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The City of Vancouver has received a rezoning application seeking to build a 23-storey office building at 450 West Georgia Street. Developer Austeville Properties is proposing to intensify the site's current Car2Go surface parking lot, just as the company exits North American operations.
The W.T. Leung Architects-designed complex would rise to a height of 87.2 metres and feature over 375,000 square feet of office space, with public and commercial retail uses on the ground floor. The application also calls for 270 vehicle parking spaces and 236 bicycle spaces over six underground levels.
The project would be wedged between Telus Garden and Deloite Summit at the southeast corner of West Georgia and Richards Street. The rezoning rationale submitted with the application references Vancouver's low office vacancy rate. A CBRE report from July 2019 stated that at 2.6 percent, Toronto and Vancouver had the lowest office vacancy rates in North America.
Architecturally, the building would employ a high-performance, triple-glazed envelope to meet the city's energy-use and greenhouse gas emissions thresholds. A triple-height sheltered exterior space, an interior seating space for the public, and a dedicated bike ramp entrance from Richards Street will define the ground-level experience. Amenity spaces for workers have been proposed on the eighth and 23rd floors.
A community open house has been scheduled for Tuesday, March 31 from 5:00 to 7:00 PM in Salon B of the Queen Elizabeth Theatre, 650 Hamilton Street. Comments can also be provided online.
For more information, check out the associated Database file and Forum thread, and as always, feel free to join the conversation in the comments section below.
