18-storey rental tower proposed near future Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain

Artistic rendering of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

A high-rise rental housing tower is now proposed immediately west of Major Matthews Park in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.

This development site of 121-129 West 11th Avenue is roughly equidistant and within short walking distance of SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station and Broadway City-Hall Station, which will become a major interchange hub between the Canada Line and Millennium Line in 2026. Both transit hubs are about a 10-minute walk to the east or west, respectively.

If approved, this would replace two single-family houses built in 1901 and 1912, and a “Vancouver Special” duplex constructed in 1977.

You might also like:

According to the rezoning application, Havn Developments and Shape Architecture initially designed a proposal for a shorter 14-storey tower that abides by the height restrictions for the site imposed by the wide-sweeping protected mountain View Cone 3.0 emanating from the peak of Queen Elizabeth Park. But this was later deemed to be non-ideal, as the larger floor plates of over 9,000 sq ft created a bulky building that resembled a “14-storey podium block” instead of a point tower.

With the City’s ongoing review and expected relaxation to some of Vancouver’s view cone policies, the developer revised their design to create a slimmer, taller tower, with a height of 193 ft and 18 storeys, and a floor plate size of 6,530 sq ft.

Previous 14-storey concept:

Previous concept: Shorter and bulkier 14-storey concept for 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver, below View Cone 3.0. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

Revised 18-storey concept:

Revised concept: Taller and slimmer 18-storey concept for 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver, protruding into View Cone 3.0. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

View Cone 3.0 impacts of the 18-storey concept for 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

Artistic rendering of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

Both the 14-storey and 18-storey concepts feature the same floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 5.8 times larger than the size of the 18,600 sq ft land assembly.

The 18-storey height of the revised design concept aligns with the City’s Broadway Plan prescription that limits tower heights on this particular site within the MRTB sub-area to no more than 18 storeys for rental housing uses. But it now protrudes into the view cone by about 4.5 storeys.

“The extent of setbacks and max floor area relaxations that resulted from this strategy were too severe for the City of Vancouver Planning Staff to support,” reads the application’s rationale for pivoting from the shorter and bulky 14-storey design to the slimmer and taller 18-storey design.

“If nothing else, this previous rezoning application offered an excellent case study for just how onerous the view cone restrictions are for development in this neighbourhood, and just how severely they prevent the urbanism imagined by the Broadway Plan from being implemented.”

Site of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance to SkyTrain Broadway-City Hall Station. (Google Maps)

Site of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Artistic rendering of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

It is further noted that for this site to be developable, it depends on forthcoming changes to view cone policies to enable the 18-storey concept, based on City staff’s initial review and market analysis of the previous 14-storey concept.

Reliance Properties’ proposed redevelopment of the former MEC West Broadway store, located just to the northwest, into two rental housing towers is also impacted by the same view cone.

The proposal calls for 165 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 132 market rental units and 33 below-market rental units, based on the Broadway Plan’s ratio of 80% market use and 20% below-market use for rental residential space.

The unit size mix is 41 studios, 60 one-bedroom units, 48 two-bedroom units, and 16 three-bedroom units.

Extensive shared amenity spaces for residents are proposed, including a “greenhouse” atrium and outdoor area overlooking Major Matthews Park, and both indoor and outdoor areas on the tower rooftop.

Artistic rendering of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

A small retail space of 541 sq ft, suitable for businesses, such as a cafe, is situated within the ground level, fronting Major Matthews Park. The project will provide major public realm improvements to the area by integrating the site with the public park, including a public arcade and patio design along the east side of the building — fronting the park — and a grand staircase that connects the building to the green space. There will also be a permanent “long table” as a community amenity for gatherings.

“This project’s ground plane and community-centric design are fine examples of modern urbanism as it integrates into an existing mature neighbourhood and invites the community to interact with new opportunities created by this new architecture,” reads the architect’s design rationale.

Two underground levels will contain 66 vehicle parking stalls, while a partial lower level and the first level will provide 323 secure bike parking spaces. For seamless access, there will be a seamless bike ramp from West 11th Avenue to access the bike parkade, and a bike repair amenity space will be situated on the first level.

Artistic rendering of 121-129 West 11th Avenue, Vancouver. (Shape Architecture/Havn Developments)

Havn Developments is a new real estate development company specializing in secured purpose-built rental housing projects, with its first proposals located within the Broadway Plan area. The developer also recently submitted their rezoning applications to build similarly sized and designed rental housing towers at the site of 2535 Carolina Street and 557 569 East 10th Avenue, and the site of 2535 Carolina Street and 557 569 East 10th Avenue.

All three 18-storey rental housing towers proposed by Havn within the Broadway Plan area will generate 485 secured purpose-built homes — all within walking distance of existing/future SkyTrain stations. The similar architectural design concepts between all three proposals — coupled with “new building technologies — is an intentional standardization strategy to “increase construction efficiencies, livability, and schedules to deliver critical housing to the Vancouver market.” The other two proposals are designed by Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership.

Artistic rendering of 2535 Carolina Street and 557 569 East 10th Avenue, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Havn)

2156-2172 West 14th Avenue Vancouver Havn rental housing

Artistic rendering of 2156-2172 West 14th Avenue, Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Havn)

You might also like: