It’s a big decision for some big towers. On Monday, Vancouver city council voted seven to three in favour of rezoning changes that would allow Holborn Group to build three towers in the heart of Downtown Vancouver – which would be the three tallest towers in the city. “This is really probably one of the most significant redevelopments council has considered in many years,” said ABC Vancouver city councillor Mike Klassen while addressing council on Monday. The zoning changes apply to the block surrounded by Dunsmuir, Richards, West Georgia and Seymour streets. “This is really a once in a lifetime project for our city,” ABC Vancouver city councillor Peter Meiszner said Monday at council. “This is going to bring new energy to a part of downtown that really needs it.” The project would mean more than 1,500 mostly market-rate housing units, and a 920-room hotel. Holborn has also agreed to build a social housing building at Abbott Street and East Hastings – which would also feature an Indigenous art gallery and a childcare facility. “The fact that it will include strata ownership opportunities, rental, commercial, the hotel conference space – the social housing at Abbott with the childcare,” ABC Vancouver city councillor Lisa Dominato said. “I think the public access viewing platform will be welcomed.” The decision comes before the city has wrapped up its review of its tall buildings policy. “That process hadn’t been completed,” Green city councillor and mayoral candidate Pete Fry told CTV News in an interview following the vote. “In fact, staff had told us there was still analysis to be done on the public feedback on that. So, I think, if we’re going to do these processes, we should at least allow them to play out.” Controversial developer Beyond the project itself, Holborn’s history came under scrutiny during the public hearing. Specifically, its actions at Little Mountain – where, after buying the property in 2008, it displaced around 700 people who were living in social housing, only to leave the site mostly empty for a decade. “There is an issue about the social licence to deliver this,” Fry said. “This is a developer who had a history with the previous project at Little Mountain that languished for decades. And we certainly heard that in the course of the public hearing. A lot of people were still upset about that and the failure to deliver in a timely manner.” Due to various challenges, it could be years before the project actually gets underway. And the final project may look different for a variety of reasons, including aviation, with the suggestion that NAV Canada could require shorter towers.
