1984 replies to this topic

[G-Man]

Nice find Dylan! That would soooo be nice if that was built. It sure looks like a grocery store on the Pandora side. I expect the locals will be against this version too. I saw a poo-poo sign in the Yoka Coffee Place on Mason the other day and was wondering why they were still going on about a project that was dead.

[Mike K.]

Looks like a new incarnation for sure and Bosa is behind it (despite earlier reports that the project had been canceled).

 

One thing I don't understand is why the description lists the project as five storeys when it is clearly six with even a seventh at the Pandora/Vancouver corner.

[Nparker]

I also assumed this project was dead; killed by a selfish band of short-sighted NIMBYs. The revised designs are nice, but I doubt they will overcome the misguided principles of the local anti-development brigade. I suspect an abandoned school is the best we'll see on this site for some time.

 

BTW what has happened to the saving a portion of the St. Andrew's tower?

[Mike K.]

I've contacted Bosa for more info. We'll get to the bottom of this but I did notice that the file names appear to indicate a date. The rendering depicting the Vancouver/Pandora corner includes 1_20_14 in the name. Make of that what you will.

 

But yeah, it looks like the school is now out of the question.

[G-Man]

The new Pandora side looks way better without it. I would bet that with a year lost on fighting this already is going to mean that the cost to saving the school got to be too much. With the way the rendering looks I am not going to be sorry to see it go. 

[Nparker]

I am not sorry to see it go either. I just feel this will give the NIMBYs even more ammunition in their insane, yet somehow influential, fight against a worthwhile project.

[Mike K.]

Looks better without the school, hey?

[29er Radio]

That would be funny, eh? Hudson says they tried for years but never attracted a grocery tenant, then Thrifty's moves in next door.

 Every food retailer was approached regarding the Hudson. The loading for a large scale retailer was terrible and the support posts on that level comprised 10% of the floor area and the owner was not prepared to remove them from the chargeable foot print.

[jonny]

Surprisingly the revised renderings look a lot better than the originals.

 

I'm glad the NIMBYs haven't killed this. I have no idea what their issues could possibly be (aside from change = bad), but the area bordered by Pandora, Bay, Cook and Quadra has so much potential to be an awesome neighbourhood.

[jklymak]

I guess I think the planning process is kind of working in this case.  I think the Mason St neighbors had a pretty legitimate complaint about a 6.5 storey building against the south side of a very narrow street.  I'd have been fine with even more density on Pandora though.

 

Whats the green space on the east side of the renderings?  Is that Franklin Green or extra green space that is part of this proposal?  Extending Franklin Green would be a great amenity.  

[Mike K.]

Bosa has confirmed the project is not canceled and is indeed moving forward. Talk of cancellation centered around the developer pulling the proposal off the shelves last year due to opposition. So in one sense the initial proposal was canceled and what we're looking at now is a more refined and hopefully more palatable design that addresses the key issues raised over the previous design.

[G-Man]

Whats the green space on the east side of the renderings?  Is that Franklin Green or extra green space that is part of this proposal?  Extending Franklin Green would be a great amenity.  

 

Yes that is Franklin Green. Given the large amount of park space in the area and the extreme underuse of Franklin Green I hope that there are no plans to make it bigger. 

[jklymak]

^ What park space?  The boulevard on Pandora? 

[Holden West]

I don't like that the old tower was removed without much change to the design. This tells me that very little thought went into creatively integrating the old structure with the new.

[aastra]

That seems to be quite a large space for sitting around and doing nuthin' on the corner there. Methinks it might not be the best fit for this neighbourhood.

[Nparker]

That seems to be quite a large space for sitting around and doing nuthin' on the corner there. Methinks it might not be the best fit for this neighbourhood.

Huh? As opposed to the "great fit" of an abandoned school.

[Bingo]

St. Andrew's School

 

 

[aastra]

The "it" in this case would be the large space on the corner, not the entire building. My point is, the space near the corner was already quite large in the version that included the remnant of the school. It seems to have grown some more in this new image.

[sdwright.vic]

Don't people need to learn that you hold up progress, your gonna get spanked and have something you like taken away?!?

[Nparker]

Don't people need to learn that you hold up progress, you're gonna get spanked and have something you like taken away?!?

That's not fair. It seems pretty clear (to me at least) that the developer has made significant changes to the design to specifically address the concerns put forward by some of the neighbours. In the process a certain amount of density appears to have been lost. If this loss needs to be recouped through the removal of the St. Andrew's tower (undoubtedly a cost-savings) then perhaps that's the price that has to be paid. Maybe if there had been stronger support for the previous design the tower would still be there.