Vancouver City Council approves 60 storey tower

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) — Vancouver City Council approved a 60 storey tower on Nelson Street near Thurlow Tuesday that will feature over 100 social housing units and include another 50 spaces for rent.

City Councillor Pete Fry laid out the facts on a “social housing” unit for a project like this in downtown Vancouver.

“20 per cent of those would be targeting — for instance, singles making about $75,000 a year — so it’s not quite the lower end of the social housing that I’m looking to see more of in the city,” Fry says.

“I hope that we can do better on and direct our staff to do better with delivering some of that coordinate social housing for lower-income folks in our city.”

It’s expected that some materials used in construction will allow for a reduction in the building’s carbon footprint– something the city is excited about as it attempts to meet its climate goals.

“Massive house being this European kind of standard of zero-emission buildings that is what we as a city are aspiring to meet our climate goals,” he says.

“It really uses all these modern efficiencies to greatly reduce the carbon footprint as far as heating and cooling houses and of course, we know that that is one of the single biggest drivers of greenhouse gases in the city of Vancouver.”

Fry adds construction of the project would likely begin later this year.