🚨 Beedie’s Zombie Tower is Back: Bigger, Denser, More Gentrifying 🚨

We've stopped 105 Keefer before. Let's stop it again this October.

You heard it right. Beedie’s 105 Keefer, now rebranded 570 Columbia, is back with a new design that’s BIGGER, DENSER, and MORE GENTRIFYING than ever.

Why this project is harmful:

• Adds market condos that do not serve the lowest-income residents in Vancouver.

• Economically displaces vulnerable residents, particularly seniors and low-income people, along with the culturally-appropriate businesses they rely on.

• Erodes Chinatown’s culture and heritage, overshadowing the Chinatown Memorial Plaza and nearby cultural assets.

After a decade of resistance, another round of Development Permit hearings gives us a chance to stop this zombie project. For a full timeline of the project, see here.

Designed by architect James Cheng (who once called Chinatown a “curio” and said it needed more “normal seniors” instead of “dependents”), the latest proposal would:

• Increased condo units from 111 to 133, which is a 20% jump in gentrifier condos.

• Boosted density from 6.50 FSR (Floor Space Ratio) to 7.04 FSR, which is an 8% increase in bulk.

• Encroach on public realm with more height, less daylight, and more massing.

The City calls these “design updates”:

But this is what the building proposed in 2017, and approved in 2023, with 111 units and 6.5 FSR, looked like.

It passed with conditions, because Beedie sued the City of Vancouver, and the BC Supreme Court ordered the City to reassess the 2017 project under the more lenient 2017 design and zoning policies, which had no density limits.

This is what the new the bulkier 133 units and 7.04 FSR building looks like:

Adding 22 units and increasing density is far from just a design change. It fundamentally alters the project and its physical and social impacts to the surrounding community.

With such significant changes to the project proposal, the City should require Beedie to submit a new Development Permit application, and go through the entire process again, rather than continuing under the previous approval allowing them to skip due diligence.

And because the Chinatown zoning and design policies changed in 2018 with new density limits, a project of this scale and density would not be allowed right now.

Beedie’s big sell this time is a “courtyard open to the public” during the day.

But who are they kidding? The Sun Yat Sen courtyard and the Sun Yat Sen Public Park have been permanently gated for years, so a gentrifier condo claiming a to offer space to the public is laughable.

So what can we do? We keep fighting. Every day this project isn’t built is another day to get it cancelled.

Key actions and dates:

• Now: Get up to speed with all the project documents here, here (large file), and here. See the full timeline of the project here.

• Now to Sept 29: Flood the City with letters against the project - Submit here

• Oct 20 at 3PM: Pack City Hall and speak at the Development Permit Board hearing

We’ve resisted for 10 years. Let’s fight until this project is cancelled for good, so future generations know we didn’t let Chinatown be erased without a fight.

奮鬥到底!

Also, we started a new Instagram account, @savechinatownyvr, follow us here!