The Narrow Lounge in Mount Pleasant could be replaced by 18-storey tower | Daily Hive

The Narrow Lounge in Mount Pleasant could be replaced by an 18-storey rental housing tower

2025 concept of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects/Cressey Development)

Cressey Development is returning to Vancouver’s municipal government with a newly revised proposal to redevelop the prominent southeast corner of the Mount Pleasant intersection of Main Street and East 2nd Avenue.

The site, occupied by low-storey light industrial and commercial buildings, is best known for being home to the neighbourhood watering hole, The Narrow Lounge.

More than six years ago, the developer submitted a development permit application to redevelop the site at 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St. into a 106-ft-tall, 11-storey tower with 129 secured purpose-built market rental homes and 11,100 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space.

You might also like:

And now, they have submitted a new rezoning application outlining a significantly larger building development — made possible by the City’s 2022-enacted Broadway Plan’s prescriptions and stipulations, and the July 2024 relaxations to the protected mountain view cone guidelines.

1880-1898 Main Street 1851 Lorne Street Vancouver 2025

Site of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects/Cressey Development)

Existing condition:

Site of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Cancelled 2019 concept:

Cancelled 2019 concept of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver.. (Francl Architecture/Cressey Development)

Revised 2025 concept:

2025 concept of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects/Cressey Development)

Designed by Bingham Hill Architects, the project now calls for a 176-ft-tall, 18-storey tower with 185 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 158 market rental units and 27 below-market rental units.

The unit size mix is 63 studio units, 57 one-bedroom units, 46 two-bedroom units, and 19 three-bedroom units. Residents will have access to shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on both the second level and tower rooftop.

There will be 10,200 sq. ft. of commercial space on the ground level, with 6,200 sq. ft. being leasable retail/restaurant units.

Three underground levels will provide 90 vehicle parking stalls and over 400 secured bike parking spaces.

2025 concept of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects/Cressey Development)

The total building floor area will reach about 137,000 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 7.31 times larger than the size of the 18,700 sq. ft. lot, which spans the entirety of a small irregularly-shaped city block framed by Main Street, East 2nd Avenue, East 3rd Avenue, and Lorne Street.

Under the Broadway Plan, this site can achieve a height of 25 storeys and a density of 8.5 FAR. However, this full permitted height and density based on the area plan’s prescriptions and stipulations cannot be achieved due to View Cone 22 emanating from the intersection of Main Street, Kingsway, and East 7th Avenue. But the current limits of View Cone 22 still represent a substantial height and density increase compared to the previous view cone height restrictions prior to the recent relaxations.

This is a transit-oriented development site within close proximity to three existing and future SkyTrain stations. The Expo Line’s Main Street-Science World Station is a nine-minute walk to the north, and the Millennium Line’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station and Mount Pleasant Station are an eight-minute walk to the east and a seven-minute walk to the south, respectively.

2025 concept of 1880-1898 Main St. and 1851 Lorne St., Vancouver. (Bingham Hill Architects/Cressey Development)

You might also like: