Eye-catching skinny tower on Granville approved by Vancouver City Council

Eye-catching skinny office tower on Granville approved by Vancouver City Council

Artistic rendering of 524-526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

With a height of 320 ft and a street frontage width of only 50 ft, the upcoming office tower at 526 Granville Street is bound to be a head turner.

The tower’s skinny width from the west-east perspectives and bold contemporary design rising above a heritage building will be a landmark addition to the Central Business District of downtown Vancouver.

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The rezoning application for the project by local developer Bonnis Properties was approved by Vancouver City Council on Thursday evening in an 8-1 vote, with TEAM Councillor Colleen Hardwick opposed, and Green Party Councillor Pete Fry and ABC Councillor Lisa Dominato absent from the vote. The proposal, first submitted in 2020, was approved extremely swiftly with no public speakers and debate.

Artistic rendering of 526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

524-526 Granville Street Vancouver office tower

Artistic rendering of 524-526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

The 24-storey tower’s narrow street frontage is the direct result of its limited footprint on a single small lot. The facade of the 1899-built, three-storey “Leckie Block” retail and office building will be retained, preserved, and integrated as the lower floors of the office tower that will rise above.

Retail space will occupy half of the ground level of the Class B listed heritage building, with the remainder used as the office lobby, including the squeezing in of three elevators and a service elevator.

The Leckie Block, designed by architect George William Grant, is considered a good example of the Romanesque style of architecture. The namesake of the building comes from its early tenant, John Leckie & Co., an outfitter shop that sold fishing supplies and marine hardware. The building was also previously a branch of the Imperial Bank of Canada.

Existing condition of 524-526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

Artistic rendering of 526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

Over a century later, the office tower concept by architectural firm Perkins & Will tapers the lowest floors of the contemporary vertical addition around the heritage base, creating a greater contrast between the old and new, while also creating outdoor amenity space for office tenants.

The tower gains its striking look not just from its narrow street frontage, but its visible “diagrid structure” to reduce the lateral sway of the slender building. This means the exoskeleton will support the tower, instead of the conventional concept of a structural core.

Artistic rendering of 526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

Artistic rendering of 524-526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

The lot size is 5,996 sq ft, which constrains most of the floor sizes to about 5,300 sq ft. But according to city staff, the developer has indicated that their market analysis reveals strong demand for smaller floor plates, in addition to the highly touted demand for large spaces. Unlike most new office buildings, which are rentals, this project will generate strata office space.

The total floor area is about 129,000 sq ft, providing the project with a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 21.5 times larger than the size of the lot.

If they were given the opportunity, the proponents would likely have designed a taller tower, given that their approved design reaches the absolute ceiling of the site’s height restrictions — just below the most restrictive of three mountain view cones that cross through the site, View Cone 3 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park. If view cones were not a factor, the next policy regulation would limit the building’s height to 450 ft.

Given the retention of the heritage building and the lot’s narrow size, zero vehicle parking is planned, but there will be an underground level with 95 secured bike parking spaces. The site is also within very close proximity to bus stops with high-frequency routes and SkyTrain’s Granville and Waterfront stations.

Site of 526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

Diagram of 526 Granville Street, Vancouver. (Perkins & Will/Bonnis Properties)

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