So why was the massive Holborn Bay Parkade proposal approved?

 

Since Holborn's proposal was first made public in May in the Vancouver Sun I have been somewhat conflicted about the Holborn proposal. For one thing, I am not a fan of Holborn for several reasons. 

Little Mountain. I was part of Polygon's team that submitted a bid proposal for the Little Mountain property. We were all upset when they blew all their competition out of the water with an excessive bid for the property, after somehow negotiating a sweetheart deal with the Province. They then took years to follow through on the project. 

After delaying the development for years, they sought a concession from the city to allow them to alter the phasing of the social housing. The city council foolishly agreed, and they subsequently showed their appreciation by seeking approval to put some dog parks on the property to avoid having to pay $315,000 in property taxes each year.

As an aside, I think the new development looks quite mundane. There is little beauty in the project.

Dunsmuir House. Holborn also deliberately neglected this heritage building to the point that in December 2024, the City's Chief Building Official called a special council meeting to seek approval to order the building demolished. It was a shame since it would have been attractive to incorporate at least the facade in any new development of the site.

I publicly criticized Holborn for what Cllr Sarah Kirby-Yung called their egregious behaviour. When she asked what might be done to somehow punish the company for their actions, I decided to launch a third party appeal of the property's assessment, and won. The result was a tripling of their taxes.

Meanwhile, although I wasn't aware of it, their architects, Henriquez Partners had been busy working on plans for the total site that excluded the heritage building. This plan was submitted to the city in June 2025. I only became aware of it a year later when it was featured on the front page of the Vancouver Sun.

Bay Parkade Proposal and Higher Buildings While there is no doubt that the plan prepared for the Bay Parkade and Dunsmuir Hotel site is most impressive, its height considerably exceeded the maximum permitted height in the city. As a result,  the city embarked on a Higher Buildings Planning Review to seek public input into whether taller buildings should be permitted. Many of us participated in this review, which included a display at the top of the Harbour Centre development.

While I didn't know what the results of the review would be, it seemed appropriate that any decision on the Bay Parkade proposal should await the completion of the planning review. However, Holborn did not want to wait, presumably because they were concerned that a new council might be elected that wouldn't be so willing to approve their approval. So at the last minute, at the end of July, council approved the Holborn proposal. Most reasonable people know this showed very poor judgement and a total lack of respect for all the people who participated in the planning review.

To add insult to injury, the planning department produced a Q&A which stated that approval of this project would not necessary impact whether taller buildings would be allowed in the downtown. How absurd! Of course it will. 

I will not likely be around when this building is completed, if indeed it is completed. So I will leave it to others to decide whether the last minute approval of this project was a mistake or not.