Burrard Place reaches for the sky
Massive multi-tower, multi-use project will be third-tallest building in Vancouver
When Skyfront at Burrard Place breaks ground as expected at the end of next year, the multi-tower development will be the largest project of its kind in downtown Vancouver since the 2009 redevelopment of the Woodward’s building in Gastown, project developers say.
The site situated within Burrard, Hornby and Drake streets will eventually give rise to two residential towers, including one that will stand 54 storeys, making it the third tallest tower in downtown Vancouver after the Shangri-La and Trump Tower. It would also be the largest real estate project in the Jim Pattison Group stable of assets.
The $500-million, mixeduse development, co-developed by the Pattison Group and Reliance Properties Ltd., will include more than 800 residential units, including 87 market rental units, and a third 13-storey office tower with 235,000 sq. ft of space for rent and for sale.
The Skyfront project comes amid a frenzy of downtown tower construction that is transforming the Vancouver skyline, including several towers with roughly 2.2 million sq. ft of new office space that has real estate experts scratching their heads about whether there will be enough commercial tenants to fill the space.
But Jon Stovell, of Reliance Properties, says the project’s residential component is the driving vision, and he thinks Skyfront will emerge as demand for homes in Vancouver remains at an all-world premium.
The towers will stand out at that location, he noted. “That height is very uncharacteristic for that part of the city,” he said. “The big towers like ShangriLa and Trump are in the downtown core amid all the other tall buildings.”
Michael Lee, vice-president of Jim Pattison Developments, echoed that the plethora of new large-scale downtown builds isn’t a deterrent.
“Whether it’s today or tomorrow, we don’t see that demand really changing, maybe other than just continuing to increase,” Lee said. “So right now we just think it’s the right time.”
He said the Pattison Group would retain the Toyota car dealership that stood at the intersection of Burrard and Drake streets for 42 years. “It will be three levels above grade and up to five levels below grade,” he said.
The space is ripe for a major upgrade, Lee said. “Our location, with the car dealership and the surface lot, was probably the worst asset in the neighbourhood so we think there is tremendous opportunity to help upgrade the area.”
Stovell said Burrard Place represents one of only six build sites approved by city planners that will be permitted to accommodate towers that tall. “These buildings were meant to have major architectural contributions to the city skyline, (and) have very high sustainability requirements in terms of their environmental footprint.”
The project, which launched in 2009, has now completed the rezoning process and on Monday received the required development permit from the city to move forward.
“This is probably the largest project in the downtown right now,” Stovell said. “It’s just around a million square feet and also the third-tallest building in the city after Shangri-La and Trump, at 540 feet.”
He said Skyfront rivals the Woodward’s redevelopment in magnitude, potential occupancy mix, and its expected effect on a neighbourhood.
Skyfront would rise about 30 stories higher than any of the buildings that surround it and would include an integrated mix of uses, including a grocery store, and community amenity contributions worth about $16 million. “To see a building like that in the south shore is really going to be a catalyst to a huge amount of change in that area,” Stovell said.
The latest steps for Burrard Place also come amid the decision in recent weeks to shutter and relocate the nearby aging St. Paul’s hospital to a vacant plot of land near Main Street and Terminal Avenue — which could usher in even more highdensity development along the south end of Burrard Street.
“We don’t know what’s going to happen there,” Stovell said of the current St. Paul’s location. “It’s going to take some time but it’s still a very interesting outcome.”
Stovell said the current explosion of available downtown office space wouldn’t deter their vision or strategy.
“We have a very large office portfolio already in our company,” he said, noting that the leasable office component is relatively small at about 136,000 sq. ft of the total office component. “We are able to move our tenants through our portfolio as we grow and offer them the ability to give up a lease in an old building of ours and move into a larger space.”
He said pre-leasing wouldn’t begin until construction starts, which is expected to be in January 2016.
“To see a building like that in the south shore is really going to be a catalyst to a huge amount of change in that area.
JON STOVELL
RELIANCE PROPERTIES LTD.