More on Solo District in Burnaby Now article

The Solo District project on the SW corner of Lougheed and Willingdon received more coverage in the following Burnaby Now article.  The story highlights the issue of businesses being displaced by construction of residential high-rise towers in the Brentwood neighbourhood.  While the story below only mentions GoodYear Tire Centre on Willingdon Ave, nothing has yet been mentioned about Milestones restaurant (NW corner of the project site) which has been in the neighbourhood since at least the 1990s.

   

Brentwood development causes concern

BY JANAYA FULLER-EVANS, BURNABY NOW SEPTEMBER 30, 2011

A proposal for a large development in Brentwood has a local business owner concerned for the future of his automotive shop.

Randy Wong, owner and manager of Goodyear Ultimate Source Automotive at 2075 Willingdon Ave., is worried a mixeduse development planned for the corner of Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway will push out his business.

Wong spoke about the issue at a public hearing on the rezoning for the development at Burnaby's city hall on Sept. 20.

"We've been there since 1988," he said in a phone interview last Thursday, adding the business has nearly 10,000 customers. "It's a matter of, if you're getting pushed out, where do you go?"

He is also concerned about the effect the situation might have on his employees. The automotive centre has nearly 20 employees at this time, he said, and also provides training opportunities for students in local high school and post-secondary automotive repair programs.

He is worried businesses like his will be pushed out of the city, as happened in Vancouver, said Wong, who has owned the business since 1993.

Wong has been looking for another space in the area for some time now.

"It's difficult to find something in comparison with what we have," he said, adding finding a property that offers longterm leases in the area is a challenge, as well.

As he has spent many years building the business there, Wong said he would like to stay in Brentwood.

The developer, Chris Dikeakos Architects, did not respond to requests for an interview.

Wong was on his way to speak with the city's director of planning and building,

Basil Luksun, when he spoke with the NOW.

Luksun spoke about the development in a phone interview last week.

The development would consist of four apartment buildings ranging in height from 39 storeys to 48 storeys, a 13-storey office tower, and retail and commercial space at the ground level, according to a report by Luksun.

The site is currently home to an auto dealership with vehicle storage space, a restaurant, an auto repair shop and other generalized light industrial/manufacturing facilities.

Businesses leasing property where the development is slated to go in would be governed by their individual lease agreements, Luksun said, something the city isn't involved in.

Now that council has heard the comments from the public hearing, he said, the rezoning for the development will be considered by council and could go to second reading.

Mayor Derek Corrigan spoke to the issue this Monday in a phone interview.

"We're looking at other areas we can designate for that kind of growth," he said of businesses such as Wong's. Corrigan used the example of Morrey Nissan, which he said wasn't pushed out of the city but instead was moved closer to the highway.

The point is to move businesses that service cars and car owners out of residential neighbourhoods to areas where cars are, such as along the highway, he explained.

"Goodyear and other (similar businesses) can expect that people are going to drive where they are and not take transit," Corrigan said.

The proposed Brentwood development includes plans to include two-zone bus passes for two years with 15 per cent of the residential units.

The developer also plans to put in twice the required bicycle parking spaces and participate in a car-sharing program.

The development would span 6.65 acres from Lougheed Highway to a lane north of Dawson Street, and from Willingdon to Rosser avenues.

If the rezoning goes through, the development would fall under the city's new 's' zoning designation.

The new zoning, introduced last winter, allows for greater density in some multi-family residential districts districts in exchange for building space or money that goes to the city for community and non-profit space.

Developers can then build taller towers in the four city centres, helping Burnaby deal with the population increase expected throughout the region, as mentioned in Metro Vancouver's regional growth strategy, according to the city.

Metro Vancouver has predicted that the 2006 population of 2.2 million people in the region will increase to 3.4 million people by 2041.

© Copyright (c) Burnaby Now

 more:http://www.burnabynow.com/business/Brentwood+development+causes+concern/5481227/story.html#ixzz1ZRYKzXc3

Another mention of Solo District in article

An article mentioning Solo District from simonlim.ca:

Appia Proposing High Density Brentwood Development

Posted on August 29, 2011 by tanya

Proposed mixed-use plan includes 1,350 units in four towers ranging from 39-48 storeys

Appia Developments has submitted a proposal to the City of Burnaby to rezone a 6 acre site at the Southwest corner of Lougheed and Willingdon to allow four residential high-rise apartment buildings ranging in height from 39 storeys to 48 storeys (in a mixed-use tower with a thirteen storey office component). The total density would be 1.9 Million square feet, or 7.1 FAR.

The proposed development also includes approximately 250,000 sq.ft. of office, and about 112,000 sq. ft. of commercial/retail fronting all bounding streets and the internal private road (Sumas Street). The proposed development is centred around a new public realm which includes significant plaza and green open/gathering space.

Brentwood Crossing project titled Solo District

The Solo District project, previously known as Brentwood Crossing,  will go to a public hearing this Tuesday at Burnaby City Hall (Sept 20).  I am going to try to make it out for the public hearing to get a feel for what issues or concerns are brought forth from the public.  I was able to take a photo of the project site map displayed on the rezoning application board at the site on Willingdon Ave.

Community amenities discussed for Rosser and Lougheed

Although specific details were not discussed, the community spaces slated to accompany the Vantage and Brentwood Crossing developments at Rosser and Lougheed were mentioned at the August 29th Burnaby City Council meeting.

City of Burnaby

    Community Development Committee

              Re:               Community Benefit Derived Through

                            Rezoning #06-47

                            4420, 4444 Lougheed Highway; 2060 Rosser

                            Avenue; 4461, 4408 Sumas Street & 2131

                            Willingdon Avenue                           

The Community Development Committee submitted a report recommending on-site amenity space and a cash-in-lieu contribution as the approved community benefits to be derived through Rezoning Reference #06-47 for a large mixed-use commercial-residential project at the subject address.

The Community Development Committee recommended:

1.              THAT Council approve the on-site amenity space and a cash-in-lieu contribution as the community benefits to be derived through the density bonus granted to Rezoning Reference #06-47.

 Proposal Call Process for Community Amenity Space at

              Rosser Avenue and Lougheed Highway (RZ #08-06)             

The City Manager submitted a report from the Director Planning and Building seeking Council approval to initiate a Request for Proposal (RFP) process to identify a community organization(s) to occupy City-owned non-profit office/program space in a mixed use development at 2085 Rosser Avenue (at Lougheed Highway).

The City Manager recommended:

1.              THAT Council endorse the proposed process to select a non-profit tenant(s) for a community amenity space associated with RZ #08-06, as outlined in Sections 2.0 and 3.0 of this report.

Views on taller buildings determined by the resulting view

Recently a resident of the Brentwood neighbourhood wrote a letter to the Burnaby Newsleader opposing the Brentwood Crossing project.

Poor planning reaches new heights in Burnaby's Brentwood area

Published: September 08, 2011 9:00 AM
Updated: September 08, 2011 9:20 AM
Re: Proposed development to transform Brentwood (NewsLeader, Sept. 2)

I read the article about the proposed development with towers 39 to 48 storeys for the southwest corner of Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway and find that the proposal is at the best obscene. Perhaps Burnaby needs a change of leadership, for allowing developments like these to go ahead. They allowed highrises on the north side of Lougheed that cost $400,000 to $2 million and now are proposing to lower the value of these properties by cutting off all views from the north.

People on the east and south sides of the buildings on the north side of Lougheed will have nothing to see but cement buildings. This will certainly lower the property values for all the buildings on the north side (but probably not their property tax assessments).

It appears Burnaby does not have anyone in its employ, or even a consultant with any idea of how to keep views for everyone. The new buildings should be lower than the buildings on the north side and any new ones to the south after these new buildings should be shorter than the proposed buildings. The whole area is turning into a mini-Toronto but with no amenities to match.

So now we have the option of selling and moving, or staying and suffering from lowered property value. What is wrong with Burnaby’s city council and planning department?

Patricia Muss

Burnaby

Carter GM renovating

The Carter GM dealership across the street from Brentwood Mall has been busy constructing a building next to an existing one.  The fact that the dealership is investing money in expanding its building there means that it will not be leaving the vicinity of Brentwood Station anytime soon as did the Morrey Nissan dealership recently to Still Creek and Willingdon.  The former site of the Nissan dealership (across the street at Willingdon and Lougheed) will be the location of the "Brentwood Crossing" development by Appia.

Brentwood Crossing development

The Brentwood Crossing development appears to be moving ahead with a public hearing scheduled on September 20th at Burnaby City Hall.  The development will begin to establish (at its corner) the intersection of Lougheed Hwy and Willingdon Ave as major pedestrian crossing as more residential and commercial/office units are established.   With the Vantage project underway just west of this project and the Brentwood Mall project in it's infancy at the opposite corner, we can expect cranes to be prominent features in the skyline around Brentwood for a number of years.

Below are conceptual images from www.dikeakos.com

Burnaby Newsleader article below

Proposed development to transform Brentwood

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader

Published: September 01, 2011 10:00 AM

Updated: September 01, 2011 10:25 AM

A new Brentwood-area development proposal could transform the southwest corner of Willingdon Avenue and Lougheed Highway.

The mixed-use proposal is for a 6.65-acre site kitty corner from Brentwood SkyTrain station that currently includes a car dealership, restaurant, auto-repair shop and other light industrial properties. Bounded by Willingdon, Lougheed, Rosser Avenue and the north lane behind Dawson Street, it requires a rezoning and will go to public hearing Sept. 20.

An earlier proposal for the site which received second reading in 2008 comprised two highrise office buildings, three highrise apartment towers and ground-oriented commercial and retail, according to a city staff report.

Since then, Burnaby council has adopted a change to the city’s zoning bylaw expanding density bonus provisions to certain zones within the four town centres of Brentwood, Metrotown, Lougheed and Edmonds.

As a result, the developer is now proposing a new plan that takes advantage of the potential added density.

The current proposal consists of 1,351 residential units in four highrises, ranging in height from 39 to 48 storeys, the latter within a mixed-use tower that includes 13 storeys of office space. Units will range in size from 413-square-foot studios to 1,750-square-foot three-bedrooms-plus-den units. Five per cent, or 68 units, will be adaptable for persons with disabilities.

It includes about 250,000 square feet of office space and about 112,000 square feet of commercial space. It also now includes significant plaza and open green space.

Within the site, Sumas Street will be a “high street” with retail storefronts, pedestrian walkways and street furniture and the entire project aims to be pedestrian friendly with front doors of commercial spaces opening directly to the street, the report said.

The developer plans to build to a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) gold standard, and will provide transit passes for two years to 15 per cent of the units, twice the required secured bicycle parking, memberships in a car-sharing program and three cars per residential phase for the car co-op.

If approved, the project would be built in four phases. As part of the density bonusing program, the developer will provide an amenity bonus for the first phase of more than $8.8 million. Of that, $2 million will come in the form of a 4,570-square-foot city-owned community space on-site and $6.8 million cash-in-lieu to be used for future Brentwood area amenities. Of that, $1.36 million will be designated for affordable and special needs housing projects.

The applicant is Chris Dikeakos Architects of Burnaby. The public hearing will be held Tuesday, Sept. 20 at 7 p.m. in city hall council chambers.

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

APPIA continues to build Brentwood

Earlier in the month, a reader pointed out the planned development on the SW corner of Willingdon Ave and Lougheed Hwy as displayed on skyscraperpage.com with a link to the designing architect's vision for the site. According to the info found in the link, the project is titled, "Brentwood Crossing"

According to the City of Burnaby's website under the heading "Major Projects", the latest APPIA project in Brentwood will add over 154, 000 square feet of commercial space, 566, 000 square feet of office space in the form of 2 high-rise office towers, and 105, 000 square feet of residential space in the form of 3 high-rise residential towers (509 units). The amount of commercial space is significant (the London Drugs at Brentwood Mall is 34, 000 square feet).

This is the fourth project by APPIA west of Willingdon Ave. The previous 3 projects are located north of Lougheed Hwy (Motif at Citi, Madison Centre and Buchanan North) across the street from 4420 Lougheed Hwy where the next project will be built.

The former site of the Morrey Nissan dealership sits next to Milestones restaurant which may have to relocate either offsite or into the new development. Hopefully the restaurant will remain in the neighbourhood to take advantage of the increasing numbers of residents and employees in the area.