19-storey rental tower proposed near Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain station | Daily Hive

19-storey rental housing tower proposed near Broadway-City Hall SkyTrain station

Concept of 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Third Space Properties)

Local developer Third Space Properties has plans to achieve a new 19-storey, mixed-use rental housing tower near SkyTrain’s Broadway-City Hall Station.

A new rezoning application submitted to the City of Vancouver calls for the redevelopment of 324 West 10th Ave., which is a mid-block property currently occupied by a 1968-built, three-storey building with 35 rental homes.

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The property is located near the southwest corner of the intersection of Alberta Street and West 10th Avenue, just east of Vancouver City Hall, and about a five-minute walk from the future interchange between the Canada Line and Millennium Line.

324 west 10th avenue vancouver third space properties rental housing tower

Site of 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s Broadway-City Hall Station. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Site of 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver, in relation to its walking distance from SkyTrain’s Broadway-City Hall Station. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Concept of 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Third Space Properties)

Designed by local architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership, there will be a total of 181 secured purpose-built rental homes, including 145 market rental units and 36 below-market rental units. The unit size mix is 36 studios, 81 one-bedroom units, 44 two-bedroom units, and 20 three-bedroom units.

Residents will have access to various shared amenity spaces, including indoor and outdoor spaces on the second level and partial 18th level, and indoor spaces on the partial 19th level.

There will also be 2,600 sq. ft. of retail/restaurant space on the ground level.

Concept of 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Third Space Properties)

The proponents note that they are pitching a plan for a tower with larger floor plate sizes of 7,620 sq. ft., instead of 6,500 sq. ft. as prescribed by the City’s Broadway Plan.

By proposing a 19-storey tower — including the partial rooftop amenity levels — and slightly larger floor plates for the residential unit levels, the result is a more efficient building design than a taller 21-storey alternative, in accordance with the maximum height permitted by the Broadway Plan.

This not only lowers construction costs but also produces eight additional rental units in place of unusable circulation space for stairs, elevators, and corridors required for additional floors. It is also noted that the lower tower height reduces building shadowing.

Alternative concepts for 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Third Space Properties)

18 storey vs. alternative 20 storey concepts for 324 West 10th Ave., Vancouver. (Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership/Third Space Properties)

As proposed, the total building floor area will reach about 127,500 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio (FAR) density of a floor area that is 6.8 times larger than the size of the 18,744 sq. ft. lot.

Four underground levels will contain 128 vehicle parking stalls and 403 secure bike parking spaces.

Furthermore, the proponents assert that if 100 towers across the entire Broadway Plan were built with slightly larger 7,600 sq. ft. floor plates with a height of 18 storeys, instead of smaller floor plates of 6,500 sq. ft. reaching 20 storeys with the same floor area ratio (FAR) density under the Broadway Plan’s prescriptions, this would produce 800 more homes, including 160 more below-market rental homes. This would be equivalent to building 4.5 more towers.

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