Condo towers proposed to replace film studio in the Broadway Plan area | Daily Hive

Condo towers proposed to replace film studio in the Broadway Plan area in Vancouver

2025 concept of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

To date, within the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan, secured purpose-built rental housing projects have been the overwhelmingly proposed development type in the area plan.

Due to market conditions and other factors, strata market ownership condominium projects have represented a tiny minority of the proposals in the entire area plan, with such projects being pushed forward being relatively modest.

One of the area’s largest future strata market condominium uses is the redevelopment of La Maison de la Francophonie at 1551-1581 West 7th Ave. near the Granville Street Bridge’s south end, which saw its rezoning application approved by Vancouver City Council in May 2025. The French cultural centre will build a 21-storey, mixed-use tower with 125 strata market ownership condominium homes, which will fund a new replacement and expanded cultural centre facility within the base of the building. This project progressed to its development permit application submission last week.

And just one block west of the future French cultural centre, an even larger mixed-use proposal has now emerged — featuring the largest strata market ownership condominium development to advance to the rezoning application and formal public consultation processes under the Broadway Plan to date.

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Amacon Developments has submitted a new rezoning application to redevelop 1745 West 8th Ave. — located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Pine Street and West 8th Avenue in the Burrard Slopes.

This is a transit-oriented development site — situated just a seven-minute walk from SkyTrain’s future South Granville Station (on West Broadway) and near bus stops served by frequent bus routes.

Since 1978, this sizeable lot of 56,600 sq. ft. has been home to a low-rise concrete bunker-like building — a windowless structure that was originally used as a cash management and data centre for CIBC, before being converted into its previous dedicated use as a film and television production studio, aptly called The Fortress. The facility was prominently featured in productions such as The Flash, Arrow, Supergirl, and even The X-Files.

Screenshot

Site of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

Existing condition:

Site of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2025 concept of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

This proposal calls for redeveloping this bunker into a 299-ft-tall, 28-storey tower and a 300-ft-tall, 29-storey tower.

There will be a total of 528 homes, including 421 strata market ownership condominium units and 107 social housing units.

The strata unit size mix is 47 studio units, 141 one-bedroom units, 178 two-bedroom units, 51 three-bedroom units, and four townhomes. The social housing unit size mix consists of 21 studio units, 33 one-bedroom units, 32 two-bedroom units, and 21 three-bedroom units.

Overall, most of the homes in this complex are sized for families, which is defined as a unit with two or more bedrooms.

Existing condition:

Site of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2025 concept of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

The strata homes are planned for the upper levels of the towers, while the social housing units will be located within the shared five-storey base podium. The base podium will also contain separate indoor amenities for both strata and social housing residents, as well as an internal courtyard that also has divided space based on housing tenure.

In addition, about 13,000 sq. ft. of space will be dedicated to commercial uses. This includes a 4,000 sq. ft. private childcare facility for roughly 50 children — complemented by 3,200 sq. ft. of outdoor play space — and 9,000 sq. ft. of two-storey live/work units fronting Pine Street.

Four underground levels will provide 510 vehicle parking stalls. As there is also a 13.5-ft north-south slope on the property, the complex will also have mezzanine levels on the ground level to accommodate uses such as secured bike parking, for which there will be roughly 950 spaces.

Existing condition:

Site of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2025 concept of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

The total building floor area will reach 481,000 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio (FAR) density of 8.5 — a project with a floor area that is more than eight times the size of the property’s land area.

“Expanding housing options in close proximity to transit is a leading principle under both the Vancouver Plan and the Broadway Plan, and is addressed by this application’s mixed use tenure. Minor deviations from the plan are sought under this application, mainly related to heights and densities, in line with considerations for larger sites delivering much needed community amenities and a POP (privately owned public space),” reads the design rationale by Chris Dikeakos Architects.

“Rationale for additional heights and density was further contemplated out of analysis of neighbouring sub zones that call for densities of 8.5 FAR (30-storey) when projects contribute towards community amenities. We believe given our proximity to these sub-zones that our deviations generally comply with the intent of the plan.”

There are also various building setbacks to create privately-owned public spaces, including a north-south, mid-block pedestrian route on the western edge of the property.

2025 concept of 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Chris Dikeakos Architects/Amacon Developments)

As of the end of June 2025, according to the City of Vancouver, out of a total of 121 projects within the development pipeline in the Broadway Plan area, there are 22 projects with various degrees of strata uses — including eight general strata projects in the pre-application letter of enquiry stage, two in the rezoning application stage, and just one approved.

Furthermore, there are currently 23,857 new homes in the development pipeline within the Broadway Plan area, including 17,183 secured purpose-built market rental homes, 3,838 secured purpose-built below-market rental homes, 2,322 strata market ownership condominium homes, and 514 social housing units.

In 2019, Daily Hive Urbanized reported Delta Land Development’s proposed concept at the time of redeveloping The Fortress at 1745 West 8th Ave. into “Canada Earth Tower” — a mixed-use, mass-timber tower up to 40 storeys with about 200 homes (a mix of strata and below-market housing) and a base podium with premium office space and retail, including potentially a grocery store. This was billed as a prototype for taller mass-timber tower construction — the world’s tallest mass-timber building.

At the time, the previous developer had indicated they had not submitted a formal application to the City, due to the temporary moratorium on most types of rezonings during the City’s planning process for the Broadway Plan.

Canada Earth Tower 1745 West 8th Avenue Vancouver

Cancelled 2019 concept: Artistic rendering of Canada Earth Tower at 1745 West 8th Ave., Vancouver. (Perkins&Will/Delta Land Development)

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