Tall & Urban News

Despite the devastating economic effects of COVID-19, downtown Vancouver’s office market remains amongst North America’s tightest and most competitive office markets due to the city’s strong economic fundamentals, which are expected to make a return after the pandemic.

The confidence in the local office market is shown by Bonnis Properties’ new architecturally striking proposal for the tiny 5,996-square-foot (557-square-meter) lot at 526 Granville Street—near the southeast corner of the intersection of Granville Street and West Pender Street, immediately south of SFU’s Segal Graduate School of Business building.

The proposed height is 335 feet (102 meters) with 24 stories, just one foot under the mountain view cone height restrictions. The property has a narrow width of only 50 feet (15 meters) along its Granville Street frontage, and is occupied by the 1899-built Leckie Block—a three-story building with the Moore’s men’s clothing store on the ground level and offices in the upper levels.

Due to lot size constraints, zero vehicle parking stalls will be incorporated. A single underground level will only accommodate 95 bike parking spaces and end-of-trip facilities including lockers, showers, and change rooms. The location is, of course, convenient and highly walkable and within close proximity to a number of major public transit services. The Leckie Block’s heritage façade, an example of Romanesque Revival architectural style, will be preserved and restored. It will provide contrast with the office tower’s sleek features of a diagonal grid of structural columns.

“This system supports efficient and column-free floor plates by locating structural columns toward the exterior of the building,” reads the design rationale.

“Enclosed with transparent floor-to-floor curtain walls built of glass and aluminum, this proposal presents a bold and elegant design. The interior floor plates of the tower taper toward the lower levels, emphasizing the existing heritage roofline.”

A green roof is envisioned for the tower rooftop.

This proposal is currently in its pre-application phase. A formal rezoning application is forthcoming this fall for an anticipated public hearing with city council in the middle of 2021.

For more on this story, go to DailyHive.