988 W Broadway | 40.2m | 10Fl | U/C

[jlousa]

Figured it was time for this to get it's own thread.

BlueSky Properties(Bosa) has proposed a 10 storey building for the corner of W. Broadway and Oak St. It will have retail on the ground floor, 8 floors of commercial space and the 10th floor will be amentity space.
The architect firm is Chris Dikeakos Architects Inc.
The building will be 96,629sqft giving the site an FSR of 5.22.
The rezoning was approved back in March of this year (2011).
No date yet for the DPB (probably late 2011/early 2012).
Site is envisioned as possibly providing a conncection to a rapid transit station for the UBC/Broadway line.

Notification Letter
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...ay/notiltr.pdf

Site Plan
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...way/sitepl.pdf

Renderings
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...renderings.pdf

N. Elevation
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...adway/nele.pdf

N. Elevation temp retail
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...tempretail.pdf

East Elevation
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...adway/eele.pdf

South Elevation
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...adway/sele.pdf

West Elevation
http://vancouver.ca/commsvcs/develop...adway/wele.pdf


Overall I think this project looks great and it's good to see additional commercial space added. I wouldn't have been opposed to an additional 10-15M in this location, but with an FSR over 5 already, I'm content.

Future Transit Connection
The future UBC/Millennium Rapid Transit Line is being planned along the Broadway corridor. A transit station is envisioned in this vicinity, although the exact location is yet to be determined. In anticipation, a future connection to an underground transit station has been incorporated into the project at the northwest corner of the proposed building. As noted above, until such
time as it is required to connect to a station, the area would be used as retail space. This is similar to the situations at 2080 West Broadway and at 525 West Broadway (Crossroads), where opportunities for future transit connections have been secured through the development permit
process.

[wrenegade]

Great looking project. I doubt the ground floor will be able to accomodate both H&M and Aritzia though.

[Metro-One]

Is that a planned skytrain access at the bottom of the building when the M-Line is extended?

Never mind, just finished reading the original post, haha.

I like that, another smart push for an underground system

[jlousa]

Upon reading more into the development it seems additional height would've been diffilcult to come by as it's in the flight path for VGH's heliport.

[hollywoodnorth]

so with this project we more or less have 3 stations lined up in projects ... AMAZING!

[Spork]

Originally Posted by hollywoodnorth

so with this project we more or less have 3 stations lined up in projects ... AMAZING!

So long as they aren't all called Broadway

[squeezied]

I think we might even have 4!

-Arbutus
-Oak
-Cambie
-and potentially Main!

The really bodes well for RRT to at least central Broadway. All we need now is Granville to show Vancouver's commitment to rapid transit.

[flight_from_kamakura]

renderings look decent. noticed the sales/lease site is up: http://www.broadwayandoak.com/

that amenity space could end up doing as a pretty interesting place to hold small conferences and receptions and the like - the floorplate and the views toward downtown and the mountains beg for it. definitely looks a little squat, but it's hard to argue with 10 floors of commercial along the broadway corridor. hooboy.

[LeftCoaster]

Ya I like this development quite a bit, and don't mind the height at all. If it isn't going to make a splash height wise I'd rather it be a couple storeys shorter and have more scalable massing, really add to the streetwall.

My only issue with this building is the South facade. Why on one of the few office buildings in the area does one facade still have to look like a condo?

Wouldn't have minded a little higher FSR either, given it is likely to have a built in transit station... but oh well over 5 is still quite high for the neighbourhood.

[jsbertram]

Originally Posted by squeezied

I think we might even have 4!

-Arbutus
-Oak
-Cambie
-and potentially Main!

The really bodes well for RRT to at least central Broadway. All we need now is Granville to show Vancouver's commitment to rapid transit.

With the builders and City planners allowing for future Broadway subway connections to these new buildings, it seems everyone involved is expecting the future Broadway/UBC line will be underground and under Broadway.

This is evident to me because the new Crossroads complex at Broadway / Cambie is on the north side of Broadway, so it would have some difficulty to connect to a new Broadway/UBC line station under Cambie @ 10th Ave.

The three other sites are south of Broadway (between Broadway and 10th Ave), so if the Broadway/UBC line is built under Broadway or under 10th Ave. they could still connect to a new subway station on either side of their properties.



Dare I make a prediction?
After decades of planning and studies culminating in the UBC Line Rapid Transit Study, the Preferred Alternative will be Skytrain under Broadway to UBC. If money and political will is lacking, it will only be built as far west as Arbutus with a future extension to UBC to be done later.

[LeftCoaster]

My prediction is that regardless of any community input the line goes buried sky train.

The community consultations are to placate the residents and maybe they will get lucky and skytrain will be the preferred, but the bottom line is this line always was and will be tunneled Skytrain.

I would also expect it to make it out to UBC after some wrangling between the University, provincial govt and Translink.

[logan5]

I find this proposal really disappointing on a couple of fronts. Firstly, it does look like another condo. Very similar to the condo building about 100m west of this site. Secondly, considering this is the probable site of a RRT station, the height of the building is way too short. Demand for office space at this location should be very high and warrants at least a 20 story tower. With the VGH complex nearby, a 20 to 25 story tower would fit in nicely. As far as flight paths go, I have a hard time believing a helicopter can't maneuver around a 20 story building when they can fly down Georgia Street if they wanted to.

I hope this isn't what we can expect to see at the Broadway and Cambie interchange, although we've already started down that path with that terrible building at Crossroads.

[jlousa]

I completely disagree with you. While some additional height wouldn't hurt here, I'd much rather have a 10 storey building with an FSR of 5.22 then a 20 storey building with the same FSR. We are very lucky to be seeing an FSR this high here given that it's only supposed to be allowed 3 (3.3 with heritage transfer). Also think your assesment of Crossroads is wrong, it's a great development that offers lots of density while still being respectful of it's surroundings. I really beleive for the city to be successful we'll have to move away from the tower form outside the core and more towards projects like this.

[wrenegade]

I totally agree with Jlousa here. Not much else to say, I love the Crossroads project.

[logan5]

The density is too low for a site in the Metro Core that sits on a subway station. Employment density is especially important for a successful multi-billion dollar transit system. I think it's time to include the Central Broadway Corridor as part of our downtown area.

I don't know the densities at Broadway/Cambie Stations, but I hope they are or will be much higher.

[LeftCoaster]

Originally Posted by logan5

The density is too low for a site in the Metro Core that sits on a subway station. Employment density is especially important for a successful multi-billion dollar transit system. I think it's time to include the Central Broadway Corridor as part of our downtown area.

I don't know the densities at Broadway/Cambie Stations, but I hope they are or will be much higher.

You do know height ≠ density right?

5.2 FAR is very dense not only for the neighbourhood but for the the entire city. Like I said i wouldn't have minded a bit more density but I'm just being picky.

Keep in mind many of the densest cities in the world are not full of skyscrapers but with 5-10 storey neighbourhoods that create tons of density and fantastic streetscapes.

[logan5]

You do know height ≠ density right?

Looking at the rendering, it does not look like a significantly large building. I presume they've used the maximum allowable density, correct me if I'm wrong. If they added 10 floors to that rendering (same floor plates), would the density not be higher?

I'm not proposing skyscrapers throughout the city, just more density at this important location.

[officedweller]

Originally Posted by jsbertram

With the builders and City planners allowing for future Broadway subway connections to these new buildings, it seems everyone involved is expecting the future Broadway/UBC line will be underground and under Broadway.

This is evident to me because the new Crossroads complex at Broadway / Cambie is on the north side of Broadway, so it would have some difficulty to connect to a new Broadway/UBC line station under Cambie @ 10th Ave.

The three other sites are south of Broadway (between Broadway and 10th Ave), so if the Broadway/UBC line is built under Broadway or under 10th Ave. they could still connect to a new subway station on either side of their properties.

I think the reason access is primarily from Broadway is that Broadway is where the destinations lie.
In addition, at Oak, the access would dive into the hillside (even if the access tunnel is under Oak Street) eliminating the need for some escalators. If the access were at the corner of the alley and Oak, then you'd definitely need an escalator to get to the access tunnel since you'd be practically on top of the station.

Similarly, the access at Broadway City Hall dives into the hill. The station mezzanine is practically at 10th Ave. The punch out panel at Broadway City Hall station is on the east side of the mezzanine - easy to connect to an underground station under 10th Ave., but it'll require a lengthy underground connection to get to Crossroads on the north side of Broadway (the benefit of course, being avoidance of Broadway crosswalk delay).

[jlousa]

Originally Posted by logan5

Looking at the rendering, it does not look like a significantly large building. I presume they've used the maximum allowable density, correct me if I'm wrong. If they added 10 floors to that rendering, would the density not be higher?

I'm not proposing skyscrapers throughout the city, just more density at this important location.

They are already well above the max allowed density and a bit above the max allowed height, if they added 10 more floors they would've had to cut the floorplates in half to maintain the same FSR making it much less desirable for officespace.

[retro_orange]

no developments on this one in 4 years but I just noticed the other day that the 711 in the existing 80s strip mall is empty now, maybe theres finally some progress on this development! I remember waiting to hear something when I lived in the area over 2 years ago. Has anyone heard anything recently?