User:Tylerhickey/King Edward Village

Location and Design

King Edward Village is a new business and residential development in the Kensington-Cedar Cottage community of Vancouver, BC, Canada. King Edward Village is located on a triangular lot in East Vancouver, which is bound by King Edward Avenue, Knight Street and Kingsway [1]. The development is divided into two phases which are divided by a central courtyard and a new street called Cedar Cottage Mews[2]. The southern building is characterized by a 12 storey tower adjoined to an eight storey building. The north building is characterized by a unique 17 storey triangular tower adjoined to a six storey building. Each building has a distinctive archway for access to the central courtyard. Design of the King Edward Village buildings was completed by the Rostich Hemphill & Associates architectural firm (*citation needed). King Edward village shares design elements with The Beresford [3] in Vancouver, another building designed by Rostich Hemphill & Associates. King Edward Village will house almost 400 residential units and will have street-level storefronts on three sides, including a TD Canada Trust bank branch. Additionally, a new Vancouver Public Library branch[4], VPL Kensington [5], will be located in the development.

King Edward Village model

King Edward Village model
King Edward Village construction (Jan 2007)
King Edward Village construction (June 2007)

Background

The vision and design of King Edward Village was largely fueled by the participation of local community members through the Vancouver Community Visions Program [6], and subsequently, the Kensington-Cedar Cottage CityPlan Committee [7]. Part of the site of King Edward Village previously belonged to a Safeway store which was vacated and sold in 1993. At that time, a 20-year restrictive covenant was included with the sale such that the land could not be used for a supermarket over 325m², nor a drugstore over 557m². It has been suggested at a Vancouver City Council meeting that this covenant will be lifted prior to the completion of the development, and that a new grocery store of 2508m² will be included in King Edward Village [[[8]]].

Completion of the south building is expected to be done by summer 2007, and the north building will be done in late 2007 or early 2008.