development |

‘The Keefer Yard’ Prepares to Tee Off in Chinatown

By Andrew Morrison, Jul 28, 2020, Scout Vancouver

You know that narrow but deep vacant lot beside The Keefer Bar in Chinatown? It’s currently being transformed into The Keefer Yard, an al fresco space dedicated to outdoor games and good times.

The idea for The Keefer Yard is simple: run long rows of bench-style seats against both walls and front them with a 9-hole putting green. Putters and balls are available to rent for a small fee that will be donated to local charitable organisations, starting with the Hogan’s Alley Society. There will be other games to play, too (eg. horseshoes), and GM Keenan Hood tells me he’s also planning for a food truck to be present. read more…

How these ‘bright stars’ are ‘creating space for the community’ in Vancouver’s changing Chinatown

Showwei Chu, CBC radio, The Current, Feb 12, 2020

In search of connection to Chinatown, these advocates are helping build intergenerational communities.

Yuly Chan says she became a community organizer in Vancouver’s Chinatown as a way to honour her late father, an immigrant from Venezuela who was very involved with the community.

“Chinatown was a place that provided me and my family a lot of support and a sense of community as immigrants to Canada,” said Chan, 33.

In 2015, she volunteered with the Chinatown Concern Group, a seniors group that started a petition calling for a moratorium on condo developments in Chinatown and organized a city hall rally.

“It was really kind of a big turning point for the community because you’ve had this group of Chinese seniors storm city hall, and you’ve never seen that before,” she said. Read more…

Observers say Chinatown started seeing a new wave of young activists and advocates in the historic neighbourhood around the time a controversial condo proposal was being considered at 105 Keefer St. (CBC)

Quirky ‘Tinseltown’ up for sale in downtown Vancouver

Karin Larsen, CBC News, Apr 04, 2019

A central and quirky fixture of downtown Vancouver is up for sale.

International Village Mall, previously known as Tinseltown, has been listed as part of a three property package that includes Paris Square across the street, home of a busy T & T Supermarket.

The third property in the bundle —Henderson Place Mall — is in Coquitlam.

The asking price is not listed, but last year B.C Assessment pegged the value of International Village Mall alone at $45.635 million.

The sales sheet describes the mall as “attractive and well-built … marking the crossroads of downtown Vancouver’s Central Business District, Stadium District and Chinatown.” Read more…

International Village Mall, a.k.a. Tinseltown, is up for sale. (Karin Larsen/CBC)

Vancouver Chinatown: Council approves revisions reducing building size in historic area

DAN FUMANO, Vancouver Sun, July 10, 2018

Vancouver city council voted Tuesday afternoon to reduce the maximum size of buildings in the city’s Chinatown, changing course on policies adopted seven years ago.

While the zoning revisions had been supported by community advocates, some local property owners and development industry representatives had opposed the move.

The changes to Chinatown’s development policies were made in response to community concerns about the changing character and the pace of development, especially after 2011 development policies allowing taller, wider buildings, intended to revitalize the area. Read more…

Street scene in Vancouver’s Chinatown district. GERRY KAHRMANN / PNG

Fresh-food wholesalers and community groups argue about how to keep Produce Row in Strathcona

JOANNE LEE-YOUNG, September 27, 2018 | Vancouver Sun

Fresh-food wholesalers along Malkin Drive in Strathcona, unofficially known as Produce Row, are worried about their future.

Some are running businesses with roots tied to the early days of Chinatown and farms across the Lower Mainland and in the Fraser Valley. There are also owners and workers who trace family migration routes to southern China’s Sze Yup and Zhongshan counties.

Now, it’s also an area of sharply rising property values with the city planning to take down the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts and Providence Health Care to build a new St. Paul’s Hospital.

All of this has made for an ongoing and heated debate in this East Vancouver community about who gets to decide where new roadways will go. Read more…

Narrow 10-storey residential building proposed for Vancouver’s Chinatown

Kenneth Chan, Daily Hive, May 30, 2018

A narrow site in Vancouver’s Chinatown wedged between the Keefer Bar and the site of the controversial proposed project by Beedie Development could become a 10-storey mixed-use building.

James Schouw and Associates have applied for a development application for the vacant site at 129 Keefer Street, which has a street frontage of just 49 ft. in width.

The 88-ft-tall proposal calls for 5,713 sq. ft. of commercial space split into three units on the ground floor, with two units fronting Keefer Street and a third unit fronting the laneway. Read more…

Site of the redevelopment for 129 Keefer Street, Vancouver. (Stantec Architecture / James Schouw and Associates)

No more tall buildings in Chinatown suggested by Vancouver city planners

Carlito Pablo, The Georgia Straight, May 30th, 2018

Vancouver city staff are recommending in a report that tall buildings should no longer be allowed in Chinatown.

Staff have proposed a height limit of 90 feet on new developments in order to preserve the character of the historic neighbourhood.

This could mean that council has to revoke its 2011 decision that permitted developers to seek approval of rezoning applications for towers in areas south of Pender Street. Read more…

The City of Vancouver is taking action to calm speculation in Chinatown.

Vancouver should slow down and talk to community about zoning changes, says Chinatown group

KEVIN GRIFFIN, Vancouver Sun, June 4, 2018

A group representing Chinatown property and business owners as well as residents wants the city to put the brakes on proposed zoning and design changes.

Vancouver city council plans to vote Tuesday on changes that would, the group believes, amount to downzoning the neighbourhood when that’s exactly what they don’t want. Downzoning results in less density.

“We’re happy with the zoning we have right now,” said Steve Lee, spokesperson for Chinatown Voices, referring to the Chinatown Neighbourhood Plan of 2012. “The zoning that we have reflects a well thought-out plan.” Read more…

Steve Lee, spokesperson for Chinatown Voices, at a news conference Monday, June 4 at Dollar Meat Store, Chinatown. Photo: Kevin Griffin [PNG Merlin Archive] PNG

‘Last second’ email on planning shocks, dismays Chinatown advocates

JOHN MACKIE, Vancouver Sun, April 26, 2018

On Sunday, Mayor Gregor Robertson delivered a formal apology to Vancouver’s Chinese residents for the city’s historical discrimination.

But even as Robertson spoke, a new controversy was erupting in Chinatown over the redevelopment of the historic neighbourhood.

Late Friday afternoon, the city sent out an email that recommended several changes to a Chinatown Planning Update that the city had released in March. Read more…

Historic buildings in the 100 block East Pender in Vancouver’s Chinatown. GERRY KAHRMANN / PNG

Facing displacement by condos, should Vancouver artists ‘bite the hand that feeds?’

Tessa Vikander, Metro, Mar 11 2018

In an increasingly unaffordable city, where low-wage earners are struggling to find housing and artists are struggling to find affordable studio space, some members of Vancouver’s artistic community are calling on artists to get involved in anti-gentrification and housing rights advocacy.

The call to action came last Wednesday, during a community forum at the 221A arts space in Chinatown, where artists with varying political views debated the ethics of accepting developer money. After the event, Vincent Tao, a librarian at 221A who helped organize the event, told Metro that artists, who have to pay rent for their homes and studio or practice space, are in a tricky situation. Read more…

Vincent Tao wants artists to join groups fighting for rent freezes, a living wage and an end to “renovictions.”