New renderings of a 28-storey social housing tower with a fire hall in Vancouver

New renderings of a 28-storey social housing tower with a fire hall in downtown Vancouver

Artistic rendering of 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/City of Vancouver)

There are now new artistic renderings showing the detailed architectural design of the plan to build a 28-storey, mixed-use tower with social housing, a fire hall, and a childcare facility at the southeast corner of the intersection of Beatty Street and Nelson Street in downtown Vancouver.

This project is being spearheaded by the City of Vancouver internally, with the Department of Non-Market Housing Development and Operations now submitting a development permit application to advance the development. The project’s design firms are Francl Architecture and Groundswell Landscape Architecture.

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The property at 990 Beatty Street, recently transferred to the municipal government for the purpose of creating affordable housing, is currently vacant. It is located just next to Nelson Street’s southbound on-ramp onto the Cambie Street Bridge.

It is the first of three affordable housing sites in downtown Vancouver within the Concord Pacific Place lands within North False Creek that saw their rezoning application approved by Vancouver City Council this past summer.

Unique to this project is the incorporation of a new fire hall within the base podium’s lower levels, which will replace the existing Fire Hall 8 facility located about two blocks away at the northwest corner of the intersection of Smithe and Mainland streets in Yaletown.

Existing condition of the site at 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Existing condition:

Existing condition of the site at 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Existing condition of the site at 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

Future condition:

990 Beatty Street Vancouver social housing fire hall

Artistic rendering of 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/City of Vancouver)

The fire hall will have about 16,600 sq ft of floor area across three levels, with four fire truck bays fronting Beatty Street. There will be an outdoor patio on the third level of the fire hall, next to the facility’s four-storey “hose tower” at the corner of the prominent intersection.

Deputy Fire Chief Tyler Moore previously told City Council the existing facility is seismically vulnerable and undersized for its actual uses, as it currently has three crews assigned but just two fire truck bays. With thousands of calls per month, it is amongst the busiest fire halls in Vancouver. The new location next to the Cambie Street Bridge on-ramp will also enable crews to respond to calls on the south side of False Creek.

There will also be a childcare facility for up to 44 kids within a 5,700 sq ft indoor space on the fifth level, with an adjoining 8,400 sq ft outdoor play area on the rooftop of the fire hall.

Artistic rendering of 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/City of Vancouver)

Layout of 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/City of Vancouver)

The remaining floor area within the base podium and the 282-ft-tall tower will contain 283 social housing units, with a unit size mix of 84 studios, 91 one-bedroom units, 87 two-bedroom units, and 21 three-bedroom units. It is anticipated roughly 10% of the homes will be set aside at shelter rate rents.

Residents will have access to various common indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on both the 10th and 28th rooftop levels.

Two underground levels accessible from Expo Boulevard will contain 30 vehicle parking stalls and about 500 secured bike parking spaces.

The total building floor area will reach about 234,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 7.54 times larger than the size of the 31,000 sq ft lot.

Artistic rendering of 990 Beatty Street, Vancouver. (Francl Architecture/City of Vancouver)

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