The height of density in the West End – 2

If the site can really achieve 24 FSR (and let’s nor forget it’s a realtor trying to sell the site who suggests that it might), then it won’t be unique in terms of density. Jameson House, right, (which has an office base, but a similarly small site) was 23 FSR. The Capitol residences, with space for the Orpheum back-of-house and the VSO in the podium is also over 23 FSR on a larger site. The

Private Residences at Hotel Georgia tower, left, which also has an office base, is 515 feet tall and is over 30 FSR.

There are several other sites in the West End Plan where up to 550′ towers were contemplated. Any tower here will have to provide 25% of the space as social housing or one-for-one replacement of the existing market rental housing with social housing units, whichever is greater. Most of the Plan limits new development to 7 FSR or 8.75 FSR, but a few sites between Thurlow and Burrard have a height and floorplate limit, but not a density cap.

Rezoning is never guaranteed, and certainly density isn’t. The plan says “Rezoning applications will be subject to urban design performance (including consideration of shadow analysis, view impacts, frontage length, building massing, setbacks, etc.)”