14-storey Ronald McDonald House to be built in Vancouver for sick kids

Concept for Ronald McDonald House's Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture/Ronald McDonald House BC)

The local charitable organization that provides seriously ill kids and their families with a highly affordable place to stay in Vancouver, while they receive specialized medical treatment, is planning a major expansion.

Ronald McDonald House BC (RMHBC) has revealed their plans to build a new 179-ft-tall, 14-storey hotel-style tower with 75 suites to double the charity’s capacity to accommodate more families on a short- and longer-term basis.

According to the charity, they estimate that there is a need for 150 suites within 10 years, which is 77 more than the existing capacity. The demand for their services is increasing, with over 500 families turned away each year.

They are outpacing the capacity of Ronald McDonald House’s 2014-built, four-storey facility with 73 hotel-style suites at 4567 Heather Street in Vancouver. About 2,000 families stay at the existing Heather Street facility each year.

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For 40 years, RMHBC has supported the needs of over 25,000 families with sick children across BC and the Yukon who must temporarily relocate to Vancouver to receive specialized medical treatment.

The average stay per family is 29 days, with the longest stays at one to two years. With the average stay only being about one month, one long-term stay would mean that about 12 short-term stay families will be turned away.

The new additional 14-storey facility will continue to serve families from all over British Columbia — particularly those who live outside the Lower Mainland — and the Yukon, but are five to over 10 hours away from specialized treatment for their children.

Ronald McDonald House BC 4567 Heather Street Vancouver

The existing 2014-built Ronald McDonald House at 4567 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture)

Families at the existing Heather Street facility stay at a highly affordable rate of $12 per night, which is equivalent to about $360 over the course of the average month-long stay. The expansion facility will have a similar rate.

“Families are essentially relocating to Vancouver for months or even years at a time so that their seriously ill children can receive medical treatment. RMHBC provides community, connection, programming, but given the length of stay, families also need family space and privacy,” reads the new rezoning application.

“With most of the families traveling from far away, the need for affordable shelter, home cooked food, and keeping families close is paramount to the healing of their seriously ill children.”

The existing 2014-built Ronald McDonald House at 4567 Heather Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture)

This new additional facility is intended to provide more long-term stay capacity, with greater considerations to the private living and kitchen space needs, as part of the “home away from home” hotel-style concept for the recovery of these children.

“The new house augments the capacity of the existing facility by fulfilling a different need, specifically for families requiring longer stays. Fully furnished and outfitted suites with private cooking facilities promote self-sufficiency, boosts dignity and relieves social fatigue, which may develop over many weeks or months of a hospital treatment. This offering reduces the demand on the existing house, and on other affordable housing in the vicinity,” reads the application.

The project will be built at 4910-4950 Willow Street, replacing three single-family houses at the southeast corner of the intersection of West 33rd Avenue and Willow Street. RMHBC recently formed the land assembly required through property acquisitions.

This location is strategically located in very close proximity to RMHBC’s Heather Street facility, which are both just south of the BC Children’s Hospital campus. The charity notes that they expect demand for their services will grow, as the provincial government is consolidating pediatric care for seriously ill children at this hospital location.

The site is also immediately west of MST Development Corporation’s Heather Lands redevelopment, east of Eric Hamber Secondary School, and south of Providence Health Care’s new major long-term care facility for seniors at the former site of St. Vincent’s Hospital, which was recently approved by Vancouver City Council. The facility will be immediately adjacent of the Heather Lands’ future First Nations cultural centre.

Ronald McDonald House BC 4910-4950 Willow Street Vancouver

Location of Ronald McDonald House’s Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture/Ronald McDonald House BC)

Concept for Ronald McDonald House’s Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture/Ronald McDonald House BC)

Location of Ronald McDonald House’s Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Google Maps)

The unit size mix is 18 studios, 42 one-bedroom units, and 15 two-bedroom units. Under the City of Vancouver’s policies, these 75 suites are technically classified as social housing.

The suites will be located within levels three to 13. There will be shared indoor amenity spaces within levels one to four and level 14, and shared outdoor amenity spaces on levels two to four and 14.

These shared amenities include dining facilities and communal kitchens to enable cooking activities for both individual families and groups of multiple families, hobby rooms, play spaces, remote office work spaces, healing lounges and decks, and a large patio on the tower rooftop.

Designed by Michael Green Architecture, the tower aims to be “architecturally synonymous” with the existing Heather Street facility, also created by the same architectural design firm. It features a “playful” design with pitched roofs and a pattern of punched windows.

The tower’s exterior will have a shingle-like facade pattern, potentially with the use of ceramics, natural stone, slate, and/or metal panels.

Concept for Ronald McDonald House’s Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture/Ronald McDonald House BC)

“The design concept centres around using natural landscapes to create community throughout the building. This concept manifests in the design through the creation of dynamic volumes, facilitating views looking outward and inward, while maintaining connectivity across masses,” reads the application.

“The building is composed such that greater volumes look outwards to key views, reminiscent of mountain and sky. Smaller volumes centre around communal spaces, creating a focused ‘valley’ of activity and views inward from the rest of the building. These concepts of valley, treetops, mountain and sky have inspired the design of RMHBC Willow, creating a dynamic variety of spaces.”

Artistic renderings show that the interior spaces will feature extensive use of wood materials to create warm and inviting private and shared community living areas.

Concept for Ronald McDonald House’s Willow Street facility at 4910-4950 Willow Street, Vancouver. (Michael Green Architecture/Ronald McDonald House BC)

Three underground levels will contain 77 vehicle parking stalls for families and staff.

The gross floor area of the project is 139,000 sq ft, and the total outdoor area is 47,000 sq ft.

To proceed with the project as envisioned with its unique considerations and needs, RMHBC is requesting design variances because the Willow Street facility concept differs from the stipulations and requirements outlined in the City’s Cambie Corridor Plan for the site.

Some families with sick members receiving specialized treatment in Vancouver often use tourist hotels and short-term rentals for their stays. However, with a severe shortage of hotel rooms in Metro Vancouver — leading to higher nightly rates even for older and lower-star accommodations — and increased restrictions on short-term rental platforms like Airbnb by provincial and municipal governments, demand for tourist hotels has surged.

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