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Tag: development

Beedie decision reveals times have changed in Vancouver

Allen Garr, NOVEMBER 16 2017

“I was wrong.” That uncommon confession slipped from the lips of Vancouver developer and Courier columnist Michael Geller. At that exact moment, he and I were sitting cheek by jowl at last week’s development permit board hearing on Beedie Development’s fifth revision in the past four years of a proposal for 105 Keefer St. in Chinatown.

Moments after the city’s real estate guy Bill Aujla explained that, after months of negotiations, Beedie was unwilling to either sell or swap this piece of property, Geller picked up his phone and sent out a tweet: “This will pass.” Although, he added, there may be some minor modifications. Read more…

rotesters gathered at city hall to voice their concerns over a nine-storey condo proposal for Chinatown that, in the end, was rejected by the city’s development permit board in a 2-1 vote. Photo Dan Toulgoet

Opinion: Vancouver’s Chinatown and redrawing the lines in the ‘City of Optimists’

Andy Yang, Vancouver Sun,June 26, 2017

In the reverberations following the 105 Keefer St. rezoning rejection, the hearings lay bare the painful realities of city life in Vancouver. Amongst the gleaming towers and $6 lattes, life for many Vancouverites is increasingly vicious, indifferent and cruel. The public hearing became a sign of the growing frustrations and shortcomings of civic governance.
However, 105 Keefer offers lessons from which a person could even develop a sense of optimism.
What can be learned? Read more…

Opponents of the Keefer Street rezoning celebrate City Hall’s decision not to let a tower be built in Chinatown. ARLEN REDEKOP / PNG

Photos: Vancouver releases concept plans for post-viaduct False Creek

SCOTT BROWN, Vancouver Sun, June 6, 2017

The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Park Board have revealed conceptual plans for the future of Northeast False Creek, including a new park and the removal of viaducts.
In 2015, Vancouver City Council approved a $200-million plan to remove the Georgia and Dunsmuir viaducts, which connect False Creek with downtown Vancouver. Read more…

In battle over future of Canada’s largest Chinatown there are fears of a ‘freeway of condos’

Douglas Quan, May 28, 2017

VANCOUVER — In this city of towering glass, it could easily have been overlooked as “just another condo.”
But a proposed 12-storey condominium in the heart of Vancouver’s iconic Chinatown has stoked a red-hot debate unseen in this city for years, pitting those who believe the development is needed to revitalize the neighbourhood against those who fear the project will further erode the area’s unique character. Read more…

Shirley Chan’s family played a pivotal role in stopping the freeway project

What banquet culture means to San Francisco — and Chinatown

April Chan, May 12, 2017

San Franciscans of a certain generation have a specific vernacular to describe things of epic proportion: hella. (To emphasize the epicness, trill the “l” for added dramatic effect.) For this San Francisco native, it’s the only word that comes to mind when I think of banquet dinners in Chinatown. As in, hella loud. Hella, hella food.
And in the case of Chinatown’s New Asia restaurant, hella big. So for me, news of the city’s decision to convert Chinatown’s largest banquet hall into affordable housing brings mixed feelings. With gentrification sweeping through many parts of San Francisco, any effort to keep increasingly disadvantaged, longtime residents of any neighborhood — let alone, a historic district such as Chinatown — should be lauded. Read more…

Photo: Michael Macor, The Chronicle / The popular New Asia restaurant in S.F.’s Chinatown is popular for banquets. The city is in contract to purchase the property and convert it into affordable housing.

Opinion: How Vancouver city hall exacerbates the affordability crisis

NATHALIE BAKER, May 13, 2017

If you’d like to understand why the housing-affordability crisis continues in Vancouver, look no further than the recently posted City of Vancouver staff report in support of the rezoning of 105 Keefer/544 Columbia streets.Read more…

A 2016 architectural rendering of the Beedie Group’s proposed new development at 105 Keefer at Columbia streets in Vancouver’s Chinatown. This was the third version of the development that was submitted. SCD / PNG

Chinatown residents march on city hall to protest planned highrise towers

CBC News, Dec 02, 2016

Community advocates say proposed buildings will be too tall for the district. A contentious plan to replace a parking lot in Chinatown with several high-rise towers spurred about 150 opponents to march to city hall on Friday. The proposed development includes a building almost twice the height of existing ones in the area to be built on the site of a parking lot that sits between Second Avenue and Third Avenue S.W. just west of Centre Street. Read more…

As many as 150 protesters marched to City Hall on Friday to let city councillors know they remain opposed to a planned redevelopment of a parking lot in Chinatown, despite changes to the plan. (Evelyne Asselin/CBC)

Chinatown seniors protest city plan

JOHN MACKIE, November 21, 2016

The City of Vancouver said about 80 people attended two open houses about an “economic revitalization update” on Chinatown on Oct. 22 and 25. But a group of Chinatown seniors say the open houses were so poorly advertised, many Chinatown residents didn’t know about them, and didn’t go. Moreover, those who did go said there were weren’t enough Cantonese or Mandarin signs or translators for non-English speakers. As a result, they couldn’t figure out what the architectural drawings the city posted on boards meant. Read more …

Mrs. Kong, Mrs. Luu, and Ms. Chan protest Vancouver’s policies toward Chinatown at a press conference Monday outside a new high-end grocery store at Main and Georgia. JOHN MACKIE / PNG
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