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The City of Vancouver's Pacific Street project and Gregory Henriquez, managing principal at Henriquez Partners, are working together on a current advisory services firm called Archaeology. This firm will provide services to the City, allowing them to act as developers independent from the planning department.

Gregory Henriquez heads up one of Vancouver’s best-known architecture firms, Henriquez Partners, and now he oversees Archaeology, which is the City of Vancouver’s first hired consultant for its new program to develop city-owned housing.

The City’s new Housing Development Office (VHDO) has a mandate to develop on City-owned land, launching with 40 and 54 storey towers and 1,136 units on a large downtown land assembly bordered by Burrard and Hornby and Pacific Street.

Overview of the Project

Henriquez started Archaeology about a year and a half ago, in response to demand by landowners who needed architectural guidance within the Broadway Plan, or on Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain, to develop rental housing, before committing to a developer.

The VHDO approached Archaeology about acting as a consultant to help set the parameters for the first roll out of City-owned land developments, including massing on the site, density and heights, unit mixes,



and the usual upfront work done prior to a developer submitting a rezoning application.

Responsibilities and Qualifications

According to Henriquez, the project will not be a one-size-fits-all approach. Some of the buildings will have more information than others, depending on the complexity of the project. The City owns hundreds of properties, and this is just the start.

Several of the city’s big architecture firms have already been named for the actual design work and applications for each site. Archaeology will directly work on one of the sites, said Henriquez, but he won’t play any role in the final decision on developer partners.

Benefits and Outcomes

The City’s announcement was followed by immediate backlash because the housing does not include below-market units and will target those earning $90,000 to $194,000 per year. However, Henriquez responded that the City has some land that is sitting vacant and not generating any revenue, and this project will generate revenue for the City to do other good deeds elsewhere.

The model is not new, and Henriquez cited the example of Singapore, where most housing is owned by the government. The City of Toronto has CreateTO, whose mandate is the development of city-owned land.

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