29-storey condo and office tower proposed for downtown Vancouver

2023 concept artistic rendering of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

The redevelopment proposal replacing the 7-Eleven convenience store building at the southwest corner of the intersection of Davie and Hornby streets has now been at least a decade in the making.

Various designs have been proposed for the potential project at 904-920 Davie Street over the years, and it was previously slated to be primarily secured purpose-built rental housing.

But in 2022, local developer Reliance Properties indicated the changing economic conditions and physical design restrictions no longer make rental housing uses financially feasible, and instead, it needs to pivot the residential uses to strata ownership condominiums.

The marketplace challenges are also further compounded by the municipal government’s strict protected mountain view cone regulations and building shadowing considerations that reduce the shadowing of the surrounding streets. This has resulted in not only overall height restrictions but also highly irregular upper floor plate shapes that reduce floor space significantly and create less efficient residential unit layouts.

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The two view cones that impact the development site are View Cone B1, which emanates from the False Creek South seawall at Charleson Park, and View Cone CI, which emanates from the Laurel Street pedestrian bridge over West 6th Avenue.

904-920 Davie Street Vancouver condo tower 15

Site of the existing 7-Eleven at 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

902 davie street vancouver condo concept 2022

Site of the development lot at the existing 7-Eleven at 902 Davie Street, in relation to other Burrard Gateway buildings on the block. (Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

Existing condition:

904-920 Davie Street Vancouver condo tower

Site of the existing 7-Eleven at 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

2023 concept artistic rendering of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

Despite the artificial building height and form constraints, the project’s design team — Neil M. Denari Architects and Bingham & Hill Architects — interpret their design as one that is inspired by the shape of the local mountains, specifically the twin peaks of The Lions.

Currently, the municipal government is in the early stages of reviewing its view cone and shadowing policies. The proponents have noted that if the view cone and shadowing policies change in a way that provides their development site with more floor area through added height and/or building volume, they will “likely make the permitted changes to this application” through another resubmission.

“An Letter Of Enquiry (LOE) was originally submitted in 2015 and re-submitted in 2017 after incorporating various updates, with a Preapplication Open House carried out in 2018. The latest LOE submission was made in August 2022 and included changing the residential portion of the development from rental to strata, as well as updating the view cone, site, and context studies with the latest information available,” reads the application.

“The current rezoning application builds upon the feedback received from City Staff in Rezoning Enquiry Response Letter and increases the proposed building height while minimizing potential shadowing impacts onto the Davie Village.”

2023 concept artistic rendering of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

As currently proposed in the new rezoning application, this will be a 348-ft-tall, 29-storey mixed-use building with residential, office, and retail/restaurant uses.

There will be a total of 179 strata condominium homes, with a unit size mix of 22 studios, 67 one-bedroom units, 73 two-bedroom units, and 17 three-bedroom units.

Between levels two and six within the base podium, there will be about 37,000 sq ft of office space. Levels three to six will have a mix of office and residential uses.

At ground level, the building will provide just under 5,000 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses to activate the corner with the intersection.

2023 concept building uses of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

2023 concept artistic rendering of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

Nine underground levels will contain 219 vehicle parking stalls and over 400 bike parking spaces. The building will not have its own underground parkade ramp entrance, as it will instead use the same ramp entrance built for the existing One Burrard Place tower (Tower A) on the Drake Street end of the city block — accessed through an underground parkade level connection in the mid-block Two Burrard Place tower (Tower C), which is currently under construction. Both Tower A and Tower C are also developed by Reliance Properties as part of the Burrard Place complex.

The total building floor area is 194,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 12.9 times larger than the size of the 15,000 sq ft lot.

2023 concept artistic rendering of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

Diagram of 904-920 Davie Street, Vancouver. (Neil M. Denari Architects/Bingham & Hill Architects/Reliance Properties)

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