Interpretive displays will celebrate the culture and history of Mount Pleasant in a new Vancouver development.

The displays are to be mounted on a brick wall that will frame a heritage alley at the southern side of the residential and commercial project by Jim Pattison Developments.

The alley is expected to animate the public realm around the six-storey development.

Formosis Architecture filed an application with the City of Vancouver for a development permit at 2202-2218 Main Street and 206 East 6^th Avenue.

The architecture firm explained in a design rationale document that the heritage alley is “not required by city zoning or community plans”.

Rather, it is “part of the owner’s (JP Development Group) gesture to the community to connect the project with Mt. Pleasant’s history and culture”.

“As such, the alley will contain an interpretive display of the history of the area, while offering a physical connection from Main Street to the laneway mid-block,” Formosis Architecture said.

The alley will reduce the massing and density of the project, as well as provide a buffer to the neighbouring building to the south.

Formosis Architecture was then operating as Studio B when it filed a rezoning application for the site in 2017.

At the time, the firm’s developer-client was Main Street Arts Investments Inc., a company identified with PortLiving.

A city staff report to council noted that an “existing heritage brick wall will be retained in situ” as an “urban relic” in a proposed pedestrian alley.

“This space is being referred to as ‘Heritage Alley’ as the space is anticipated to include an interpretive display of the history of the area in conjunction with the heritage brick wall,” the report explained.

Council approved the rezoning application in 2019.

The application for a development permit for the Jim Pattison Developments project lists 76 apartment and townhouse units as its residential component.

There will be commercial spaces fronting Main Street that will wrap around the building to the southern side, where the heritage alley is found.

The city will accept public comments on the application from December 20, 2021 to February 17, 2022.