By Kenneth Chan
April 12, 2022
Plans to build a sizeable mixed-use commercial tower within Vancouver’s Mount Pleasant Industrial Area are moving forward.
A development permit application has just been submitted to redevelop 123 East 6th Avenue — the northeast corner of the intersection of Quebec Street and East 6th Avenue, about a four-minute walk from SkyTrain’s future Mount Pleasant Station (Main Street & Broadway) as part of the Millennium Line Broadway Extension.
This will be a 150-ft-tall, 12-storey mass timber tower, with wholesale industrial uses on the first two floors, and the remaining 10 floors used for office space. The total floor area will be 196,000 sq ft, establishing a floor area ratio density of a floor area that is 6.6 times larger than the size of the 30,000-sq-ft lot.
As a key component of the redevelopment, the existing 1929-built, two-storey SFU Annex schoolhouse will be relocated and reoriented to the eastern edge of the property to accommodate the new tower. The heritage building, including its Arts and Crafts architectural style features, will be fully restored for its new use as a City-owned arts centre.
“With the exception of the timber frame which is exposed at the two primary entrance points, the project is intentionally monochromatic as an aesthetic foil to the mass timber structural frame,” reads the design rationale by Proscenium Architecture & Interiors.
“Materials in the pedestrian realm where the building meets the ground are purposefully understated and honest: raw cold-rolled steel, board-formed concrete, and masonry. In addition to celebrating the office and industrial building’s wood structure, the understated approach also provides reverence to the adjacent heritage building.”
Four underground levels will contain vehicle parking and secured bike parking.
T3 Mount Pleasant gains its name from being a Hines office building brand, with T3 standing for the use of mass timber, the proximity to transit, and the use of technology. Hines launched the T3 brand with the completion of the portfolio’s first building, T3 Minneapolis, in 2016.
Immediately to the future site of T3 Mount Pleasant is the 1954-built City Centre Motel, which recently permanently closed after being acquired for a future mixed-use redevelopment. It is currently being temporarily used as artist studios until redevelopment plans are formalized.
To the north of the site is Westbank’s Main Alley tech office campus, which recently saw the completion of its first new office building. The final phase of Main Alley is planned to be a 21-storey mass timber tower with 216 rental homes.
