Thursday, June 27, 2013

Brentwood Mall Redevelopment 2013 Open House

I had an opportunity to attend the Open House yesterday.  There were some interesting bits of information from project representatives including the fact that the Mall is currently looking to entice a movie theatre to anchor the Entertainment Plaza as well as a major retailer to anchor the corner.  Shape Properties is currently in discussions with multiple retailers to set up shop in the Entertainment Plaza.

Looking at the overall 20-year, 3-phase BMR plan, the biggest impact appears to be made immediately with Phase 1 as the 2 tallest towers in Burnaby and potentially Metro Vancouver will accompany the costruction of the Entertainment Plaza and district.

The poster boards on display for the project are available for online viewing at Shape Properties' site.

Traffic changes

The BMR will result in two new traffic signals; one on Lougheed at Alpha and the other at Willingdon at a new entry into the mall north of Halifax and south of Brentlawn.  Both Lougheed Hwy and Willindgon Ave are expected to have 6 lanes improve automobile traffic flow.  Hopefully the signals will be synched with the existing signals or else it`s going to be a traffic nightmare for drivers.  The entry at Alpha will eventually become a full-fledged intersection with drivers being able to cross Lougheed to and from the mall at Alpha.

Beta entry/exit to remain
In earlier BMR presentations, the currently chaotic Beta Ave exit/entry at the southeast end of the mall lot was projected to be closed off to divert traffic to Lougheed Hwy in order to facilitate the development of the smaller, quieter town square in Phase 2 of the BMR.  However, the recent open open house poster boards indicate that the Beta entrance will remain as it is.  Time will tell how the problem of pedestrians attempting to navigate through traffic from Brentwood Drive to the future Brentwood Boulevard will be addressed as the amount of auto traffic coming into the currently underused southeast parking lot increases with the arrival of the 50,000 square foot food store.

Underground Parking
As the BMR progresses, the surrounding parking lot will give way to above-ground amenities and underground parkades.  The Entertainment Plaza will be built above a multilevel parkade with connections preconstructed to join up with future entrances built during phases 2 and 3, including the future entrance that will be situated between Alpha and Beta Aves. 


The following are some `before and after` shots of the proposed development:

BEFORE


AFTER

BEFORE
AFTER

BEFORE






AFTER

4 comments:

  1. I went to the 'open house'. To this day I have to qualms about the mall being changed but I did see the addition of two more traffic lights that got me a little upset. One on the lougheed and another one on Willington. Just what traffic in the are does not needs. As for the information meeting it consisted of drawings and such no different from the other meetings

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  2. As a transit user, I see some issues with the planned redevelopment. First, there is only a bus stop for the southbound 130 bus (to metrotown), but not for the northbound 130 bus (to Hastings/Kootenay Loop/Phibbs/Capilano University).
    Second, the current faregates at Brentwood station are going to cause problems when they are operational. There is only 1 wheelchair accesible gate. Since they are going to be uni directional, how will that work? To access the elevators to the platform level and to exit from the station, you have to go though the gates.
    There are only 3 regular gates and since this is the only way to enter and exit the station, there are going to be lines to access the gates. People wanting to get on the trains in both directions of the millenium line and the people coming off the trains are all going through these gates and it will be a choke point. I take the skytrain 5 days a week to and from work and this station is very busy. With the increased traffice from the SOLO District project and the rest of the new developments, this problem will increase unless the situation with the faregates is fixed.

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    1. The 2 issues you bring up highlight the fact that TransLink officials that make decisions affecting transit users do not ever use transit and therefore are unable to even realize the flaws in their decision making. I`ve brought up the turnstile issue you mention in past posts which was brought to TransLinks' attention by a local newspaper and their response was that their "studies" show that the 3 turnstiles will be adequate based on their "projections". The turnstiles already create a bottleneck at times and they aren't even operational yet!

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  3. Good to see people trying to make parking lots in a good way! same like Gatwick Parking

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