501 replies to this topic

[bicycles]

that kitchen... yikes

[Mike K.]

Thanks for the photos

But oh man, I'm not really a fan of that kitchen tile!

[VicHockeyFan]

Thanks for the photos

But oh man, I'm not really a fan of that kitchen tile!

Make a full-price offer, specifying your choice of new tile, I'm sure they'll accept.

[Coreyburger]

September 14th, 2013. Final touches being installed....I see furniture in some of the units!

Is that really a giant parking garage entrance in the middle of the building? How many more of these can the streetscape take before permanent damage is done?

[jonny]

Is that really a giant parking garage entrance in the middle of the building? How many more of these can the streetscape take before permanent damage is done?

Hundreds.

Every time I see a new building downtown, I just can't help but think about all the permanent damage all of these damn buildings are doing to our downtown.

[gumgum]

2 retail units on the ground?

[MarkoJ]

I think the parkade entrance on this building is tastefully done. Far less invasive than the Juliet or 834 primarily as there is no ramp going down.

[jonny]

The streetscape was so much better when this was a parking lot.

[aastra]

Does anybody have a before-and-after for us?

It's not a great ground floor but I'd say a little bit of something is always better than a bunch of nothing.

[ZGsta]

It's a pretty bad ground floor.

[Nparker]

It's a pretty bad ground floor.

Compared to say The Wave on Yates Street, The Sovereign's ground floor is pure genius. As others have stated, it's 1000% better than the empty lot that was here before.

[jonny]

Does anybody have a before-and-after for us?

There are some before pictures on the first page.

http://www.vibrantvi...2148/#post57376

I don't think this is a bad ground floor at all. From the street, the foot entrance to the building looks classy and elegant. The brickwork and finishing details are well done. It's a simple and functional design.

The thing is, not every building can or needs to have an excellent ground floor like the Atrium.

[gumgum]

[Gary H]

From street level two years ago to the month. Should be easy to capture current pics from approximately the same location.







From some time over two years ago:

[ZGsta]

Why does every quibble with a building have to be met with the chorus of "OMG would you rather have an empty/parking lot!!~??!??"
Of course not.

[Nparker]

Why does every quibble with a building have to be met with the chorus of "OMG would you rather have an empty/parking lot!!~??!??"...

In this case, it's because the "quibble" regarding the street presence, IMHO, is unfounded. There was virtually no other place the entrance to the parking could have gone except along the front facade and I think the architect did a pretty decent job of integrating it as graciously as possible. And yes, given the choice of an under-used parking lot and a decent piece of architecture, I will take the latter every time. Strike up the chorus.

[aastra]

I would have preferred a taller ground floor more in line with the height of the Yarrow Building's ground floor, but the buildings on the other side of the Sovereign have shorter ground floors so methinks the appropriate height for a new building's ground floor could be debated in this instance.

[jonny]

Is it quibbling when one patently says it is a bad ground floor?

Anyway, it's a condo building. Condo buildings have parking garage entrances. There is only one side the parking garage entrance could have gone on this building so they put it there. From street level, I think it looks pretty good. The integration of parking garages is difficult because they're always set back because they are literally a hole in the building. In this case, there wasn't a lot of street frontage to work with, but I think the developer did a decent job by using high quality materials, not to mention the fit and finish looks top notch.

[Coreyburger]

My concern is two fold:
1. More vehicles crossing pedestrian space, with associated increased risk of injuries or death
2. The "dead space" that is the entrance (as "attractive" as it is)

And yes, a building is much better than no building, but I think we might need a parking policy rethink in the core downtown.

[D.L.]

It's on a side street downtown. So what