A new residential tower could join a series of projects providing a facelift to downtown Vancouver’s West End neighbourhood.
Vancouver City Council recently approved a rezoning application for a 43-storey condominium and rental housing tower at 1640-1650 Alberni Street.
Located near the intersection of West Georgia Street and Cardero Street, the mid-block property is currently occupied by a 15-storey tower built in 1969, containing 66 rental homes and three floors of office space.
Developed by Landa Global Properties and Asia Standard Americas, the 397-foot tower would include 264 homes. The building’s six-storey podium would contain 66 replacement secured rental units — offering 20 per cent below-market rent to returning residents — with 198 luxury condominium units planned for the upper levels.
According to the proposal, the condominium tower will feature a unit mix of 58 one-bedroom units, 105 two-bedroom units, and 35 three-bedroom units. Rental offerings would include 40 studio units, two one-bedroom units, and 24 two-bedroom units.
“We are happy to be moving forward on this exciting project and happy to be part of the resurgence of noteworthy architectural projects in the downtown core, an area of the city that we really believe in,” said Kevin Cheung, CEO of Landa Global Properties in a statement. “The downtown Vancouver market has been quiet since COVID, so it’s great to see projects moving forward.”
Designed as a series of “stacked trays,” with an offset alignment creating balconies on each level, the building marks the first Vancouver project for architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), operating out of its San Francisco office. The Vancouver office of IBI Group is the development’s architect of record.
“The strategic spacing of continuous balconies optimizes winter solar heating while limiting summer heat gain,” said Michael Temple, SOM’s associate director. “The combined result of this building form, along with a compact, high-performing glass envelope and state-of-the-art building systems, is an ultra high-performance building.”
The project would neighbour two Westbank towers in Vancouver’s West End — a completed 40-storey project at 1550 Alberni Street and a 39-storey tower at 1668-1684 Alberni Street.
As part of the City of Vancouver’s West End Community Plan, the developers will provide the city $32.7 million in community amenity contributions to aid public amenity projects.
The project will have lot size of 17,300 square feet and total floor area of 259,000 square feet, producing a floor area ratio of 14.97 times larger than the development’s lot.
Eight underground parking levels would contain space for 268 vehicles and 535 bicycles.
