The journey of the Marine Gateway project through city hall is one worth following.
This, for those who haven’t read it before, is the largest development ever considered for rezoning outside the downtown. It will also, I believe, set a certain level of expectation for the kind of density that might be considered for other transit stations on the Canada Line and elsewhere.
As those who were at the urban-design review panel meeting Wednesday heard, as part of the planning context for the building, the city is considering density for much of the length of Cambie between 25th and Marine Drive to capitalize on the new Canada Line and its stations. Four to six stories in some areas, like around Queen Elizabeth Park, six to eight stories around King Edward, potentially something similar around 33rd, where a future station might go in, a node of even higher buildings around Oakridge, more density along the "transit corridor" from 41st to 49th, and then a tapering off to residential down to Marine.
Then at Marine, there’s intended to be a very high-density node, with the PCI/Gateway building the highest, but buildings on the other three corners and within 500 feet going up to 15-20 stories in some cases, it looked like to me. The gas station on the northwest corner and the little complex with the Chinese restaurant on the northeast have already been bought or optioned, it sounds like, and developers are already working on towers for those sites. (In fact, three panel members normally there — Jim Cheng, Maurice Pez, and Jim Huffman — had to abstain from voting because they are working for one or the other of those developers and so had conflicts to be avoided.)
So what happens with the node at Marine and Cambie, where the PCI group is proposing a near-million-square-foot development with a residential tower of 350 feet, along with a smaller office tower, an 11-screen theatre, and a retail complex, is important.
The project was not supported at the urban design panel on Wednesday night, as I noted, in a 5-4 vote.
This was first published on Frances Bula’s blog State of Vancouver.
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shepsil
1 year ago
SkyTrain for Developers!
I would love to see a breakdown of who owned what land before and after the Cambie Line was built and which of those owners were connected in whichever way to the BC Liberals and donating to election campaigns.
I do not believe for a minute that SkyTrain was built for commuters convenience. It was clearly built as a make work or profit project for developers and supporters of a certain government.
MichaelT
1 year ago
whatever the case Marine
whatever the case Marine Drive needs a major infrastructure. A massive theatre complex is a great start to revitalizing the area.
BC Boy
1 year ago
Canada Line isn't Skytrain
Canada Line is not Skytrain. They are two different projects.
As for landowners along the Cambine section of the Canada Line donating to the BC Liberals that makes as much sense as construction union guys who worked on the Inland Island Highway each making huge donations to the NDP, which didn't happen.
The silliness continues
Grumpy
1 year ago
The PAB's are busy
Those who own the land for Gateway, will see massive profits as the land values have been grossly inflated by rezoning and up zoning.
The problem with Gateway and RAV is that those who buy condos in the complex and do not work in Vancouver or Richmond Centre will drive, as the rest of the transit system is near collapse.
Here lies the major fallacy of the densification myth near SkyTrain and/or RAV - yes maybe 20% or so of new tenants may take transit, but 80% or so will drive.
Gateway my feed a few hundred rides on the Canada Line daily, but it vastly increase congestion and add to auto use in the area.
SkyTrain and RAV are all about land development, not good public transportation.