Other than Broadway and Cambie, there is no major intersection in Vancouver undergoing more change than Denman and Robson. Mainly because of this:
Truly years in the making, this comprehensive redevelop- ment of an old (and unpleasant) Safeway, two parking lots and a discontinued liquor store was approved when I was on Council over half a decade ago. (The architecture firm at that time was Kasian Kennedy.)
Things might have preceded earlier, but the City wanted Safeway to take responsibility for any contamination that may have seeped under the roadway from a pre-existing gas station. Safeway balked, went to court, and won.
Surprisingly, for a very conservative firm, they have built the new store to the original and quite exuberant plan. Lots of sweeping angles, external escalators, second-floor patio (hopefully for the in-store restaurant) and, most importantly, small storefronts disguising the parking lot, with the main floor elevated above. (They missed the opportunity to develop housing above that – no doubt concerned with the complications.)
Denman and Robson is unquestionably an important corner – but it wasn’t always so. When I first moved to the West End in 1978, that section of the neighbourhood was tired and off the beaten track, best known for Sunset Books, a small used-paperback emporium, and, further down Denman, the Cafe de Paris. Otherwise: mainly gas stations, empty building sites and lots of traffic feeding on to Georgia. There was never much reason to walk north past Robson, and few did. Now, thanks to the growth of the young ESL population in search of the tasty noodle and tourists looking to rent a bike, they do.
Sunset Books was burned out some years ago. It has taken as long as the construction of the Safeway to build a small spec retail block, still largely untenanted, but at least it has filled in the fourth corner of the intersection. Denman and Robson now has a prominance as significant as other corners where the trolley buses turn.
I’m not surprised by the lack of housing – Safeway really doesn’t seem into multi-use developments – but what a missed opportunity!
Yup, it’s too bad there’s not residential on top of this.
Looks great!
Although it does remind me of the swoopy Save-on-Foods/PriceSmart canopies.
Assuming that safeway continues to own the site as a corporate asset (rather than selling the site to a developer and leasingback space) I think there’s something to be said about Safeway deciding to hold on to its assets rather than diminishing its interest in it. When ever we’ve seen a retail company sell its real estate assets – it usually means they aren’t doing well and need the money (i.e. Woodward’s, Eaton’s). Despite constant rumours of Safeway shutting down operations in BC, this is probably a sign they’ll be around for a while.
Yeah, its too bad there isn’t residential on top, but I think its a good sign that the parking is shielded by storefronts. Obviously a lot more people in the west end, myself included like to go on foot to buy groceries. Big parking lots tend to send the wrong message, this design feels more welcoming to pedestrians than this http://images.google.ca/imgres?imgurl=http://manns.tmanndesign.com/manns/wp-content/uploads/2006/07/DSCF1001.jpg&imgrefurl=http://manns.tmanndesign.com/manns/%3Fcat%3D8&usg=__dYNrPwvaOBAR0CRB-Zxu1E1pTJA=&h=362&w=600&sz=76&hl=en&start=41&sig2=p9tdEcD4gQCRCazjAx_OOA&tbnid=cMQzJ8NFryUugM:&tbnh=81&tbnw=135&ei=2ppJSZ_NI5rUMZCI5C8&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dsafeway%2Bparking%26start%3D36%26gbv%3D2%26ndsp%3D18%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26sa%3DN
I was walking by that Safeway last night wondering when it will open and if Gordon would do a piece on it. It looks nice!
Too bad about the non-existant housing, unless you happen to live across the street from this over-priced and exra-hyped merchantplace. My view has benn salvaged! We’ll see what happens when the stores below open, but right now, the Safe-Way seems outmatched by the extremely low, comparative pricing offered at No-Frills in the Denman Mall. Many items are half the price for the exact same things at No-Frills, although Safe-Way does offer shoppers the opportunity to see more brands if that is your thing.
Residential? They added retail at ground level. Can we not be happy with that? Most North American cities would give their eye teeth to have something like this is the city centre.