October 31, 2017

Redefining Intersections: 12th and Cambie

As gas-station sites are being redeveloped (a consequence of rising land values and dropping gasoline consumption), major intersections are changing identity.  Gas stations, after all, were the ultimate in low-density use: primarily parking lots with gas pumps.  Typically located on high-traffic intersections in prominent locations, the sites are being filled in with, at best, prominent buildings.
Here’s the latest at the southeast corner of Cambie and 12th, immediately opposite City Hall:

It went through several iterations in massing in order to avoid affecting the view of City Hall from from the north – and the mixed-use result looks good.  Anyone know the architect?

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Leave a Reply to Sandy James PlannerCancel Reply

  1. Nice building – much better than the “heritage” brick designs previously proposed for the site.
    The developer is Shato Holdings – same as White Spot – so everyone is wondering whether the White Spot will return to the large retail space at the south end of the building which has a patio area.
    ******
    WRT the short buildings – the worst “offender” is the Crossroads building at the NW corner of Cambie & Broadway. It should be much taller for an intersection that will have 2 rapid transit lines. The problem is that the City Hall view cone from 12th & Cambie limits heights in the area.
    Sad that both major rapid transit nodes in the City of Vancouver:
    – Cambie & Broadway, and
    – Commercial & Broadway
    are both under-developed for the adjacent transit carrying capacity.
    At least Lougheed Town Centre (Shape Properties’ “City of Lougheed”) will provide high density at that rapid transit interchange.

    1. As an urban designer, I have huge issues with the inappropriate juxtaposition of radically out-of-proportion building scales. The mere presence of rapid transit shouldn’t excuse better urbanism where three 65-storey towers and eight 55-storey towers won’t tower over the low rise dwellings just across the street. In addition, the public realm will be subsumed by the private mall. What public space is proposed will be token at best.
      We have now seen three decades of the power of rapid transit to shape the community and stimulate the economy. Perhaps it’s time to rethink the impact and apply better urban design standards where public open space plays a huge role.

  2. Looks decent, the street face sucks though on Cambie. Feels out of scale and with 6 lanes of traffic on Cambie and 4 lanes blowing through on 12th, pretty unfriendly place to be.

  3. The site is over 300 m from the entry to City Hall Station. I find the scale apropos for stepping down to the lower scale of the heritage houses in Mount Pleasant south of 12th Ave, which will be subject to low-rise infill at best fro the foreseeable future. In essence, a transitional building.
    The Chevron at 16th x Cambie is now closed too. This would have made a great site for the lost 16th Avenue Station. I would feel a bit better, though, if a reconstituted Tomato Café reappeared on Cambie in the new building that will one day occupy that site, only one block from their original location.

  4. One of the hazards when the gas station was on this site-guys would park their cars in neutral, forget their parking brakes and run to the washroom. Walking city staff would dodge the cars that would then gain speed going backwards across 12th Avenue into westbound cars waiting at the 12th and Cambie traffic lights. Too bad there were no quick flip movie cell phones back in the day.

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