A commanding presence in downtown Vancouver (in the fullness of time), Patina will rise 42 floors from the preserved facade of the 60-year-old YMCA building. Story, K2

Urban Solutions lecturefeatures top city planner

The new Urban Solutions Institute’sinaugural public event is a lecture byLarry Beasley, the former city plannerwho put “the Vancouver model” in frontof urban planners around the world.“An Evening with Larry Beasley’’ willoccur Sunday at the Vancouver EastCultural Centre, Venables and VictoriaDrive. Start time is 5 p.m. Admission isby donation.The Urban Solutions Institute is a non-profit organization with directors fromthe development, architectural and cul-tural sectors. Jim Green, the long-timecivic politician and Downtown Eastsidechampion, is project director.

Greenhouse gas campaignhindered by development

The pursuit by civic leaders and devel-opers and builders of densification inLos Angeles may be on a collisioncourse with California's crusade toreduce greenhouse gas emissions. And according to urban geography pro-fessor Ali Modarres, the potential trou-ble comes from an unlikely source –buildings.In a commentary published in the LosAngeles Times, Modarres says oneeffect of high-density development thatcan potentially increase energy con-sumption is something called the“urban heat island.” For more information on the phenome-non — created because constructionmaterials retain heat and cool slowly,raising the ambient air temperature —visit latimes.com on the Internet.

Complicated appliancespuzzle cooks

Another Los Angeles Times item with alocal resonance is a report on kitchenappliances, big and small, that defyhome chefs to use them.Appliances are smarter and super-charged. One drawer refrigerator con-verts to a freezer and back to a refrig-erator again — if you know how to pro-gram it — and some ovens can be con-trolled via voice command or remotecontrol. The funny thing is, industry expertssay, many of the ranges that run in thethousands of dollars won't be put tothe test too often.“People spending a lot on an appli-ance want as many buttons as possi-ble to justify the cost,” says Mark Con-nelly, senior director of appliances andhome improvement for ConsumerReports. “But most of the time they'reusing the same selection as on theirold appliance.”

Walking tour of city’smodernist buildings

The Vancouver Heritage Foundation hasscheduled a downtown walking tour forthe last Saturday of this month, thepoints of interest on this particular tourare Vancouver’s modernist buildings.Visit vancouverheritagefoundation.orgon the Internet or telephone 604-264-9642 for tickets and map guide ($12 +GST).

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Now Previewing.Register today.

Turn to page L3.

DiscoverPatina.com

HOMESWESTCOAST S E C T I O N

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LIVING GREEN, WARMLY I K19 MARTHA AT MACY’S I L12EDITOR MICHAEL SASGES 604-605-2467 • SATURDAY, SEP TEMBER 1 5, 2007 • E-mai l homes@png .canwest .com

COVERED UP, AND OUTSIDE, IN NEW WESTMINSTER | L1FIRED UP IN CALIFORNIA | K12

HOMETHOUGHTS

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D Concertdevelopmentcompany brings to its Patina tower downtown a promise, forcity andresidents, of a virtuosoperformance

PatinaProject location: Barclay at Burrard,

downtown VancouverProject size: 256 apartments, 42-

storey buildingResidence size: 550 sq. ft. —

3,200 sq. ft.Prices: $375,000 — $6 million +Sales centre: Burrard and Alberni,

above the Tiffany's storeHours: 11 a.m. — 6 p.m., Sat —

ThuTelephone: 604-675-9600Web: discoverpatina.com

Developer: ConcertArchitecture: Endall Elliot Associ-

ates, StantecInteriors: Scott Trepp Interior DesignOccupancy: Early 2011

BY MICHAEL SASGESWESTCOAST HOMES EDITOR

Atower of glass rising 42floors above a down-town thoroughfare andfrom a base of preserved

mid-century masonry, the Patinanew-home project is certain toascend to landmark status.

Registration, by the Patinasales staff, of more than 6,000expressions of interest in lessthan 300 new homes proclaimsanother certainty: Well located,well thought-out new homesfrom a developer with a knownhistory generate robust respons-es, in the aggregate.

Concert Properties, which

started in 1989, is funded byunionized workers' pensionmoney and is active in threeprovinces.

It has commissioned the con-struction of more than 5,300 res-idences in 18 years, and thisrecord has generated more than110 awards in industry competi-tions, national and provincial.

The Patina tower is the tallestbuilding Concert has ever com-missioned.

It is also the location of themost expensive homes Concerthas ever brought to market. Theasking price of more than $6 mil-lion for the penthouses is morethan double the achieved priceson penthouses in a Concert’s pre-vious project in West Vancouver.

That superlative detracts, ofcourse, from the reality. Thereare another 250 or so apartmentsbelow the penthouses and they

WESTCOAST HOMESK2 THE VANCOUVER SUN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

The principal living space at Patina will have acontemporary open feel and acknowledge one ofthe chief environmental considerations the

interior designer took to assignment: “Views,views and views.” Kitchens, right, will be atonce efficient and welcoming.

NEW HOMES

PROJECTPROFILE

Glass tower to rise fromprime Vancouver location New Patina homes will be situated on one of the divides between

the city’s downtown residential and commercial districts

See HOMES WILL K6

are well priced because they are bothcompetitively and differently priced.

The asking price on the least expen-sive Patina apartment is a competitive$700 per square foot or thereabouts,company vice-president Rod Wilburnreports. The asking price on the mostexpensive will certainly push or exceed$1,200.

As extremes, they impress absolutely.But as the starting and stopping pointsof a pricing scheme, they impress dou-bly: There are five "collections" ofhomes below the sub-penthouses andpenthouses and, therefore, commensu-rate pricing schedules. Homes may berepeated in collections, but will bepriced differently, according to eleva-tion, of course.

"We think there's [a] whole range ofpeople, of ages and types and demo-graphics, who will say, ‘this might justbe the last opportunity to buy a primelandmark downtown building,’ ’ ’Wilburn says.

The Patina homes will not only belocated in downtown Vancouver; just asimportantly, they will be located on oneof the borders between the commercialand residential downtowns, BurrardStreet.

The eventual Patina lobby will belocated on Barclay, between Burrard andThurlow.

To turn west on leaving the lobby andthe building will be to head towards thetraditional West End.

The pioneering neighbourhood ofdensification in the downtown penin-sula, the West End is also one of Van-couver's oldest neighbourhoods. Itsstreets are — accordingly and gor-geously — tree-lined and garden-bor-dered.

The neighbourhood’s traffic has beencalmed over the years.

Nelson Park, currently undergoingreconstruction, is a block away fromPatina, as is the annex to an elementaryschool — Lord Roberts – which openedits doors in 1901.

The preserved Victorian and Edwar-dian residences of Mole Hill are acrossthe street from, and to the south of, thepark.

To turn east on leaving the Patina lob-by will be to head downtown andtoward all its attractions — or ‘‘sparkle,’’as the sales literature reports.

‘‘ . . . the location gives you the best of

WESTCOAST HOMESK6 THE VANCOUVER SUN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

1 bdrm + den from $389,900

2 bdrm from $448,900

3 bdrm from $479,900

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Pool and wellness facility to be built in future phase.

Life at Miramar Village means life without compromise. It means

relaxing in the roof-top pool at sunset. Merchants and cafés just

outside your door. A residence of unequalled refinement and

exclusivity. It means living like you’re on vacation. Everyday.

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O T H E R S L I V E T H E M E V E R Y D AY.

See more. Do more. Dwell within reach.

Patina dens and offices will beaccessed through sliding glassdoors supplied by a Germancompany.

Homes willbe priced

according toelevation

From K2

See UNITS TO K8

The Patina new-home project is thecreation of a partnership betweenthe Concert development companyand the downtown YMCA (right, asconstruction was ending inNovember, 1940).In return for the development rightsto the property, Concert will build anew YMCA facility on the site. Concert expects the replacementfacility, a six-storey glazed atrium, willbe ready in late 2009.Concert has incorporated some ofthe brick cladding from the originalBurrard Street facility into the Patinadesign.‘‘The downtown YMCA building, con-

structed in 1940 by the prominentlocal firm of McCarter and Nairne, isa ‘B’ category building on the Van-couver Heritage Register,’’ city staffsaid to city council in a report thatendorsed the rezoning of the proper-ty for residential development.‘‘The building’s historic value comesfrom the ‘late moderne’ style of thefacade.‘‘It is also a good example of theurban context at that time, beinghighly visible in a prominent heritageprecinct comprised of the St.Andrew’s - Wesley United Church, theDal Grauer substation, The Electra,the former BC Hydro Building, andFirst Baptist Church . . . .’’

New YMCA facility part of Patina project

PatinadetailsNot all the Patinamaster bathroomswill separate tub andshower, but the planto which the showhome was built will.

Tile floorsto be heated

The square showerhead will be standardin both master andsecond bathrooms.Floors of porcelain tilewill be heated, againin both bathrooms.Marble will top thecounters. Sinks willbe undermounted andfilled from a single-lever faucet of pol-ished chrome.Towel bars and thetoilet-paper holder,too, fill be finished inpolished chrome.Toilets will be dualflush.Cabinetry will befaced in one of threefinishes, as in thePatina kitchens.

WESTCOAST HOMESK8 THE VANCOUVER SUN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

both worlds,’’ Wilburn comments.Indeed, Patina will face its ‘‘worlds’’

with two styles of window arrange-ments.

The glazing of the south and eastelevations of the tower will be ‘‘com-mercial,’’ while the glazing above thenorth and west elevations will be"residential."

The former will acknowledge thecommercial, or working-day, prox-imities of downtown Vancouver; thelatter, the residential proximities ofthe West End.

Behind all that glass, of course, willbe the product that has interested somany.

Two histories will announce them-selves in the Patina apartments, Con-cert's, and Europe's earlier start onsmall-home residency. Tile from Italywill be underfoot, for example, in allentries and principal living spaces.

A German company will supply thesliding glass doors through whichdens and offices will be accessed.Other German companies will sup-ply most of the kitchen appliances.

More germanely, maximization ofarchitectural features and minimiza-tion of their interruptions will be evi-

dent in all the apartments. Doors, for example, will be over-

height, at seven feet. The Liebherrrefrigerator will be hidden behind apanel of veneer that will match theveneers Patina buyers select for theircabinetry.

Concert has a way of doing apart-ments that ensures occupants andvisitors know they're in a home andnot a home away from home, vice-president Wilburn says. "Whenyou're in our suites, when you're inour buildings, you won't feel as if youwere in a commercial hotel."

Flat-finished ceilings, rather thantextured ceilings, are one example. Itmay seem a small difference, but anyhomeowner who has asked a dry-waller to tape and mud a ceiling byhand, rather than spray it, will knowit isn't.

Patina’s interior designer, ScottTrepp, reports that two environmen-ta l considerat ions guided hisapproach to the assignment – ‘‘views,views and views’’ and ‘‘the flexibilityof the floor plans.’’

‘‘One of many benefits of Patinaresidency will be the flexibility of thefloor plans,’’ he told The VancouverSun.

Units to reflect working,living proximities

From K6

See FLOOR PLANS K10

Peeking insidePatinaThe households that willreside in the two Patinaplans shown here will beparty-wall neighbours on22 floors, from the 15thto the 36th.Both apartments aresouth-elevation apart-ments, and have a glass-tower location that makesair conditioning an impera-tive. Patina's developer,Concert Properties, willinstall air conditioning inevery Patina home.Households that willreside in the apartmenton the left will reside intwo-bed, two-bath homesof almost 1,300 squarefeet, with den and office. The show home in thePatina sales centre wasbuilt to this plan.Households that willreside in the apartmenton the right will reside in atwo-bed, two-bath apart-ment of almost 1,060square feet.

WESTCOAST HOMESK10 THE VANCOUVER SUN, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 2007

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‘ ‘They will allow forvery open spaces and, insome of the plans, providefor more intimate alcovesthrough the use of theRaumplus sliding-interiorpartitions from Germany.’’

The prospects beyondthe exterior walls of glass‘‘are another visual ele-ment to be emphasized.

‘‘The views, this back-drop, definitely set a toneand cannot be ignored. Infact, the choice of open-weave rollerblinds allowsvisual access to the land-scape day and night. Fur-ther, varying levels ofsheen have been incorpo-rated to reflect, and playon, the twinkle of the citylights.”

In commenting aboutthe furnishing and acces-sorizing that occupants ofthe Patina homes will

eventual undertake, hesaid: “The furnishing of ahome of any kind is adirect response to thelocation, the bones of thespace and the household’sneeds and desires.

‘‘As such, there isn't oneanswer for every personor one answer for oneperson.”

The Patina open plansmean each piece of furni-ture will be ‘‘part of theoverall composition andcan therefore work withother pieces as easily asstand on its own.

‘‘This also enhances theflexibility of the spacesand how they are used.

‘‘After all, one of thedraws to l iving in theheart of the city is theflexibility that it offers theowner. The home, there-fore, is a reflection of thisflexibility.”

homes@png.canwest.com

Floor plans will beopen, alcoves intimate

From K8