25-storey mass timber rental housing tower proposed for Main Street (RENDERINGS)

25-storey mass timber rental housing tower proposed for Main Street in Mount Pleasant (RENDERINGS)

October 2022 artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Westbank is pushing forward with its proposal to build a 25-storey mass timber rental housing tower as the fifth phase of its Main Alley tech campus in Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant district.

New artistic renderings and details outlined in a newly submitted rezoning application show how “M5” or Prototype, the name of the building, will fit into a surface parking at 2015 Main Street at the northwest corner of the intersection of Main Street and East 4th Avenue.

Designed by Henriquez Partners Architects, this will be the first case study for the developer’s Net Zero Lifecycle Carbon prototype, with the design intended to be replicated and the first of many super-green buildings.

Along with the benefits of the mass timber construction and the operating benefits throughout the building’s lifespan, the building will also be connected to Creative Energy’s district cooling system in the area, owned by Westbank.

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While there will be four underground levels, there will be zero vehicle parking. All underground level spaces will be dedicated to rental tenant storage uses and 377 secured bike parking spaces. Instead, rental tenants seeking vehicle parking will use the available parking spaces within the adjacent future Main Alley office buildings, which have been designed with extra parking supply. This project also takes into account that it is within close walking proximity to SkyTrain’s future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr and Mount Pleasant stations.

2015 main street vancouver main alley prototype m5

Site of Prototype/M5 within the Main Alley tech campus at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Existing condition of 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

October 2022 concept for Prototype/M5 (left) and the future M6 phase (right) of Main Alley at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects)

The tower itself will contain 210 secured rental homes, including 168 market units and 42 below-market units. The overall unit size mix is 53 studios, 84 one-bedroom units, 53 two-bedroom units, and 20 three-bedroom units.

A commercial retail/restaurant space of about 3,800 sq ft will be located within the ground level. The tower’s top floor will be entirely dedicated to both indoor and outdoor amenity spaces for residents.

The overall architectural concept is described as “latticework inspired by the woven pattern of traditional baskets,” with angled cladding patterns providing solar shading. There will be ample public art opportunities, including facades suitable for showcase murals, and the public spaces will be integrated with the rest of the Main Alley tech campus, including a future phase immediately to the north.

October 2022 artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

As it turns out, there are now plans to redevelop Main Alley’s first building of M1, which currently has WeWork as its anchor tenant. The 1947-built, 55,000 sq ft, two-storey building, previously used as the RBC Visa Centre, was extensively renovated in 2019 prior to its current uses as office space.

Westbank has indicated it will seek to redevelop M1 in a future separate rezoning application into a 22-storey building — named M6 — with a three-storey base podium containing retail/restaurant uses and a fitness gym, and residential uses in the tower above. There will also be some underground vehicle parking.

Both Prototype (M5) and M6 are within the industrial zoning of the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area, but the municipal government’s recently enacted Broadway Plan permits such commercial and rental housing uses in towers up to 25 storeys. Prototype’s height of 256 ft also maximizes the height allowance to the underside of the protected mountain view cone emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park.

The total floor area proposed for Prototype is 217,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 6.22 times larger than the size of the lot.

October 2022 concept for Prototype/M5 and the future M6 phase (right) of Main Alley at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects)

October 2022 concept for Prototype/M5 (left) and the future M6 phase (right) of Main Alley at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects)

October 2022 artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

Earlier this year, construction began on Main Alley’s M4 building — a nine-storey building with 167,000 sq ft of office space, and 38,000 sq ft of retail and creative industrial spaces. Global animation and visual effects studio Animal Logic will occupy 110,000 sq ft of M4’s office space, allowing them to expand in the city with 300 more jobs.

M2 is a new 175,000 sq ft office building that reached completion earlier in 2022, and it is fully leased.

M3 is an existing office building with Hootsuite’s second office location, and it will undergo major renovations and a vertical expansion.

All buildings in Main Alley’s various phases will have a combined total floor area of roughly 800,000 sq ft of tech-oriented office and creative industrial space.

Beyond Main Alley, the other projects in the immediate vicinity include a 12-storey tech office/creative industrial building at 123 East 6th Avenue, and a future redevelopment of City Centre Motel, immediately to the north.

October 2022 artistic rendering of Prototype/M5 at 2015 Main Street, Vancouver. (Henriquez Partners Architects/Westbank)

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