Another new hotel is planned within the immediate area of SkyTrain’s future Oak-VGH SkyTrain station.
A newly-submitted rezoning application from W.T. Leung Architects proposes to redevelop the site of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St. — situated at the southeast corner of the intersection of West 8th Avenue and Laurel Street, about a two-minute walk north from the future subway station on the Millennium Line’s Broadway extension.
The property is currently occupied by a three-storey commercial building built in 1972, originally designed by the late renowned Canadian architects Arthur Erickson and Geoffrey Massey for the office of their architectural design company.
Currently, the building is occupied by the private education institutions of Kester Grant College and Canada Royal Arts High School.
According to the application, the 16-storey building will see 100 per cent hotel uses, containing 183 guest rooms — entailing 111 traditional short-term stay studio suites, as well as 72 long-term stay units, including eight studio suites, 48 one-bedroom suites and 16 two-bedroom suites.
Long-term stay suites are generally larger and feature more in-suite amenities — such as laundry machines and kitchenettes — to provide more comfortable accommodations for extended accommodations. Such suites are designed for not only tourists and business travellers, but also for visiting medical researchers and staff and the families and caregivers accompanying patients seeking specialized medical treatment at the area’s cluster of major medical facilities, anchored by Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) and BC Cancer Centre.
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver, with the future location of SkyTrain’s Oak-VGH Station also shown. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Existing condition:
Site of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Site of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Site of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (Google Maps)
Future condition:
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
The building’s ground level will incorporate a combined hotel lobby and minor restaurant/dining area.
The tower’s height of 166 ft. maximizes what is technically possible under the federally-regulated helicopter flight path for VGH’s helipad — situated roughly 200 metres to the south, on the rooftop of the West 10th Avenue hospital wing with the emergency department. Although the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan permits taller buildings, this flight path — combined with the less restrictive protected mountain view cone emanating from Queen Elizabeth Park — has limited the potential tower heights of the broader area.
Three underground levels will offer 63 vehicle parking stalls. The total building floor area will reach about 103,000 sq. ft., establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 8.98 times larger than the size of the 11,500 sq. ft. lot.
Building height restrictions due to the helicopter flight path for the VGH helipad; concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
765 new hotel rooms now planned near Oak-VGH Station
This is the fourth new hotel project proposed within close proximity to Oak–VGH Station, a location attractive for hotel development not only because of the future public transit hub but also due to the expected growth in accommodations demand from VGH’s long-term major expansion.
This cluster includes the approved 12-storey AC Hotel by Marriott at 901 West Broadway with 151 rooms; a proposed 16-storey hotel on the same city block at 888 West 8th Ave. with 152 rooms; and a revised Hilton Curio redevelopment of the former Park Inn & Suites by Radisson at 888 West Broadway. The latter has been downsized to 279 rooms and now includes 105 secured, purpose-built rental homes, replacing more than 100 previously planned hotel rooms.
These four new hotel projects within a one block radius will generate a combined total of 765 hotel guest rooms, representing a net gain of 648 guest rooms after accounting for the closure of the 117-room Park Inn & Suites by Radisson.
Currently, the only existing hotel in the immediate vicinity is the 197-room Holiday Inn Vancouver-Centre Broadway.
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)
Concept of 896 West 8th Ave. and 2412 Laurel St., Vancouver. (W.T. Leung Architects)