City council approves trio of new tallest towers in Vancouver

'Once in a lifetime project' heralded for design, but controversial due to its owner

Vancouver city council has approved rezoning for a block of downtown, paving the way for the city’s three largest towers to be built.

In a 7-3 vote Monday, council approved the rezoning application by Holborn Group for one 79-storey tower and two 68-storey towers, bounded by Georgia, Seymour, Dunsmuir and Richards streets in the centre of downtown.

“This is a once in a lifetime project for our city,” said Coun. Peter Meiszner in supporting the rezoning.

The proposal includes 1,546 housing units (of which 82 per cent would be market strata), a 920-room hotel, and a three-level viewing deck and garden on the top floor of the biggest tower, which would be open to public use.

“It’s moving from a concrete space that's predominately warehousing cars,” said Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung.

“The site is really underutilized from a public benefit [perspective]. This council has said it's fully committed to a vibrant Vancouver ... this is very consistent with that.”

Vancouverites weigh in on proposed trio of new sky-high downtown towers

As part of the conditions for the project, council also approved the rezoning of a parking lot owned by Holborn at Abbott Street and East Hastings into a social housing tower that would include a child-care facility and Indigenous art gallery.

Mayor Ken Sim and all six ABC Vancouver councillors voted in favour of the project, highlighting the proposed design by Henriquez Partners Architects as an iconic addition to Vancouver.

“This is the kind of building that Vancouver should be proud of,” said Coun. Mike Klassen, who described it as “thoughtful, city-building architecture.”

There is no timeline for beginning construction of the towers, though, due to the current housing and economic climate, and Nav Canada has indicated to the city that a reduction in height may be necessary due to aviation concerns.

Holborn's Little Mountain conduct criticized

The project, which was first announced by Holborn more than a year ago, has faced controversy for multiple reasons.

The City of Vancouver is undergoing an overall review of its policy for tall buildings, and Coun. Sean Orr argued it was premature for the city to approve what would be its three tallest buildings before that policy had been decided.

“I don't think we should rush this ... we can just pump the brakes a little bit,” he said.

But the more emotionally charged argument at the public hearing concerned past conduct by Holborn Group at its Little Mountain housing site.

The site was home to a publicly owned social housing neighbourhood for decades, but the province sold the site to Holborn in 2008 and provided it with a 18-year interest free loan of $211 million.

B.C. government gave developer $211M interest-free loan in Little Mountain land sale