Vancouver developer John Laxton has told the city he will have to tear down the landmark Arthur Erickson-designed Evergreen Building if he doesn’t get permission to put an extra four floors on it.

In an unusual and public confrontation with the city of Vancouver, Laxton, who is also a prominent lawyer and one-time chair of B.C. Hydro under the NDP government, has filed an appeal against a recent decision to limit the number of storeys he can add.

In his appeal, he warned that, if he gets turned down, “We will have no choice but to proceed with plans for the redevelopment of this site.”

In his submission to the board of variance, which will hear the appeal Nov. 3, he writes: “The issue simply is should the Evergreen Building be torn down or preserved. We would prefer to save the Evergreen Building. However, this will only be possible if we are permitted to build to the full amount of our allowable density.”

The saga began two weeks ago, when the city’s development-permit board unexpectedly refused a permit for more than two storeys to be added to the 10-storey building on West Pender.

Two of three board members said they thought the four-storey glass box Laxton and Erickson proposed to put on top of the terraced structure detracted from an “iconic” building, echoing what people on the board’s advisory panel and some members of the public had said.

That was despite the fact that Erickson himself designed the addition, and the city’s influential central-area planning director, along with staff and the urban-design panel, supported what they called the “light and lantern-like” box on top of the existing 10-storey building.

Laxton abruptly cancelled an open house last week for the Evergreen redevelopment, which will convert the former office building to residential use. That move will approximately double the building’s value even before any extra floor space is added.

Now Laxton has filed an appeal of the development permit board decision — a rare move for a developer.

“I don’t recall in my time a single instance that a developer has appealed a decision of the board like this,” said Dave Rudberg, the city’s chief engineer and one of the three members of the development permit board. “It doesn’t happen very often.”

Board chair Rick Scobie, who confirmed Laxton has filed the appeal, also said it was uncommon, although not completely unheard of.

Rudberg, along with deputy city manager Brent McGregor, opposed the addition and limited it to two storeys, while central-area planning director Larry Beasley supported it.

“It’s a bit of a landmark and so it needs to be dealt with carefully,” Rudberg said.

The appeal will be heard Nov. 3 by the board of variance, an independent body composed of five people appointed by the city and provincial government.

If the appeal fails, the future of the Evergreen is unclear.

Although the building is considered a landmark by many, it has no heritage protection and it was built to only about two-thirds of the maximum allowable building space for the site. In a city where a square foot of residential space with a view sells for anywhere between $400 and $800, that difference means a lot.

Staff had previously encouraged Laxton to get the building, which is 24 years old, designated as a heritage building, which would mean he could get a “density bonus” — a free parcel of imaginary floor space that he could then sell to other developers — as an incentive to preserve the building as is.

But that would take time.

In his appeal, Laxton said the existing zoning on the site would allow him to build a 300-foot tower, “which would be far cheaper to build than a conversion of the existing building.”

Laxton said he is forgoing additional profit by only converting the existing building because, if the current building is converted, it will have 30 units that face onto Pender and have no water view. That makes them worth less per square foot than a new tower he could build, where every unit would have a water view.

Laxton’s appeal says that even with four storeys added, the Evergreen Building would be only 175 feet tall, considerably less than the 300 feet allowed.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun Stephanie Robb in her refurbished Vancouver Special home.

The “Vancouver Special” may be ridiculed by many in a housing market that favours heritage homes, but graduate architect Stephanie Robb may get the last laugh when the tide shifts and design-savvy Generation Xers start viewing these homes in a new light.

Robb, who transformed her own small Vancouver Special into a home reminiscent of a Yaletown loft, says these type of buildings are ideal if one is looking for a modern, contemporary living space. The post Baby-Boom generation, now in their late 20s to late 30s, often can’t afford to live in one of the city’s heritage-style homes, which not uncommonly are priced at $500,000 on the East Side. (A heritage home this month in East Vancouver went for the a whopping $750,000 – a price typically associated with the bottom end of the scale for West side homes). Facing these kinds of prices no wonder Robb feels the answer may be in the vastly more affordable rectangular-box house. Commonly know as a “Vancouver Special” these homes were built by the thousands in the 1960s and 1970s, and are dotted throughout the city – most particularly in East Vancouver.

“For someone wanting to live in a modern space they [Vancouver Specials] lend themselves to that really easily. There are not that many modern homes in Vancouver,” she says.

Robb and her husband paid $204,000 in 1999 for her 1,000 square foot house, located just four blocks from Commercial Drive. The couple then invested another $150,000 to create an open concept home suitable for their young family, two daughters now ages 12 and 10. The house transformation was completed two years ago.

Besides the obvious price advantage and central location, Robb says the greatest benefit is the fact the house is built directly on the ground.

“That simple characteristic can create wonderful indoor/outdoor relationships…It’s pure gold, especially in our climate.”

The formerly cramped, two-unit house, built in 1974, is now an open concept home with wall to wall glass doors, opening onto concrete garden patios, in both the front and rear of the home. Interior walls were removed and the original wood-frame structure was revealed, creating a feeling of a “cabin in the middle of the city.”

On the main floor, the two central bearing walls were replaced with steel beams mounted into the plane of the ceiling. A step Robb understandably worried would go well.

“It was interesting to watch. They did it like it was surgery,” she says. “That part was the one I was most fretting about, but it was the easiest.”

This structural manipulation allowed the entire main floor to be free of structural supports. On the upper floor steel tie rods were installed to allow the rafters there to be exposed as well – a move that created a vaulted ceiling, again adding to a greater sense of spaciousness in the home.

The family also added 200 square feet to the house, while seemingly small, made for a dramatic impact in the master bedroom and created additional space for a piano on the first floor.

Robb says when she first saw the home she could immediately see its potential as a modern living space. Yet, others did not share her view at the time. The house, located on a small 25 by 100 foot lot, had been languishing on the market for months despite it having an expansive view of the city’s downtown core from the upstairs floor.

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun The renovated first floor seen from outside the patio doors.

“My husband was thrilled it had a view,” she says. “I literally walked past the front gate and fell in love with the house instantly. I loved the proportions and knew it would work.”

However, Robb’s plan to convert the house hit a snag when she went to city hall for work permits. She says it took 13 months before the city would issue a development permit and staff there tried to persuade her to build a traditional heritage home instead.

“The city requested I tear it down. I was shocked. How could it be a reasonable stance to determine a perfectly good building should be torn down? These houses are worth retaining.”

Robb’s partner in the design firm Pechet + Robb agrees.

Bill Pechet says he views “Vancouver Specials” as “an untapped resource.”

“When Generations Xers have money or children and want to get into the housing market they will look at these with fresh eyes,” says Pechet.

“Generally, right now they’re seen as an embarrassment. People equate them with cheap housing and don’t see them as having value. Even the city doesn’t regard them as having a heritage value, but it does represent a time in the city. In our view they will be seen as a heritage building [in the future].”

However, the assistant director for city planning Rob Jenkins says the city is open to a Vancouver Special conversion provided this is also something neighbourhoods accept.

“From a broad policy perspective we are looking at all kinds of alternative options for affordability in housing throughout the city, but it’s a balance. It has to respect the community it is in and it [a Vancouver Special conversion] would need to be assessed,” he said.

Jenkins says he is personally aware of another architect who moved from a small heritage home to a larger Vancouver Special because she too could see the “creative architectural” potential these homes represent. (While Robb’s home is small many Vancouver Special have as much as 2,500 square feet.)

Converting them and reusing as much as the existing house as possible as well as making more efficient use of land by building townhomes both make sense from a sustainability perspective, said Jenkins.

Robb’s “modest” project did support “sustainable precepts of material reuse,” UBC director of the School of Architecture Chris Macdonald wrote in a recent edition of Canadian Architect

“Traditional expectations of home ownership are in Vancouver increasingly challenged by a housing market confined by geography and exacerbated by a continuing influx of external investment,” writes Macdonald.

“In the face of this challenge, the creative reassessment of the circumstances surrounding the project of the single family house should become obligatory, including a thoughtful consideration of how our persisting aspiration for freestanding individual houses impacts pressing collective interests in “green” and ultimately sustainable development patterns.”

CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun An eating area and bar-style counter. CREDIT: Mark van Manen, Vancouver Sun Stephanie Robb outside her renovated Vancouver Special.

The Robb home, he concludes does attempt to deal with the pressing local issue of sustainability but “regrettably” it is outside Vancouver‘s current housing practice.

Jenkins adds that while most builders today have “tended to go towards the older architectural style the [city] guidelines do permit more modern interpretation but not much take-up of that has occurred.”

Still, Robb says while the community at large are not yet beating a path to her firm’s door to redesign other Vancouver Specials she has heard from many builders who say the change “makes sense.”

“Builders know buildings inside and out, so it’s good to know they also see the potential for them being renovated instead of torn down,” says Robb, adding she hopes the day will come when Vancouver Specials are also regarded as having heritage value.

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Homeworks

If you live in a Vancouver Special you might just find your home photographed and detailed on an Internet site dedicated to this particular residential architecture — www.vancouverspecial.com

According to this intriguing web site (which does not provide a link to its creator, 45-year-old Keith Higgins) there are 1143 Vancouver Specials in the city photographed so far. But, Higgins notes, there are thousands more still to do, estimating Vancouver Specials represent 10 per cent of the detached residential stock in Vancouver.

Among his findings of the homes he’s documented so far:

* There are 757 specials with full balconies and 247 with half balconies.

* Forty-five homes have Lions as decorative statues on the fence while another 16 have some other form of statue.

* Stucco is the exterior finish for 988 homes; 815 used brick, 121 used stone or faux stone, horizontal siding was used on 142 homes and 173 homes used vertical siding.

* A symmetrical roof type was used for 778 homes, double roof for 173, a split roof for 68 and 13 homes have an asymmetrical roof.

Higgins, a fine arts graduate, who lives in an Edwardian style house, began photographing Vancouver Specials with a Polaroid camera years ago before they stopped making them around 1985.

“What I’m trying to do is document every Vancouver Special. Number one because I think they’re an under-discussed, under- documented part of Vancouver‘s environment. They’ve had a huge economic impact on the city and people who probably wouldn’t have been able to afford big new houses suddenly could. They continue to have an impact because they hold their value.”

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

A cluttered den, below, is not appealing to prospective buyers. The cleaned-up den by Dekora is shown above.

If you are about to sell your house in today’s cooling market, you might want to look at “staging,” a method of preparing your home for sale to make the best impression on potential purchasers.

It not only can sell your home, but also can help get you up to 20 per cent more for your property.

So, you won’t mind that it involves cleaning and decluttering and tidying and organizing — whew, I’m exhausted already. But that elbow grease can potentially translate into thousands of dollars.

“Staging is done strictly to sell the house,” says Kelly Ralph, of Creative Touch Interiors. An accredited staging professional, she says staging is important “because the way you sell your house and the way you live in it are two separate things.”

“And unlike decorating,” she adds, “staging costs a fraction of the price. You’re not spending hours with the client picking out fabrics, you’re really just redesigning.”

Christine Rae, Canada‘s regional director for stagedhomes.com, and owner of decoratingsolutions.ca, puts it this way: “Decorating is personalizing a home, usually you have a budget to work with, and you add things to the home. Staging is just the opposite — you’re taking things away, depersonalizing, so a buyer can see the space. It’s about selling the space, not decorating it.”

Staging a 2,400-square-foot home would take, on average, five hours, and at a rate of about $75 an hour, would cost the homeowner some $375.

If extra furniture is needed, Ralph goes to Executive Furniture Rentals in Toronto at an extra cost to the homeowner.

Mark Miller, president of Executive, says, “we’re often called upon to furnish empty houses because empty houses do not sell.” But he cautions, “when you go into a gorgeous designer home, you must remember that the furniture doesn’t come with it.”

Miller himself learned that the hard way. “I bought a house once that was beautifully furnished. I didn’t consider that the furniture didn’t come with it,” he admits. “I spent years trying to recreate the look, and couldn’t do it without the expense of a designer and expensive furniture.”

Miller says his company rents “realistic furniture, the kind that most people use in their own home.”

Says Executive’s stager, Heather Clouston: “We’re here to give a perspective of space and a warm welcome, so a purchaser will think, ‘I’d like to live here.'”

She adds, “Staging makes it easier for the buyer to picture himself living in the home.”

But what exactly does a stager do?

“Tackles the three deadly sins of sellers,” Ralph says.

These are:

– Too many personal items. In my case, it’s too many pictures displayed on my desk.

“It’s more important for the purchaser to look at your beautiful corners, mouldings, plantation shutters and wood floors,” Ralph says.

I point out that one of the pictures displayed is of me and Bill Clinton.

If you’re selling, Ralph says, Bubba will have to go — not to mention my photos of Mom, Dad, my kids, Boots the cat, etc., etc. You get the picture.

“To live in a house is one thing, to sell it is another,” Ralph says. “Remember, you’re trying to sell the house. You’re not trying to sell yourself.”

All books and magazines also have to go. “Empty your bookshelves,” she advises. “I was in a listed house on the weekend that had a Playboy magazine in the bathroom.” A definite no-no.

And Ralph warns potential purchasers always look in the medicine cabinet. “Do you really think people want to see what kind of tampons you use?”

Religious items should also be put away.

“One house had religious music go off periodically,” Ms. Ralph says. Hired to stage the house, she gently told the owners to stop the music. “They weren’t insulted,” she insists, “and their house sold quickly.”

Another vendor had a son who was a priest. “There were crosses all over the place, and holy water. Enough to frighten most purchasers,” Ralph says with a laugh.

– Clutter: “Most clutter can be packed away,” Ralph says. “Don’t showcase your beautiful collection of china dolls.”

All clothes must be put away. “And neatly,” Ralph says, “because people will check the closets.”

If there isn’t enough room in the drawers and cupboards, the answer is to store it all short-term, Ralph says.

(All Canadian Self Storage is an example of a local provider, they will come to your home and take your boxes away. “Whatever you do, don’t leave the boxes lying around. Homes with too much stuff don’t sell,” Ralph says.)

In the kitchen, make sure your dishes are done. “You wouldn’t believe how many people don’t do this,” says Ralph. “The idea is for the purchasers to see that there is room for them to move in.”

– Cleanliness: “Cleanliness sells,” Ralph says. “If you can smell it, you can’t sell it. Get rid of the dog, cat, bird, whatever, and all signs of it, for resale. If you’re having an open house, take the animal with you, and get rid of the litter box.” According to Ralph, nobody wants to move into a house where an animal lived, even if they’re animal lovers themselves.

“And if you’re a smoker, get rid of the smell,” she says. “And don’t forget the evidence. Ashtrays — get rid of them.”

Cooking odours are another faux pas.

“I recommend the carpet be cleaned,” Ralph says. “That will help get rid of cooking odours. In some cases, I’ve recommended that the owners watch what they’re cooking for a while, and stay away from foods with lingering odours.”

She also suggests confining your workspace to one area and making the beds.

“And don’t forget curb appeal,” Ralph says. “The first impression is vital. If they don’t like it outside, you won’t get them inside”.

“But why would I need a stager, when I can do it myself,” I ask.

“Because as a stager, I have no emotional attachment to your home,” Ralph says, “so I’m able to see it from the purchaser’s perspective.

“People think when you’re staging, you’re pulling the wool over their eyes. But that’s not so. A staged home is a clean home that looks great and is screaming, ‘I’m ready for you to move in.’ “

Adds Rae: “Staging has other benefits as well. Sellers often say how cathartic it is for them. By staging and removing things, they make the emotional cut that they can’t do when they’re living in the home.

“Often the owner comes home after the staging and says, ‘This is not my home anymore.’ They are now ready to sell. It can help them get a good start to move on.”

Editor’s Note: Two B.C. home staging companies are Dekora which can be reached at www.dekora.com. Telephone (604) 876-4355 or Spruce Home Staging at www.sprucehome.com. Telephone (604) 733-7375.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

Lights controlled by sensors that measure sunlight.

An air conditioner that shuts off when a window is open, or built-in blinds adjusted by a computer program that tracks the sun’s path.

Buildings are getting smarter — and the next generation of building materials is expected to do even more. Like windows which could trap the sun’s energy to heat hot water, or sensors measuring the carbon dioxide exhaled by people in a room to determine if the air conditioning needs to be turned up.

“More potential products have been invented in the last 15 years than in the entire prior history of architecture,” says Philadelphia architect Stephen Kieran. “We’re only beginning to tap the potential of those materials.”

The new materials and technology are being used in a wave of buildings designed to save as much energy as possible. They range from old ideas, like “green roofs,” where a layer of plants on a roof helps the building retain heat in winter and stay cool in summer, and new ideas, like special coating for windows that lets light in, but keeps heat out.

Most commercial buildings still lack even rudimentary technology, such as timers for lights, but the idea of buildings that use technology to save energy got a boost from the 2000 energy crisis, when California experienced blackouts and electricity prices rose.

That year, the U.S. Green Building Council launched a program to accredit building professionals in environmental design. Interest in the LEED program — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — has skyrocketed. Since 2000, about 19,000 people have been accredited, 9,000 in the last month alone.

About four per cent of new commercial construction is now completed under LEED guidelines, said Taryn Holowka, a spokeswoman for the Green Building Council.

Many new building materials are first developed in Europe, where energy is more expensive. “The construction industry is behind the times in some ways, compared to many other industries,” said Patrick Mays, chief information officer of architecture firm NBBJ.

More sophisticated building materials are in development.

A new building at the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii will be a “net zero energy building,” using no energy from the electric grid. The building will be cooled with piped-in sea water and the condensation on the pipes will be used for irrigation.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

B.C.’s residential housing boom has not stalled in the latter half of 2004 and promises to march on into 2005, although not at as torrid a pace, Canada Mortgage and Housing said Thursday in its National Housing Outlook.

The federal agency again confirmed B.C. housing starts will hit 31,700 in 2004, and estimated that starts will increase to 32,400 units next year.

“We’ve had a quarter-point increase in the [Bank of Canada key interest] rate just recently, and that is going to have an impact on people with variable rate mortgages and those with lines of credit, but it’s not enough to quell demand in the market right now,” said Cameron Muir, a market analyst with Canada Mortgage and housing.

He added that while interest rates are expected to climb by as much as two percentage points over the next couple of years, housing markets should remain strong because market fundamentals are expected to stay solid as well.

“In terms of the B.C. economy, it’s in a growth phase rather than at a peak,” Muir said.

Employment growth has been strong, consumer spending has been high. “And the other side of the the economy, the export side — that has been struggling — is starting to turn around,” Muir said.

Nationally, CMHC predicts new housing starts in 2004 to hit a 17-year high of 226,800 units, although it expects rising prices and mortgage rates to dampen demand.

“Activity in the new-home market in the third quarter hit heights not seen since the latter half of the 1980’s, so the stage is now set for residential construction activity to slow in the months ahead,” said CMHC chief economist Bob Dugan.

He said housing starts will drift down toward “more sustainable levels” in 2005, but will remain at a high 210,200 units.

CMHC estimates that B.C. will be the only province to show an increase in housing starts next year.

B.C. and Alberta, however, are also expected to lead the nation in the decline in housing resales, CMHC said.

Nationally, resale activity will dip 3.6 per cent to 445,900 units in 2005, Dugan added, as activity “backs off its record-setting clip,” and return to a more balanced position.

Dugan said price gains that homeowners have experienced will decelerate in 2005, but Muir said in B.C., the gains will still outpace inflation.

“Rather than double-digit increases year-over-year, you’ll see single digit increases,” he added.

B.C.’s decline in resales, Muir said, will have more to do with the construction of new housing inventory catching up to demand and a declining number of first-time and investment buyers than economic factors.

Nationally, resales, on pace to reach 462,600 units, will hit an all-time high for the third year in a row. Sales are rising in all regions except Nova Scotia where they have fallen for two years in a row.

Ontario is expected to see 85,200 starts in 2004, but decline to 79,000 in 2005 to be more on par with population growth.

Quebec starts are expected to hit 56,000 units in 2004, but slide to 48,000 units in 2005 on slower employment growth and higher interest rates.

BUILD, BUILD, BUILD:

Housing starts in B.C. are expected to continue to grow through all of next year:

2003 (actual): 26,174

2004 (forecast): 31,700

2005 (forecast): 32,400

© The Vancouver Sun 2004

UBC officials are searching for an architect to revamp its main entrance with housing, stores, restaurants and a public square.

VANCOUVER – The University of B.C. will announce today an international search for an architect for its proposed $100-million University Boulevard neighbourhood development.

Hoping to attract world-renowned architects such as Frank Gehry, Daniel Libeskind and others, the university wants to set a new standard for its campus architecture.

“This competition is an important opportunity to build world-class architecture that will define the entrance of UBC and create a new social heart for the campus,” said Dennis Pavlich, UBC’s vice-president of external affairs.

The project will revamp UBC’s main entrance at Wesbrook Mall and create a new neighbourhood, including housing, stores, cafes, restaurants and a public square.

“We want University Boulevard to become the hallmark of UBC. It will be a huge meeting and gathering place,” Pavlich said.

“But ultimately what it comes down to is creating memory. Which is why the architectural competition is so important. It’s not only about creating beauty — it’s also about creating spaces where people can chat and learn and make decisions.”

The University Boulevard neighbourhood will be one of nine distinct residential neighbourhoods making up the University Town community, which will boost UBC’s population to 20,900 by 2021, from about 10,400 today.

UBC officials also want the new project to create a more dramatic visual presence at the main campus entrance at University Boulevard and Wesbrook Mall.

“We are trying to give it a very strong architectural and functional identity, so that when you think of UBC that’s what you are going to think about,” Pavlich said.

Linda Moore, associate vice-president for University Town, said the new entrance should “create an experience where people know they’ve arrived at UBC.”

After all, added Moore, “when you arrive at Harvard, you know you’re at Harvard.”

University Boulevard is the first architectural design competition to be held in B.C. since 1991, when the Vancouver Public Library held a national design competition that was won by architect Moshe Safdie. A winner will be announced in May 2005.

The University Boulevard competition jury includes Safdie, who lives in Israel and the U.S., and four other internationally known architects: Arthur Erickson from Vancouver, Leon Krier of France, Demetri Porphyrios of Britain and Elizabeth Plater-Zyberk of the U.S. The jury will also include a number of UBC officials.

The 7.2-hectare design area is made up of five building sites. The competition will include a new University Square, a new greenway, new university related shops and services, apartments and open spaces and pedestrian connections between buildings.

The number of participants in the competition will be reduced to a shortlist of six and then of three. Round-table lectures will be held in January 2005 to present the work of the six shortlisted architectural firms.

The design submissions of the final three will be showcased in March 2005 and voted on by UBC students, faculty and staff.

The vote and comments from the community will be presented to the jury, but the results won’t be binding.

“It’s very unusual. But I see it as very democratic,” said Pavlich. “It’s important, because for this facility to succeed, the community has to see it as meeting their needs.”

The vote is a direct result by UBC to requests by the campus community for more input into the project.

UBC wants to avoid the public controversy that accompanied the release in 2003 of the draft design for the University Boulevard Neighbourhood.

The response to University Boulevard was overwhelmingly negative at early public meetings because of proposals to construct residential towers as high as 18 storeys, extend University Boulevard to Marine Drive for vehicle traffic and rebuild the bus loop below grade.

In the end, UBC altered the design, dropping maximum building heights to five storeys from 18.

© The Vancouver Sun 2004