Wall Financial Corporation returns to council for East Vancouver rezoning hearing

by Charlie Smith on Oct 26, 2011 at 4:43 pm
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Three months after Vancouver city council approved Wall Financial Corporation’s rezoning application at Shannon Mews, the developer will be back before the politicians on another significant proposal. On Tuesday (November 1), there will be a public hearing on Wall’s bid to rezone 33 parcels along Boundary Road, Ormidale Street, and Vanness Avenue just east of the Joyce SkyTrain station.

GBL Architects filed the application on behalf of Wall, which obtained council’s approval in late July to develop 735 housing units at the historic Shannon Mews site near the corner of Granville Street and West 57th Avenue. The current application in East Vancouver calls for three residential towers between 28 and 30 storeys, as well as a six-storey stepped building, 33,000 square feet of amenity space, some commercial space, and an accessible park.

The amenity space would include classrooms and a child-minding area, as well as a commercial-grade kitchen, office, and multifunctional gathering space, and has an estimated value of $11.4 million.

The entire development would include 1,114 housing units and underground parking for 1,329 vehicles. The report to council states that if the application is approved, the developer will be required to provide at least five shared vehicles and five shared parking spots on site for a car-share program. This would cost Wall $125,000 for the vehicles and another $57,800 in operating costs for the fleet.

Last year when the Vancouver board of education was holding public meetings over the possible closure of five schools on the city’s East Side, several speakers, including future NDP leader Adrian Dix, cited the Wall development as a reason to reconsider this decision. In the end, the board of education held off making a final decision until next year.

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Comments (5) Add New Comment
Mike from East Van
Oct 26, 2011 at 11:48 pm
Don't look a gift horse in the mouth...the type and mix of these 1,114 housing units hasn't been really disclosed. Affordable 2 and 3 bedroom family friendly units is one thing, but if this project follows the typical Vancouver model...million dollar condos (which is unlikely in this part of town) or tiny, turn and burn studios and 1 bedroom units (probably) that are designed to be flipped or serve as investment vehicles will hardly help those five schools. I'll wager that most families with children do not like to grow up in 500 sq ft one bedroom boxes no matter how nice those shared vehicles are. Unless City Hall decides to really take a stand for affordable family friendly units in this development, those East Van schools are on a death watch and the Wall Corporation will be laughing all the way to the bank!
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Joseph Jones
Oct 27, 2011 at 12:32 am
Here is one more massive spot rezoning that takes no real account of the CityPlan mandated "neighbourhood centre" (one of 19) that was supposed to be designed for Kingsway/ Joyce and include all of Kingsway from Rupert to Boundary.

Grab that big parcel of land, rezone the heck out of it, dump on towering density, and hope to keep on keeping on.

The Vision/NPA-developer axis aims to wrap up and deliver this package before the Nov 19 election. Too late and too bad for this opaque done deal out in the boonies of Far East Vancouver.

But not too late to vote for a change in what the speculators and profiteers see as Vancouver's future.

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james green
Oct 27, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Please follow the money. How much money did Wall contribute to the NPA and Vision this election? That's all we need to know.
Follow the money and it will set you free.
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Wiil the Offgas Runner
Oct 28, 2011 at 10:14 am
I went to a couple of meetings at the neighbourhood house over the last couple of years where they showed this development. I was encouarged with the type of homes they are planning, It looks like there will be a variety of types with some bigger homes for families. They say they will have some 3 bedroom townhouses for families. I always understood that the City Plan vision stated that you could build apartments at this location. I think they are asknig for a zoning that will allow slightly higher buildings above what was already allowed. It seems they are not too high. This plan finishes the Collingwood Village with some type of development that fits in with everything that's already here. We are getting some things from it that will add to the neighbourhood. Overall it looks pretty good. Kind of better than most.
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Dufus
Jan 15, 2012 at 12:57 am
This development is wayyy too big in my opinion. It will be interesting to see if the units will actually sell as there is a glut of new condos and they are not selling like before. I can see the possiblity that once these condos are finally built, interest rates will have risen and the housing market will be on a downturn and I hope Wall gets screwed and loses lot of money for being a greedy developer.
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