Big Oakridge development scaled back 25 per cent
Posted January 12, 2016 4:02 pm.
Last Updated January 12, 2016 4:03 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The big Oakridge development in Vancouver is being scaled back by 25 per cent because of the discovery of a larger than anticipated underground stream at the site.
Despite the $1.5 billion project having already been approved, it’s now going from 4.6 million square feet to 3.5 million.
“We are removing the second floor, the proposed second floor of the retail. So it’s going to remain a single level mall with an expansion towards the west end of the site,” explains Graeme Silvera with Ivanhoe Cambridge, the company behind the project. This means most of the retailers will be able to keep their stores open during construction.
He says the number of residential units will also be cut by about 450. “The type of that housing is also changing, we’re reducing the amount of buildings on the site although we’re maintaining the same maximum heights that were previously in the re-zoning.”
Silvera says they knew about the aquifer but didn’t know the extent of it. “The amount of parking that we needed to provide was causing us to go very deep into the aquifer and it was leading us to consider some fairly innovative and not commonly used construction techniques, which obviously bring with it additional risk as well.”
The new plans will go back to the city for approval and Silvera says 20 per cent of the housing units will still be “affordable”.
