A flurry of major residential projects could soon transform western Davie Street and add the biggest infusion of rental units into the West End in decades.
Including a project one block away on Pendrell Street, there are four projects and five towers with more than 750 rental units in varying stages of development.
Westbank wants to build the largest of these projects – a two-tower, 319-unit redevelopment of the current Safeway site – at the northwest corner of Davie and Cardero streets, and west to include the current liquor store.
The market-rental project sailed through a design-panel hearing with what Henriquez Partners Architects principal and project applicant Gregory Henriquez told Business in Vancouver was “unanimous support.”
Approval is up to the city’s development permit board, which is scheduled to meet May 16.
Once Henriquez gets that approval, he can apply for a development permit Westbank needs to build the towers that it envisages as being 21 and 22 storeys.
Critics, such as West End Neighbours director Randy Helten, say the Safeway project and others nearby have too much density and will change the streetscape to be less pedestrian-friendly.
Henriquez is unconvinced by those arguments.
“Density is a great idea,” he said. “The West End plan went through a long public consultation process, which resulted in density along major arterial roads and keeping the majority of the internal parts [of the West End] pretty much untouched.”
Reliance Properties owns the remaining third of the block to the west of the liquor store and to the northeast corner of Davie and Bidwell streets. It intends to build a 22-storey, 108-unit, market-rental building that the city recently approved.
Meanwhile, Larco Investments has approval to build what would be a fourth tower in the one-block strip of Davie Street.
The Larco tower is slated to be a 23-storey, 158-unit, market-rental building on the south side of Davie Street between Bidwell and Cardero streets, on what is now the London Drugs parking lot. Larco also owns the real estate under the store, but there are no plans yet to redevelop the London Drugs location.
More rental-tower construction is planned nearby.
Last September, city council approved a Westbank project one block northwest, at 1750 Pendrell Street near Denman Street, where the company is waiting for a development permit to build a 21-storey, 173-unit tower that will have a mix of market-rental and affordable housing units.
“Think of the quality of life for people in the area,” Helten said.
“There will be noise, traffic, dust and disruptions as well as safety issues. Lord Roberts Elementary School has 750 children, so there’s a concern about heavy construction nearby as well as shadows from the [Safeway site’s] towers.”
Things could have been worse for Helten and others concerned about increasing density.
Devonshire Properties last year mysteriously put on hold a development a couple blocks south of Davie Street, despite taking a couple years to successfully navigate a rezoning.
Devonshire had planned to build a 133-unit rental building on a parking lot next to the three existing Beach Towers buildings.
No one from Devonshire responded to Business in Vancouver by press time to explain why it was pausing that project or when the project could be resurrected.
Helten speculated that Devonshire may see more value in selling the property.
Mayor Gregor Robertson, last year, lamented that Devonshire’s project would not get built and struck a tone consistent with the recent rental-tower approvals.
“We’ll keep pressing on every front to get more rental housing built,” he told media at the time.
–Courtesy of Business in Vancouver
