Tall & Urban News

Atira Women’s Resource Society and TL Housing Solutions have submitted a rezoning application to build a 17-story social housing tower just north of Oppenheimer Park in the Downtown Eastside.

This development site at 450 Alexander Street — the southwest corner of the intersection of Alexander Street and Jackson Avenue — is currently occupied by ageing, low-story industrial buildings. It is also immediately across from the historic Japanese Hall community center.

The proposal calls for 181 social housing units, with a unit mix of 15 studios, 87 one-bedroom units, 56 two-bedroom units, and 23 three-bedroom units.

On the ground level, there would be a childcare facility with 4,900 square feet (455 square meters) of indoor space and 5,000 square feet (464 square meters) of outdoor play space facing the laneway, and a 5,000-square-foot “social enterprise” space operated by Atira facing Alexander Street.

Residents would have access to a landscaped outdoor amenity space on the rooftop of the podium at the seventh level.

The tower reaches a height of 160 feet (48 meters), which is about 110 feet (33.5 meters) below the site’s height restriction of roughly 270 feet (82 meters) established by View Cone 3.0 emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park.

“The intent of this application is to develop a mixed-use social housing project cultivated in response to a vision of building a vibrant community,” reads the application by architectural firm IBI Group.

“While the proposed building height is greater than what is anticipated in the Downtown-Eastside/Oppenheimer Official Development Plan for this site, at 16 stories with a six-story podium, the proposed height provides a comfortable transition from existing and proposed surrounding developments as well as offers a comfortable streetwall along Alexander Street. The height of the proposed building [has] been carefully determined to avoid the effects of shadows on the street and neighborhood buildings. The proposed form has been designed to contribute to the streetscape while minimizing disruption to the existing infrastructure within the neighborhood.”

A single underground level provides 35 vehicle parking stalls and 364 bike parking spaces.

The redevelopment’s total floor area is 138,400 square feet (12,857 square meters) creating a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 5.67 times larger than the 24,415-square-foot (2,268 square meters) lot.

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