625 W Hastings | 100M | 28fl | Proposed

jlousa · #1 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 6:37 AM**

New Proposal for another office tower downtown. This one is located right next door to the classic RBC tower at Granville and Hastings. COV has received the following application 619-675 West Hastings Street from DD (Downtown District) to a new CD-1 district to allow for a new 28-storey office building at 619-675 West Hastings Street with the following specifications:

Overall height of 100 m (330 ft.)
Density of 25.5 FSR
Floor area of 14,756 m2 (158,837 sq. ft.)
Five levels of underground parking with 67 vehicle parking spaces
Seismic upgrade and heritage designation of the exterior façade of the RBC Building at 675 West Hastings Street

Project Statistics
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Statistics.pdf

Site Context
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...iteContext.pdf

Site Photos
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...SitePhotos.pdf

Design Rationale
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...nRationale.pdf

Model and Renderings
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Renderings.pdf

Shadow Study
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...hadowStudy.pdf

Sustainability
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...ainability.pdf

Parking Plans
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...rkingPlans.pdf

Floor Plans
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...FloorPlans.pdf

Roof Plan
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica.../9RoofPlan.pdf

Building Sections
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...ngSections.pdf

Building Elevations
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Elevations.pdf

Heritage Study
http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...itageStudy.pdf

This is now the third office tower proposed on that same square block, along with the massive proposal the Conservatives were eyeing for Sinclair Centre there would certainly be a massive transformation to the area. Pretty sure this one is the most likely to proceed first even though it's last on the scene.

GlassCity · #2 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 6:49 AM**

I love it. Looks like a modern take on the international style with all the mullions. Many will say it's boring, but these are exactly the kinds of simple and strong office towers I like.

logan5 · #3 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 6:53 AM**

It looks exactly like that other office tower being built on Hastings. More tower stuff.

csbvan · #4 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 6:54 AM**

This is great. It's skinny, classy and is subtle enough to allow the true gem on the block to stand out.

urbancanadian · #5 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 6:57 AM**

Thanks for posting jlousa! At first glance this looks very nice; a great fit with one of my favourite old buildings in town. Will this be the highest FSR in the city?

I had thought the proposal at 601 West Hastings was planning to go ahead very quickly - I think it might have been on spec too... LeftCoaster was one person who seemed to be confident in that project. Have things changed for that project? Is this one more likely because of its relatively small floorplates/overall size?

urbancanadian · #6 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 7:14 AM**

Thanks again for posting. Here are the renders.
Link: http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Renderings.pdf

http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Renderings.pdf

http://rezoning.vancouver.ca/applica...Renderings.pdf

Reminder of the project going up at the other end of the block at 601 West Hastings:

625 West Hastings: 28 fl. | 100m | 25.5 FSR
601 West Hastings: 25 fl. | 109m | 24.34 FSR

excel · #7 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 7:24 AM**

Impressive to see another office development moving forward.

red-paladin · #8 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 7:41 AM**

Great to see!

scryer · #9 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 8:16 AM**

Finally! That space looked a little empty.

Vantage · #10 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 8:48 AM**

Looks great!

Metro-One · #11 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 8:51 AM**

Very nice.

A very appropriate project for that lot.

I also love how the two new office towers will sandwich the mid aged shorter office building. Along with the RBC building this will make for a very interesting street wall. The type the I love seeing with slim structures of varying style.

trofirhen · #12 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 10:02 AM**

These two projects will really make that "Hastings Canyon" effect, that gives that real 'big city geel' to downtown streets. Georgia has it, Howe is coming along, Hastings is being amplified.

giallo · #13 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 10:20 AM**

Wow. I like this one plenty. Great use of the empty lot.

osirisboy · #14 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 4:17 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Metro-One

Very nice.

A very appropriate project for that lot.

I also love how the two new office towers will sandwich the mid aged shorter office building. Along with the RBC building this will make for a very interesting street wall. The type the I love seeing with slim structures of varying style.

Exactly! And that's why I don't mind when properties get orphaned, they will eventually get developed and makes the street much more interesting.

And FSR of 25?! That's what I like to see!! Much better than the 2-4 FSR we see in places like central broadway

DesignerBunny · #15 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 4:39 PM**

One of the more interesting points to take note of can be seen in the plan views of the middle floors, and the sections...page A203. There will be an internal courtyard from floors 4-20 which allows for the existing offices on the back side of the RBC building to keep their windows and allow light down between the buildings. Also, I believe the new building will provide seismic support for the older RBC building, and have a car elevator for underground parking due to the narrow lot size. Great project

SFUVancouver · #16 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 9:00 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by DesignerBunny

One of the more interesting points to take note of can be seen in the plan views of the middle floors, and the sections...page A203. There will be an internal courtyard from floors 4-20 which allows for the existing offices on the back side of the RBC building to keep their windows and allow light down between the buildings. Also, I believe the new building will provide seismic support for the older RBC building, and have a car elevator for underground parking due to the narrow lot size. Great project

Agreed! The "hidden" light well is an interesting aspect of the project. In a way, it's a step back into the past in the way zero lot line buildings worked together to bring light and air to the common wall parts of the buildings.

On first glance at the renderings, it looked to me like the floors on the new tower lined up with those in the Royal Bank "Cathedral of Capitalism". I thought that perhaps the new building and old would connect and have shared floor plates and larger gross leasable area than if there were two wholly independent buildings. From looking at the floor plans, that's clearly not occurring, but it was an interesting thought.

Prometheus · #17 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 9:59 PM**

The elevation drawings depict this project and 601 West Hastings to be identical in height. But 601 West Hastings is supposed to be 109 metres. I can't imagine that they would make such a mistake in their drawings. So, has 9 metres been lopped of 601 West Hastings? If so, big swaths of downtown are going to experience some more brutal table-topping over the next few years, as the city's remaining sites get developed to the identical viewcone height as their neighbours (e.g. the Bay parkade, the Post Office, Telus Garden; also The Exchange, Jameson House, etc).

phesto · #18 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 10:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by Prometheus

The elevation drawings depict this project and 601 West Hastings to be identical in height. But 601 West Hastings is supposed to be 109 metres. I can't imagine that they would make such a mistake in their drawings. So, has 9 metres been lopped of 601 West Hastings? If so, big swaths of downtown are going to experience some more brutal table-topping over the next few years, as the city's remaining sites get developed to the identical viewcone height as their neighbours (e.g. the Bay parkade, the Post Office, Telus Garden; also The Exchange, Jameson House, etc).

The building height measurement on this project is just to the roof; what looks like the top two floors is actually just fins hiding an elevator overrun. They will in fact appear to be exactly the same height at ~350 ft.

The peak roof elevation for 601 West Hastings, 320 Granville and this project are all pretty much exactly the same at approx. 415.7 ft (from sea level). All projects to the underside of the view cone and really demonstrates how it is virtually impossible to articulate the top of a tower in Vancouver.

trofirhen · #19 Posted **Nov 17, 2016, 10:35 PM**

I think 601 W.Hastings sleek but textured, adjoining the classy period RBC building which could be in an Eastern Canadian or US city, helps give - and I'm positive here -that "any" city feel.
Don't knock this. I'm serious about how much even "canyonish" this will make that last block of Hastings to the Marine and MNP, plus how more $$$ marketable the city'll be in film sets.
//* Was just reading Phesto's remark, and agree that it would have been even better to maybe go a bit higher, and finish of with something complementing the RBC top, in some way. The flat
roof makes it just a bit harsh, and not syntheseized as well as it might be.

BobLoblawsLawBlog · #20 Posted **Nov 18, 2016, 1:00 AM**

That block is going to have a very Midtown Manhattan feel with those narrow wall-to-wall towers.