Developer scraps condo plans, proposes 29-storey hotel tower next to Stanley Park

(Marcon / Henriquez Partners Architects)

A 29-storey hotel tower with a rooftop pool is being pitched for the site of an existing lowrise extended-stay hotel on the edge of Stanley Park in Vancouver's West End.

Submitted by Henriquez Partners Architects on behalf of developer Marcon, the proposal calls for 65 short-term stay rooms and 227 "serviced apartment rooms" at the current site of Rosellen Suites at Stanley Park, 2030-2038 Barclay St.

According to the City of Vancouver's Shape Your City website, the rezoning application for the project was received on July 31. The application booklet was made public Monday.

"This application is not consistent with council-adopted policies," the Shape Your City page reads.

"The city is required to process all rezoning applications submitted and staff position on the proposal will be summarized in the referral report later in the application process timeline."

While the developer's application acknowledges that the proposal doesn't necessarily align with the area's existing zoning or the West End Plan, it also notes that the West End Plan predates the city's Interim Hotel Development Policy, which aims to address a shortage of hotel rooms in the city.

The proposal to replace an existing hotel building "supports the city’s goal of creating more hotel rooms without the loss of housing," the application booklet notes.

If approved and built, the new tower would be 100.3 metres (329 feet) tall, with "additional height for rooftop amenity space," according to the city.

That's taller than any of the other highrises in the area, though there are several that predate – and exceed – the height limits in the West End's RM-5B zoning district.

The developer argues that the proposed hotel's location and height fill a gap in the area's existing skyline.

"To strengthen the urban frame and reinforce the dome-shaped skyline, the tower needs to be higher than the maximum building height, without encroaching into the view cone," the application booklet reads.

The hotel proposal replaces a development permit application that Marcon and its architect submitted in 2018 and received approval for in 2022.

That proposal would have replaced the Rosellen Suites with "a 10-storey market residential tower" featuring "19 suites catering to families."

The public is invited to comment on the proposed redevelopment via its page on the Shape Your City website.