Development rumours in the air

Unlike news media outlets that are held to a strict, higher standard of reporting sources, bloggers tend to have more leeway in keeping sources to themselves.  Bloggers also tend to be more imperfect in their reporting as a result.  In my last post, I mentioned that rumours of Menchies opening in the Brentwood Mall Redevelopment (BMR).  My not mentioning the sources of such rumours is meant to both protect them from potential criticism due to their position that allows them to garner such rumours and to prevent the flow of the rumours from drying up at the source. Furthermore, my sources may neither be aware that they are sources nor aware that I am blogging about the Brentwood area.  Therefore, I must always reiterate the fact that it is a rumour with the idea that there may be a fire where there's smoke.

For a major project like the BMR, it seems unusual that the developer is not promoting it's development by mentioning new commercial tenants as selling points as they did when promoting Highstreet in Abbotsford.  Even current store owners in the mall are being kept guessing on timelines and details.

Carter Dealerships

Word of another major piece of land becoming available for redevelopment is surfacing. It's being mentioned that the Carter Dealerships are looking at cashing out of their Lougheed Hwy properties that house the GM and Dodge dealerships between Willingdon Ave and both sides of Alpha Avenue. Both vacated lots south of Brentwood Station would make it a potentially larger development than the BMR north of the station.

Destination Dealerships

Meanwhile, the new Destination Toyota dealership being built at the Still Creek Auto Mall is 3 months behind schedule and continues to operate at Lougheed and Madison.  Rumours are going around that Destination Honda on Hastings will  move into the vacated site on Lougheed until it also eventually moves into the Still Creek Auto Mall.

More activity along Dawson Ave

With Onni Development already looking at developing the site around Gilmore Station including along Dawson Ave, 2 more sites are being considered a bit further east on or near Dawson Ave.  2450 Alpha Ave south of Dawson is up for a proposed tower by Solterra Development and now the 4300 block of Dawson west of Willingdon Ave at Madison is being eyed for a mid to high-rise development by Porte Development Corp which would include a commercial component fronting Dawson Ave.

According to the Burnaby NewsLeader article below, the huge plot of land that makes up the 2 Carter dealerships has been considered by the owners for their sale to make way for more development.  Such a development, if and when it happens, would rival, if not exceed the magnitude of the Brentwood Mall Redevelopment.

Burnaby NewsLeader article below

More condos proposed for Brentwood industrial area

• by  Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
• posted Jun 16, 2014 at 5:00 PM

The industrial area in Brentwood town centre south of Lougheed Highway could continue its transformation into a residential neighbourhood if two projects get the okay from Burnaby council.

Solterra Acquisition Corp. has applied for a rezoning of 2450 Alpha Ave., a parcel of almost one acre between Dawson and Alaska streets. It proposes building a high-rise apartment building with apartments or townhouses at a podium level to camouflage the above-ground parking.

City staff are proposing guidelines for the area bordered by Dawson and Alaska streets and Alpha and Beta avenues taking into account factors such as geotechnical and groundwater issues, according to a report on the Solterra application.

The proposed guidelines are that the area result in a mix of six to eight mid- to high-rise apartment buildings ranging in height from 15 to 30 storeys. Podium-level apartments or townhouses, potentially used to screen above-ground parking structures, would be a maximum of four storeys along fronting streets. Retail would be considered at ground level along Dawson.

City staff have encouraged Solterra to acquire the property next door, the site of the Carter automotive body shop at 2460 Alpha Ave., as part of its project. But the owner of that parcel is not willing to sell and has stated any future sale would be together with the rest of the Carter automotive dealership lands, the report said.

It noted that "a substantial portion" of the Carter auto body site is intended to be dedicated as road right-of-way for the extension of Alaska Street. That would make the remainder of the site too small for a future multi-family housing development.

Over on the other side of Willingdon Avenue, Porte Development Corp. has applied to rezone 4305 and 4349 Dawson St. on the northeast corner with Madison Avenue. It proposes constructing a six-storey, mixed-use building—five storeys of wood-frame construction above one level of concrete—with commercial space at street level, apartments above and full underground parking.

The six storey plan is due to the fact an underground rail tunnel is located on the eastern part of the site, a city staff report said.

"As the rail tunnel imposes significant challenges on the site in terms of building siting and underground parking, the site's available density is proposed to be coalesced west of the rail tunnel, at the corner of Madison Avenue and Dawson Street."

Burnaby planning director Lou Pelletier told council Monday that the six-storey height is "really dealing with the conditions of the site rather than setting the standard for Dawson."

Council gave city staff the go-ahead to work with both Solterra and Porte toward  development plans that could be presented at future public hearings.

wchow@burnabynewsleader.com

twitter.com/WandaChow

Public hearings for Brentwood Mall Redevelopment not until mid 2012

According to the following story in the Burnaby NewsLeader, public hearings for the Brentwood Mall Redevelopment will not begin until mid 2012.  The story also confirms that Destination Toyota will relocate from its current location at Madison and Lougheed to the new auto mall at Still Creek.  This will undoubtedly open up the space for another high-rise development.

Burnaby NewsLeader - News 

• 0 COMMENTS

LOOKING BACK/AHEAD: Highrises galore in Metrotown, Brentwood

The parking lot at Brentwood Town Centre could soon be redeveloped into condominiums.

MARIO BARTEL/NEWSLEADER

By Wanda Chow - Burnaby NewsLeader
Published: December 27, 2011 1:00 PM

It may seem that Metrotown and Brentwood town centres are experiencing a spike in developments, but the construction activity is actually spread throughout the city, says Burnaby’s director of planning Basil Luksun.

In fact, over the past five years, Metrotown isn’t even in the top two in any of the density categories, he said.

For low-density projects, the Royal Oak and Edmonds neighbourhoods have been leading the way, for low-rise multi-family development, it’s Brentwood and Royal Oak, and in the high-density highrise category, it’s Brentwood and Edmonds.

But in 2011, Metrotown and Brentwood have certainly garnered their share of headlines.

In Metrotown, there are just over 1,500 housing units under construction right now, with another 1,100 units still going through the city’s rezoning approval process. Over in Brentwood, about 480 units are under construction, with another 1,300 units at the approval stage.

Appia Developments’ project on the southwest corner of Lougheed Highway and Willingdon Avenue, dubbed Solo, is a major project that will be phased in, likely built over 10 years depending on market conditions, Luksun said.

Brentwood Town Centre is also getting set for a major makeover with recently released promotional materials for the mall indicating the possibility of six residential towers being added to the 28-acre site ranging in height from 30 to 60 storeys, as well as offices and additional retail spaces.

Luksun noted that, contrary to a recent NewsLeader story, the property owner, Shape Properties, has not yet submitted a master concept plan to city hall for approval. The planning department is working with the company but a public hearing isn’t likely to take place on the project until the middle of 2012.

Once the concept plan is approved, the company would have to apply for rezonings for each phase of the project.

Burnaby city hall has long had plans in place for the Lougheed corridor even before the Millennium SkyTrain line was built, he said. It had planned to add density there back when light-rail was still being considered as it had always envisioned a transit station at Brentwood.

Spurring development in the area is the moving of car dealerships that used to call Lougheed home. Morrey Nissan has moved to new digs off Willingdon and Still Creek, while the Toyota dealership will move nearby into an auto mall under development.

The Carter GM dealership site on the eastern side of Willingdon is also designated for future development but city hall has yet to receive a proposal for that property, Luksun said.

Over in the Metrotown area, a major redevelopment of Station Square Mall is going through the approval process with a plan that includes five towers ranging from 35 to 57 storeys each. The first phase being proposed is for offices and housing along the Kingsway frontage. The developers hope to start construction in 2012 with the entire phased project expected to take about 10 years to complete.

Bosa Properties’ Sovereign, currently under construction at the northeast corner of Willingdon and Kingsway, will be 500 feet tall, with a 169-room hotel topped by 202 units of condominiums. It sold out in six hours last February.

Polygon’s 37-storey Chancellor highrise, next to Bonsor Recreation Centre, also sold out quickly and is under construction, with a 35-storey tower by Concord Pacific Holdings Ltd. set for a site kitty-corner, on the other side of Nelson Avenue. New condo towers are also earmarked for sites on Beresford Street at Dow and Telford avenues.

Metrotower III, the third office tower in the complex adjacent to Metropolis at Metrotown mall, recently announced it will restart construction in January after work was halted due to the effects of the 2008 economic downturn.

Luksun said city hall will be working with TransLink in the new year on a redesign for the Metrotown SkyTrain station to better integrate it with the surrounding area and the planned redevelopment projects.

As it is for the rest of the city, redevelopment is moving ahead according to plans that have been in place for many years.

“Council is very consistent in its application of policies and plans,” he said. “It makes the rules and guidelines for the development community quite clear.”

Six more dealerships coming to Still Creek

According to the City of Burnaby website's list of Major Projects, six dealerships will be added to the Burnaby Auto Mall at 4451 Still Creek Drive in Burnaby.  With the Carter Chrysler/Fiat and GM dealerships expanding their showrooms on Lougheed Hwy next to Brentwood Station, we  can rule them out for the move to the new auto mall.  Perhaps Coastal Ford will make it's move from Holdom and Lougheed  along with the Toyota dealership currently located at Madison and Lougheed to make room for more residential/commercial developments along Lougheed Hwy.

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.

Carter dealerships to stay put?

In yesterday's Burnaby Now article, Burnaby: Can the city stay on course?, Burnaby City Councillor Nick Volkow's statement that he doesn't think that the Carter dealerships are going anywhere, puts to rest my guess that they may make the move from their current location on Lougheed Hwy to the new site being developed at Still Creek.

In my opinion, if you look at the setup at the Carter dealerships, you see 1970's written all over them as they represent pure urban sprawl of the past on their largely paved lots filled with vehicles with a small building and shop tucked away in one corner. From a visual perspective, if you compare the Carter dealerships to Destination Toyota, the Toyota dealership at Madison and Lougheed wins hands down. Whereas the compact Toyota dealership blends in nicely with the surrounding new development, the Carter dealerships look plain, ugly and out of place.  If you want to compare the quality of the cars...well... this is not an automobile review site, but the last time I noticed, Toyota has not had to seek bankruptcy protection due to the poor workmanship that is associated with Chrysler and GM cars.

The compact, two-level Toyota showroom and lot at Lougheed and

Madison fits in better with the surrounding area than the large,

unattractive Carter dealerships reminiscent of the past. 

Simply put, in their current form, the Carter dealerships are not an attraction but an eyesore as the Brentwood area changes around it.  If the dealerships are not going anywhere, I hope they take a page out of Destination Toyota's book and remodel their dealerships. They might even consider downsizing their lots to make room for development that fits the growth strategy for Brentwood. In doing so, they would contribute to change instead of impeding it.

More car dealerships moving to Still Creek

The rezoning process is underway to allow for the addition of at least 2 more car dealerships on Still Creek Ave west of Willingdon Ave.  According to the City of Burnaby, the project at 4451 Still Creek Ave will be designed by CEI Architecture and is the second phase of a possible 3 dealerships

Perhaps the 2 dealerships on Lougheed Hwy between Willingdon and Beta Aves (Carter Dodge Chrysler and Carter GM) will make the move to Still Creek.  A move by the Carter dealerships would free up some of the largest area of real estate in the Brentwood core for development.

Th site of the future car dealerships sits across the street from 

both Morrey Nissan and McDonald's headquarters.

Morrey Nissan (below) was the first major car dealership to

make the move from Lougheed Hwy to Still Creek Ave.

The Carter dealerships occupy most of the area from Lougheed 

Hwy to Dawson Ave between Alpha and Willingdon Aves.

The only other 2 major dealerships that may make the move from Lougheed Hwy would be Coastal Ford at Holdom and Lougheed, and Destination Toyota at Madison and Lougheed.  Car dealerships along Lougheed Hwy seem to be out of place as the Lougheed Hwy street front changes and gives way to mixed-use developments.

The first dealership to make the move to Still Creek from Lougheed was Morrey Nissan which now occupies the corner of Still Creek and Willingdon Ave across the street from McDonald's regional headquarters.