KENNETH CHAN (DAILY HIVE) - A years-long vision by the architect and developer behind Vancouver House to redevelop the site of downtown Vancouver’s steam heating plant has finally been fully revealed.

Local developer Westbank and Danish architectural firm Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), as well as HCMA Architecture & Design, have submitted their rezoning application for their proposal at 720 Beatty Street — the southeast corner of the intersection of West Georgia Street and Beatty Street, located on the northeast corner of BC Place Stadium.

“Although this Creative Energy site is currently less than prominent, it will quickly become the new gateway into both the Central Business District and Northeast False Creek neighbourhoods,” reads the application.

“Now is the opportune time to redevelop this site given the timing of viaducts replacement and if both are not considered concurrently, this gateway site will become a missed opportunity and a potential eyesore. A significant portion of the Georgia Street frontage is located on this redevelopment site and the success of this is contingent on having a coordinated design solution.”

S-shaped office tower with ‘illusional’ facade, and new steam plant
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A new and upgraded Creative Energy steam plant with a relatively small 7,200-sq-ft footprint — half the size of the current utility — will be squeezed into an area near the base of the new 264-ft-tall, 17-storey, S-shaped office tower. The entire redevelopment within the 52,000-sq-ft site spans 617,000 sq. ft. of total floor area, including 515,000 sq. ft. of office space and office plates as large as 35,000 sq. ft., suitable for tech companies.

Within the ground level, the office tower also offers 18,500 sq. ft. of retail space. Pipes of the steam plant will be visible from the office lobby to “celebrate” the significance of the utility to the city.
“Instead of creating a wall within the city, 720 Beatty has a form that is dynamic and permeable to the site’s unique location and qualities,” reads the architect’s design rationale for the tower.
“As you walk up Georgia Street and turn on to Beatty, the building’s appearance constantly changes. Sometimes it appears as a slender tower, and sometimes it appears as two.”

The tower’s facade will be made of reflective glass and metal panels, with a “fluid geometry” that can “look completely opaque or completely transparent.”

“The metal panels will reinforce this condition, by creating crisp a edge to the building,” continues the design rationale. “Due to the geometry of the pleated facade elements, the reflective glass will be able to break down the scale of the building even more. The reflections of the surroundings will not be seen as in a mirror, but broken down in smaller elements.”

This same facade also provides large-scale signage opportunities for multiple companies, not just the anchor tenant, with the signage disintegrating into an abstract pattern as a passerby moves closer to the building.

As for the new replacement steam plant, it will be relocated to a new off-site facility along the east side of Expo Boulevard — across the street from the redevelopment site, within a unused void space on the edge of BC Place. This is made possible by a new partnership with Pavco, the provincial crown corporation that operates the stadium.

The new steam plant will be constructed first, before work begins on the redevelopment of the existing plant on the primary development site. Components of the new steam plant utility will also be located within the base of the new tower, when it is complete.

Circular entertainment pavilion
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Also unique to this project is a five-storey, circular-shaped entertainment pavilion wedged between West Georgia Street and the stadium concourse on the south side of the building.

“This is an important transition site between the Central Business District and the surrounding entertainment/cultural districts and requires a built form capable of breaking down the scale of the area and will greatly enhance the beauty of this new gateway into downtown Vancouver and NEFC,” reads the application.

This standalone, column-free building, which includes an outdoor rooftop patio, could accommodate restaurants, sports bar, a brewery, a virtual reality sports experience, and karaoke. It would significantly enliven and add to the emerging NEFC events and entertainment district, especially events happening at the area’s two stadiums.

With layers of lighting inspired by Tokyo’s streetscape, the entertainment pavilion could become a beacon in the new district. Special nighttime lighting and signage are strongly associated with many of the world’s most vibrant streetscapes.

Plaza space and Expo Boulevard facadeOn the level of the Beatty Street and the future West Georgia Street extension ramp to Pacific Boulevard, the building will enhance the area’s public realm by extending the BC Place concourse into its site with public plaza spaces and a breezeway allowing for crowd movements.

The plaza floor is inlaid with a diffuse pattern of timber and gold planks to provide “cues” for pedestrian movement, helping to move crowd flows during peak events and encouraging office workers and visitors to linger in the area during a typical weekday.

During night, in-ground LED lights integrated into the patterned floor will draw visitors to the entertainment pavilion, which is the heart of the plaza.

A level further down, the building’s facade along Expo Boulevard — underneath the BC Place concourse deck — will be optimized by a new glazed facade that showcases the steam plant allows for advertising opportunities.

Four underground levels with 358 vehicle parking stalls will be accessed from Expo Boulevard.

“The facade treatment here will mimic the redevelopments above grade façade and illuminated with potential signage opportunities to animate this public realm,” continues the design rationale.
“This new facade will take the materiality of the building at grade and apply it along Expo Boulevard. A pleated facade will create a rather opaque facade, as seeing when driving while a series of perforated panels will illuminate the street without affecting the drivers.”

The project is aiming for a LEED Gold environmental certification, using green building features such as a tenant-accessible garden roof with running track, low-carbon and efficiency improvements for the steam plant, and a partnership with BC Place for the installation of a new rainwater recovery system from the stadium’s roof. This would result in a water usage reduction of over 45 million litres annually for the plant.

Westbank acquired the plant in 2014, then known as Central Heat Distribution, for $32 million as part of the company’s long-term strategy to diversify into neighbourhood energy and add another redevelopment site to its portfolio.

Creative Energy currently provides heating to over 210 buildings, totalling 45 million-sq-ft of floor area, across much of the downtown Vancouver peninsula. The municipal government says the conversion of the plant into a low-carbon energy supply will be the “largest single GHG emission reduction opportunity in the city.”

Last year, Vancouver City Council approved a rezoning application by Pavco to develop the southwest corner of BC Place — where the West Georgia Street ramp extension meets Pacific Boulevard — with a 400-ft-tall, 40-storey residential tower, with a stipulation that all of the homes must be rental units.

The Speculation and Vacancy Tax has come into force for the 2018 tax year, and homeowners can expect to get declaration letters from tomorrow (January 18) until the end of February.

JOANNAH CONNOLLY (GLACIER MEDIA R.E.) All homeowners – not just owners of second or vacation homes – in applicable regions of B.C. can expect to receive a declaration letter. They have until March 31 to complete their declaration and apply for an exemption if applicable.

The declaration will establish whether the home is being used as a primary residence or being rented out at least six months of the year. If one of those requirements is met, the property is exempt from the Speculation and Vacancy Tax. Other exemptions are also applicable for individuals, land under development or corporations.

In most cases, for a non-primary residence that is not rented out at least six months of the year, an annual tax of 0.5 per cent of the home’s assessed value is applicable. Owners who are liable for the tax will have until July 2, 2019 to pay their 2018 bill.
Homeowners who do not complete their declaration, even if their home is exempt from the tax, will receive a tax notice of assessment after April 1 charging the full tax rate.
The affected regions in B.C. are:
·       Municipalities in the Capital Regional District, excluding Salt Spring Island, Juan de Fuca Electoral Area and the Southern Gulf Islands
·       Municipalities in the Metro Vancouver Regional District, excluding Bowen Island, the Village of Lions Bay and Electoral Area A, but including the University of British Columbia and the University Endowment Lands
·       The City of Abbotsford
·       The District of Mission
·       The City of Chilliwack
·       The City of Kelowna 
·       The City of West Kelowna
·       The City of Nanaimo
·       The District of Lantzville
Homeowners can go online and complete their declaration here – but you’ll need to wait to get your letter, which will contain a unique ID and a declaration code.
Glacier Media Real Estate

JOANNAH CONNOLLY (BIV) - British Columbia is expected to lead a year-over-year decline in home sales in 2019, according to a national real estate forecast released this week, but sales in the province will increase slightly.
The average sale price of a B.C. home sold on the Multiple Listing Service next year will be $720,000 – an increase of 0.9 per cent over 2018’s figure, according to the forecast by the Canadian Real Estate Association (CREA).

That’s following a year-over-year increase of 0.6 per cent in 2018 to $713,700 – despite sales plummeting on an annual basis in many of the province’s major markets.

CREA said that, following an overall 24.2 per cent annual decline in home sales across B.C. in 2018, resale transactions would drop in the province by a further 5.2 per cent in 2019. That’s the second-steepest predicted sales drop of all the provinces, after Newfoundland at -7.2 per cent, and a much bigger total volume decline.

This contradicts a B.C. Real Estate Association forecast issued in November, which predicted home sales in the province would bounce back somewhat after a slow 2018.

National picture
Across the country next year, CREA predicted that the national average price for a Canadian home sold via the MLS would rise 1.7 per cent to $496,800. Only Newfoundland, Alberta and Saskatchewan are expected to see a lower average sale price next year compared with 2018.

The association revised its projected national residential sales across 2018 to a decline of 11.8 per cent versus 2017, which is 458,000 homes – the lowest in nine years.

"The national forecast has been revised lower... as an anticipated rebound in sales in British Columbia has so far failed to materialize, the recovery in Ontario sales this summer has now run its course and sales activity in Alberta has edged lower. These developments were partially offset by stronger-than-expected sales activity in Quebec," CREA said in its report.

Next year, the total number of sales in Canada is forecast to decline another 0.5 per cent to 456,000 units.

“In 2019, home sales activity and prices are expected to be held in check by recent policy changes from different levels of government, in addition to additional interest rate increases,” said the association.
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While B.C. is set to drive that projected decline in resale transactions, followed by Alberta, Ontario is expected to see a recovery in home sales after a weak 2018, and Quebec is predicted to continue its strong activity.