10-storey office building proposed for south end of Cambie Street Bridge

2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Robinson Lighting and Bath at the south end of the Cambie Street Bridge in Vancouver could be redeveloped into a 10-storey building with office and retail/restaurant uses.

A new rezoning application by Nicola Wealth Real Estate calls for the redevelopment of the existing two-storey retail building at 2219-2285 Cambie Street — located at the prominent northwest corner of the intersection of Cambie Street and West 7th Avenue, immediately west of Canadian Tire and Best Buy.

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The development site is one of Metro Vancouver’s best-served areas by public transit, with frequent bus routes and SkyTrain’s Olympic Village Station and Broadway-City Hall Station within very close proximity. By 2026, Broadway-City Hall Station will become one of the region’s busiest transit hubs when the Millennium Line extension opens and turns the station into an interchange between two SkyTrain lines.

Site of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Site of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver, in proximity to bus routes and SkyTrain stations. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Site of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Existing condition:

Site of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

This proposal by local architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership outlines a hybrid mass-timber design concept containing about 120,000 sq ft of total building floor area. This includes 109,000 sq ft of office space in the upper levels and nearly 5,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level.

As proposed, the 10-storey building will create a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 7.48 times larger than the size of the lot. Four underground levels will contain 116 vehicle parking stalls and 58 secured bike parking spaces.

Artistic rendering of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

These commercial uses align with the City’s Broadway Plan, which stipulates that non-residential uses (retail/service, office, hotel, cultural, and institutional) for job creation are only permitted for this particular site.

There is a focus on job space, given that this area of Central Broadway — under the Broadway Plan — is seen as Vancouver’s second central business district.

Artistic rendering of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

57% fewer job spaces due to view cones

With a building height of 127 ft, the proposal also abides by the City’s strict protected mountain view cone policies regulating new building heights. Three view cones cross over the property — view cone 3.1 emanating from the peak of Queen Elizabeth Park, and view cones 9.2 and 9.1, which emanate just a few blocks to the south from Cambie Street next to Vancouver City Hall.

View Cone 9.1 impact on 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

View Cone 9.2 impact on 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

But the application goes to great lengths to suggest that if it could, the developer would build taller for added job density, especially with the future Millennium Line extension’s arrival.

“The addition of the Broadway Line station at City Hall connects this neighbourhood to much of the region via rapid transit. Approaching uptown from the north provides a notable opportunity for the site to partake in marking an arrival experience from the Cambie Bridge, serving as a pivotal link between downtown and uptown,” reads the application.

“If we consider rapid transit as a sustainable catalyst for both increased density and economic vitality, then this pivotal intersection of two rapid transit lines warrants an amplified architectural form to fully harness the potential of the soon-to-be complete infrastructure.”

Artistic rendering of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Potential additional height and density for 2210-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver, if view cones 9.1 and 9.2 were removed. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

The office uses within the submitted 10-storey proposal will have enough space for 411 office workers.

According to the proponents, if the lowermost view cone — 9.1 emanating from the intersection of Cambie Street and West 10th Avenue — were removed, they would build a 12-storey building with 158,500 sq ft of commercial uses for up to 544 office workers. This translates to two more floors with 26,672 sq ft of additional job space and 133 additional office workers.

If the second highest view cone were removed, they could achieve a 16-storey tower with 175,156 sq ft of commercial uses for up to 944 office workers. This removal of View Cone 9.2, which emanates from the intersection of Cambie Street and West 12th Avenue, would enable six more floors with over 80,000 sq ft of additional job space and 533 additional office workers, which would more than double the number of office workers compared to the real 10-storey proposal.

Theoretical 12-storey concept without View Cone 9.1:

2219-2285 Cambie Street Vancouver view cone 12 storeys

Theoretical 12-storey concept for 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver, from the elimination of View Cone 9.1. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Theoretical 16-storey concept without view cones 9.1 and 9.2:

2219-2285 Cambie Street Vancouver view cone 16 storeys

Theoretical 16-storey concept for 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver, from the elimination of view cones 9.1 and 9.2. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

Both of these theoretical added height examples are based on the continued adherence to other policies and the height restrictions of View Cone 3.1 from Queen Elizabeth Park, which is a wide-spanning view cone covering much of Central Broadway and the downtown Vancouver peninsula.

The proponents’ analysis also looked at the development potential of a few adjacent city blocks in the immediate area if view cones 9.1 and 9.2 were not a consideration. It found that the removal of both of these particular view cones could result in about 3.4 million in additional commercial floor area and over 16,000 more jobs than what is currently allowed.

Artistic rendering of 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

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