Why has Vancouver City Hall Put Gastown’s Heritage Conversions on Hold?
May 3rd, 2008 Categories: Downtown, Real Estate News, Vancouver Real Estate
At least seven Vancouver Gastown condo projects are in limbo as City Hall nixed its heritage revitalization program.
City Hall established a Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program for Gastown, Chinatown and the Hastings Corridor in 2003 and it was scheduled to run til 2008. It was designed to cover cost shortfalls for complete building rehabilitation. It also included a density bonus and property tax relief.
The City has now declared that Vancouver’s Gastwon Heritage program will be suspended pending further study. Of the 12, 5 were allowed to proceed and the remaining seven were excluded.
The density bonus is a key incentive to redevelop, rather than tear down heritage buildings to redevelop rather than tear down heritage buildings. It allows developers to increase the square footage of buildings in other area.
Salient Group has had seven buildings in Vancouver’s Gaston Heritage program and “$100 million of investment going into incented projects that goes directly to bolstering the economic environment in these areas.” They are selling some of the density it’s been given and incorporating some of it into its new projects.
Salient’s Fung said that until “the city determines how it’s going to implement its heritage revitalization incentive program, further investment in the area by Salient is at a full halt”.
Vancouver’s senior heritage planner, Marco D’Agnostini, said the Vancouver Gastown Heritage Program was suspended “because the city was concerned that a potential surplus of transferable density would reduce its market value”
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Weigh in - what is you opinion on Vanouver’s Gastown Heriage program? Is it good for the neighbourhood? Should it continue or not? Do you live in the neighbourhood and if so, has the Heritage Program been a benefit to it and how?
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That’s a shame. I can only say shame because I don’t have all the details but if Fung and his group are pulling out then it must be pretty bad and then I’ll call it a travesty. They’ve been turning out some amazing projects and were a group I really got behind. I dig what they’ve been doing.
Gastown’s look (and that cannot be replicated) must be preserved in a city that lacks character in many neighbourhoods. We have enough steel/glass condos. Besides the true Yaletown, Chinatown, and Gastown we really lack those old world charms that bring smiles to peoples faces.
That’s not to say I don’t think we can’t grow the area with modern touches. The soccer stadium would be awesome down there (though I know most Gastown residents are opposed).
Let’s just hope we don’t lose real heritage to faux-heritage or contemporary.
Comment by Will — May 3, 2008 #
i couldn’t agree with you more, will. hopefully city hall will come to their senses and renew the program. personally, i thought it was a smart idea for the hood.
Comment by Maggie — May 5, 2008 #
[…] did a post on this recently and thought I’d follow it up with City Hall’s explanation. So here it […]
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