Onni’s inserts new beginning into old district
Barbara Gunn
Sun
Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun / WAKING UP STRATHCONA: V6A apartments from Onni contribute to historic neighbourhood’s ‘revival’
V6A kitchens will feature Blomberg refrigerator/freezers that are “hidden” behind wood-panelled doors, far left, … Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
… stainless steel cooktops, above, will be gas, and from AEG…. Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
…Stainless steel sinks, left, will be undermount to make for easy clean-up.;Counters will be topped with solid composite stone and cabinets will be offered in one of two schemes. The backsplash will be overheight marble.;The display home kitchen, like most V6A kitchens, has a linear configuration. Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
In the V6A bathrooms the basins will be undermounted and counters will be topped with solid composite stone. Some apartments will feature frameless glass showers, some will have soaker tubs; and some, both. … Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
… Small-space mastery is achieved through clutter mastery. The washer and dryer in the one-bedroom show home is located off the hallway and tucked behind doors. … Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
… Across that hallway are storage closets, again behind doors. Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Su
The floor-to-ceiling frosted glass doors are sliding and can be used to separate … Photograph by : Chuck Russell, Vancouver Sun
Strathcona may be Vancouver‘s oldest neighbourhood, but it isn’t too old to chart some new beginnings.
In a district that grew up around Hastings Mill, the streets are dotted with colourful houses, some dating back to the 19th century. Yet this isn’t a neighbourhood that’s looking only to the past, suggests Chris Evans of the Onni Development Group.
Strathcona is also very much focused on today — and tomorrow.
“I think it’s having a revival,” the Onni executive says. “It’s certainly going to be true to its roots… But I think it just continues to evolve.”
Part of that evolution is starting to take shape in the 200 block of Union Street between Main and Gore, where Onni is installing something new in the old neighbourhood: a nine-storey project it calls V6A. By the time it’s finished in early 2010, it will be home to some 128 households.
Those households, says Evans, will live in a neighbourhood that continues to reflect its original vibrancy. But they’ll also be within strolling distance of an awful lot more.
“It’s funny,” says Evans. “We have a lot of people within the office who are looking at it as just a good opportunity to move into an area that’s emerging. It’s really so close to Gastown, southeast False Creek, downtown… We’re kind of a walk or a quick bike ride from almost all neighbourhoods.
“Obviously, south Main is there with all the great shops. Yaletown is probably a 10-minute bike ride, tops. So all those things, I think, give people the opportunity, at a quite reasonable price, to be able to get into the market at a great location.”
Strathcona was identified in 1986 as a character area by the Vancouver Heritage Inventory because of its “unique mix of building styles” – styles ranging from small cottages to large Queen-Anne-style residences decorated with elaborate brackets and shingle work.
As much as Onni wanted to insert something new in Strathcona – and the V6A interiors will most certainly provide for that sense of something new – the award-winning developer also wanted to ensure that the building’s exterior was in keeping with the area’s historic complexion.
To that end, says the V6A literature, detailed exterior cornices will be inserted in order to “to complement the historic architectural integrity of the neighbourhood.”
As well, says Evans, the retail spaces that will occupy the street level of the V6A project will have inset doors with alcoves, which he says are “typical of the [area’s] heritage.”
“And as you move up the building, the inset balconies [will have] columns that front the building… rather than protruding out.
“I would say the [brick] façade up to the first seven floors is similar to typical Chinatown heritage. Then above [on the eighth and ninth-floor sub-penthouse and penthouse levels] is going with a more contemporary, clean look, floor-to-ceiling glass windows.”
The V6A project – it’s named after its postal code – may be located in the heart of Vancouver‘s heritage district, but the interiors of the homes will be more reflective of the present than the past.
Laminate flooring will stretch from the entryways through to the living spaces, kitchens and bedrooms.
Kitchens – in most cases, they’ll have a linear configuration – will have composite stone counters, overheight marble backsplashes and refrigerators that are “hidden” behind wooden panelling.
Most of the homes, which Onni expects to bring to market toward the end of the month, will have at least 80 square feet of covered, recessed outdoor space. Penthouses will have rooftop decks.
Most will also have frosted glass sliding partitions that can be used to enclose bedrooms adjacent to the living area, something Evans says is representative of the flexibility that’s typical of loft-style living.
“It really gives people the opportunity to live as they wish,” he says. “You could keep these walls open, which gives it more of an open plan. But at the same time, if you are entertaining and have people over, you can shut the frosted glass walls.” V6A, is unique to the area, says Evans – and not simply because it’s being built in the 21st century.
“There are some other developments going on within probably a six- or seven-block radius, but certainly nothing of this size,” he says, adding that V6A will offer first-time homebuyers a chance to enter the market. “With downtown prices in Yaletown, Coal Harbor, southeast False Creek all over $800 a foot, [and] this being probably in the range of the mid-sixes a foot, it’s just going to give people the opportunity to get into the market.”
As well, he expects there will be other, established homeowners drawn to V6A.
“I think we’re also seeing some trend of people moving out of smaller spaces in downtown who are already in the market. They’ve seen their unit appreciate in value; they can upgrade their size of space and move east, get larger square footage, maybe a larger outdoor space for the same kind of money that they’re selling their 900-square-foot two-bedroom in Yaletown or what-have-you.”
Either way, Evans says, V6A residents will find something special when they take on a new postal code.
“This area is going to be one of the most dynamic neighbourhoods. It’s not going to be all one type of person; I think it’s certainly going to have a great variety.
“And I think to be part of that change – and an early part of that change – is just a great opportunity.”
THE ONNI DEVELOPMENT COMPANY’S V6A NEW-HOME PROJECT IS AN ADDITION TO VANCOUVER‘S OLDEST NEIGHBOURHOOD, STRATHCONA.
On the City of Vancouver website, Strathcona is bound by Hastings and Great Northern Way north and south and Quebec Street and Clark Drive west and east.
Strathcona is more, however, than a collection of city blocks.
For one thing, it’s an ethnically diverse neighbourhood with considerable history, and a place, author and heritage champion John Atkin says, “with a strong sense of identity and pride.”
A community that grew up around the Hastings Mill, and then expanded south from Burrard Inlet, Strathcona “is a place where residents meet as they walk to the corner store, exercise the dog or practise tai chi in the park,” Atkin says on the Discover Vancouver website.
“The street-end parks are meeting places to talk or sit and read in the sunshine,” he says. “The jumble of buildings are squeezed onto narrow lots, so close to each other that their gutters sometimes touch, and in a mixture of styles and colours that is uniquely Strathcona.”
Strathcona, named for the elementary school at Powell and Jackson, has one of the largest concentrations of 19th and early 20th century buildings in Vancouver, many of which are part of the city’s heritage inventory.
V6A
Project location: Strathcona, Vancouver
Size: 128 residences, 9-storey building
Residence size: 610 sq. ft. – 1,335 sq. ft., 1-3 bed
Prices: From the low $300,000s
Sales centre: 1829 Quebec
Hours: noon – 6 p.m., Sat – Thu
Telephone: 604-684-8717
Web: onni.com
Developer: Onni Group of Companies
Architect: Lawrence Doyle Young & Wright Architects
Interior design: Inhouse
Occupancy: Early 2010
For more information on lofts check out our Vancouver Lofts website.
For more information on Gastown’s lofts check out our Gastown Lofts website.
For more information on Yaletown’s lofts check out our Yaletown Lofts website.