On the south side of Kingsway, in the triangle made by Nanaimo Street and East 33rd Avenue, lies a piece of Vancouver’s history.

It’s business as usual at the 2400 Motel, which still sports a vintage red-and-blue-neon sign that’s gone in and out of fashion over the years but now possesses an undeniable retro-cool. Consisting of a cluster of white bungalows, the motel had its heyday during the years following the Second World War. It provided car-oriented accommodation at a time when automobile travel was all the rage and Kingsway was still the primary route into the city.

Purchased by the City of Vancouver in 1989 for investment purposes, the 1.4-hectare landmark is at a crossroads.

In the fall, city staff are expected to complete a draft plan for the proposed Norquay Village neighbourhood centre in East Vancouver’s Renfrew-Collingwood community. The plan will cover an area around Kingsway between Gladstone and Killarney streets that is being eyed for more residential and commercial density. The 2400 Motel is located near the middle of this planning zone.

For Bobbi Senft, Kingsway without the 2400 Motel is “going to seem funny”.

Senft was born in 1947, a year after the motor inn was built, and she has lived her whole life in Renfrew-Collingwood.

“You get used to it,” Senft told the Georgia Straight in a phone interview about the familiar sight. “I mean, it’s been there for as long as I could remember.”

Although she acknowledged that the 2400 Motel may not have much time left, Senft is hoping that parts of it will be preserved.

“I think they should at least try,” she said. “If they could incorporate them, if they are going to build on the site, I think it would be nice if they could keep some of them.”

Earlier this summer, city staff conducted a series of open houses about the proposed Norquay Village centre. One of the display panels dealt with the 2400 Motel site, noting that the property may be redeveloped into a mix of indoor and outdoor public spaces; commercial units, including a new supermarket; and housing.

Two towers—a 16-storey building and a 12-storey mid-rise—are being considered. According to city staff, this “reflects the precedent” set at the adjacent site of the old Eldorado Hotel at 2300 Kingsway, for which the city has approved a multi-use redevelopment that includes a 22-storey tower.

Small retail spots would front Kingsway, and these would help re-establish the busy thoroughfare as “an active and pedestrian-friendly neighbourhood shopping street”, the display panel stated.

Since the city-initiated planning process for Norquay started in 2006, resident Joseph Jones has been a vocal critic of proposals to add more density to the neighbourhood.

A member of a volunteer group of residents that works with the city to come up with planning options, Jones said in a phone interview with the Straight that high-rises were not what locals proposed to staff regarding the 2400 Motel site.

According to a presentation board prepared by Jones’s group and shown to city planners, the area should have a “village” feel. To achieve this, the residents recommended a huge public plaza, several shops, and three storeys of housing over commercial units.

According to Jones, the group also recommended that the property should remain in public hands and not be flipped to a developer.

Local artist Carmen Rosen, who organizes an annual cultural event called the Renfrew Ravine Moon Festival, sees the planning program for the 2400 Motel site as an opportunity to provide spaces for the arts.

In a phone interview, Rosen told the Straight that young artists are emerging in the multicultural neighbourhood of Renfrew-Collingwood but that they have no place in the community to work in studio-type settings or exhibit their creations.

No one knows when the wrecking ball will finally claim the 2400 Motel. City staff have indicated that the rezoning process will be “required to address heritage concerns” at this site, which the Birmingham & Wood architectural firm described in a 2007 paper prepared for the City of Vancouver as a “rare place of shared memories”.

According to the document, not only has the 2400 Motel served as “a home-away-from-home for many travelers, with loyal visitors repeatedly returning to stay over many decades”. It has also entered the “collective imagination” of Vancouverites as “a seemingly immutable part of the city—a whole, miniature world from an earlier simpler time”.