City block-sized housing building proposed for Dunbar Village retail strip

Artistic rendering of 4464 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Qualex Landmark Ltd.)

A city block-sized mixed-use redevelopment has been proposed for the heart of Dunbar Village in the Vancouver Westside neighbourhood.

Qualex Landmark Ltd. has submitted a development application to redevelop a 30,800-sq-ft lot at 4464 Dunbar Street that covers an entire city block between West 28th Avenue and West 29th Avenue.

The property is currently occupied by over a dozen businesses, including Subway, Mac’s Convenience Store, and Mexicali Restaurant.

Site of 4464 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Site of 4464 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Qualex Landmark Ltd.)

Designed by IBI Group Architects, the proposal calls for a 53-ft-tall, five-storey building with 48 homes, with the unit mix entailing 40 two-bedroom units and eight three-bedroom units.

Close to 11,000 sq. ft. of retail space will occupy the ground level along the building’s Dunbar Street face. A zig-zag facade is proposed for Dunbar Street to create a wider, varied sidewalk.

“The residential portion of the building will be emphasized with stone cladding above the distinct serrated glass façade of the retail areas at Dunbar Street,” reads the architect’s design rationale.

“Our intent is to use high-quality, timeless materials that will complement the clean, modern expression of the building. We believe we have further improved upon the previous design by emphasizing the vertical expression of the enclosed balconies on Dunbar Street. They reduce the horizontal scale of the building to relate to the pedestrian scale along Dunbar.”

Artistic rendering of 4464 Dunbar Street, Vancouver. (IBI Group Architects / Qualex Landmark Ltd.)

The project is supported by two levels of underground parking containing 129 vehicle parking stalls.

A plaza at the corner of the intersection of Dunbar Street and West 29th Avenue will include a public art piece that is voluntarily commissioned by the property’s owners.

Overall, the proposal will create about 77,000 sq. ft. of floor, resulting in a floor space ratio density of 2.5 times the size of its lot.

The development site is immediately north of the former location of Stong’s Market, which is currently being redeveloped into a mixed-use building with housing and retail. Stong’s relocated to a newly-built larger retail space two blocks north of its longtime home in late-2016.

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