Ottawa?s decision to designate a three-block section of Pender Street in Vancouver?s Chinatown a national historic site is expected to draw more:
?tourists;
?developer incentive to upgrade or construct buildings; and
?interest from residential and corporate tenants who want to live in the revitalized neighbourhood.
Thomas Tam, CEO of the immigrant settlement society S.U.C.C.E.S.S., said that in addition to promoting tourism, the historic site status ?will attract more retail and more commitment from the community to make the buildings more viable and more occupied.?
He said the area?s new building height limits should also encourage more development.
Vancouver city council voted April 19 to increase the allowable height for buildings in Chinatown, except along Pender Street, to at least nine storeys. Buildings in the Main Street corridor can be up to 15 storeys.
Soon after the vote, Panther Constructors Ltd. principal Brian Roche applied to build a 90-foot structure on East Georgia Street that previously had a 75-foot height limit.
The city has yet to fully approve Panther?s project, but Roche expects to start marketing his nine-storey structure?s 28 units later this month.
Westbank Projects Corp.?s application for a site in the 600-block of Main Street could take longer because it requires rezoning and conditional approval to build a structure higher than is currently allowed: a 17-storey, mixed-use development with an underground parking garage.
Westbank?s proposed development would have 9,226 square feet of ground-floor retail and 16 floors of residential apartments, including 26 units of seniors housing and 145 units of market housing.
The B.C. government originally declared Chinatown a historic district in 1971 – a designation that has influenced how city planners have viewed the area through the decades.
Brent Toderian, the City of Vancouver?s planning director, told Business in Vancouver that Ottawa?s recognition of Chinatown as a historic site doesn?t protect the area from redevelopment.
But it provides ?a recognition of the heritage merit, not only of individual buildings, but of the overall character of the community.?
He said Ottawa?s decision to recognize that the community is part of a heritage site encourages Vancouver to approve projects that have a housing component to ensure that there is more ?body heat? in the neighbourhood – residents who patronize local shops and make the neighbourhood lively.
?The intention of such a designation is not to preserve untouched the existing Chinatown community,? he said. ?It?s about recognizing that, given that the community has this value, how can we manage change in a way that is synergistic with that??
Toderian pointed to Chinatown?s oldest building: the Wing Sang Building, which was built in 1889. Condo marketer Bob Rennie refurbished it in 2000 to house his offices and an art collection. He recently allowed the Royal BC Museum to use part of the site as a satellite gallery.
?Right beside the Wing Sang Building is a relatively new building. That shows that the intention is not to preserve every building. You preserve the important features, you integrate them well and compatibly into new construction and you can maintain the overall character of a heritage community.?
Many old and distinctive buildings in Chinatown, which Toderian describes as ?upkeep-challenged,? are not officially designated by Vancouver as heritage buildings because imposing that designation would be expensive for the city.
Provincial law allows the city to impose heritage designation on any building it chooses as long as it compensates the owner for the lost opportunity of redeveloping the site.
Further complicating future development or restoration is that many of these century-old buildings are owned by traditional Chinese societies. Tam said the organizations were formed more than 100 years ago when Chinese immigrant families pooled resources to buy real estate to have a place to gather and provide mutual support.
Some of the societies are defunct; others have leaders who are seniors. Both of which can create obstacles to development, Tam said.
Bing Thom Architects urban planner Andy Yan told Business in Vancouver earlier this year that many small landowners in Chinatown could follow an example tried in New York, San Francisco and Los Angeles and form a community development corporation.
?You can do more things together than by staying apart,? he said. ?That?s the key concept.?
Yan?s vision is for the societies and other landowners who have small plots of about 25 feet of street frontage to sell their property to a common entity, in which each would have shares.
The resulting corporation would have larger properties that could be used for cohesive development.
?Everyone would be part of the rent pool, so they?ll be able to ameliorate the risk of the business not doing well,? Yan said. ?Then, it won?t be a wash for a single building owner.?
But other observers doubt that the societies could form a corporation.
?I don?t think that the societies? constitutions will allow the elders or the up-and-coming elders to contemplate something like that,? said Vancouver Chinatown Revitalization Committee president Henry Tom.
His solution to encourage area development is for governments to contribute seed financing to create a non-profit corporation. It would involve Chinese community volunteers who would speak with representatives of the various societies and encourage them to work together on real estate projects. ?
