The problems I have with this project are:
-the architectural design is fairly boring and out-of-date, a big wide rectangle similar to the kind of apartment buildilngs they built in the 1970s
-the building is too large for the given space and neighbouring buildings
-the building fills the entire lot giving no empty space for tenants or pedestrians (there is a walkway but it will only be opened to public from 9am-5pm)
-the bottom floor is designated for retail; downtown Victoria currently has a 39% vacancy in retail spaces so should we be adding more empty spaces to the mix with such a large vacancy rate? All these empty retail spaces are definitely decreasing the vibrancy of our city.
-while the building is fulfilling a much needed type of residency (rentals), there is a caveat in the plans indicating it only needs to contain rental units for ten years; what happens after ten years? Will tenants get evicted? I would be relunctant to move into a buildilng that is only deemed rentals for a short time period. This seems like a short-term solution to our lack of rental spaces problem.
I understand that most people on Vibrant Victoria are very pro-density and pro-highrise, which is fine but my argument is that if we have to have highrises, can't they be examples of great innovative architecture? Can't they take into consideration the surrounding area and street level activity? Why do they have to be revved up, colour-added, versions of 1970s apartment complexes?
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