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Douglas Todd: Vancouver’s downtown waterfront could use an adventurous rethink. Not another oversized tower

Opinion: Greater Toronto is in the midst of a visionary recreation of its downtown waterfront. How about Vancouver?

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It costs $11.50 to park your car for half-an-hour on this small, uninviting slab of pavement on downtown Vancouver’s waterfront.

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But hosting a few dozen parking spots is, to say the least, a waste of this ultra-prime piece of property, located east of the historic Waterfront SkyTrain Station and north of Simon Fraser University’s Harbour Centre campus.

This spot could be the entrance way to a spectacular new downtown waterfront, with stunning views of the North Shore Mountains, that would welcome the people of Vancouver and beyond, advocates say.

If only city councillors had more vision — and perhaps took their cue from Toronto’s imaginative rehabilitation of its waterfront.

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Instead, developer Cadillac Fairview, which owns the parking lot and Waterfront Station, is seeking the city’s permission to erect a gigantic, twisting, tree-inspired, 22 storey edifice, which it says echoes the site’s historical Indigenous name, Grove of Maples.

Critics, however, call the upside-down pyramid a lot of other names, including the “Drillbit.” More importantly, they remind people that the Vancouver Heritage Commission has voted against it.

And they warn that if the office tower gets the go-ahead from the development permit board on May 11, it could kill the last chance Vancouver has to turn the downtown waterfront into something extraordinary.

Right now, the parking lot that is the focus of the controversy is a grim site at 601 West Cordova St. Pedestrians, including tourists, flow thick and steady on the sidewalk next to it. But they avoid the lot.

It’s encased to the north by a high, black, steel fence, which overlooks more than 10 railway tracks immediately below. The foreground view, such as it is, includes a truck thoroughfare and more bleak parking lots, including for a Helijet operation.

In addition, the view line from the spot where Cadillac Fairview wants to plunk down its tower is blotted by the dark, elevated, enclosed walkway used by ticketed passengers heading to the SeaBus Station, which itself looks like a Second World War bunker.

Guest opinion: There is a way forward for the Waterfront Station and Cadillac Fairview

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It could all be so much more inviting, according to the urbanists who have formed the Downtown Waterfront Working Group.

“It’s a very, very unique site,” says former Vancouver councillor Tim Louis. “It could be a magnificent plaza, not a postage-stamp plaza. The vista to the north could be absolutely stunning.”

And the concrete waterfront itself, he said, could become a wondrous place for people to enjoy.

There are many ways that the public could be welcomed to a revamped Burrard Inlet waterfront, said Louis. It could, he said, feature restaurants, fish stores, you name it. There could be a new elevated walkway, which would be open to all.

And, perhaps, if city councillors were willing to work boldly with Cadillac Fairview and the Canadian Pacific Kansas City railway company that owns the tracks, a deal could be reached to move or cover at least part of them, Louis said. That would produce endless possibilities.

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Among other things, said Ray Spaxman, former planning director for Vancouver, a revived waterfront along this cheerless stretch would add to the glory of Vancouver’s seaside greenway, an impressive promenade for walking, cycling and rolling.

The 28-kilometre seaside greenway now begins at the University of B.C., weaves along Spanish Banks and the Kitsilano waterfront, around False Creek, along English Bay, encircles Stanley Park and traverses Coal Harbour.

Before it ends with an abrupt thud at the sails of Canada Place, also known as the Vancouver Convention Centre East.

Along with former Vancouver planner Christina DeMarco, who once organized a forum on the future of the waterfront with Vancouver Centre Liberal MP Hedy Fry, Spaxman et al envision extending the seaside greenway a couple more kilometres to the east, to Main Street and CRAB Park Portside.

Why not? Toronto, Vancouver’s unofficial Canadian rival, is in the midst of a decades-long effort to restore its downtown waterfront; turning former industrial space into an extravagant place for people, not to mention wildlife.

The coalition of city planners, architects and others who oppose the proposed highrise put forward by Cadillac Fairview, which is owned by the Ontario Teachers Pension Fund, have created their own architectural renderings, showing how massive it will be in that tight space.

While Spaxman knows and admires the architect who designed it, James Cheng, he said the City of Vancouver shouldn’t be asking citizens, “ ‘Do you like this building?’ The question should be: ‘Do you like this building in this location?’ ”

While people might agree the tower is “sort of interesting,” Spaxman said, the city would be ignoring the greater role that good architecture is supposed to play in regards to “whether a building enhances the area you’re putting it in. This tower is just the opposite of that, in every way feasible.”

The latest proposal from Cadillac Fairview, its fourth since 2014, seems to be “one of those rushed applications, thrown at the city,” said Spaxman.

It’s “being promoted by people who are saying, ‘For God’s sake, get your application in while this council is in the seat. They’re more likely to approve it than anybody else coming in.’ ”

What’s a better way forward?

It may start with the city or province, or TransLink, buying the parking lot and Waterfront Station from Cadillac Fairview, say Louis, Spaxman, DeMarco and others.

And that may not be as draconian as it sounds. That’s because it’s common for governments to buy-out large property owners by offering them density incentives on their other holdings. In this case, Cadillac Fairview also owns Vancouver’s Pacific Centre mall and several office towers downtown.

The ins-and-outs of such financial bargaining were persuasively spelled out in a recent column in The Vancouver Sun, by veteran urbanists and planners Michael Alexander and Mary Pynenburg.

While this council for the past three years has become known for ramming through scores of stark, oversized residential towers in an ostensible push to combat housing affordability, Spaxman calls on them to do something different here.

The Waterfront Station site could become something extraordinary — if it’s approached with “a spirit of adventure and spirit of creativity,” Spaxman said.

This sad little parking lot provides an opportunity for council to start thinking big, to start creating a wonderful legacy.

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