Three towers with rentals and office space eyed for VCC-Clark SkyTrain

Three towers with rental housing and office space eyed for VCC-Clark SkyTrain

Rogers/Shaw compound at 1155 East 6th Avenue, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The Rogers/Shaw compound immediately west of SkyTrain VCC-Clark Station could see one of the largest redevelopments under the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan.

In a recent interview with Daily Hive Urbanized, PCI Developments president Tim Grant told Daily Hive Urbanized his company has plans to pursue a significant mixed-use redevelopment of the 2.1-acre city block of 1155 East 6th Avenue — the northeast corner of the intersection of Great Northern Way and Glen Drive.

Currently, the site is largely used as surface parking for Rogers/Shaw service vehicles, and it contains a 1972-built warehouse building for the telecommunications giant.

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Grant says his company has plans to build three towers up to 35 storeys, including two secured purpose-built rental housing towers and one office tower. There would be 550 rental homes — a mix of 440 market rental units and 110 below-market rental units — as well as major components of creative industrial space, office space, and retail/restaurant uses, including a grocery store to serve the area’s growing residential uses.

A formal rezoning application for the Rogers/Shaw site redevelopment is also expected within the coming month.

1155 East 6th Avenue Vancouver rogers shaw

Rogers/Shaw compound at 1155 East 6th Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

1155 East 6th Avenue Vancouver Shaw Rogers PCI 1

Rogers/Shaw compound at 1155 East 6th Avenue, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

1155 East 6th Avenue Vancouver Shaw Rogers PCI 3

Rogers/Shaw compound at 1155 East 6th Avenue, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

2105 keith drive vancouver the hive office mass timber construction april 21 2024

Construction progress on The Hive at 2105 Keith Drive, Vancouver, as of April 21, 2024 (right), the Rogers/Shaw compound at 1155 East 6th Avenue (left), and SkyTrain VCC-Clark Station (centre). (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

PCI’s plans for the site align with the prescriptions and stipulations of the Broadway Plan, which introduces some of the area plan’s tallest permissible building heights and densities to the Great Northern Way corridor — along the southern perimeter of the False Creek Flats, next to the area’s existing and future SkyTrain stations. Moreover, the 2022-approved Broadway Plan introduces new residential uses and reinforces job space in new mixed-use development forms on sites that have historically only seen industrial/commercial uses.

According to real estate commercial firm Lee & Associates, Shaw sold the compound in early 2019 to JRS Ltd. for $45 million. Then in March 2021, according to other records, it changed hands again in a deal worth $117.5 million.

LowTide Properties is PCI’s partner for developing and growing its portfolio of properties under the “South Flats” brand along Great Northern Way. To date, South Flats has focused on acquiring and building office developments — including the 2021 acquisition of the adjacent former MEC headquarters building, which has since been turned into an Electronic Arts office expansion — but they are now also introducing residential uses to the area. Both developers also have a similar three-tower mixed-use rental housing and office project proposal for 485 Great Northern Way, located next to SkyTrain’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station.

1077 great northern way vancouver electronic arts

Electronic Arts at 1077 Great Northern Way, Vancouver. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

Immediately to the south of VCC-Clark Station and west of the Monument for East Vancouver (better known as the “East Van Cross”), construction is well underway on BentallGreenOak’s The Hive at 2150 Keith Drive — a 147-ft-tall, 10-storey building with 164,000 sq ft of Class AAA office space. Four underground levels also provide nearly 200 vehicle parking stalls.

Construction first began with excavation in Spring 2022, and as of last month work has progressed to the first two mass-timber floors above the first level’s concrete platform. This building is amongst Vancouver’s first examples of taller large-scale mass-timber construction.

Most taller mass-timber buildings incorporate concrete cores for seismic stability, but The Hive instead uses a unique perimeter-braced structural system that acts like an exoskeleton. Timber shear walls in the interior and structural braces at the exterior resist the wind and seismic movements. Furthermore, the diagonal glue-laminated timber buckling-restrained braces create a cellular appearance on the exterior facade. Ventana Construction is the project’s contractor, while Dialog is the architectural firm.

Construction progress on The Hive at 2105 Keith Drive, Vancouver, as of April 21, 2024. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

With the use of a mass-timber design, construction on The Hive is expected to reach completion sometime in the first half of 2025 — a faster timeline than a conventional concrete and steel design.

Prior to the pandemic, The Hive was originally driven by Nature Path’s interest in relocating its headquarters office from Richmond. Nature’s Path previously told Daily Hive Urbanized they are determining their spatial requirements at the building, given the company’s continued adoption of semi-remote office work.

Last month, Dan Jordan, a vice president for commercial real estate firm Colliers, told Daily Hive Urbanized there is nothing firm to announce yet on The Hive’s leasing, but there are still a few moving parts.

In 2018/2019, when the building’s development permit application was being considered by the municipal government, it was stated that the building has potentially enough space to accommodate up to nearly 2,000 office workers.

2105 Keith Drive Vancouver Dialog BentallGreenOak Nature's Path

Artistic rendering of The Hive at 2105 Keith Drive, Vancouver. (Dialog/BentallGreenOak)

According to Grant, whose company continues to propose major office developments in the area, there is long-term demand for office space in the Great Northern Way corridor, and this will be aided by the introduction of residential density.

The long-term allure of the area is also aided by the 2026 opening of SkyTrain Millennium Line’s Broadway extension between VCC-Clark Station and Arbutus, which will vastly improve the area’s regional accessibility.

“I think that the really big key to the long-term office demand in all these areas, but particularly on Great Northern Way, is the need to have the housing and the shops and services. That’s why we’re really encouraged by our Great Northern Way-Emily Carr proposal because there is some office included, but the housing component is really important to be able to kind of create the activity that we need to generate some more office demand,” Grant told Daily Hive Urbanized in a previous interview.

“I think we’re optimistic that over the long-term, particularly in close proximity of the SkyTrain stations, that there will be good office demand and especially from the creative type industries that the City has aspired to with the Broadway Plan. But it’s really important that housing, particularly good rental housing, is there in advance because it’s a real limit without it.”

As well, just to the south, Vancouver Community College has long-term plans to pursue a significant redevelopment of its campus with new residential, academic, and community uses.

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