The 1477 W. Broadway building will feature a combination of retail, office, grocery and residential space, right on top of the newly built South Granville SkyTrain Station.
The bill was approved 9-2 after a series of controversial public hearings throughout the week, with dozens of speakers presenting their arguments to the council for four separate meetings.
Coun. Christine Boyle said she voted in favor of the project to bring high-density housing to what will become a major transit hub in a growing neighborhood.
“I hear again and again about the stress and anxiety about increasing housing for seniors and families across the city … We know these will be favorite homes for hundreds of Vancouverians and I think that’s very important,” he told CBC The Early Edition. on Wednesday.
“Location is very important, too … it’s part of building complete communities that can be walked. South Granville and Fairview already have so much to offer on this front. It’s a beautiful community for more people to call. their home, and is an important part of climate action, ”he added.
“Allowing more people to live close to their place of work, close to the places they rely on and visit in their lives is an important part of reducing transport emissions.”
A rendering of the tower proposed for 1477 W. Broadway. (PCI Developments)
The development company, PCI Developments, released the building as a “vertical block” that compresses all the elements of a traditional building complex into one plot by stacking them vertically.
Once completed, the building will have 223 housing units. Forty-four of these units – 20 percent – will be permanently secured with lower market rents aimed at households earning up to $ 80,000 a year.
“It’s a home for maybe a couple working in cafes or restaurants in the area,” Boyle said.
Coun. Jean Swanson voted against the project, saying the tower’s housing units would have a negative impact on the surrounding rental values.
“My big thing is the affordable price and 80 percent of the units in this building would be quite expensive – especially because it is a tall building. It will receive premium rentals for the top floors. The surrounding rents in this area are hundreds. “dollars a month less than that,” Swanson said in an interview Wednesday.
“What happens when you drop expensive housing in the middle of affordable housing is that land values go up, taxes go up and rents go up. So unless we have some airtight protection for existing tenants, we’ve real problem “.
Swanson also said she was concerned the approval was a bad precedent, as the city is in the middle of consulting on the overall Broadway Corridor Plan.
“I’m really afraid of the refinement of allowing a tower; then the approval of that tower would mean the approval of the Broadway plan, which also requires a lot of towers,” Swanson said.
PCI Developments has already started what it can build with the existing site location. The developer expects the building to be completed in 2024, about a year before the start of the new SkyTrain station – part of the Millennium extension of the transport network -.
LISTEN Coun. Christine Boyle talks about her vote in favor of the project:
Early Edition17: 25 Vancouver City Council Approves New 39-Floor Apartment Building on Top of a Skytrain Station
Consultant Christine Boyle talks to Stephen Quinn about the 223-unit building, which will include 20 percent below market units. And then Stephen talks to Ben Ger of the Vancouver Tenants Union about the project and what it could mean for tenants in this city. 17:25
