16,000 jobs forfeited near two SkyTrain stations due to Vancouver view cones

16,000 jobs and 3.4 million sq ft of building floor area forfeited near two SkyTrain stations due to Vancouver view cones

View cones 9.1 and 9.2 (left) and potential tower development forms under the Broadway Plan (right). (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

The findings of a new analysis adds to the growing debate over the housing, job space, and economic impacts of Vancouver’s strict regime that limits new building heights to preserve view cones of the mountains.

As part of its rezoning application outlining its proposal to build a 10-storey office building at 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Nicola Wealth Real Estate and architectural firm Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership looked into the forfeited development potential due to three view cones that cross through the area.

It specifically looked into the approximate seven city blocks that form the City’s Broadway Plan’s “FUCC” area at the south end of the Cambie Street Bridge.

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Two SkyTrain stations serve the FUCC area — Olympic Village Station just to the north on the Canada Line is closest, and Broadway-City Hall Station is only a five-minute walk away to the south. In 2026, Broadway-City Hall Station will become one of the busiest transit hubs in Metro Vancouver, when it becomes a major interchange between the Canada Line and the new Millennium Line extension.

“FUCC” area at the south end of the Cambie Street Bridge within the Broadway Plan. (City of Vancouver)

Existing condition of the “FUCC” area around 2219-2285 Cambie Street (left) and the future potential development form under the City’s Broadway Plan, existing View Cone policies, and tower separation guidelines (right). (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

But the development potential of the area to optimize transit-oriented is highly constrained due to two nearby view cones on Cambie Street next to Vancouver City Hall — View Cone 9.1 emanates from the intersection with West 10th Avenue, and View Cone 9.2 emanates from the intersection with West 12th Avenue.

Based on their analysis, the height restrictions imposed by both view cones combined suppress the potential development of 3.27 million sq ft of additional building floor area within FUCC. This includes 1.8 million sq ft in loss floor area due to View Cone 9.1, and 1.47 million sq ft in View Cone 9.2.

Imagine this as if it were like stripping down the layers of a cake: Each view cone eliminates up to nine storeys of potential height and density, depending on the precise site in FUCC.

It should also be noted that in the vast majority of relevant building proposals, developers are known maximize the permitted density allowed on the development site, including touching the artificial height ceiling imposed by the view cone.

2219-2285 Cambie Street Vancouver view cone 1

View cones 9.1 and 9.2 over the “FUCC” area of the Broadway Plan. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

2219-2285 Cambie Street Vancouver view cone 3

Building height impacts due to View Cone 3.1 (green), View Cone 9.1 (purple), View Cone 9.2 (blue), View Cone 3.1 (green), and the southward City Hall view cones (red). (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

2219-2285 Cambie Street Vancouver view cone 2

Potential additional height and density as a result of removing View Cone 9.1 (purple), View Cone 9.2 (blue), and View Cone 3.1 (green) with the “FUCC” area of the Broadway Plan. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

All of this is based on retaining the wide-sweeping View Cone 3.1 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park, and other City policies.

This total suppressed floor area is equivalent to the original four office towers of Bentall Centre (1.5 million sq ft), The Post with Amazon’s new offices (1.3 million sq ft), and the Telus Garden office tower (0.5 million sq ft) put together.

Both view cones combined forfeit a combined total of over 16,000 potential jobs due to the reduced employment space, with View Cone 9.1 responsible for suppressing 9,000 jobs, and View Cone 9.2 suppressing 7,350 jobs.

Bentall Centre office complex’s original four towers in downtown Vancouver. (Hudson Pacific Properties)

amazon the post south tower vancouver september 2023

Amazon’s office space in the South Tower of The Post in downtown Vancouver, September 2023. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

The office tower of the TELUS Garden complex. (Westbank)

The reduced floor area due to suppressed height results in the poorer financial viability to achieve building projects, fewer/reduced public benefits, fewer business and economic opportunities, fewer people in the area to support existing retail and restaurants, limited potential new demand to catalyze new retail and restaurants, and lower potential SkyTrain ridership to support the major investments into the public transit infrastructure.

FUCC is part of a larger area within Central Broadway that is intended to be Vancouver’s second central business district — where only non-residential uses for job creation are permitted, such as retail, restaurant, service, office, hotel, cultural, and institutional uses.

As for Nicola Wealth Real Estate’s proposed 10-storey office building project at 2219-2285 Cambie Street, it is estimated both view cones will force the developer to build six fewer office floors, resulting in a suppression of over 80,000 sq ft of potential additional office space and 533 potential additional office workers. Due to the height restrictions, their compliant rezoning application with a 127-ft-tall, 10-storey would catalyze 57% fewer office jobs.

View Cone 9.1 impact on 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

View Cone 9.2 impact on 2219-2285 Cambie Street, Vancouver. (Nicola Wealth Real Estate/Musson Cattell Mackey Partnership)

A commercial real estate consultant also previously told Daily Hive Urbanized that view cones combined with shadowing considerations (restricting building shadows on parks, intersections, and shopping streets) have had an “astronomical negative economic impact on Vancouver.” They estimated that over a 20-year period, the cumulative impact of the restrictive policies have prevented the creation of as much as nine million sq ft of residential and office floor area across the downtown Vancouver peninsula and Central Broadway, based on their direct and indirect involvement with various projects.

Early in 2024, City of Vancouver staff are expected to report back to Vancouver City Council’s direction to determine the amount of additional housing, job space, hotel space, and public benefits that could potentially be built on sites currently impacted by building height restrictions due to view cones deemed to be “obsolete” and/or “no longer functionally relevant.” This could result in the removal of some of the northward view cones of the mountains.

There are 26 northward view cones that cross over Vancouver’s central areas of the downtown Vancouver peninsula and the Central Broadway area, as well as the northern areas of East Vancouver.

In March 2023, City Council also directed City staff to remove some of the southward view cones, which are lesser known protected views of Vancouver City Hall. These southward view cones also particular impact the development potential of the FUCC area.

vancouver view cones protected mountain views f

Existing protected mountain view cones. (City of Vancouver)

false creek protected view cones vancouver

The two retained protected southward view cones of Vancouver City Hall would be added to the overall View Protection Guidelines. The two retained City Hall view cones are shown in red. (City of Vancouver)

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