OT: Bullshitting at the Barbershop part III

[mattola]

I believe so - real estate development play - already a plan to redevelop the granville and georgia lot in place

/ City of Burnaby has a 30 year plan to completely redevelop Metrotown mall area - crazy but entire Metrotown mall is going bye bye too in the distant

future

When did they start that plan? That seems like a massive project. Any word on a replacement mall? or is everything just going online in the next 2 decades (seems that way)

The future

 

[jstewismybastardson]

When did they start that plan? That seems like a massive project. Any word on a replacement mall? or is everything just going online in the next 2 decades (seems that way)

The future

I think the City announced the rezoning plan within the last year ... like I said 30 year plan ... there will be some retail but not to the level of the current mall or in anyway that configuration ... moarrrrr towers baby ... when I had cousins come visit in 2015 and they looked out on my deck at the Metrotown skyline they were ... "is that downtown vancouver?" ... gonna look even more like a big city skyline after this

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

 

[jstewismybastardson]

 

[mattola]

I think the City announced the rezoning plan within the last year ... like I said 30 year plan ... there will be some retail but not to the level of the current mall or in anyway that configuration ... moarrrrr towers baby ... when I had cousins come visit in 2015 and they looked out on my deck at the Metrotown skyline they were ... "is that downtown vancouver?" ... gonna look even more like a big city skyline after this

View attachment 366941

View attachment 366942

friends of ours have an apartment by Brentwood. They were the only Hightower there when the moved in. It is a whole lot different now...

side note... all the "improvements" on Brentwood mall actually made it a terrible mall

 

[mattola]

ohh man that is amazing.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

friends of ours have an apartment by Brentwood. They were the only Hightower there when the moved in. It is a whole lot different now...

side note... all the "improvements" on Brentwood mall actually made it a terrible mall

its a dead mall right now ... the old part of the mall that is still standing there now is completely vacant with exception of a few smaller retailers and London Drugs. Its all going to be replaced by more towers.

Last week they took down that part of the mall that used to be Zellers. Inside the mall, the entire west wall is boarded up and they have a security guard sitting on a chair at the stairwell making sure people dont walk up it ... maybe George Costanza gave him the chair

The food court "Tables" is poppin though. They also have a large public open square now ... showed the NHL playoff games there (and I didnt riot!)

I think its a change for the better .. mind you the traffic in the area is horrid and the nearby schools are overloaded but what the hell looks nice lol

 

[Bloody Brian Burke]

friends of ours have an apartment by Brentwood. They were the only Hightower there when the moved in. It is a whole lot different now...

side note... all the "improvements" on Brentwood mall actually made it a terrible mall

I will never understand why we needed to turn every suburb into a city when like 90% of Vancouver is still just single family homes.

Not just a Vancouver thing, Toronto’s burbs all started doing the same meanwhile Toronto, the giant city with subways and streetcars and a rail network just begging to be better utilized, is essentially flat except for a few corridors and the area along the lake where all the hooker motels used to be.

 

[thedddd]

Seen this one before but she did it so much better.

 

[Comeds]

I'm pretty sure Jenkins stole my iced tea out of the work refrigerator a few months ago. Today he finally wandered away from his desk without locking his laptop. I opened his Facebook page, "as him" posted a drawing I did that kind of looks like Ted Danson, and added the caption "My drawing of the Prophet Muhammad".
So far it's been quiet.

 

[forty_three]

I'm pretty sure Jenkins stole my iced tea out of the work refrigerator a few months ago. Today he finally wandered away from his desk without locking his laptop. I opened his Facebook page, "as him" posted a drawing I did that kind of looks like Ted Danson, and added the caption "My drawing of the Prophet Muhammad".
So far it's been quiet.

I love a proportional response.

 

[Comeds]

its a dead mall right now ... the old part of the mall that is still standing there now is completely vacant with exception of a few smaller retailers and London Drugs. Its all going to be replaced by more towers.

Last week they took down that part of the mall that used to be Zellers. Inside the mall, the entire west wall is boarded up and they have a security guard sitting on a chair at the stairwell making sure people dont walk up it ... maybe George Costanza gave him the chair

The food court "Tables" is poppin though. They also have a large public open square now ... showed the NHL playoff games there (and I didnt riot!)

I think its a change for the better .. mind you the traffic in the area is horrid and the nearby schools are overloaded but what the hell looks nice lol

I am still trying to picture projects like this. Mixed use (with housing) is relatively new concept here, at least outside the city and there are plans to do this to my local mall. The project sounds interesting to me. So far its getting resistance for various reasons, mostly being county folks who probably dont even live in the area* worried about the type of people who will live there.
It drives me crazy because the other option right now is to do nothing, and the mall and all around it is already dead. Even fast food places that were around it are gone. And they are still building new houses pretty much right across the street. Good luck with that.

Side note - I had to drive by the mall for the first time in maybe a year or so the other day. My wife and I were laughing at the parking. If someone didnt remember it from 20 years sgo, maybe even 10, the sheer size of the parking lots would be hilarious now. Saturday night around 6pm I'd say 5-10% of the parking lots were filled. Mostly food court and Dave and Busters lol



*I post that because if you were worried about keeping the "undesirables" out and actually walk around my area/neighborhood you'd see that battle is over. You lost, move farther north.

 

[forty_three]

I am still trying to picture projects like this. Mixed use (with housing) is relatively new concept here, at least outside the city and there are plans to do this to my local mall. The project sounds interesting to me. So far its getting resistance for various reasons, mostly being county folks who probably dont even live in the area* worried about the type of people who will live there.
It drives me crazy because the other option right now is to do nothing, and the mall and all around it is already dead. Even fast food places that were around it are gone. And they are still building new houses pretty much right across the street. Good luck with that.

Side note - I had to drive by the mall for the first time in maybe a year or so the other day. My wife and I were laughing at the parking. If someone didnt remember it from 20 years sgo, maybe even 10, the sheer size of the parking lots would be hilarious now. Saturday night around 6pm I'd say 5-10% of the parking lots were filled. Mostly food court and Dave and Busters lol



*I post that because if you were worried about keeping the "undesirables" out and actually walk around my area/neighborhood you'd see that battle is over. You lost, move farther north.

I know this mall of which you speak and the mall died because of people coming from elsewhere and causing problems, so everyone else stopped going, no? I haven't been there in probably 6-8 years, but it was starting to be a problem when we moved west 15 years ago.

Building housing around it and revitalizing the area would only help. It fixed Columbia Mall. And while that type of living arrangement is not my cup of tea, it is happening a lot around here and it has improved a few areas. Seems to build a sense of community for the residents.

Of course, they are all "luxury" apartments and condos which doesn't help the larger problem of overall housing affordability.

 

[jstewismybastardson]

I am still trying to picture projects like this. Mixed use (with housing) is relatively new concept here, at least outside the city and there are plans to do this to my local mall. The project sounds interesting to me. So far its getting resistance for various reasons, mostly being county folks who probably dont even live in the area* worried about the type of people who will live there.
It drives me crazy because the other option right now is to do nothing, and the mall and all around it is already dead. Even fast food places that were around it are gone. And they are still building new houses pretty much right across the street. Good luck with that.

Side note - I had to drive by the mall for the first time in maybe a year or so the other day. My wife and I were laughing at the parking. If someone didnt remember it from 20 years sgo, maybe even 10, the sheer size of the parking lots would be hilarious now. Saturday night around 6pm I'd say 5-10% of the parking lots were filled. Mostly food court and Dave and Busters lol



*I post that because if you were worried about keeping the "undesirables" out and actually walk around my area/neighborhood you'd see that battle is over. You lost, move farther north.

these types of projects are tailor made for the Vancouver area because we are limited in terms of land area as we border bodies of water so instead of sprawl there is a need to build up. Youll have a 3 floor pedestal for retail and then above that (for 40 stories) residential.

Burnaby where I live might be considered a suburb of Vancouver (15 minute drive to downtown Vancouver using non freeway roads) but the city planners here have built urban centres around our mass transit (elevated light rail - called Skytrain) stations. 3 of these 4 urban centres had malls and now these malls are all various phases of mixed use redevelopment. Theyve done a much better job of doing this and increasing density than City of Vancouver proper has. May be slightly dated right now but 5 of the top 7 tallest buildings in our province are in Burnaby, not the city of Vancouver.

There was resistance in Burnaby to this development, mostly because much of it involved "renovictions" - low rise rental buildings having tenancies end and then being replaced by non-rental luxury towers. Vancouver has had much more resistance from NIMBYs who dont want their single detached residential neighbo(u)rhoods to be dotted with towers.

The mall I had mentioned (Brentwood) is a wild work in progress. Phase 1 was 4 towers ... They are working on phase 2 which i think is 2 towers ... phase 3 will involve the demolition of the remaining old mall and will be 3 more towers. You go there now and stand in the middle of the mall and look east / west and its 3 or 4 retailers just dead space with old people doing laps to get their steps in. You look directionally south down the corridor leading to the new development and its just buzzing with activity with so many restaurants, a movie theatre, higher end retailers, a Rivian dealership, and public spaces ... part indoor part outdoor. If youve been to LA, I have had a couple of people compare it to the entertainment complex on Hollywood and Highland next door to the Chinese theatre (only cleaner and newer lol)

That mall is 1.5 miles from my place. From google street view in Apr 2016 versus June 2023 ... 5 more towers are going there

 

[sbb122]

RIP Shelley Duvall

 

[puckhead]

these types of projects are tailor made for the Vancouver area because we are limited in terms of land area as we border bodies of water so instead of sprawl there is a need to build up. Youll have a 3 floor pedestal for retail and then above that (for 40 stories) residential.

Burnaby where I live might be considered a suburb of Vancouver (15 minute drive to downtown Vancouver using non freeway roads) but the city planners here have built urban centres around our mass transit (elevated light rail - called Skytrain) stations. 3 of these 4 urban centres had malls and now these malls are all various phases of mixed use redevelopment. Theyve done a much better job of doing this and increasing density than City of Vancouver proper has. May be slightly dated right now but 5 of the top 7 tallest buildings in our province are in Burnaby, not the city of Vancouver.

There was resistance in Burnaby to this development, mostly because much of it involved "renovictions" - low rise rental buildings having tenancies end and then being replaced by non-rental luxury towers. Vancouver has had much more resistance from NIMBYs who dont want their single detached residential neighbo(u)rhoods to be dotted with towers.

The mall I had mentioned (Brentwood) is a wild work in progress. Phase 1 was 4 towers ... They are working on phase 2 which i think is 2 towers ... phase 3 will involve the demolition of the remaining old mall and will be 3 more towers. You go there now and stand in the middle of the mall and look east / west and its 3 or 4 retailers just dead space with old people doing laps to get their steps in. You look directionally south down the corridor leading to the new development and its just buzzing with activity with so many restaurants, a movie theatre, higher end retailers, a Rivian dealership, and public spaces ... part indoor part outdoor. If youve been to LA, I have had a couple of people compare it to the entertainment complex on Hollywood and Highland next door to the Chinese theatre (only cleaner and newer lol)

That mall is 1.5 miles from my place. From google street view in Apr 2016 versus June 2023 ... 5 more towers are going there
View attachment 367021
View attachment 367024

Vancouver itself only has two malls to speak of.
One is right downtown, and has towers attached anyway.

The other is in my neighbourhood (Oakridge) and is about halfway through a 10ish year construction plan.
Turning a 1.1 million sf mall into:
1.2 million sf retail
430k sf office space
2.9 million sf of residential in 13 towers.

You want density, you've got it.
You want affordable places to live, look elsewhere (early indications are these are trying to set new price/sf records). We'll see if demand supports it, but I think this is one of the projects that Westbank was getting heat for as it was opening up sales to the Chinese market before offering to locals.

 

[Comeds]

I know this mall of which you speak and the mall died because of people coming from elsewhere and causing problems, so everyone else stopped going, no? I haven't been there in probably 6-8 years, but it was starting to be a problem when we moved west 15 years ago.

Building housing around it and revitalizing the area would only help. It fixed Columbia Mall. And while that type of living arrangement is not my cup of tea, it is happening a lot around here and it has improved a few areas. Seems to build a sense of community for the residents.

Of course, they are all "luxury" apartments and condos which doesn't help the larger problem of overall housing affordability.

Thats the way some people remember it, to me it seemed like the big box stores died then the behavioral issues started. I am sure some of both are true. Its a dead zone now and it seems like there is an incident every other weekend. Usually just teens fighting. Some of the locals are arguing against the 20-30% affordable housing included. Oh well.

Not my cup of tea either, but part of me likes the idea of being old and being able to walk to a food court without going outside. Before I return home to kill myself.

these types of projects are tailor made for the Vancouver area because we are limited in terms of land area as we border bodies of water so instead of sprawl there is a need to build up. Youll have a 3 floor pedestal for retail and then above that (for 40 stories) residential.

Burnaby where I live might be considered a suburb of Vancouver (15 minute drive to downtown Vancouver using non freeway roads) but the city planners here have built urban centres around our mass transit (elevated light rail - called Skytrain) stations. 3 of these 4 urban centres had malls and now these malls are all various phases of mixed use redevelopment. Theyve done a much better job of doing this and increasing density than City of Vancouver proper has. May be slightly dated right now but 5 of the top 7 tallest buildings in our province are in Burnaby, not the city of Vancouver.

There was resistance in Burnaby to this development, mostly because much of it involved "renovictions" - low rise rental buildings having tenancies end and then being replaced by non-rental luxury towers. Vancouver has had much more resistance from NIMBYs who dont want their single detached residential neighbo(u)rhoods to be dotted with towers.

The mall I had mentioned (Brentwood) is a wild work in progress. Phase 1 was 4 towers ... They are working on phase 2 which i think is 2 towers ... phase 3 will involve the demolition of the remaining old mall and will be 3 more towers. You go there now and stand in the middle of the mall and look east / west and its 3 or 4 retailers just dead space with old people doing laps to get their steps in. You look directionally south down the corridor leading to the new development and its just buzzing with activity with so many restaurants, a movie theatre, higher end retailers, a Rivian dealership, and public spaces ... part indoor part outdoor. If youve been to LA, I have had a couple of people compare it to the entertainment complex on Hollywood and Highland next door to the Chinese theatre (only cleaner and newer lol)

That mall is 1.5 miles from my place. From google street view in Apr 2016 versus June 2023 ... 5 more towers are going there
View attachment 367021
View attachment 367024

Thats a huge difference for 7 years. The towers option makes more sense in my mind. In my area they are talking about converting the anchor store existing structures into apartments/condos.
Where do you live? Remember Lord & Taylor? Thats where! lol

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Vancouver itself only has two malls to speak of.
One is right downtown, and has towers attached anyway.

The other is in my neighbourhood (Oakridge) and is about halfway through a 10ish year construction plan.
Turning a 1.1 million sf mall into:
1.2 million sf retail
430k sf office space
2.9 million sf of residential in 13 towers.

You want density, you've got it.
You want affordable places to live, look elsewhere (early indications are these are trying to set new price/sf records). We'll see if demand supports it, but I think this is one of the projects that Westbank was getting heat for as it was opening up sales to the Chinese market before offering to locals.

True mixed use mall redevelopment cant be a thing in Vancouver ... but along the Skytrain lines, they havent done a good enough job of densifying. First one that comes to mind is Commercial station on Broadway and the Safeway across the street. There have been multiple plans for that property before Vancouver council and they just cant get past the public NIMBY hue and cry

 

[jstewismybastardson]

Thats a huge difference for 7 years. The towers option makes more sense in my mind. In my area they are talking about converting the anchor store existing structures into apartments/condos.
Where do you live? Remember Lord & Taylor? Thats where! lol

yah wild times in my neck of the woods

google street view from my place just a tad more east of the last images i posted
April 2016


April 2023

(btw my wife has "poison/kill those 2 large trees" on the left of this image down the block from us on my honey-do list to improve the view from our deck)

 

[Comeds]

Makes sense I guess

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