Arts, culture, and development at Mount Pleasant’s City Centre site

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Good morning, 

Nate with you. Sadly, I’ve been smelling smoke in the air the past few days. 

With 426 active wildfires in the province, and a few relatively nearby on the Sunshine Coast and Vancouver Island, we may be in for a smoky August in the city. It’s obviously small potatoes compared to what folks in Jasper are going through right now, as well as the thousands of British Columbians currently on evacuation alert. 

However, smoke itself can cause significant negative health effects. So stay safe out there folks. 

Today, we’ve got an inside look at the future of a local landmark turned artist space, the latest city council decisions (and shenanigans), as well as a choice selection of events to fill your weekend. 

Let’s get to it!

— Nate Lewis, Vancity Lookout

PS - If you find this newsletter valuable, please consider forwarding it to your friends. New to the Lookout? Sign-up for free.

WEATHER

Friday: 23 🌡️ 14 | 🌤️

Saturday: 24 🌡️ 15 | 🌤️

Sunday: 22 🌡️ 16 | 🌤️

Monday: 19 🌡️ 16 | 🌧️

ARTS

Arts, culture, and development at Mount Pleasant’s City Centre site

What happened: Design plans to develop new buildings at the City Centre Artist Lodge site on Main Street and 5th Avenue have been released. Owner and developer Nicola Wealth Real Estate (NWRE) bought the former motor hotel in 2020. The Narrow Group then rented the property to temporarily convert it into more than 75 artist studios. 

Background: The Lodge — home to over 100 artists — is one of seven artist studio spaces in East Van managed by the Narrow Group, and they expect to add two other buildings to their inventory of artist spaces soon.

Since the conversion, they’ve hosted large arts and entertainment events like the Vancouver Mural Fest and Public Disco, among many others, making it a community hub for creatives in Brewery Creek. 

• The former City Centre Motor Hotel, built in 1954, has become something of a Mount Pleasant landmark with its easily recognizable neon sign harkening back to the aesthetics of mid 20th century Vancouver (think Fred Herzog).  

After the conversion, the whole property was brightly painted by three local artists as part of the Mural Fest.

What we heard: Laura McInnes became one of the original studio tenants in 2022. Since then she’s built her custom, handmade swimsuit business out of a small room on the second floor of the Lodge, overlooking the colourfully painted parking lot and the bustle of Main. 

“It’s been a really cool experience,” McInnes said of the events, describing them as a fun, collaborative opportunity for Lodge artists to sell their work. 

Looking forward: With public feedback underway on the site’s rezoning application, the end is in sight for the iconic hotel turned artistic venue. The proposed development would include two 20+ storey towers with 446 rental units (including the required 20% below-market), ground floor commercial space, and a public breezeway between the two buildings.  

• The city estimates that, if the application is approved at a public hearing, it will be another one and a half to two years for permitting for the new building to come through. 

“We're [here] longer than we thought we would be, but I think it's still going to be pretty devastating for everyone when we have to move out just because it's become such a special place. But, I guess you have to be grateful for what we did have here,” McInnes said. 

• NWRE, the site owner, wrote in their application that “inspired by the success” of the temporary conversion and the “continued demand for arts and culture spaces in Mount Pleasant,” they’ll be including a 5,000 sq. ft. artist production space in the new building. The space would be “turned over” to the city and operated by a non-profit arts and culture organization. 

Context: Recently, there have been a number of arts and performance venues in Vancouver that have been shut down or are at risk of closing, as organizations grapple with various funding problems. 

Alternative models: The 221A artists’ organization offers a different model for creating and managing artist production spaces and housing. 

• Just down the street, at Main and 3rd, they operate 30 non-market units geared toward low and modest income artists. The building, built in 2021, is owned by the city and operated by 221A and the Community Land Trust on a 60-year lease.

221A also operates artist production studios at five other locations between downtown and East Van, as well as a garden space hosting artistic work. This includes a new purpose-built arts and culture building on Pacific Street where 221A has a 60-year lease with the city. 

• It was built using Community Amenity Contribution funds — money that owners of most new developments pay to the city as part of the permitting processes. 

Editor’s note: This story was updated at 4 p.m. on July 26 to better reflect the Narrow Group’s role at City Centre Artist Lodge. It inaccurately identified who converted the property into artist studios. That work was done by the Narrow Group and individual tenants. The Lookout regrets the error.

SPONSORED BY DOWNTOWN VAN

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Downtown Van is proud to announce the return of the Granville Block Party - a vibrant two-day street festival right in the heart of the Granville Entertainment District! Join us at the intersection of Granville and Robson on Saturday, August 24th, and Sunday, August 25th, from 1 PM to 7 PM for this free, fully licensed, inclusive, and family-friendly event.

WHAT: Granville Block Party  

WHEN: Saturday, August 24th and Sunday, August 25th, from 1 PM - 7 PM 

WHERE: Robson & Granville intersection (700 & 800 blocks)  

FREE TO THE PUBLIC 

Learn more or follow @granvilleblockparty for all the latest updates!

VANCOUVER NUMBERS

⬇️ 50%: The amount of services TransLink would be forced to cut if they can’t find a new funding model for the regional transportation service. [City News]

🥴 30: The number of days the province has given the City of West Vancouver to change their bylaws to allow for multi-unit housing. [Vancouver Sun]

CITY HALL

Council roundup

What happened: Vancouver city council was back in session this week, highlighted by a significant change to climate-related building codes, a capital plan update, a new seniors’ housing strategy, and a motion to create dedicated bus lanes. 

Gassed up: Councillors narrowly voted 6-5 in favour of a significant policy change to allow natural gas for home and water heating in new buildings, based on a last-minute amendment from Coun. Montague. 

Background: One of the “big moves” in the city’s Climate Emergency Action Plan was to reduce emissions created from space and water heating in buildings by 50%. Other cities like Victoria, Burnaby, New West, and North Vancouver have already implemented zero carbon building codes that do not allow natural gas to be used for home and water heating.  

• Currently, the city is not on track to reach its carbon pollution reduction targets. Carbon pollution has been reduced by 17% since 2007, with a goal to reduce it by 50% by 2030. 

Council’s decision will make that goal harder to hit, as it takes a regulatory step backwards from reducing carbon pollution, and “could create confusion… and upheaval” for developers, according to staff. 

• Mayor Ken Sim, who was absent for the meeting, called in over Zoom to speak and cast the deciding vote in favour of the amendment. 

Dive deeper: Green Party Coun. Pete Fry and Adriane Carr both expressed concern about “misinformation” in the framing of the amendment, specifically Coun. Montague’s dubious assertions about the city needing to import energy, and that allowing natural gas for home and water heating would increase affordability.  

• “There’s a lack of information here. It feels like a very back-of-the-napkin kind of calculation as far as this amendment goes. I’m a little astonished that we’re having this debate to be honest, that this is coming forward given the years of work and staff resources that have gone into developing our electrification and decarbonization plans… this is almost a hear-say kind of approach and really goes in the wrong direction,” Fry said.  

You can hear about Montague and Fry’s arguments in this CBC interview.

A telling moment in the debate about the affordability piece was Sim asking for staff’s “gut feeling” on relative costs, among other lines of argument made by the Mayor. Staff repeatedly told him that allowing natural gas for heating and water would not reduce the overall costs of home ownership.

• ABC Coun. Lisa Dominato and Peter Meiszner broke with their ABC colleagues to vote against the change. 

Capital plan: Councillors unanimously passed the mid-term budget update, which focused on delivering existing initiatives. That includes renewing street infrastructure, with over $100 million shifted to renewals and upgrades for things like high-volume sidewalks, public plazas, and problem intersections.  

• Quick fact: Council increased the budget for the 2023-2026 Capital Plan by nearly $140 million, which comes largely from partnership and reserve funding (rather than additional taxes or utility fees). 

Regarding the budget, city staff will be reporting back on alternative uses for a $16 million line item, which was allocated to expand the roadway on Beach Avenue between Denman and Stanley Park, but which was not approved by the park board. 

• “This is a very unusual circumstance that we’re facing… with a disagreement between the two elected bodies over what to actually build, and a very complicated set of funding sources, with restrictions,” City Manager Paul Mochrie explained.  

Multiple speakers at the public hearing highlighted the “desperate need” for accessibility upgrades at the Firehall Arts Centre. However, ABC Coun. Sarah Kirby-Yung and Mike Klassen were steadfast in the decision to push upgrades to the city-owned facility to the 2027-2030 capital plan, despite pushback from non-ABC councillors. 

Other items: Council unanimously approved the city’s first Seniors’ Housing Strategy, in a regulatory and advocacy effort to ensure seniors get the “housing and supports needed to allow for aging in appropriate and affordable housing in their community,” according to a city report. 

• Quick fact: Older adults (55+) are the fastest-growing age demographic in Vancouver. 

However, at the same meeting, council also unanimously approved a separate rezoning that could displace tenants — many of whom are seniors — according to the Vancouver Sun.  

City council unanimously passed the bus lane motion, the details of which we covered on Wednesday. 

Quick fact: Vancouver has the third-highest bus ridership of all cities in Canada and the U.S.

THE AGENDA

🏗️The province has announced details for the new eight-lane Fraser River Tunnel that will replace the George Massey Tunnel by 2030, with major construction beginning in 2026. Importantly, the design includes three general purpose lanes and a dedicated public transit lane in each direction, plus a separated multi-use path for walking and rolling. Pedestrians and cyclists cannot use the existing tunnel. [BC Gov News]

⛽ In a regional story that relates to a city council decision we covered earlier in today’s newsletter, Washington State’s biggest natural gas provider is encouraging its customers to electrify their homes. It goes to show that Vancouver’s recent decision goes against energy trends in the Pacific Northwest [The Tyee] 

😕 Twenty-one tenants in transitional housing at the Easter Seals House near the cross street of Oak and King Edward will be evicted next week. Coast Mental Health’s lease on the space is about to expire, which was communicated to tenants early this year. Still, some residents are left in an uncertain position about where they’ll live next. [CBC] 

🔮 Another day, another election promise. The latest – BC United Leader Kevin Falcon is promising he’d expand the SkyTrain to the North Shore and build a new 10-lane bridge at Second Narrows. Reminds me of Doug McCallum’s promise to build a 60,000 seat stadium in Surrey during his failed 2022 Surrey mayoral campaign (both would require funding that just doesn’t exist!). [City News, CTV]

🏘️ Tenants at a Grandview-Woodland apartment building have secured a rare victory for renters in their fight to stay in their homes. The owner wanted to convert the rental units into condos, but has dropped those plans after tenants were able to mount a successful challenge with help from the Vancouver Tenants Union. The situation was heralded by some as a unique case with implications for similar multiplex buildings in the city. [VTU, Vancouver Sun]

WEEKEND GUIDE

Vancouver Art Book Fair | July 26-27, various times | Roundhouse Community Centre | Over 100 printmaking artists will be showcasing their work at this event, which also features several programs and performances | Free entry

Vancouver’s Awesome Alleys Engagement Event | The alley between Dunsmuir & Pender | July 27, 1 PM - 3 PM | Help us transform Vancouver’s alleys into awesome places for people! | Learn more [Sponsored]

Celebration of Light | July 27, 9 p.m. | English Bay | The annual fireworks bonanza wraps up this Saturday with a display from the U.K. | Free

Posh Ball | July 27, 5 p.m. | Sheraton Wall Centre | Van Vogue Jam is serving a major ballroom event next weekend with special performances and big prizes for contestants | Tickets $38 + more info

CREATE! Eastside Arts Festival | July 27 | Strathcona Park | All-day outdoor festivities will include public art, a beer garden, live music, and ticketed workshops | Workshops $40

Chillin’ in the Park Festival | July 27, 1 p.m. | Dude Chilling (Guelph) Park | This fun, family-friendly festival will have beer, food, and live music on tap | Free

Queers and Beers Pride Party | July 27, 3 p.m. | The Birdhouse | Celebrate Pride with some drinks and good company at one of city’s go-to queer dance and performance spaces | Tickets $14

The Farewell Daytime Session | July 28, 5 p.m. | 390 Industrial Ave | A goodbye party for promoter Pacific Rhythm’s time at a beloved venue. Come for the music, stay for the tacos and wine | Tickets $44

East Van Workers Assembly | July 28, 11 a.m. | Strathcona Community Centre | Providing a democratic space for workers to build a popular workers movement that fights for working class interests | Free

Billy Idol | July 30, 8 p.m. | Rogers Arena | Catch the first stop of the sexagenarian rocker’s Rebel Yell 2024 tour | Tickets $79

PHOTO OF THE DAY

An old RCMP building partially removed from the Heather Lands development site on 37th Avenue. 

COMMUNITY HIGHLIGHTS

• October may feel like a long way off, but that won’t stop analysis about major difference makers for the Canucks next season. [VIA]

• This new cocktail lounge takes you back in time to Hong Kong in the 70s. [Vancity Lookout]

• If you’ve ever cringed thinking about cycling in the suburbs then Uytae Lee’s recent video is worth your time today. [About Here]

• Annoyed by bad beach behaviour? Your personal pet peeve may (or may not) have made this list. [Georgia Straight]

• This first-time restaurant venture in Cambie Village didn’t even last a year. Consider it a warning for any of you aspiring restaurateurs. [VIA]

• A famous Lord Byng Secondary acting alumni will be in town in early August to celebrate the one year anniversary of Please! Beverage Co. [Georgia Straight] 

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GAME TIME

Today’s Wordle is one of the top activities to do in the city this weekend, with it being offered at a variety of different spots. Can you work out what it is?