Developers unveil revamped Mount Pleasant condo plan

The developers behind a controversial condo project planned for Vancouver's Mount Pleasant neighbourhood unveiled a new look for the site today.

Chris Vollan, vice president of development for the Rize project at Broadway and Kingsway, says five buildings planned for the site have each been modified to better fit the look and feel of Mount Pleasant.

"Each using character and materials that we found in Mount Pleasant, so using black brick and then coloured brick on another building and then the tower itself was inspired by a piece of art we found."

Vollan is adamant the complex, big enough for 500 residents, is now perfect for the neighbourhood.

"This wouldn't fit anywhere else in Vancouver — the colour, the randomness — this is a Mount Pleasant building."

The project’s main tower is still slated to stand 22 stories, but developers have decreased the height of three other buildings planned for the site.

The proposal has also taken out a second floor of retail space and put in more suites.

"The reality is we're a growing city and we have to accommodate that density somewhere and if not here, which is a major transit node, then where is one of the questions," Vollan said. "So, we think with our design revisions we'll make the community at-large very happy."

But Stephen Bohus with Residents Association Mount Pleasant doesn't think the new plan fits.

"This tower is exactly the same height, and they've made it taller by adding trees to the top of the building," he said.

"It's still a modern glass building, and if you look at their own critics from the development community, it's not getting good marks even on the pro-highrise skyscraper forum."

Local resident Louis Villegas agreed.

"We're very concerned that the wrong kind of growth is being rammed down our throats without adequate consultation from the neighbourhood," he said.

The revised project was display at an open house Wednesday night at St Patrick's Church.

 The City of Vancouver will decide whether to grant the project a development permit in September.