Major mixed-use development is fully integrated with SkyTrain’s future Emily Carr station

By a wide margin, a high-density, mixed-use transit-oriented development that would be fully integrated with the future subway entrance pavilion building of SkyTrain’s new Great Northern-Way Emily Carr Station is by far the largest proposal within the City of Vancouver’s Broadway Plan area to date.

Daily Hive Urbanized previously reported in January 2024 on the preliminary concept, but finer details and artistic renderings in the new rezoning application released today show the full thoughtful ambitions of the project by PCI Developments and Low Tide Properties.

This is the development of a three-acre vacant site at 1850 Thornton Street and 455-565 Great Northern Way, located at the northeast corner of the intersection of Great Northern Way and Thornton Street.

The development site is immediately to the north and east of the future subway entrance building — a site that is currently a big hole in the ground, used as a staging area for the subway construction project, with tunnel boring recently reaching completion. The Millennium Line’s Broadway Extension through the area is expected to open in Fall 2027.

Existing condition:

Future condition:

Designed by architectural firm Perkins&Will and landscaping firm PFS Studio, the project promises to bring new life to the area, with a high concentration of residents and jobs, and the introduction of community and cultural spaces, as well as major public spaces activated and framed by ground-level retail and restaurant uses.

All of these uses complement Emily Carr University of Art & Design’s (ECUAD) campus immediately to the east of the site.

Mixed-use towers built over the subway

There will be a total of three high-rise towers with a four-storey base podium, entailing two 35-storey mixed-use rental housing towers reaching up to 371 ft to the north of the station entrance, and a 306-ft-tall, 20-storey mixed-use office to the east. These building heights are permitted for the site under the Broadway Plan.

As the subway cuts through the development site, the four-storey base podium between both residential towers would be built above the subway station’s platforms and tunnel, and the tunnel entrance — the transition to the elevated guideway — is immediately to the north.

The pair of 35-storey towers on the Thornton Street parcel to the north will entail 548 secured purpose-built rental homes, with 438 market rental units and 110 below-market rental units, based on the area plan’s stipulation of requiring 20% of the rental homes be set aside at below-market rates. The unit size mix is 60 studio units, 244 one-bedroom units, 184 two-bedroom units, and 60 three-bedroom units.

Residents will have access to various shared indoor and outdoor amenity spaces on the fifth level — the rooftop of the base podium shared by both residential towers — and both tower rooftops, which enables the project to exceed the required resident amenity spaces.

On the fourth level of the base podium of the residential towers, there will be a childcare facility — containing 8,342 sq ft of indoor space and over 12,000 sq ft of outdoor play space — with a capacity for up to 94 kids.

Further down, levels two and three of this base podium will carry a combined total of 73,561 sq ft of office space. The ground level features 22,321 sq ft of commercial space, including two large retail/restaurant units and an impressive atrium that provides the main public entry into the underground “Market Hall” level — where there is a further additional 8,877 sq ft of high-ceiling multifunctional commercial and event-friendly space intended to be “an important indoor space offering a mix of food-related amenities as a social gathering space.” The Market Hall also provides a major entrance into the complex from the north at East 1st Avenue.

The 20-storey tower on the Great Northern Way parcel to the east will contain 269,500 sq ft of office space in the upper levels and 10,800 sq ft of retail/restaurant uses on the ground level.

Subway station entrance transformation

But the project’s standout component is its transformation of the subway station entrance, both visually and functionally from major new uses attached to the station entrance. All three towers and the subway entrance frame a large internal event-friendly public plaza, which is activated not only by retail/restaurant uses but also by a 4,650 sq ft dynamic LED mesh urban screen installed on the facade of a commercial base podium to display videos and public art.

A cantilevered structure will provide the 2027-built subway station entrance pavilion building with a drastic landmark overlay, including a unique amphitheatre-like stepped landscaped terrace that rises from the public plaza to a public viewing deck on the rooftop of the station entrance. This public viewing deck is activated atop a 3,000 sq ft commercial unit, suitable for a restaurant, cafe, or even a bar. Additionally, attached to the north side of the entrance building at ground level, a 1,800 sq ft retail unit will further activate the plaza area.

“Cantilevering out over the [station] headhouse, this deck creates a remarkable new canopy for the station and marking it as a key transportation gateway for the campus,” reads the design rationale.

Within a vast underground level below much of the plaza, there will be a 13,600 sq ft high-ceiling “Flexible Hall” — technically classified as commercial space — for use as an impressive multifunctional event-friendly venue for commercial and cultural opportunities. The entrance into the Flexible Hall will be situated within an attached addition immediately east of the station entrance, below the stepped terrace. This Flexible Hall is in addition to the aforementioned Market Hall beneath the residential towers.

In addition to the significant rental housing and 344,000 sq ft of office uses, this project provides over 71,000 sq ft of commercial retail/restaurant uses, with a large portion being the underground spaces of the Market Hall and Flexible Hall.

Altogether, there will be over 877,000 sq ft of building floor area, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 6.4 times larger than the size of the lot.

Five underground levels will contain 470 vehicle parking stalls and over 1,800 bike parking spaces.

Prior to the start of the site’s construction activity for the subway, the regional Central Valley Greenway pathway for walking and cycling cut through the site east-west. The proponents are floating the idea of permanently relocating the greenway along Great Northern Way and Thornton Street, wrapping around the development site’s southern and western edges with dedicated bike lanes and wider pedestrian sidewalks to reach East 1st Avenue.

The public realm of the project site will be fully integrated with the existing plaza areas and walking paths of ECUAD and the 565 Great Northern Way office building, which was also built by PCI Developments.

The proponents note that extensive consultation was performed with local First Nations on the project’s public realm, landscaping, and architectural building design, and the “cultural ribbon” public art concept along the Great Northern Way corridor within the False Creek Flats. Through their “South Flats” portfolio of properties along the corridor, and with the opening of the Millennium Line extension, PCI Developments and Low Tide Properties now appear to be doubling down with the area’s mixed-use residential and job space potential, including another upcoming major project next to VCC-Clark Station.

Immediately to the northwest of their development site and Great Northern Way-Emily Carr Station, Onni Group also has plans to substantially increase the scope and size of their future project at 399 East 1st Avenue, which is currently a partially excavated construction pit sitting dormant. Onni Group envisions four towers up to 35 storeys with a mix of rental housing, live-work units, hotel uses, office uses, and retail/restaurant space.

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