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Last fall, a company called Havn Development obtained a rezoning permit on behalf of three property owners with a proposal to build a 170-unit rental tower with podium at 2156-2172 W. 14th Ave., between Yew and Arbutus streets. The site currently consists of a detached house and two duplexes, but the city has plans to create a second downtown for the low- to mid-density neighbourhoods within the 500-block Broadway Plan. That includes the approval of high-rise towers in the middle of quiet side streets.
“At this stage, when the fear happens, people just go, ‘Okay, I guess that’s it. I’m out,’” said Ms. Irvine, a retired city hall employee. “I’m not ready. I knew I was going to leave this place, but I assumed I would when I wanted to, and I would sell it to somebody who really wanted to live here. I’m not ready.”
Unlike lower forms of density, the prospect of high-rise towers sends a ripple of fear that is uprooting neighbourhoods. Thousands of renters in the Broadway Plan are being displaced by proposed redevelopment of their older buildings, while homeowners are planning to leave for their own reasons.
The W. 14th Avenue project, critics say, is an example of how the new blockbusting works. It starts when a homeowner decides to cash out to an investor or developer, often at a premium and then neighbours must decide whether to endure years of construction and living adjacent to a tower – or also sell and move on. The resident living near the tower might see their home lose value, unless they too can become part of an assembly. But there is a limit on the number of towers per block, so not everyone can get in on the tower action.
“If by virtue of their location they are not able to sell their property for a similar tower development … the value will go down,” said developer, real estate consultant, urban planner and retired architect Michael Geller, who’s in favour of high-rises but is adamantly opposed to the W. 14th proposal. His concern is as a planner; he lives outside the Broadway Plan.
“If another tower is permitted on the adjacent lots, and their lot could be part of an assembly, it might increase. But generally, a tower next door or even across the lane will likely reduce the value if the property is likely to stay as a single-family house or duplex.”
Ms. Irvine said her street has become more divisive, and she questions if the stress will be worth it. Will truly affordable housing be the result? Havn Development has two other rezonings within the Broadway Plan area, all remarkably similar, but the company has no track record of previous developments, which has made some wonder if they are planning to flip the property.
Adrian Lai, of Havn Developments, said they intend to apply for a development permit this year and follow through with construction. He said they have no intention to sell the site.
”As a developer we have done some smaller scale projects. This would be the first sort of large multifamily project that we have done. But just because we are new doesn’t mean we don’t have the ability to execute,” he said.
”I do sympathize with the people in the neighbourhood – it’s a big change. I’d probably feel the same way if I were in their shoes,” said Mr. Lai. “But we are following the Broadway Plan. We are not doing anything not permitted within the Broadway Plan.”
Council approved the project despite considerable public pushback.
Architect Peter Busby called the proposal “ludicrously out of proportion to the neighbouring buildings,” and “an offence against common sense urban aesthetics.” He argued that the building should be limited to six storeys.
Former Vancouver mayor and B.C. premier Mike Harcourt said the plan is “totally inappropriate and out of scale to this fine old neighbourhood.”
Aimee Gabor is a retired realtor whose lane backs onto the W. 14th proposal, and her daughter lives next door to the tower project. Ms. Gabor and her husband hope to stay in their duplex with their grandchildren down the alley. But she said there’s a sense that busting up the neighbourhoods might be an intended consequence.
“The city wants to increase density, which is wonderful, but they didn’t consult us about what would fit in because they don’t want us to live here. They want us out,” she said. “This is the plan for pushing out the people from this beautiful neighbourhood, to push them out and build another [neighbourhood] like the north side of the False Creek,” she said, referring to the downtown area packed with skyscrapers. “That is what they want to turn Kitsilano into.”
Mr. Geller is calling for a moratorium on side street towers two blocks outside Broadway. The middleman that assembles properties and flips them only drives up prices, which won’t result in affordability for the end-user, he said. Market rents for new purpose-built apartments are about $5.50 per square foot, or $2,200 for a 400-square-foot unit.
He also criticizes the city policy that requires 20 per cent below-market housing because the other 80 per cent usually subsidizes those units, which makes those market-rate rentals expensive and drives up the rents for the area. Politicians are approving poorly designed buildings just to get the 20 per cent below market rental units, he said.
Filmmaker David Fine, an Oscar winner who’s making a documentary about the Broadway Plan displacements, has become a community organizer.
“No one is saying, ‘don’t build towers anywhere,’ but [instead] there should be a process for building out from transit and adding considerable densification in these areas.
“But why are people and their opinions and views completely meaningless to the city?” he asked.
“I think there is a school of thought that says, ‘if we can drive people out of their homes and build towers instead, then the city is better off, because we are building more density, and you can double property taxes.’
“I just feel it’s a cruel way to develop a city … and the social fabric is not being respected in any way.”
