The Holborn Group announced earlier this month that it wants to build three towers on sites bounded by West Georgia, Richards, Seymour and Dunsmuir streets in Vancouver.
The development would include 1,561 new homes, a 920-room hotel and more than 70,000 square feet of conference space, with three large ballrooms.
If and when the project is built, it will transform a large area of the city’s downtown core.
Connected to that development is another tower proposal in the Downtown Eastside at 388 Abbott St. The plan calls for a 38-storey building with 378 non-market homes, a 37-space child-care facility and a 5,150-square-foot Indigenous art gallery.
The Abbott Street project, which would be given to the city as a community amenity contribution, will include three artist-in-residence spaces for members of the Musqueam Indian Band, Squamish Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation.
The estimated cost of the four-tower project, which Holborn developed with Henriquez Partners Architects, is $2.8 billion.
A rezoning application has been submitted to the City of Vancouver, but it could take several years before it goes to public hearing — and then many more years after that to get each building built, if the project is approved.
So what do Mayor Ken Sim and councillors think of the proposal?
'A difficult job'
BIV heard from the mayor and councillors Lucy Maloney, Sean Orr, Sarah Kirby-Yung, Peter Meiszner and Mike Klassen; five other councillors hadn’t responded before publication of this story.
Their answers, which came mostly via email, varied but some pointed out concerns with Holborn’s projects at Little Mountain and the loss of the Dunsmuir House to demolition in December.
BIV has reported on both developments, with Holborn setting a goal to have all the social housing buildings at Little Mountain built by next year. As for Dunsmuir House, Holborn president Joo Kim Tiah said it was always in the plans to retain the building — at least the façade — as part of redevelopment.
The city ordered it demolished in December.
Maloney said Holborn has “a difficult job” in convincing her and Vancouverites generally that the project is “a good deal for Vancouver considering its monumental breaches of public trust” at Little Mountain and Dunsmuir House.
“If the Abbott Street social housing development proposal is to make amends, the financial benefit to the public needs to get pretty close to the huge financial windfalls Holborn has enjoyed sitting on interest-free loans at Little Mountain for years and the sums the city can charge Holborn for the loss of Dunsmuir House’s 167 rooms under the SRA [single-room-accommodation] bylaw,” said Maloney, emphasizing the Abbott Street project should reflect “the housing that’s actually needed in the DTES, including shelter-rate housing.”
'Fully enforce the bylaw'
Orr’s comments also focused on concerns related to the city’s SRA bylaw, which did not apply to the demolition of Dunsmuir House, which was deemed unsafe by the city’s chief building official.
“Considering the scale of this project, I imagine it will generate a healthy amount of feedback, but what I’m hearing are concerns that this will allow [Holborn] to avoid paying the SRA replacement fee on the 167 SRO rooms, which could exceed $50 million if the city were to fully enforce the bylaw,” said Orr, referring to the number of rooms in the Dunsmuir House, which last served as social housing.
The SRA bylaw was enacted in 2003 to manage the loss of low-income housing and the displacement of tenants in the downtown core.
At the time of enactment, an owner wanting to transform an SRO was subject to a fee of $5,000 per door. Over time, the amount has increased to reflect the replacement cost for a self-contained social housing unit.
Council heard recently that the replacement cost is now more than $400,000.
'Could require a fee'
Owners wanting to alter, convert or demolish SRA-designated rooms must apply for and obtain an SRA conversion or demolition permit.
Council must evaluate each application on its own merits, and may refuse the permit, approve the permit outright or approve the permit with conditions.
In the case of the demolition of the Dunsmuir House, the city’s communications department said in an email that for Holborn to obtain future development permits for the site, the company will require approval of an SRA permit.
“Under the SRA bylaw, council could require a fee as a condition of the permit,” the city said in an email prior to Holborn’s announcement of its project, which includes the 378 non-market homes on Abbott Street.
Orr said he had no comment on the design or built form of the proposed towers.
'Keep an open mind'
Kirby-Yung described the project as ambitious.
“Our tourism sector would welcome 920 new [hotel] rooms and the conference space that would help address the shortage of rooms in Vancouver, create jobs and allow additional hosting opportunities for conferences and events,” she said.
“With respect to the overall project and Holborn’s proposal to give the DTES site to the city, I’ll be waiting to hear our city staff’s assessment of that proposal, and for more information and details on the potential 378 non-market homes.”
Kirby-Yung said assurances about heritage retention will also be important information and considerations. At this point, she added, council hasn’t received an application package, “so it’s our role to ask thoughtful questions and keep an open mind.”
Meiszner said he looks forward to considering Holborn’s proposal at a future public hearing.
“It’s right across from the Hudson’s Bay department store, which will close this June – and leave a large, empty building at the centre of our downtown core, which I am deeply concerned about,” he said. “This area of the city needs investment and revitalization.”
'Finest works of his career'
Like his colleagues, Sim noted Holborn’s proposal has just entered the city’s formal review process and that there is “still a lot of work ahead” before this project would come before council.
“Like every proposal, if and when it comes to council, we’ll be looking closely at whether it aligns with our priorities, especially when it comes to delivering housing and meaningful public benefits to Vancouverites,” the mayor said.
Klassen remarked on the design of the project.
“It certainly looks to me as one of Gregory Henriquez’s most ambitious and potentially finest works of his career — a project that I think would be probably one of his greatest legacies, if it's achieved,” he said.
He pointed out the project answers some of the needs council has identified regarding both market and non-market housing, hotel and convention centre space, more child care and public art.
“On the face of it, I like what I see, but I want to hear what everybody else has to say about it,” Klassen said. “It’s incredibly ambitious, but I think that site demands an ambitious project.”
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