Plan for 29-storey social housing tower in downtown Vancouver takes next step | Daily Hive

rtistic rendering of 1050 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver. (Public Architecture)

Three months after the rezoning application was approved, the City of Vancouver’s plan to develop the surface parking lot at 1050 Expo Boulevard has advanced into the development permit application stage, which shows the project’s refined detailed architectural design.

This is the triangular-shaped lot framed by Expo Boulevard to the north, Pacific Boulevard to the south, and the Cambie Street Bridge’s southbound on-ramp on the east. It is where the Ring Gear Monument sculpture — a vestige of the previous swing-span Cambie Street Bridge — is located.

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The existing 107-vehicle parking stalls at the lot are a popular location for eventgoers at BC Place Stadium and Rogers Arena. It is the last remaining stadium-serving surface parking lot west of BC Place Stadium.

This tower development was one of three social housing projects approved by City Council simultaneously, with two other projects also located within the immediate vicinity.

1050 Expo Boulevard Vancouver social housing tower

Site of 1050 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The current development permit application was submitted by the City of Vancouver’s Non-Market Housing Development and Operations department, with the design created by Public Architecture and Groundswell Landscape Architecture.

For this particular site, there will be a 290-ft-tall, 29-storey tower containing 299 social housing units, with a unit size mix of 116 studios, 71 one-bedroom units, 84 two-bedroom units, and 28 three-bedroom units.

Existing condition:

Site of 1050 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of 1050 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver. (Public Architecture)

The total building floor area will reach about 250,00 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 5.94 times larger than the size of the 41,700 sq ft lot.

Three underground levels will contain 62 vehicle parking stalls and 526 secured bike parking spaces.

Drawings for the project also show the addition of a new signal-controlled intersection immediately west of the triangular-shaped development site, which will create a newly reconfigured mid-block pedestrian crosswalk.

Existing condition:

Site of 1050 Expo Boulevard, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Ground-level plan of the social housing tower at 1050 Expo Boulevard, including the new intersection. (Public Architecture)

The City’s other two social housing projects under the same rezoning are located just to the east — a 28-storey tower with social housing, a new fire hall, and a childcare facility at 990 Beatty Street, also located next to the Cambie Street Bridge’s southbound on-ramp, and a seven-storey social housing building at 450 Pacific Street next to the bridge’s northbound on-ramp onto Pacific Street. All three sites were recently transferred to the municipal government from Concord Pacific.

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