September 12, 2007

New Look for the YMCA

JEAN SORENSEN

Colleen Haugen, manager of sales and marketing for Concert Properties, shows off the new look for the YMCA and Patina tower, which have teamed as a joint project. The YMCA opens in 2009, while the tower will be completed in 2011.

New YMCA adjoins 42-storey Patina tower

JEAN SORENSEN

correspondent

VANCOUVER

The new YMCA downtown redevelopment and a 42-storey residential tower will share a common adjoining wall. This serves as a physical symbol of the joint venture between a private organization and developer, accruing benefits for both parties.

“Concert Properties will completely redevelop the 95,000 square foot YMCA,” says Colleen Haugen, manager of sales and marketing for Concert, which has entered into the agreement with the YMCA for the total project cost of $250 million. The tower, known as Patina, will consist of 256 new units and is scheduled for occupancy by 2011, while the new YMCA is slated to open in late 2009. Overall, the combined design of both facilities will have a boot-shape, with the YMCA as the foot and tower as the leg.

“This will be a spectacular recreation facility for the City of Vancouver and at no cost to the residents of the city,” Haugen says of the YMCA’s revamp. The project is now in the excavation stage, as the original structure has been removed. A 30-foot deep, brick, heritage front has been retained for restoration.

Haugen says the YMCA was opened in 1941 and has long struggled with how to generate the funds for a much-needed revitalization at its central downtown location. Concert acquired the property behind the YMCA (which faces onto Burrard Street) for residential development and proposed a joint-development venture. Although the project is proceeding as one, it is being built in two separate structures. The tower and the YMCA will share a common wall, but they will both have private entrances. The YMCA’s eighth floor will serve as a rooftop garden that will be used by the residents of the tower. Synergies are expected to be created by the tower residents and the YMCA facilities, although the Patina tower will have its own recreational facilities.

The new YMCA will feature a modern pool with a movable floor that adjusts to the user’s needs. It also will offer a 69-space child’s daycare centre located on the upper level along with a family development centre opening into a daycare play area and rooftop garden. There is a six-level atrium planned as well, which will increase natural lighting in the facility. Other features include: whirlpool, steam rooms, change rooms, gymnasium and aerobic studios, conditioning, weightlifting and fitness areas as well as classroom and offices. The accommodations for short stays that were found at the old YMCA will no longer be available.

The Patina tower units start at $375,000 and go up to $6 million for larger suites and penthouses. The Patina’s interior’s have been designed by Scott Trepp Interior Design. The building structure emphasizes sustainable design with heat pump air conditioning, heating and ventilation as well as double-glazed thermal windows. The units – larger than found in most downtown apartment buildings and the majority are two bedroom units – are expected to draw diverse clientele: professionals who want to be closer to work, corporations needing a suite nearby, and older individuals who are downsizing but want to be close to amenities in downtown.

The units feature items such as heated floors in the bathroom, soaker tubs, granite kitchen countertops, Raumplus aluminum frame and sliding track with glass doors to the den, wool carpets and large Italian cut porcelain tile in heavy traffic areas. The studio-den units begin at 550 square feet in size while larger units have a floor area ranging in size up to 1,800 square feet. The penthouse and sub-penthouse units are 2,650 to 3,200 square feet in size.

Architects that have designed both the YMCA and Patina, are Endall Elliot Associates (Vancouver) and Stantec.

Haugen says the cooperation between the YMCA and the developer is an example of how the two entities can work together to achieve their goals. “There are a lot of non-profit associations around who are looking at ways to develop but often don’t have the resources,” she says.

Contractors for the Patina are: general contractor Bosa Construction Inc., structural engineer Read Jones Christoffersen, electrical engineer Nemetz (S/A) & Associates, landscape architect Durante Kreuk Ltd., civil engineers Urban Systems, geotechnical engineers Geopacific Consultants Ltd., surveyors Matson Peck and Topliss, building envelope consultant Morrison Hershfield Ltd., code consultant B.R. Thorson Consulting Ltd., and graphic design and strategic marketing The Idea Partner Marketing Inc.

JEAN SORENSEN

The units in the Patina will have a European feel with tile floors, Miele kitchen appliances and heated Italian marble in the bathrooms.

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