27-storey tower proposed near Cambie and Smithe corner in downtown Vancouver

Mar 10 2023, 11:07 pm

A commercial-use property near the northeast corner of the intersection of Smithe Street and Cambie Street in downtown Vancouver could see a sizeable redevelopment.

Local developer Nonni Property Group is in the early stages of preparing a formal application submission to the municipal government to redevelop 888 Cambie Street.

The site is currently occupied by the 1944-built, two-storey, Stanley Brock office building, with Global Village language school being its primary tenant.

Few details are available at this time, but preliminary artistic renderings show the possibility of a 27-storey tower. The developer has indicated this could be a mixed-use development, with a potential combination of condominiums, rental housing, and commercial uses within the base levels.

The artistic renderings also show the existing 1944-built structure will be retained and integrated as the base of the tower.

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

Preliminary artistic rendering of the redevelopment of the Stanley Brock Building at 888 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nonni Property Group)

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

Preliminary artistic rendering of the redevelopment of the Stanley Brock Building at 888 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nonni Property Group)

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

Preliminary artistic rendering of the redevelopment of the Stanley Brock Building at 888 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nonni Property Group)

The tower’s design is broken up into different volumes, not entirely dissimilar to Telus Garden’s residential tower, except for the use of materials that provide a nod to the heritage structure. Deep cavities on the side of the tower create several outdoor amenity spaces for residents at different levels of the building.

The City of Vancouver’s Heritage Register lists the existing building as a Class C heritage property.

Prior to its conversion into office uses, the existing building was previously a warehouse. It is amongst a cluster of former warehouse buildings that form a horseshoe-shaped configuration around the unique block, as the 17-metre-wide, north-south laneway, and surface parking behind these buildings were previously space for two parallel railway spurs servicing each side of the warehouses on Cambie Street and Beatty Street.

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

Site of the Stanley Brock Building at 888 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

Site of the Stanley Brock Building at 888 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

888 Cambie Street Vancouver Stanley Brock Building Nonni Group

The existing laneway, a former railway loading area, for former warehouses on the city block, as seen from Smithe Street. (Google Maps)

Up until the 1980s, before the Expo ’86 World’s Fair, much of the north side of False Creek was a railyard serving warehouses and other industrial businesses.

The Stanley Brock building that exists at this site was designed by architectural firm McCarter & Nairne, which also designed the iconic Marine Building tower downtown.

Nonni Property Group is known for projects such as the 2017-built, 10-storey office building at 510 Seymour Street, and the 2021-built, 17-storey Fraser Commons residential and retail tower at 725 Southeast Marine Drive.

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