Future Vancouver West End tower pivots from condos to rentals

Artistic rendering of the 2023 revised rental housing tower design for 1068-1090 Burnaby Street and 1318 Thurlow Street, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Strand Development/Intracorp Homes)

Another stalled residential tower project in downtown Vancouver’s West End is returning to the rezoning application stage with different proposed uses.

While the height and shape of the tower is nearly the same, more floors have been squeezed into the building volume, and the floor plates are now larger as measures to enable an increased density of a floor area ratio (FAR) that is 12.25 times larger than the size of the lot — up from the previous design of 9.01 FAR.

In July 2018, the Vision Vancouver-led City Council approved a 30-storey tower at the property of 1068-1090 Burnaby Street and 1318 Thurlow Street — the southeast corner of the intersection of Thurlow Street and Burnaby Street — containing 89 condominium homes and 39 social housing units.

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The new rezoning application now calls for about 24 social housing units (equivalent to about 10% of the total residential floor area) and 287 secured rental homes. In their application, local developers Strand and Intracorp Homes note the previous condominium-primary design was no longer financially feasible due to changes in market conditions, and the project was put on hold. The existing low-storey apartment buildings are occupied on short-term leases.

1068-1090 Burnaby Street 1318 Thurlow Street Vancouver West End rental tower

This revised design is coming forward now under City Council’s new flexible policies for developers providing them with the option of proposing rental housing-primary projects along the east side of Thurlow Street within the West End instead of the more costly option of condominiums with significant community amenity contributions (CACs).

Under the new application, there would be separate lobby entrances, elevators, and indoor amenity spaces for the social housing and rental housing components, with the social housing entrance located on Burnaby Street and the rental housing entrance on Thurlow Street. However, residents in both housing tenures will share outdoor amenity spaces.

The social housing unit size mix is nine studios, three one-bedroom units, six two-bedroom units, and six three-bedroom units. These units are located on floors two to five.

Above the social housing base, the rental housing unit size mix will be 59 studios, 118 one-bedroom units, 107 two-bedroom units, and three three-bedroom units.

Building form and uses of the 2023 revised rental housing tower design for 1068-1090 Burnaby Street and 1318 Thurlow Street, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Strand Development/Intracorp Homes)

While this particular site is not impacted by the height restrictions of protected mountain view cones, the tower’s potential height is limited by City staff’s desire to limit building shadowing on Davie Village’s retail strip’s sidewalks — one block to the north — between 10 am and 4 pm during the fall and spring equinoxes. This is accomplished by not only limiting the overall building height at 295 ft but also stepping back the upper floors of the tower — creating partial-sized floor plates for the top three levels.

“Perhaps the most defining visual aspect of the design is the offset peaked roofline that responds to the shadow angle limit applicable to the Davie Street sidewalk. Rather than obscure or work against the constraint, it is used to create a distinctive roof form that contributes to the skyline,” reads the design rationale by Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects.

“Twin ribbons of solid cladding rise up the north and south faces of the tower resolving at the top in a decorative cover for the rooftop mechanical equipment that enhances the overall appearance of the project.”

Four underground levels and a portion of the ground level will accommodate 125 vehicle parking stalls and 487 secured bike parking spaces. The total floor area would reach about 212,000 sq ft.

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