It’s taken almost two decades, but the seawall from Canada Place to Stanley Park is almost complete.
Almost. There is still one small section that remains blocked:
The floatplane terminal, sited just west of the new convention centre, is to be moved eventually. But when?
Rumour has it that the City may renew the lease for this site, at least until third parties can agree on terms for a new location. But will they require the seawall to be connected, even with a temporary link? – a policy that Councils have had in place since the Expo site was first being developed.
Thanks for pointing this out Gord.
I’ve always wondered about the lack of efficiency on the site. For example, because there are two individual private operators, they have duplication in terms of check in area, waterside waiting patio, etc. compared to a regular airport where these functions would be shared.
Also, everything is only on one level. Could the administrative functions and perhaps other “back of house” uses be on a second floor? If the Planning School at UBC can be housed partly on the second floor of a building constructed basically of trailers, why not here? (joke) And what about all the left over spaces that aren’t being used. Could the bike rental place move into the underground parking lot?
What do others think, could a more thoughtful site plan including adding a floor and some sharing of space result in completing this seawall connection?
What I wonder about is the way the two seawall curves misalign, especially visible in the second photo. Did the designers of the convention centre not have a compass in their kit? Not sure how this will be resolved without tearing down a lot of concrete and stonework and rebuilding to make a graceful curve. It’s hard to imagine that this weird jog is intentional.
Personally I always thought that the seaplane terminal should operate east of Canada Place. It would keep the harbour green residents happy, heck they might even offer to pay for the move. It would tie it in with the transportation hub at waterfront. Currently it’s a bit of a hassle to get to by transit. Also if they play nice with Heli-Jet all three entities could share resources. Perhaps an agency like YVR is needed to just step in and make them all share.
The Seaplane offices ought to move down onto the dock where the planes land. They could make the dock itself a bit more substantial to accommodate this, but the end result would free up the seawall, leaving only a ramp leading down to the dock.