In early 2005, the owner of the Plaza of Nations complex approached the City of Vancouver, to see if it would permit the construction of residential buildings on part of the Plaza of Nations' site.
Based on the planning department's six-month study (link to pdf) that was submitted in July 2005, City Council decided that it could not support further residential development that would reduce the site's entertainment and commercial space.
Instead, they encouraged the property owner to work with adjacent developers (ie Concord Pacific) to ensure that the Plaza of Nations would continue to serve as a commercial and entertainment centre.
In assessing the owner's request to add more residential to the site, one of the City planners' main concerns was that if residential development occurred too close to the Plaza of Nations, people would inevitably complain about noise and crowds.
More importantly, however, was the view that the Plaza of Nations complex has an important role to play within the wider sports and entertainment district, which includes BC Place and GM Place.
Planners also noted Vancouver's need for a mid-sized, covered outdoor facility that is able to support community events. They went on to stress the uniqueness of the site's location, which is one of the few waterfront gathering places in the city.
With that in mind, it'll be interesting to see whether the Plaza of Nations gets redeveloped according to the site's current zoning - with a hotel and/or entertainment complex - or whether City planners will consider the bigger picture, to include the future of BC Place and the Whitecaps Stadium in their planned review of the Northeast False Creek area.
Why not look at building a new, mid-sized stadium in this location for both the Whitecaps and BC Lions? (Incidentally, Whitecaps owner, Greg Kerfoot, considered purchasing the Edgewater Casino, earlier in 2006. Link to article here).
At the very least, this is shaping up to be an early test of Toderian's vision for the City.
Plaza of Nations is a great venue, I've been to several events there. I'm all in favour of keeping it close to as-is, but I don't think a hotel would hurt, with the casino right there. For what its worth I'd also be for keeping BC Place as is, and building the new privately-funded home for the Whitecaps. There are plenty of condos downtown. I think when the real estate market inevitably drops, the cry for more residential space will quickly dry up...
Posted by: Warren | Wednesday, January 31, 2007 at 01:09 PM