Concord Pacific has revealed its preliminary revised plans for its massive redevelopment project in Northeast False Creek in downtown Vancouver.
This is the 10-acre vacant parking lot site that is also home to the developer’s presentation centre, a temporary park, and the flexible location for major events, such as Cirque du Soleil.
This is one of the two most important sites within the City of Vancouver’s 2018-approved Northeast False Creek Plan for densifying the area and introducing new significant residential and active commercial uses, which includes the demolition of the Dunsmuir and Georgia viaducts.
However, in the years following the Vision Vancouver-led City Council’s approval of the area plan, uncertainty has lingered over whether the viaducts will be demolished. Demolition was initially scheduled to begin in 2019, then postponed to 2020, and later delayed even further for a variety of reasons.
A previous rezoning application by Concord Pacific was set to be decided in Summer 2018, just before that year’s civic election. But with a busy schedule, City Council was only able to review and approve the rezoning application for Canadian Metropolitan Properties’ adjacent Plaza of Nations site, which is the second largest property within the Northeast False Creek Plan.
More than six years later, Concord Pacific has now created a far more ambitious and transformative concept for developing its site in Northeast False Creek, which is one of the last major undeveloped waterfront parcels of the downtown Vancouver peninsula and Concord Pacific’s last remaining undeveloped site from its original acquisition of the Expo ’86 lands.
Concord Pacific shared its revised preliminary concept for “Concord Landing” — the project’s tentative name — with Daily Hive Urbanized. The proposal has just entered the municipal government’s rezoning inquiry process, ahead of a forthcoming formal rezoning application submission.
Cancelled 2018 concept:
Cancelled 2018 concept for Concord Landing at Northeast False Creek. (Civitas Urban Design & Architecture/Concord Pacific)
2024 revised concept:
2024 revised concept for Concord Landing at Northeast False Creek. (Civitas Urban Design & Architecture/Concord Pacific)
“Like Granville Island or Grouse Mountain, the new Georgia connection from downtown to the waterfront, the bustling village retail, new waterfront and massive green spaces will make this a signature attraction and will become a landmark location in Vancouver for locals visitors alike,” said Webb.
First of all, this will be a significantly larger project that will enable the generation of far more homes, active commercial uses, and development-driven fees to the municipal government to help cover the costs of the public benefits and public spaces strategy of the Northeast False Creek Plan.
Peter Webb, Senior Vice-President of Concord Pacific Developments, told Daily Hive Urbanized that they are now envisioning about four million sq ft of total building floor area — up from 2.1 million to 2.6 million sq ft in the cancelled 2018 concept.
With four million sq ft of floor area, Concord Landing will be roughly double the size of the adjacent Plaza of Nations redevelopment’s 2.1 million sq ft, which will sit on a similarly sized plot of land.
There will now be 12 buildings, including standalone towers and mid-rise base podiums of about 20 storeys, towers between 40 and 50 storeys, and a landmark pair “Gateway” twin towers at the westernmost edge of the site. The cancelled concept’s tallest towers were also the Gateway towers, previously reaching 41 storeys in height.
Webb says the added density through greatly increased height is made possible by Vancouver City Council’s July 2024 decision to relax its protected mountain view cone policies, which previously greatly inhibited the potential building heights across the Northeast False Creek Plan area.
“With the City’s recent establishment of new view corridors to increase housing solutions, several cones intersecting the site have significantly changed, impacting our initial plan and building designs from 2018. Together with the 2018 policy in place and now with the view corridor study completed and approved by Council, a major planning uncertainty has been removed,” reads the project’s description.
“With the arrival of the new Planning Director and City Council’s directives on creating housing, Concord Pacific is now able to advance this significant project… We are enthusiastic about the City Council’s direction and the Planning Department’s new expedited approach to housing.”
Webb shared that within this 2024 revised concept, over 5,000 new homes are envisioned for Concord Landing, but the precise mix of housing tenure — strata market ownership condominiums, secured purpose-built rental housing, and affordable housing — has yet to be established.
In contrast, the adjacent Plaza of Nations project will have about 2,000 new homes, and its height is limited to 28 storeys due to the previous view cone policies. As well, due to the previous height restrictions, the design of the Plaza of Nations redevelopment achieves its density with a design that creates bulkier towers with some of the largest floor plates for residential towers in the city. In contrast, Concord Landing redistributes its added density vertically with taller and slender towers.
With a significant increase in new housing in the new Concord Landing proposal, Vancouver city councillor Peter Mesizner says the view cone policy changes are working as intended.
“This is really the point of the view cone review. The idea was to enable additional housing units on sites that were facing redevelopment. I’m already aware of many projects across the city that will be adding hundreds of additional units, at this point, predominantly rental units in Vancouver,” Meiszner told Daily Hive Urbanized.
“I’m pleased to see that these changes are having a positive impact on the amount of housing that we can deliver in the city of Vancouver.”
2024 revised concept for Concord Landing at Northeast False Creek. (Civitas Urban Design & Architecture/Concord Pacific)
In addition to the significant residential uses, there will be about 220,000 sq ft of commercial uses, including 120,000 sq ft of ground-level retail and restaurant uses and 100,000 sq ft of commercial uses within above ground level.
The intention is to create a vibrant retail village, featuring over 50 smaller commercial retail and restaurant units at ground level — ideal spaces for locally owned businesses, artisans, and entrepreneurial ventures.
This includes an intimate lengthy pedestrian-only street lined with retail and restaurant units, tentatively named “Indie Lane.”
Moreover, according to Webb, Concord Landing will be a “car-lite” district.
There will only be one looping road for vehicles. In contrast, the cancelled 2017 concept proposed an additional vehicle road paralleling the new waterfront’s walking and cycling pathways, but this additional vehicle road at water’s edge has now been eliminated in favour of a new car-free purpose-built public space segment of the seawall.
Concord Landing’s frontage with the new seawall’s walking and cycling pathways will be dominated by restaurants with patios, creating a lively space.
Additionally, there will be a new marina and three floating pavilions to serve as a centrepiece for major events. Overall, the public spaces will be designed to accommodate events such as the Dragon Boat Festival, Tour de Concord, and Vancouver Pride. As well, extensive public art is envisioned across the new district.
Concord Landing’s extensive retail and restaurant offerings will complement the similar commercial spaces found in the adjacent Plaza of Nations redevelopment. Together, they will form a unique waterfront entertainment district that further enhances the events hosted next door at BC Place Stadium and Rogers Arena.
2024 revised concept for Concord Landing at Northeast False Creek. (Civitas Urban Design & Architecture/Concord Pacific)
The village of Portofino, Italy. (Concord Pacific)
Overall, added Webb, Concord Landing is inspired by the shoreline profile of Portofino, creating a high-density version of the Italian village — a walkable village that serves both residents and visitors.
“A really important component of this is the completion of the seawall,” continued Meiszner.
“Right now, there’s really a gap between Cooper’s Park and Science World. There’s a temporary paved path that connects those two areas, and this will see the completion of the seawall with a high-quality promenade. There will be things like shops and restaurants and patios and cafes along this new portion of the seawall, as well as just a more elevated experience for pedestrians and cyclists. I’m really looking forward to that, and that’s one of the biggest, most amazing things about Vancouver, in my opinion.”
Additionally, immediately to the east of the Concord Landing site is the 11-acre expansion of Creekside Park, as outlined in the Northeast False Creek Plan. This will include a reconfiguration and redesign of the existing public park.
But all of this hinges on the City of Vancouver finally proceeding with its plan to demolish both viaducts, and construct a new replacement surface road network, which consolidates a segment of Expo Boulevard into a new bi-directional segment of Pacific Boulevard.
Following the demolition of the Georgia viaduct, this new road network includes an extension of West Georgia Street between Beatty Street and the new intersection of Pacific Boulevard and West Georgia Street. It would be achieved as a four-lane vehicle ramp between BC Place Stadium and Rogers Arena.
Webb stated that Concord Pacific has developed a newly revised, more ambitious concept for its redevelopment and is restarting the rezoning process, as they are now very confident that the viaducts will be demolished. One of the previous driving rationales for the demolition of the viaducts is the seismic risk of the structure during even a moderate earthquake.
In 2024, Concord Pacific provided the municipal government with a $110 million cash payment relating to housing sites elsewhere in North False Creek. As well, the 2018-approved rezoning for the Plaza of Nations site provides the City with an additional $100 million from Canadian Metropolitan Properties.
The developer anticipates the rezoning application process will take two to three years, and the demolition of the viaduct and construction of the new replacement road network would start very soon after that.