September 22, 2009

Walking Tour 3: Downtown South

Continuing on the tour, walking east on Nelson into Downtown South.  Almost all the blocks have filled in now, and it all happened in less than two decades.   A few glimpses of the past remain.

 Penthouse sign

Astonishing that the Penthouse survives, with its storied history and painted sign, as dated as top hats and white gloves.

Across the street, something slightly different from the usual Downtown South podium of townhouses and stoops.

Level 1

Level offers what looks to be commercial space above the storefronts.  And another sign of the times: furnished rental Level 2apartments, perhaps a temporary use until the condo market revives but also a helpful part of the mix in what is really Vancouver’s new West End – a neighbourhood that accommodates people in transition.  Newly arrived, newly divorced, just passing through or waiting for circumstances to change.  We’ve all been there at one time another.

What helps make such a hard-edged district a littler softer are the street trees, some of which are now the oldest things on the block.  And the landscaping that creates corridors of green for  pedestrians: columns of trees on both sides, with a canopy above, and a rich carpeting of textured plants below.

Landscaping

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  1. “perhaps a temporary use until the condo market revives ”

    Ummm…. have you seen at all what has happened in the condo market downtown over the past 6 months? Revived? That market is well past off lifesupport, checked itself out on it’s own, and is entering a triathlon this weekend!

    Onni, who built the project, had planned for quite some time that it would be a rental building never once advertising it for sale or launching any kind of promotion. Maybe they do want to cash in on the Olympics and that would be a good plan as we clearly do not have the hotel space downtown to accomodate everyone coming. Will it then be converted to strata and sold ala 1010 Howe, 1212 Howe, 1177 Hornby, 1333 West Georgia, and the Electra? Possibly. I wouldn’t know. But I know that this is not a “sign of the times, meant for those in transition”. It’s way too expensive for that.
    Likely it is meant to fill the need for higher quality, professionally managed, rental buildings (ie not Hollyburn properties) of which there is only one other downtown (on Homer).

  2. The level is meant for longterm stays. Our company rents out units like this all the time when we have large projects on the go that require people to be relocated for 3-4months at a time. It would be too expensive to hole them up in hotel rooms, and doesn’t make sense to rent an apartment and buy furniture for them. In a city our size there are a few hundred people at any given time that are here on extended stays. For them this place is exactly what is needed.

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