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CITY OF VANCOUVER ADMINISTRATIVE REPORT |
Date: |
March 2, 2005 | |
Author: |
Z. Jankovic/ K. Hemmingson | |
Phone No.: |
6448/ 6077 | |
RTS No.: |
4963 | |
CC File No.: |
1401-79 | |
Meeting Date: |
March 15, 2005 |
TO: |
Vancouver City Council |
FROM: |
Director of Current Planning |
SUBJECT: |
Heritage Revitalization Agreement and Designation for
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RECOMMENDATION
A.) THAT Council authorize the City to enter into an Heritage Revitalization Agreement for the site at 540 Beatty Street to:
- secure the rehabilitation of the Crane Building and its perpetual repair and replacement;
B.) to vary provisions of the- Downtown District District Schedule of the Zoning and Development By-law to permit an onsite floor space ratio increase from 5.0 FSR to 6.95
FSR, and to not apply the 3.0 FSR residential maximum; and
- grant a density bonus of 68,400 sq.ft. available for transfer off site, which includes 20,000 sq.ft. if this project does not receive a Historic Places Initiative grant from the Federal Government.
C.) THAT Council require a covenant to secure the timely rehabilitation of the heritage building and to ensure that the density bonus not be available for transfer until the rehabilitation is complete, unless the owner secures completion of the rehabilitation by a separate agreement.
D.) THAT Council authorize the Director of Legal Services, in consultation with the General Manager of Engineering Services and the Director of Planning to enter into an encroachment agreement for special sidewalk treatment, drawn to the satisfaction of the Director of Legal Services and the General Manager of Engineering Services to allow for the restoration of glass prism blocks and their illumination from below within the public sidewalk, subject to the decommissioning of the existing areaway to the satisfaction of the General Manager of Engineering Services.
E.) THAT subject to approval of RECOMMENDATION A, Council authorize a façade grant for a total of $50,000, source of funding to be the Façade Grant funding in the Capital Budget. Approval of this recommendation requires 8 affirmative votes.
F.) THAT the Crane Building at 540 Beatty Street, listed in the " C" category on the Vancouver Heritage Register, be designated as Protected Heritage Property.
G.) FURTHER THAT Council instruct the Director of Legal Services to bring forward for enactment a by-law to authorize the Heritage Revitalization Agreement and a by-law to designate the heritage building.H.)
GENERAL MANAGER'S COMMENTS
The General Manager of Community Services RECOMMENDS approval of A, B, C, D, E and F.
COUNCIL POLICY
Council's Heritage Policies and Guidelines state that the resources "identified in the Vancouver Heritage Register have heritage significance", and that "the City's long-term goal is to protect through voluntary designation as many resources on the Vancouver Heritage Register as possible" and that legal designation will be a prerequisite to granting certain bonuses and incentives.
PURPOSE
This report seeks Council's approval to designate and enter into a Heritage Revitalization Agreement (HRA) with the owner to secure long term protection of the Crane Building at 540 Beatty Street.
BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY
The site is located in the Victory Square area of the City and is zoned Downtown District (see site map below). Howard Bingham Hill Architects have submitted a Development Application (DE408200) proposing to rehabilitate the building and seek floor area variances, a façade grant and transferable density to make the project economically viable.
Figure #1: Site, Surrounding Zoning
DISCUSSION
Development Proposal: A development application has been received from Howard Bingham Hill to make interior and exterior alterations to the existing heritage building at 540 Beatty Street. The proposal includes converting the existing manufacturing, office, retail use heritage building to residential use with commercial use on the Beatty Street frontage, and a two-storey penthouse addition. The heritage elements of the building will be preserved and restored under a Heritage Revitalization Agreement. (See Appendix A).
The east side of the 500 block of Beatty Street is a fully intact, historically significant streetscape with all buildings exhibiting distinctive heritage character. The northerly end of this block is completed by the Sun Tower building. Staff believe that selective increases in density accomplished through appropriately scaled rooftop additions can extend the building life while building upon the prevailing scale and character of the block. As such, additions should be setback from the front facade to minimize minimize their presence when viewed by pedestrians and should be distinguished in their character from the more robust existing façade qualities. New additions should also distinguish themselves in their architectural character by appearing as a more delicate intervention through appropriate selection of wall and fenestration systems, as well as in their colour and detailing. A consistent approach to potential building additions for all buildings in the 500 block of Beatty Street can ensure that the importance of the historic street is not compromised.
Staff intend to apply this strategy to the entire block.
Heritage Value: The "Crane" building is an 8-storey structure (5 storeys on Beatty Street) listed in the "C" category of the Vancouver Heritage Register. Representative of early warehouse vernacular style architecture, this building has unique heritage value because of its prefabricated structure of cast iron tubular columns on concrete encased steel beams and its hard pressed red brick cladding. This building gives a flavour of wholesaling activities in downtown Vancouver in the early twentieth century. Built and occupied by the Crane Company in 1911, a major supplier of plumbing products, until 1956 it is part of a continuous streetscape of warehouse buildings varying in scale and architectural style.
Rehabilitation Plan: This warehouse building will be converted to "loft" style residential units, with the three underground floors becoming parking area. Rehabilitation of the building will include retaining and upgrading the original cast iron column structure, retention of the Beatty Street façade, restoration of the lane façade to its original appearance, and the addition of two residential floors stepped back from the Beatty Street building face at the roof level. The display windows along Beatty Street will be restored as will the existing wood windows and making them operable, concrete repainted, and brickwork washed and sealed. The building will be seismically upgraded.
Beatty Street Glass Prism Blocks and Areaway: There is an existing areaway below the sidewalk, 8 feet wide and approximately 30 feet in depth across the entire 100 foot Beatty Street frontage of the site. It was originally designed and built to accommodate delivery of goods and to allow light to three subsurface storeys of the building storage area. The areaway is the subject of a registered encroachment agreement, being Easement and Indemnity Agreement 491974M registered on July 7, 1969. The agreement contains the standard clauses of immediate termination with the property owner bearing all costs associated with the removal of the areaway. The roof of the areaway is embedded with glass lenses or prism (pavement) glass, however these glass prism blocks have been paved over and are currently not visible.
This development application represents a unique opportunity to re-claim the appearance of the historic areaway within the overall heritage strategy being pursued. The re-introduction of the glass prism blocks illuminated from below will enhance the public realm for the block, while providing opportunities to improve CPTED performance through its ambient lighting. Heritage, Urban Design and Engineering staff strongly support the restoration of the glass prism blocks within the public sidewalk and their illumination from below, subject to the satisfaction of the requirements described below which successfully balance public realm, maintenance and legal considerations.
The glass prism blocks have heritage value because they demonstrate an architectural, engineering and construction approach to the warehouse buildings of the turn of the 19th century. The areaway was integral to warehouse buildings and processes associated with delivery of goods and coal as well as an indicator of how the business was conducted when electrical power and numerous sophisticated building systems (like mechanical, HVAC, elevators) were not available or nonexistent. Re-introduction of the glass prism blocks will enhance the pedestrian environment by adding interesting texture to the Beatty Street streetscape.
After the full range of options were explored, the applicant, and staff from the Heritage Group and Engineering Services have met and concluded that for a number reasons including facilitation of the strata titling of the building (requiring the areaway to be separated from the building) and ensuring that the future strata corporation is not burdened with the long term costs of removing the areaway should that ever be required, that the best solution is to decommission the areaway but salvage the glass prism blocks for re-use. The applicant will be responsible for adding a cut-off wall, breaking down the exterior areaway wall to a point at least 4 feet below grade and filling the areaway. This approach was supported by all departments and the applicant.
The glass prism blocks would be salvaged during demolition and their frames restored and evaluated by the applicant and the City. Once a design to ensure their structural integrity and to eliminate the risk of trips and slips is completed the glass prism blocks would be set into a shallow utility box with lighting from below.
The lights would be powered from the building and the glass prism block and lighting assembly would be included in an agreement for special sidewalk treatment pursuant to the Encroachment By-law. Staff believe this solution to be one which successfully balances the variety of interests within the public realm.
Compatibility with Community Planning Objectives: The intent of the Downtown District Official Development Plan and the accompanying guidelines is as follows:
· to improve the general environment of the Downtown District as an attractive place in which to live, work, shop and visit;
· to ensure that all buildings and developments in the Downtown District meet the highest standards of design and amenity for the benefit of all users of the Downtown;
· to provide for flexibility and creativity in the preparation of development proposals;
· to encourage more people to live within the Downtown District;
· to support the objectives of the GVRD as referred to in the Liveable Region Plan;
· to create a distinctive public realm and a unique and pleasing streetscape in the Downtown District.
The DD Official Development Plan also authorizes the Director of Planning to relax any of the provisions of the Plan resulting in unnecessary hardship in rehabilitating buildings or sites on the Vancouver Heritage Register.
The rehabilitation of this Beatty Street building with an adaptive re-use approach and strong conservation delivery is seen as being compatible and fully supportive of all objectives listed above. In addition, the successful rehabilitation of key buildings in this easterly downtown precinct makes a positive contribution to the City's revitalization objectives for the area.
Economic Viability: To make the rehabilitation of this building economic and revitalize the area, the owner has requested conversion of the existing floor area from warehouse to residential use. In addition, shortfall cost analysis was used to calculate the compensation to the owner for the extraordinary costs of heritage preservation.
The City's Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program (HBRP) and shortfall cost analysis has been in place in Gastown, Chinatown, and Hastings corridor for over a year. Used in heritage areas to provide compensation to individual property owners for preserving heritage buildings, shortfall costs are defined as the amount required to make a project economical to undertake a major building upgrade.
Shortfall cost analysis was applied to this project in advance of Council reviewing and approving the Victory Square Plan, which recommends extending the HBRP to this area. It is consistent with the City's normal practice to try to accommodate projects that are currently in process, and with Council's goals and objectives of revitalizing the downtown area.
Staff have reviewed the applicant's shortfall costs calculation and undertaken an independent analysis. Staff have concluded that a total shortfall cost of $3,470,000 is justified for compensation in the following manner:
|
Category |
Value / $ |
Bonus Density Implication / sq.ft. | |
|
Total Shortfall Cost (including budget of $400,000 for pavement glass conservation**) |
|
$3,470,000.00 |
|
Federal Government Incentive |
Federal Historic Places Initiative* (FHPI) |
$1,000,000.00 |
|
20,000.00 |
|
Shortfall Cost after FHPI (To be matched by COV) |
|
$2,470,000.00 |
|
Heritage Facade Rehabilitation Program |
Façade Grants |
$50,000.00 |
|
|
Heritage Building Rehabilitation Program (HBRP) Incentives |
Property Tax |
$0.00 |
|
|
Bonus Density (to meet the Shortfall Cost) |
$2,420,000.00 |
|
48,400.00 | |
|
Shortfall Cost Compensation |
$3,470,000.00 |
|
|
Transferable Bonus Density |
|
|
68,400.00 | |
Total Compensation $ |
$3,470,000.00 |
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(*Should the applicant not receive the federal grant or only part of the grant applied for, the HRA is structured to compensate applicant accordingly.)
