Gastown renaissance sparked by pilot project
The Vancouver Sun
Wyng Chow
December 16, 2000

The landmark Old Spaghetti Factory building at 55 Water is being renovated to house commercial "live-work" premises, offering business professionals functioning office space by day and apartment dwelling by night.

The $9-million development by building owner, Reliance Holdings Ltd., is part of Gastown's revitalization that will eventually see the city's historic area transformed into something resembling London's famous Soho district.

Under a pilot project approved earlier by Vancouver city council, the vacant five floors above the Old Spaghetti Factory restaurant are being converted into 87,500 square feet, or 65 units, of commercial rental live-work space.

"The project was something the city was happy to support," said Jon Stovell, general manager of Reliance, a Vancouver-based company privately held by the Leshgold family.

"It has minimal impact on the existing heritage building, while still making the site economically viable."

Council approved the project after city planners decided to look for incentives to offer Gastown property owners -- such as tax deferrals, fee waivers and fast-tracking -- to help them preserve heritage, but also to stay in business and bring new life into the moribund area.

"In recent years, Gastown buildings have been allowed to lapse into disrepair and become vacant because they're not economically viable to redevelop," said Stovell, who is also president of the Gastown Business Improvement Society.

"There is currently in excess of one million square feet of empty space in Gastown."

The city has hired former planning director Ray Spaxman and other consultants to recommend ways in which Gastown property owners can be encouraged to revive the area, Stovell said.

"It's an exciting area in which to live," he said, "but one of Gastown's challenges is to find how it fits into contemporary culture, given that it's an historic area that requires revitalization."

In conjunction with the commercial live-work units, the first phase of Reliance's redevelopment will include construction of a four-storey glass atrium on an adjacent vacant lot west of the Old Spaghetti Factory, as well as renovating part of the ground floor to create a total of 24,000 square feet of retail space.

Phase 2 later will involve development of a nine-storey, 58-unit strata-titled condominium project to the east of the landmark building.

Reliance's agreement with city hall will also see the company get a large chunk of imaginary floor space -- called a "density transfer" in planning language -- that it can offer to the developer of another site in the downtown peninsula.

Profits the company will make from selling that 60,000 square feet of density would help make Reliance's project economically workable.

Stovell said council approved the density transfer in exchange for the company's agreement not to follow through with an earlier development permit allowing it to build three extra floors on top of the six-storey Old Spaghetti Factory building, as well as scaling down the condo project by two storeys.

Reliance's 65 live-work units will range in size from 750 square feet to 2,000 square feet, and rent for $900 to about $1,800 a month.

The units, with nine-foot ceilings and wood floors, will include office space, bedrooms, kitchens and bathrooms, while the building will offer brick and timber finishings, fibre-optic connections, views, rooftop deck, exercise and meeting rooms, and secured parking.

Construction is scheduled to start in April and be completed about a year later. The Old Spaghetti Factory will remain open during the construction period, restaurant owner Peter Buckley said.

Stovell expects the live-work units will appeal particularly to young professionals already living and working downtown or in the West End, including lawyers, computer programmers, architects, graphic designers and people in the film industry.

"The advantage is they don't need to buy the unit," Stovell said. "If they expand their business later, they can move on. We haven't started marketing yet, but we're very confident there will be strong demand for our space. We get 10 e-mail a day from people looking for loft space. We've built a pretty good waiting list."

Among Reliance Holdings' previous projects, the company has redeveloped various buildings along the city's waterfront, as well as Yaletown and downtown, including the recent conversion of 580 Granville into 36,000 square feet of customized space for ActiveState, a Vancouver high-tech firm.