Scott Simpson
Sun
Vancouver‘s vaunted high-tech industrial zone is a bust.
“Modest” demand for high-tech zoning in the designated False Creek Flats area around Terminal Avenue and Great Northern Way has prompted city council to take the first step toward rezoning the area for a broader range of non-residential uses.
The 124-hectare area has been awaiting an influx of high-tech firms since the late 1990s, restricting the amount of general office and other uses in the hopes that proximity to downtown, transit, and a concentrated development zone would be sufficient to draw in companies in the information technology and biotech sectors.
However, in a report that was approved by council this week, city staff note that the expected influx never took place.
“Since that time the ‘high-tech’ sector has not grown as quickly as anticipated,” the report said. “It has been difficult for development to proceed due to an inability to secure a sufficient number of ‘high-tech’ tenants to meet the zoning requirement.
“At the same time, the demand for general office uses in the area has increased.”
The report notes that high-tech zoning limits the amount of conventional office space, and as a consequence, a number of development inquiries about the area quickly fizzled out.
As well, developers complain they cannot find enough high-tech tenants to make a project viable.
“The poor take-up of this zoning is due to the difficulty in securing ‘high-tech’ tenants to meet zoning requirements, and the unwillingness of developers to build speculatively given the inherent risk of the narrowly defined uses,” the report said.
Council accepted a recommendation to open up the area to requests for additional zoning — including general office use, child care services, restaurants to serve the local area, and “other relevant services.”
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