The demolition of a perfectly good apartment tower in downtown Vancouver to make way for a new, taller apartment tower is rare.
While low-rise, three storey walk-ups are regularly being demolished to make way for new towers, but this is one of the first times we are seeing one of the older West End apartment towers being demolished to make way for something newer, and taller.
Hollyburn Properties, best known for their ownership of several West End rental apartment towers, is proposing tearing down their existing Brockton House rental apartment tower with 66 units and replacing it with a new 42 storey tower with 276 new rental units.
The developer is working with Frankl Architecture on the new building. 108 of the 276 units will be considered “family friendly,” with 94 two bedroom units and 14 three bedroom units.
There will be 139 parking stalls, and all will have “rough-in” for electric vehicle charging. There will also be bike parking for 345 bicycles.
The building will also include a children’s play area, gym and lounge, and it will be constructed to a LEED Gold standard. While the building will be tall at 385 feet, there are several taller buildings proposed nearby that are even taller, including proposals by Westbank and Bosa, although both of those proposals are for luxury condos.
Existing tenants in Brockton House will be provided with a “resident relocation” package according to Hollyburn:
“For our existing residents at 1640-1650 Alberni, we are working on a resident relocation package that will provide assistance in finding alternate accommodation; first right-of-refusal on the new rental units; a contribution toward moving expenses; a minimum two months’ notification to end tenancy; and at least two months’ financial compensation towards rent for existing residents.”
The project is still in the open house/feedback stage with the first open house held only two days ago on June 13. The earliest construction could start is mid-2018 and rezoning application still needs to be submitted to the city.
