Two towers with 679 rental homes proposed at Joyce-Collingwood SkyTrain

Artistic rendering of the rental housing towers at 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Intracorp Homes)

A significant infusion of new secured purpose-built rental housing supply could be built immediately next to SkyTrain Joyce-Collingwood Station.

Intracorp Homes has submitted a new rezoning application to redevelop 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, located just across the street from the SkyTrain station’s west entrance.

Two new rental housing towers — 30 storeys and 33 storeys — would reach a height of up to 300 ft, which is the maximum height allowed on adjacent sites by the municipal government’s Joyce-Collingwood Station Precinct Plan.

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There are unique circumstances with the existing building that are driving the desire for redevelopment.

The development site includes a 1993-built, 12-storey condominium building that was not previously contemplated for redevelopment by the City’s previous precinct planning process, due to its relatively young age. But this existing mid-rise building is in very poor condition, as it is amongst the numerous “leaky condo” buildings as a result of poor construction practices and building codes in the 1990s.

The building exterior is deemed so problematic that the City of Vancouver issued an “Unsafe Order” in October 2019. According to the application, as insurance will not cover the repair costs, the building’s residential and retail strata owners must sell their property for its redevelopment potential. If they are unable to redevelop the building, the residents are expected to see a repair bill of $75,000 to $100,000 per unit.

3362-3384 Vanness Avenue Vancouver Rental Housing Intracorp

Site of 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Site of 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver, including the problematic existing 12-storey condo tower. (Google Maps)

The developer is proposing to generate a total of 679 rental homes in this two-tower redevelopment.

The developer is looking to set aside 10% of the residential floor area at 10% below CMHC city-wide average rents due to the challenging economics of achieving the typical 20% ratio for this location. The vast majority of these rental homes will be market rate, and the precise number of below-market units will be subject to negotiation with the City.

The unit size mix is 372 studio units, 70 one-bedroom units, and 237 two-bedroom units.

Artistic rendering of the rental housing towers at 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Intracorp Homes)

Indoor and outdoor amenity spaces for residents are planned for both tower rooftops, as well as the seventh level, including an outdoor amenity space on the rooftop of the six-storey podium that connects the towers.

A 5,400 sq ft childcare facility on the laneway side will have a capacity for up to 37 kids.

Nearly 9,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level will activate the building’s frontage with Vanness Street.

Artistic rendering of the rental housing towers at 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Intracorp Homes)

According to Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects, the unconventional shape and facade of the towers is inspired by the area’s urban environment. The V-shaped, tapered gap between the towers is based on the artificial valley-like urban form of the growing number of towers that line the elevated guideway of SkyTrain Expo Line, particularly when viewed from the front of the train.

The regular pattern of continuous horizontal white bands on the facades of the tower take inspiration from the nearby Telus “The Boot” office building in Burnaby, which is also eyed for redevelopment.

Artistic rendering of the rental housing towers at 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Intracorp Homes)

The use of multicoloured glass for both the resident amenity spaces and continuous glass awnings along Vanness Avenue are said to be inspired by the colourful public art added to the SkyTrain station as part of the transit hub’s 2019-completed renovation.

Four underground levels will contain 214 vehicle parking stalls and about 1,300 secured bike parking spaces.

The proposed total floor area is 434,200 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 11.34 times larger than the size of the 38,300 sq ft lot.

Artistic rendering of the rental housing towers at 3362-3384 Vanness Avenue, Vancouver. (Boniface Oleksiuk Politano Architects/Intracorp Homes)

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