Agenda Index City of Vancouver

ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT

TO:

Vancouver City Council

FROM:

Director of Current Planning

SUBJECT:

Bank of Montreal Building (640 West Pender Street ) - Designation and Heritage Revitalization Agreement

 

RECOMMENDATION

A. THAT Council amend Schedule A of the Heritage By-law to designate the exterior and portions of the interior of the Bank of Montreal building at 640 West Pender Street as Protected Heritage Property;

B. THAT Council authorize the City to enter into a Heritage Revitalization Agreement for 640 West Pender Street to:

GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS

COUNCIL POLICY

The Downtown Official Development Plan permits density bonuses for the restoration and designation of Vancouver Heritage Register (VHR) buildings.

The Heritage Policies and Guidelines outline the procedure and calculation for applying the heritage density bonus provisions and states that "A" listed VHR buildings are automatically eligible for consideration.

The Transfer of Density Policy and Procedure allows for the transfer of density from heritage sites in the Central Area and identifies that preference will be given to proposals which use heritage buildings for cultural, social, recreational and educational uses.

PURPOSE

The purpose of this report is to seek Council support for a Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA) and designation of the "A" listed Bank of Montreal building. The HRA would authorize a transferrable density bonus and Development Cost Levy (DCL) relief and secure the rehabilitation and protection of this heritage building.

BACKGROUND and SUMMARY

The Bank of Montreal building at 640 West Pender Street is located at the corner of Pender and Granville Streets, (see map in Appendix A). Mr. J. Segal has recently purchased the building and is in the process of donating it to Simon Fraser University (SFU) for use as the SFU Segal Centre for Graduate Management Studies. On behalf of the owner and University, Paul Merrick Architects Limited has submitted Development Application DE407019 proposing the rehabilitation and adaptive reuse of the building for the SFU graduate management program.

The site is located in Sub-Area B of the Downtown District, which permits a maximum FSR of 7. The proposed facility will result in a total site density of approximately 4.67 FSR wholly contained within the existing four storey building mass. The building is in need of exterior rehabilitation work and a major upgrading in order to meet Vancouver Building By-law requirements for the proposed new use. To assist with the rehabilitation costs, the owner and SFU are requesting Council support a transferable density bonus and DCL relief to assist SFU in realizing the joint heritage goals of the University and the City. They have also requested the Director of Planning support a parking relaxation.

DISCUSSION

Heritage Value: The Bank of Montreal building at 640 West Pender Street is a landmark "temple bank" with highly refined interior and exterior detailing and a strong association with the city's early financial centre along Granville, Hastings and Pender Streets. Somervell & Putnam, prominent architects in Vancouver during the Edwardian era, designed this building in 1915-16 as one of Vancouver's most notable examples of the Neo-Classical style. It was built for the Merchants Bank; the Bank of Montreal acquired it in 1922 and expanded it four years later. Architect K.G. Rea designed the addition to match the original. The banking hall has a monumental scale created by its 34 feet high coffered ceiling and overly large scaled window openings and pilasters. The grand scale is further emphasized through the use of simple, luxurious materials (stone, metal, terra cotta, copper and cast plaster), a restrained colour palette (intrinsic colour of materials with black as trim colour) and classical motifs contrasted against plain surfaces. The formal design was meant to inspire confidence in the security of the financial institution.

Compatibility of Conservation with Community Planning Objectives: The property is located in the Existing Character Area A - Financial District of the Central Area (DD). The DD Land Use and Development Policies and Guidelines Character Area Descriptions state that:

This proposal meets this primary community planning objective by preserving a significant historic landmark in the older financial district.

Heritage Revitalization Agreement: The recommended HRA and associated agreement would achieve the following:
· secure the rehabilitation, protection and ongoing maintenance of the building exterior, as well as the following interior features:

· limit on-site density to the floor space of the existing building plus the additions proposed in Development Application DE407019;
· establish a transferable density bonus of 135,000 sq.ft. based on the procedure set out in Council's Heritage Policies and Guidelines. This amount reflects not only the heritage conservation work proposed, but also the fact that there will be approximately 29,000 sq.ft. of residual density that will be rendered un-usable;
· require that 15,000 sq.ft. of this transferable amount can only be used on property holdings of the current owner and will cease to be available if not utilized within four years of registration of the agreement; and
· reduce the Development Cost Levy from $2.50/sq.ft. to $0.01/sq.ft. for the 13,117sq.ft. of new floor space being added to the building.

Parking Relaxation: The Parking By-law provides special accommodation for heritage sites by not requiring parking for existing floorspace undergoing a change of use from active use to another active use. However, the by-law does require that 11 parking stalls be provided for the new floorspace being added to the site. Given that the heritage building occupies the entire site and it is not feasible to incorporate onsite parking, there are two options for the Director of Planning in consultation with Engineering to consider. Seek Council approval for the applicant to provide pay-in-lieu parking for these 11 stalls or further relax the parking requirements under Section 3.2.1.(e) of the Parking By-law. As part of the Development Permit approval process, the applicant will be required to submit a transportation management plan for faculty and students using this facility. Upon receipt of this plan, staff will determine any extent of further parking relaxation.

Condition & Economic Viability of Conserving the Building: Conservation work proposed by Paul Merrick Architects Limited and Don Luxton and Associates includes:
· restoration of the heritage exterior to its 1924 design;
· restoration of the banking hall interior wall and ceiling finishes to as close as possible to their original design;
· carefully designed mezzanine addition to the banking hall: U-shaped layout to maintain the high 34 ft. volume in the middle and at the corners; sufficient setback between the new mezzanine floor plate and the existing exterior windows to maintain the appearance of full height windows and the full volume of the space; highly transparent partitioning with "gentle" connections to existing surfaces to maximize views of the coffered ceiling, walls and wall treatments; and detailing sympathetic towards the original banking hall character; and
· upgrading the building to the Vancouver Building By-law requirements including seismic upgrading and special structural design approaches to preserve the "integrity" of the banking hall.

The requested density bonus, DCL relief and parking relaxation will ensure that the rehabilitation and adaptive re-use of the heritage building is economically viable. At the same time, the Manager of Real Estate Services advises that the proposed density bonus and conservation of the heritage building would not provide the applicant with an extraordinary profit. The owner is committed to enter into the Heritage Revitalization Agreement and designation with the City and waive future claims to compensation.

Bonus Density and Status of the Density bank: Applying Council's density bonus policy, staff support a 120,000 sq.ft. transferable bonus density for the rehabilitation of the Bank of Montreal building. Further, that an additional 15,000 sq.ft. is justified for additional costs of sensitively introducing the new mezzanines to retain the integrity of the heritage banking hall. To minimize the amount of density being added to the density bank and thereby help preserve the market value of transferable density, Mr. Segal and SFU have accepted a condition whereby the additional 15,000 sq.ft. of density can only be used on property holdings of the current owner and will cease to be available if not utilized within four years of registration of the agreement subject to Council's Transfer of Density Policy and Procedure.

In rounded numbers there is currently 397,000 sq. ft. in the density bank approved or approved in principle by Council. Until recently, the historic density bank high was 322,000 sq. ft. prior to dropping close to zero three years ago. The proposed 120,000 sq.ft. addition to the bank for this building would result in a 517,000 sq.ft. total. The only other transferable density request in the pipeline is 23,000 sq.ft. for the restoration of the Dal Grauer Substation that may advance to Council in the new year. At the same time, staff are in discussion with two downtown property owners concerning rezoning their sites to receive transferable density. Should they proceed they would reduce this new 517,000 sq.ft. density bank total by one third. Staff will be reporting shortly on a comprehensive analysis abouthow the density bank should be managed in order to best ensure stability of the banked density market.

Given that the most recent transactions of density have not shown any change in the value and that there is likely to be a large take-up of banked density in the near future and further that this is an "A" listed heritage resource and will be used for educational use, which is a Council priority, staff recommend support of the transferable density request.

Comments of the Vancouver Heritage Commission: At its meeting on September 23, 2002, the Commission supported the proposed rehabilitation of the building and the requested bonus density, DCL relief and parking relaxations. The Commission also recommended that the historic areaways under the Pender and Granville Street sidewalks be retained as part of the adaptive reuse of the building. The areaways are on City property and under the jurisdiction of the General Manager of the Engineering Services. Therefore, staff and the applicant are in the process of exploring whether this would be viable.

Notification: In accordance with the Vancouver Charter Public Hearing provisions, a newspaper ad has been placed in two consecutive issues of a local newspaper.

CONCLUSION

The recommended Heritage Revitalization Agreement would compensate the owner for the extraordinary costs involved in the rehabilitation of this landmark building with a transferable density bonus and DCL relief. The HRA and designation will together secure the conservation and long-term protection and of this "A" listed Vancouver Heritage Register building.

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APPENDIX A

Site Map Showing Location of the Bank of Montreal Building
640 WEST PENDER STREET

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