This Downtown Eastside building was anticipated for some time. The site is big, and was vacant for several years. It was previously owned by Concord Pacific who designed a condo project here, but some years later handed it on to the City of Vancouver as part of a Community Amenity Contribution package that allowed Concord to build additional density near Cambie Bridgehead.
An initial proposal for a ten-storey mixed-use building designed by W T Leung was submitted in 2017. It had small scale retail uses on the ground floor, with a health care clinic and medical and dental offices occupying the rear portion of the ground floor, as well as the second and third floors. The upper floors had a 12 foot setback on the west side, needed there because of the windows on the side of the adjacent building.
The project was revised following the comments of the Urban Design Panel. It now has 231 non-market rental units with 54 of them 2-bed family apartments. It’s been developed by The Chinatown Foundation working with Vancouver Affordable Housing Agency. Given the location and the need in that area it will have a mix of low-income tenants, including some families, and will be managed by a third-party housing operator. In October last year it was reported that the $30 million that the foundation plans to contribute would allow 125 units to be rented out at subsidized rates. Seven years after first being proposed the wraps have just come off, and the sidewalks are being poured, and it’s created an attractive (and substantial infill that should help provide much-needed health services, and one of the biggest non-market buildings in the city.
Changing City Updates 