Hacked plans for Concord Pacific’s vision for the former Molson Coors brewery site it bought for $165 million four years ago show the developer hopes to persuade the City of Vancouver to rezone the industrial property into a high-tech campus with 3,000 homes.
“The brochure PDF on the gated development site was breached,” a Concord Pacific spokesman told Western Investor on December 30.
The early draft of Concord’s brochure for what it is calling Quantum Park shows an ambitious redevelopment of the lands next to the southeast end of the Burrard Street bridge. The site covers on two lots at 1550 Burrard St. and 1655 West 1st Avenue. It is currently dominated by massive concrete brew tanks left behind by Molson Coors when it relocated the brewery to Chilliwack.
The “preliminary” renderings and a marketing video reveal Concord Pacific’s concepts for a 1.8 million-square-foot high-tech enclave that includes 300,000 square feet of office space, 3,000 homes, primarily in a series of towers of up to 25 storeys, plus a retail component.
The plan would require rezoning of the 7.3-acre site from its current heavy-industrial use, and Concord was quick to explain that negotiations with the city continue.
“It was premature that some early stage planning and development information has gone out to the public. There are many concepts for this site. We want to respect the process and have been and will be working with the City’s Planning department and our neighbours the Squamish Nation,” according to an emailed statement from the company.
“Quantum Park will be a centre for local and global technology companies to thrive, collaborate and innovate,” according to Concord Pacific’s marketing brochure.
“It is evident that industrial uses no longer make sense for the neighbourhood,” the company spokesman explained.
According to Concord, the name for the project derives from the study of quantum mechanics.
“We want the project to be a tribute to theoretical physics and all the scientists who have, and are, advancing the field. Part of our future vision is to encourage Vancouver to be a hub for leading physicists to meet and exchange ideas. We are also exploring a wide variety of science and technology uses in our planning concepts for this new community.”
Since it bought the site in March of 2016, Concord has made no secret of its plans to have the site transformed from industrial use.
In a statement immediately following the sale, Peter Webb, senior vice-president development of Concord Pacific, told reporters, “The vision is to include a mixed-use residential neighborhood with a knowledge-based work centre, to attract both local and international tech firms. The re-imagined Molson lands will become a vibrant addition to Vancouver.”
