Three proposed skyscrapers would break Vancouver record heights

The Vancouver skyline could undergo a major transformation if a proposed mega project is approved.

An enormous development proposal involving plans to build three of the tallest towers in British Columbia has been presented to the City of Vancouver by the Holborn Group.

The project includes a 315-metre (1,033-foot) hotel with 920 rooms, a three-level ballroom and conference space.

The architect told CTV News he drew inspiration for the design from rare glass sea sponges found off the coast of the province.

“It is a structural metaphor for the way in which a tower is built with an exoskeleton,” said Gregory Henriquez of Henriquez Partners Architects.

Three of the buildings, one potentially reaching heights of 80 storeys, would be built on the 500 block of West Georgia Street.

They include nearly 1,300 condominiums and almost 300 rental homes, in addition to the hotel rooms.

A fourth tower is proposed for a site a few blocks away on Abbott Street.

“This is (a) 100-per-cent-social-housing gift to this city, with 378 units,” said Henriquez.

The Holborn Group has seen its share of controversy, most recently with Dusmuir House.

The heritage building sat vacant for years after Holborn’s lease agreement with BC Housing came to an end.

It was in such bad shape, it was deemed uninhabitable and was demolished.

• Read more: City staff recommend demolition for derelict vacant building in downtown Vancouver

“It came as a big surprise to us when the city condemned it and asked our client to demolish it,” said Henriquez.

One of the original concepts for the three-tower proposal on Georgia Street involved keeping Dunsmuir House, and that design model still exists in the firm’s Vancouver office.

Holborn is also the developer behind the long-delayed Little Mountain project, which remains mostly unbuilt more than 15 years after 224 dilapidated social housing units on the site were demolished to make way for new market and non-market housing.

• Read more: Vancouver developer apologizes for housing scandal at Little Mountain

The ambitious project is far from a done deal. It still needs approval from the city, but the developer hopes it has ticked all the boxes.

That includes a so-called “forest in the sky,” which is a panoramic multi-level public space atop the hotel, which the developer promised would be free to Vancouver residents.