Sun
Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
The Chinatown into which Ginger’s developer is inserting almost 80 new homes is North America’s second largest. It is also the last of the original downtown commercial neighbourhoods to undergo rejuvenation and transformation. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
The Chinatown into which Ginger’s developer is inserting almost 80 new homes is North America’s second largest. It is also the last of the original downtown commercial neighbourhoods to undergo rejuvenation and transformation. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Ginger’s kitchen specifications include a gas cooktop and convection wall oven from AEG; a bottom-freezer LG refrigerator with bottom-mount freezer; a Fisher & Paykel dishwasher drawer; and a Panasonic microwave.;Upper-cabinetry doors will be finished in a white gloss; lower-cabinetry in wood.;Backsplashes will be an invitation for buyers to declare their attachments and preferences: They will selected by five colours, ‘Rahda Red,’ ‘Bombast Black,’ ‘White Rice,’ ‘Jade Aqua’ and ‘Green Tea.’;’We really wanted to bring Chinatown into the project,’ says Ginger’s developer, David Porte Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Spiced, the Ginger sales literature says of the floor-to-ceiling-plus inset, of glass tile, in the tub surround and skirt and bathroom floor. Who’s to argue? Vanity storage will be provided by drawers (facing page) and not the all-too-common empty space behind two doors.;Tub-and-shower combinations will be more common than separated showers and tubs (some plans).;Outside-the-home features of the Ginger new-home project will included a restricted-floor-access elevator; a camera-monitored entrance intercom; and gated underground parking. Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
Photograph by : Ward Perrin, Vancouver Sun
GINGER
Project: Concrete nine-storey building with 78 condos (studios, one and two bedrooms)
Presentation Centre: 663 Gore St.
Developer: Porte Development
Architect: Gomberoff Bell Lyon
Interior Designer: BYU Design
Size range: 454 — 1,100 sq. ft.
Price range: $268,800 — $900,000s
Website: www.gingerliving.com
Telephone: 604-688-5005
Occupancy: Fall 2009
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Westcoast Homes
Ginger, the latest new-home project in and around Vancouver‘s Chinatown, is a lovely demonstration of the role of cultural cues or prompts in architecture.
Located at East Georgia and Main, Ginger’s architecture will speak of the older architecture nearby, nine floors — not an end-of-history 19 or 29 or 39 — of brick cladding, recessed balconies and iron railings.
Exterior colours, however, will declare the building an addition to the historic streetscape: Orange and green — two colours associated with both the modern palette and with old Chinatown — will be featured on glass panels on the outside railings.
Inside the Ginger building, 11 different photographs of historic Chinatown will dress up the homes’ front doors. It’s an uncommon, but not unheard-of front-door treatment: The front doors of the nearby Woodward’s homes will receive a graphic treatment, of bright artwork. The doors to the rooms of a Seattle hotel, the Max, have been dressed up with copies of artwork from the hotel owner’s collection.
The bright exterior green will also be used as a decorative accent in the interiors. A strip of multi-coloured green tiles will be inserted into tub surrounds. The kitchen quartz countertops are available in green, bright red, aqua, black or white. And the living room, which features a Chinese daybed, has engineered bamboo flooring, also used in the kitchen and bedroom. Bamboo images are also painted on the walls of the bedroom, giving the interior a definite Eastern flair.
“We really wanted to bring Chinatown into the project,” says David Porte, the 39-year-old president of Porte Development. “Let’s embrace where we are. It’s a cool place. It’s alive. It’s always been a bustling place, full of people.”
Indeed Vancouver‘s Chinatown, the second largest in North America, has always been a culturally and architecturally vibrant area of the city. But there was a time, says Porte, when the neighbourhood seemed untouched by new development, even though the areas around it — Strathcona to the east, Yaletown to the west and Gastown to the north — were hotbeds of development.
“The neighbourhood is on the move,” he says. “Take a look around: you can see how everything’s moving eastward. It began with the Concord developments, and continues with the Olympic Village and the Woodward’s District. We’re very excited to be on the leading edge of this Chinatown renaissance.”
Excited, too, are those eager to make the Ginger properties their homes: 45 of the 78 condos sold on the opening day of sales last Sunday.
Porte, who purchased the Ginger location and adjacent London Hotel in the 700-block of Main Street for $5 million last year, plans to refurbish the hotel, providing 45 social housing suites, and adding over 9,000 square feet of new streetfront retail.
Porte expects many of Ginger’s buyers will be young singles or young couples, as well as first-time buyers who have been priced out of Yaletown, but still want to live in an urban neighbourhood. He
So it’s no surprise that instead of having your typical fitness/media centre, Ginger residents will have access to a high-tech Wii Room with play station and a dry bar.
Suites start at $268,800 for a 454-square-foot studio apartment and go up to the $900,000s for the 12 two-bedroom upper-floor suites with over 1,100 square feet. All the condos have generous 100-square-foot balconies with room for a barbecue or outdoor fireplace. Two of the units on the 8th and 9th floors have an additional 500 square feet of deck space facing the north and west.
The kitchens also come with a stainless steel appliance package and there’s built-in storage in the units in all plans but one. Floor-to-ceiling windows let in natural light and an opaque sliding glass door separates the bedroom from the main living space.
“This is going to be a pretty exciting building when it’s done,” says Porte. “It will be fun.”
© The Vancouver Sun 2007
