Squamish Nation development to expand downtown Vancouver's footprint

The $3-billion Senakw project will consist of 6,000 mostly rental units in 11 towers on a five-hectare parcel. RANDY SHORE
Updated: November 5, 2019

An artist's rendering of the 6,000-unit Senakw development proposed for Squamish First Nation lands in Kitsilano adjacent to the Burrard Bridge. REVERY ARCHITECTURE / PNG

A residential development proposed by the Squamish First Nation for band-owned lands in Kitsilano will bring downtown-style density to a relatively low-rise community.

The $3-billion Senakw project will consist of 6,000 mostly rental units in 11 towers on a five-hectare parcel at the western foot of the Burrard Bridge. The tallest tower is expected to be 56 storeys, a shade shorter than Shangri-La and the Trump Tower, just across the bridge from the downtown peninsula.

The project was announced last April as a two-tower, 3,000-unit development; the new concept adds nine towers.

As the downtown Vancouver residential community has expanded from the West End, through Yaletown and into False Creek, the density has changed dramatically as part of the evolution of the area, according to Squamish Coun. Khelsilem.

An artist’s rendering of the 6,000-unit Senakw development proposed for Squamish First Nation lands in Kitsilano adjacent to the Burrard Bridge. REVERY ARCHITECTURE / PNG

Senakw’s design has changed several times over the years and this latest iteration reflects the extreme shortage of rental housing in Vancouver, he said.

“We see a huge need for rental with the vacancy crisis at one per cent or even lower in some places,” he said.

The City of Vancouver has struggled to get rental housing built, because developers would rather build condos. But because the Squamish have a preference for a long-term revenue stream rather than a quick profit, they can do things differently, he explained.

Senakw will not employ the typical podium and tower design used in many large projects. Because of the tower-only design, 80 per cent of the land at grade will be activated for public use such as park space, Khelsilem said.

The design for Senakw incorporates the areas beneath the bridge. SUBMITTED / REVERY ARCHITECTURE

By targeting renters, they can also dispense with most of the parking typically required by the city.

“We are looking at removing mandatory minimum parking requirements and it makes more sense when you are building rental,” he said.

Mayor Kennedy Stewart agreed the project “will really help us hit our own targets” for rental housing, a need that is at crisis levels.

Stewart isn’t concerned that other developers will try to push for increased density, citing the Senakw project.

“The Squamish development is a very special case because it’s on reserve land,” he said. “This is a very special case and we’re treating it as such.”

The Squamish planning group has briefed Vancouver city staff on the vision for Senakw and hopes to tap into their expertise as the project moves forward, especially concerning public consultation. But that consultation on Senakw will have a historical context attached.

“This is a government doing a project that has a particular history of injustice in the removal of our ancestors in 1913, who were evicted by the provincial government at the request of the Vancouver parks board and the City of Vancouver,” said Khelsilem.

Because the project is on First Nations land, the city has little power to influence the scale and form of the development, nor is the project subject to municipal zoning.

“We’ve seen some tentative support from city staff, in part because we are able to propose some big solutions for the city, quickly and at scale,” said Khelsilem.

The Squamish Nation isn’t required to apply to the city to redevelop this area, the city confirmed.

In 2014, city council designated Vancouver as a City of Reconciliation and set as its goal the creation of “sustained relationships of mutual respect and understanding with local First Nations and the urban Indigenous community.”

The Squamish Nation plans to collect taxes on the development themselves and use the revenue to buy services, such as policing, fire protection, water, sewage and waste removal from municipalities.

The development is a near-perfect experiment in urban development, to see what a landholder would do if it were free of the constraints placed on it by municipal government, said Tom Davidoff, a professor at the Sauder School of Business at the University of B.C.

The Squamish are making bold choices about what the market wants by choosing to build rental units and the decision to limit parking, he noted.

rshore@postmedia.com

— With files from Susan Lazaruk

Big changes coming to Metrotown mall

A vast development to expand Metropolis is part of a development to expand Metrotown into a downtown core in Burnaby.

CHERYL CHAN Updated: October 29, 2019

B.C.’s largest mall is set for a major transformation after Burnaby council approved a plan Monday that would transform Metropolis at Metrotown to a vibrant, mixed-use city centre as part of a larger effort to turn the Metrotown area into the city’s official downtown.

The nearly 18-hectare site — which includes the shopping mall, three office towers, 8,000 parking spaces, and a portion of the former Sears site — makes up the largest consolidated site in Metrotown and has defined the neighbourhood for the last few decades.

“It’s the heart of the town centre,” said Ed Kozak, Burnaby’s director of planning. “It’s important not only because of its size, but also of the transformation that would occur on the site. It would set the stage for the (Metrotown) downtown neighbourhood in the master plan.”

Instead of just being a massive indoor mall, the site, which is located next to busy Metrotown SkyTrain station, will be more open to the community, with indoor and outdoor retail spaces, new parks and plazas and streets that are pedestrian- and cyclist-friendly, thousands of new residential units, and possibly a performance and events space.

“It’s an effort, essentially, to turn the mall inside out,” Kozak said of the long-term vision.

Monday’s council vote will allow city staff to work with property owner Ivanhoe Cambridge to create a Metropolis master plan, which would align with the area’s broader Metrotown master plan, which was adopted by council in 2017.

Residential units make up a major component of the site, fulfilling the city’s goal in expanding overall housing and rental housing stock in Metrotown.

Following a new zoning bylaw, 20 per cent of all units built on the site will be designated as rentals, said Kozak, adding most of them will be affordable, at rates about 20 per cent below the CMHC average, or about 40 to 50 per cent below market average.

“Our mayor and council are extremely concerned as the area redevelops that the people who live there won’t be given an opportunity to continue to live there,” he said. “By allowing these types of housing, it increases that opportunity and meets the goal of the Metrotown downtown plan.”

Graeme Silvera, vice-president of retail development at Ivanhoe Cambridge, said preliminary plans call for about 15,600 residential units to be built at the site. In comparison, the former Expo lands on the north shore of False Creek created about 7,800 units. “This shows you the scale of what we are looking at.”

The city is also working with the developer to meet sustainability requirements, including rain gardens and a 40 per cent tree canopy to break up the pavement-dominated landscape.

For shopping aficionados worried about the future of the mall itself, Silvera says the mall is here to stay. 

“The heart of the plan will have an enclosed retail mall within it,” similar to how Pacific Centre mall forms an integral part of downtown Vancouver, he said.

But over time, the goal is to transform what is primarily an indoor shopping centre to a 50/50 mix of interior and outdoor retail. Parking will also eventually be reduced.

The first phase of the plan is a partnership with Concord Pacific, which owns the former Sears site, to develop the Kingsway frontage of the mall, adding a new street and two-level retail podium that’ll connect two parts of the mall from Old Navy and Chapters to the food court, as well as new office spaces and two new residential towers.

Construction isn’t expected until late 2021 or early 2022. No changes are expected to the south side of the mall until at least past 2030.

chchan@postmedia.com

twitter.com/cherylchan

Granville Bridge seismic and structural upgrades means delays for Vancouver commuters

BY SEAN BOYNTON GLOBAL NEWS
Posted October 27, 2019 6:25 pm

Seismic and structural upgrades on the Granville Bridge deck begin Monday, and at least one Granville Island business owner says the work can’t come soon enough.

Construction is set to get underway in the morning on the south approach, the latest move for an upgrade project that’s been underway since last fall.

The city says commuters can expect delays due to the work, which will require the closure of two central lanes in both directions and one lane on the Hemlock Ramp.

In late November, crews will move to the Seymour ramp at the north end of the bridge and the Fourth Avenue off-ramp, which will lead to additional closures.

Replacements of the expansion joints will then continue on different sections along the bridge deck in the centre and curb lanes until work is completed in late 2020.

The city says the work on the aging span, which was first built in 1954, also includes replacing bearings and repairing concrete and steel throughout the structure.

READ MORE: Granville Street Bridge dropping metal debris again, says Granville Island businessman

The bridge sees 65,000 vehicle trips daily along with 25,000 bus crossings. It also shelters Granville Island, where business owners have complained about chunks of falling steel for years.

David McCann, general manager of the four-building Creekhouse Industries complex on the island, says he’s reported the issue at least once a year for the past six years, most recently in July.

“The current pieces that came off were some of the the largest,” he said Sunday. “Even two inches by three inches can either hurt you or kill you, but in the past five or 10 years there’s been larger pieces, two, three feet.”

Other instances in the past include one where a large piece of the bridge hit the roof of the Sandbar in September 2014. Another large piece smashed a visitor’s car windshield in May of that year.

McCann says city crews have responded after each complaint, and are now ensuring the metal doesn’t fall on the island again.

The city is proposing major changes to the bridge that would make it more accessible to pedestrians and cyclists.

READ MORE: Vancouver unveils 6 proposed designs for future of Granville Bridge

Six different design proposals were released last month, all of which propose the elimination of two lanes of vehicle traffic. Open houses and online feedback in September allowed the public to weigh in on the ideas.

The city will review feedback over the fall, with a council decision expected in early 2020. Construction would begin in 2021, pending approval and the development of a detailed plan.

With files from Simon Little

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