coming out of that hole it looks like. You can clearly see the steel frame for what I think will be the theatres.
Here they are starting to frame out the floor in the heritage building that they did a lot of foundation work on. This will house the Safeway (partial) and Shoppers Drug Mart.
This is to the east of the station - the area between the heritage building and the building that is yet to be torn down. This is north of the pedestrian overpass thing that you can see in the first photo. They are doing tonnes of work here with soil and piledriving.
This is a lower shot looking west under the skytrain tracks.
These next few are looking at the structure from the McKinnis St. overpass that will later be joined to the structure's above ground parkade (water table necessitates the above ground structure). Sorry for the quality and close-up nature of these. There isn't much room to take photos without going on the road.
Here are some bonus shots from the elevated garden-y thing in Plaza 88 itself.
Let me know if you have any questions or requests for shots.
It's actually still rather unbelievable that this project involves so much work adjacent and under the SkyTrain guideway and it has not disrupted service at all. Moreover, the guideway, bus loop, and station are being thoroughly integrated into the plans. I think that the quality of lighting and suface finishing will be critical to the success of the public transit part of the project, but the fact that this is happening at all is pretty amazing.
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Agreed - I also hope they replace the metal canopy over the guideway with the classier wood and glass one, per the original rendering. I had thought the metal design was only temporary, given the amount of construction taking place above it. Glass would make a world of difference in terms of outside appearances, but also completely transform the transit and shopping experience from underneath.
Agreed - I also hope they replace the metal canopy over the guideway with the classier wood and glass one, per the original rendering. I had thought the metal design was only temporary, given the amount of construction taking place above it. Glass would make a world of difference in terms of outside appearances, but also completely transform the transit and shopping experience from underneath.
I wish for this as well, but I highly doubt that this will happen. That is just extra expense for the developer, especially considering they have already spent tens of thousands on the existing cover. Also, glass wouldn't provide as high a quality of acoustic dampening, would it?
Well... that's sad that they can't afford anything better than a cheap steel roof. Why didn't New West demand more before approving this?
Yes, wooden roofs are more expensive, but their warmth and colour is generally much more asthetically pleasing and welcoming compared to a sterile grey-steel look. There's a reason why many projects, including Vancouver Convention Centre Extension, Richmond Olympic Oval, Hillcrest Park Recreation Centre, Sunset Recreation Centre, some stations on the Canada Line and Millennium Line, etc. contain decent amounts of wood in them. In fact I sort of wonder if its possible to retrofit the roofs of all the Expo Line stations with wood during station upgrades. That's more of a far-flung fantasy though.
I've never been a big fan of the project from the start, especially with the above-grade parking lot at the front of the station. It still feels, at least during construction, to be a big barrier to pedestrian movement and flow from Columbia towards the west end of the development. That I think was a big mistake... The city and developer should have done more to integrate their historic downtown with the low-density commercial areas to the east as a form of encouraging developments there.
Thanks for the pics.
Looks like the theatres will block the river view from the Plaza 88 podium deck.
It is too bad that the parkade doesn't have ground floor retail, but looking at this shot, you realize that that stretch of Columbia will never be pedestrian friendly, since the railway tracks will always be across the street.
It will block the river view, but I don't think that it is too much of a concern. You can't see much unless you stand on the concrete planters like I had to to get that shot (while almost falling in the bushes twice!). It is mainly just quiet gardened area. I'm more curious as to how they will soundproof the theatres. I would be pretty angry if I lived facing the river and the theatres were excessively loud on one of the lower levels, disturbing my sleep until 12am or 1am.
Yes, you are correct about the parking on that side of Columbia - while the railroad tracks are there (a long, long time, as they are a car swapping yard and lead to many other tracks, including Annacis Island), there won't be any pedestrian traffic whatsoever. I think that the parking is thoughtfully integrated into such a skinny, long site. They could have obscured it a bit better, but it is pretty decent for what it is. Also note that there will be ground floor retail to the East of the bus loop (Shoppers + potentially more).
I was surprised to see them working another Saturday, especially in this horrible rain. It looks like they are starting to pour some concrete over what will be the new bus loop.
Yeah, that is a pretty big pour. The slab is about a metre or so thick x a decently large footprint. I was expecting them to do a larger footprint but I guess not. My guess re the weather is that they booked the slot with Translink, as they had to close the west escalator and restrict access to the elevators. This is getting more and more interesting!
that would have been much better too bad, i often wonder why none of the casinos have a retail component here, casinos i have been to in south africa all had pretty decent shopping and restaurants attached to them, a good place to spend the winnings
that would have been much better too bad, i often wonder why none of the casinos have a retail component here, casinos i have been to in south africa all had pretty decent shopping and restaurants attached to them, a good place to spend the winnings
Makes sense... like Vegas!
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Here is some finishing being done at mezzanine level. The windows extend all the way down.
The close hole is the west station escalator (existing) and the further hole is for a future escalator.
Starting on the scaffolding for the next level, which should start to be quite interesting as they enclose the mezzanine level. The roof here will be the Safeway roof.
This is looking towards the white heritage building with the Eastbound escalator/stairs (existing) as the angled concrete thing on the left.
The frame for the theatre is basically as far as it can go before they pour that level further along (I estimate 2-4 weeks).
This one is pretty blurry, but is looking down from track level down to where those windows/doors were.
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Why didn't New West demand more before approving this?
There's a reason why many projects, including Vancouver Convention Centre Extension, Richmond Olympic Oval, Hillcrest Park Recreation Centre, Sunset Recreation Centre, some stations on the Canada Line and Millennium Line, etc. contain decent amounts of wood in them. In fact I sort of wonder if its possible to retrofit the roofs of all the Expo Line stations with wood during station upgrades. That's more of a far-flung fantasy though. 
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