470,000 sq ft of rental homes and offices proposed next to new St. Paul's Hospital

The new St. Paul’s Hospital in the False Creek Flats has catalyzed a significant mixed-use redevelopment immediately adjacent to the hospital campus.

Strand Development is proposing to turn the food warehouse buildings on a 2.4-acre lot at 456-496 Prior Street into a pair of 14-storey towers on top of a five-storey podium, with the structures reaching a height of up to 200 ft.

• See also:
  • Construction officially begins on new $2.2 billion St. Paul’s Hospital (RENDERINGS)
  • New medical office tower proposed next to future St. Paul’s Hospital campus
  • First glimpse of the Hogan’s Alley redevelopment on the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown
  • City council approves $125-million False Creek Flats road on Prior-Venables
  • Opinion: New St. Paul’s Hospital campus will revitalize Vancouver’s Chinatown

The tower floors over the podium will contain 288 secured market rental homes, including 11 artist live/work studios.

The five floors within the podium will contain 243,964 sq ft of office space, responding to the immense future demand for office space — such as medical clinics and research uses — near the hospital.

Site of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Site of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Site of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

On the ground level, there will be about 16,000 sq ft of local-serving retail and restaurant space, with proponents highlighting the possibility for a grocery store.

The developer is also offering up to 10,000 sq ft of cultural amenity space on the ground level, with 4,413 sq ft contributed by the development as a community amenity contribution and 5,587 sq ft of expansion space that is subject to government funding.

The complex is designed by Francl Architecture and ETA Landscape Architects, which envisions green roofs for the rooftops of the podium and towers.

An internal courtyard and mews separating the two buildings provides outdoor space for residents, employees, and the public. It also serves the double purpose of establishing pedestrian connections between the hospital campus to the southwest, Trillium Park to the southeast, the Strathcona neighbourhood to the northeast, and Chinatown and the future Hogan’s Alley redevelopment to the northwest.

The redevelopment faces the emergency room entrance of the new hospital.

Preliminary conceptual design of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Layout of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Layout of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

After the hospital campus’ new road network and pedestrian connections are completed, it will be about a seven-minute walk from the development to SkyTrain’s Main Street-Science World Station.

The municipal government also has long-term plans to improve the connector/arterial functionality of Prior Street, as the result of the False Creek Flats Arterial Road planning process. This unfunded road project is expected to cost $125 million.

Preliminary conceptual design of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Preliminary conceptual design of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

In total, Strand Development’s proposal calls for roughly 470,000 sq ft of floor area for a floor space ratio density of a floor area that is 4.53 times larger than the size of the lot.

Not including the parking mezzanine level with nearly 700 bike parking spaces, three underground levels will accommodate 465 vehicle parking stalls.

This project is currently in the pre-application stage, which began in June 2020 with the submission of a rezoning inquiry. A formal rezoning application submission is expected later this year after the current pre-application public consultation.

Preliminary conceptual design of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Preliminary conceptual design of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

Layout of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

The new $2.2 billion main hospital building — significantly larger than the existing Burrard Street facility — will reach completion in 2027. Future phases of Providence Health Care’s 18-acre campus for the new St. Paul’s entail additional buildings with 600,000 sq ft of medical office and research space, 45,000 sq ft of retail and restaurant space, 140,000 sq ft of hotel space, and 71,000 sq ft of rental housing for healthcare workers.

Upon the full completion of all phases, the new hospital campus is expected to employ up to 10,000 people. This does not include Strand’s project and Keltic Development’s separate proposal for a 10-storey medical office and light industrial building with a total floor area of 102,000 sq ft, immediately northwest of the hospital campus at 220 Prior Street.

The critical mass of the area’s future employees and residents will serve to help revitalize Chinatown and its businesses.

Site of 456-496 Prior Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/Strand Development)

• See also:
  • Construction officially begins on new $2.2 billion St. Paul’s Hospital (RENDERINGS)
  • New medical office tower proposed next to future St. Paul’s Hospital campus
  • First glimpse of the Hogan’s Alley redevelopment on the edge of Vancouver’s Chinatown
  • City council approves $125-million False Creek Flats road on Prior-Venables
  • Opinion: New St. Paul’s Hospital campus will revitalize Vancouver’s Chinatown