Nine storey office and industrial building proposed near Olympic Village

Nine storey office and industrial building proposed near Vancouver Olympic Village

Artistic rendering of Project Phoenix at 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

An old two-storey automotive shop building near the northern edge of Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant Industrial Area could be redeveloped into a sizeable office and creative/light industrial building.

A new rezoning application by international developer Atelier Capital Partners — which is headquartered in Hong Kong and has offices in Vancouver and Singapore — calls for the redevelopment of 43-95 East 3rd Avenue.

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The development site is located at the northwest corner of the intersection of Quebec Street and East 3rd Avenue — immediately south of Earnest Ice Cream and the Olympic Village neighbourhood.

Site of 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

Site of 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

43-95 East 3rd Avenue Vancouver Gensler 12

Artistic rendering of Project Phoenix at 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

The redevelopment concept is designed by San Francisco-based internationally renowned architectural firm Gensler, which recently opened a Vancouver design studio.

This would be a 151-ft-tall, nine-storey building, with retail and creative/light industrial uses on the ground level, additional creative/light industrial uses within the second to fourth levels, office uses within the fifth to eighth levels, and shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces for building tenants on the entirety of the ninth-level rooftop.

The building will have a total floor area of about 156,000 sq ft, including 73,200 sq ft of creative/light industrial space and 67,400 sq ft of office space.

It is noted that the proponents are seeking permission for slightly larger floor plate areas. City policies limit the site’s conditions to a floor plate size of no more than 15,000 sq ft. The proposal is seeking slightly larger floor plate sizes of 16,992 sq ft.

According to the proponents, larger floor plates are more efficient, as this design consideration is “in line with current global and local market trends, and [the] needs of innovation tenants typical to the Mount Pleasant neighbourhood.”

Moreover, a minimum office floor plate size of 15,000 sq ft is generally preferred, while larger businesses looking to occupy creative/light industrial and office spaces in the Mount Pleasant Industrial Area prefer floor plate sizes in excess of 20,000 sq ft — a “standard ideal for 25,000 sq ft to 35,000 sq ft.”

Artistic rendering of Project Phoenix at 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

According to the client testimonials included in the application, floor plates smaller than 20,000 sq ft “make for inefficient layouts, increasing redundant common area requirements, travel distances, and decreasing collaboration… New developments with small floor plates have underperformed in the area due to lack of demand.”

As case examples, the application highlights the poor leasing activity performance of two recently constructed buildings nearby with similar mixed-use creative/light industrial and office uses. Due to their floor plate sizes of under 10,000 sq ft, after a year of reaching completion, they are still no more than 30% leased “due to lack of demand in this [smaller] size range, while projects with larger floor plates are typically 100% pre-leased prior to completion.”

As well, the proponents are seeking slightly higher ceiling heights for each of the four office levels — 15 ft, representing a 3 ft increase than the 12 ft requirement in such mixed-use creative/light industrial and office buildings. The higher ceiling heights for the office levels align with the technical needs of laboratory/office hybrid floor arrangements.

Artistic rendering of Project Phoenix at 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

The building’s architectural design is said to take inspiration from the neighbouring heritage structure where Earnest Ice Cream is located.

“In the existing building, brick pilasters extend from ground level to the cornice, imparting an attractive vertical rhythm that defines the punctuated window pattern. This imparts depth to the façade and a consistent scale to each side of the building. We’ve replicated the proportions of these window bays on the new building to maintain the vertical rhythm both at street level and up the entire elevation, harmonizing with the overall block and reducing the building’s perceived scale,” reads Gensler’s design rationale.

“The primary building material is a terracotta rainscreen system, taking its color and textural cues from the heritage bricks of the neighbourhood. These rich, brown-red panels will infuse vibrancy into the visual texture of the area and offer a warm ambiance for the building’s occupants. In a nod to Mount Pleasant’s historical associations, the glazing on the 3rd Avenue and Quebec Street recessed second floor, features a slump glass Insulated Glass Unit (IGU) with a rippling texture, reminiscent of the glass bottles once synonymous with the area’s breweries.”

Existing condition:

Site of 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

Artistic rendering of Project Phoenix at 43-95 East 3rd Avenue, Vancouver. (Atelier Capital Partners/Gensler)

The building’s floor area ratio density will reach a floor area that is six times larger than the size of the 24,200 sq ft lot. The development site falls under the City’s Broadway Plan.

Furthermore, three underground levels will contain 137 vehicle parking stalls and 62 secure bike parking spaces.

The site is within close walking distance to four existing and future SkyTrain stations — about a 10-minute walking distance from Main Street-Science World Station to the north, the future Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station to the east, and the future Mount Pleasant Station to the south, and about a 15-minute walk from SkyTrain Olympic Village Station to the west.

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