Oakridge Centre Rezoning to be Revised

Later this week, the City of Vancouver council will consider a report recommending a revised rezoning application for the 28 acre Oakridge Centre site, being jointly developed by Westbank Projects and Ivanhoe Cambridge.

The project was originally introduced back in 2012, and was approved for rezoning over two years ago, to include 11 residential towers and over 4.6 Million SF of total building area including commercial. As was reported in the summer of 2015, the project faced a number of challenges since the rezoning approval, including:

• technical complications of constructing lower parking levels due to an aquifer
• accommodating continuous operation of the shopping mall during construction
• the need to maintain The Bay store in its current location due to lease requirements

The new rezoning proposal is summarized as “shedding 20% of the total density and delivering all of the public benefits from the previous application”. The letter of inquiry from Ivanhoe and Westbank outlines the following proposed changes to the project under a revised application:

• an overall reduction in the amount of new residential and commercial
  density (approx. 20%)
  
• larger park area at-grade
• maintaining the mall at one level with new mall space to be added at grade,
• keeping The Bay store in its current location,
• reconfiguration of the underground parking to avoid the existing aquifer,
• a Civic Centre and park at grade with further rooftop park and open space,
• comparable community amenities including affordable housing, and
•  building heights similar to the 2014 rezoning, but two fewer towers
• project construction in 6 years instead of 8 years
  

The new rezoning application will require a new negotiation on public benefits, and will require a full rezoning process with new public consultation. The total cost of the new application is $1.5M, which will be covered by the proponent.