Living Magazine Volume1 Issue6 January 1997 INTRODUCING MARINA CRESCENT!

Vancouver's newest waterfront neighbourhood transforms the heart of Concord Pacific Place

You're sipping an espresso and gazing across a tree-lined seawall walkway to where a cabin cruiser moves lazily seaward... and you think: this is the place for me. * Here, where Vancouver's finest waterfront setting is enhanced by a superb choice of oceanview residences... stylish new shops and restaurants... new walks and gardens... major new public art creations... new choices in active fun.

* Here, at Marina Crescent: the newest neighbourhood in Concord Pacific Place. * This is where charm, variety and convenience truly come together. Everything you need for carefree daily living is near at hand, right within your neighbourhood. It's the urban waterfront lifestyle you've dreamed about... and it's happening right here in the heart of Concord Pacific Place! Extending from Davie Street to the Cambie Bridge, Marina Crescent will create a magnificent new urban neighbourhood along a grand sweep of False Creek waterfront. Residential towers will be interspersed with gardens and greenery, lagoons and other water features, tree-lined walkways and public plazas. And the entire shorefront will be a place of leisure activities, dining, relaxation and scenic delight. Marina Crescent will be a neighbourhood which caters fully to the needs and interests of both residents and visitors to the area. Aquarius, the first phase, will feature a shopping district, including a major supermarket, restaurants, a bank, medical and dental offices, and many other services... and all of it only steps from your home. Your Marina Crescent home will offer a sense of privacy and charm... yet it's still within easy reach of the excitement and bustle of street-level activities. Residential towers will open onto a landscaped inner courtyard, where lawns and gardens surround a peaceful lagoon. Many will offer unobstructed water views... and all will include a fully integrated security system and other high tech features. For fitness and socializing, Aquarius residents will have access to a three-level amenity centre which will include a business centre with meeting rooms and an "in-home" theatre lounge, a swimming pool, whirlpool, saunas, steam room and exercise rooms plus a social lounge and sunning terrace. In addition to the shopping, dining and other amenities just outside your door, your Marina Crescent residence will be an easy walk from exciting Yaletown, with its international array ofrestaurants, boutiques and furniture galleries. And just across Davie Street is the Roundhouse, the soon-to-open community centre which will become the hub of local arts, cultural and recreational activities. On completion, the Marina Crescent and Roundhouse neighbourhoods will be seamlessly linked with one another... each enriching the other with community facilities, shops and other amenities.

The street life at Marina Crescent will have a pleasant European flavour, with an emphasis on people rather than automobiles. There'll be shaded walkways for strolling and viewing... shops for casual browsing... sidewalk cafes where you can pause and watch the passing parade. The retail centre along Davie Street will feature a major supermarket with plenty of appetizing choices for your nightly supper, from fresh produce to gourmet foods. But maybe you'll be in a mood for one of the local restaurants, where the enticing menu will be enhanced by a sparkling waterfront view. For more dining enjoyment, you might try a restaurant or bistro in nearby Yaletown... drop into a deli that's part of a delightful cluster of shops adjacent to the Roundhouse... or, during warmer weather, pick up a snack at a seaside kiosk on the seawall promenade. Convenient as well as pleasurable, Marina Crescent will meet many of your day-to-day lifestyle needs. A neighbourhood bank will add to the range of local service offices. Interspersed with retail shops, these services will be clustered mainly along Davie and Pacific Boulevard. From the Pacific Boulevard side of the neighbourhood, you can follow pleasant walkways past residential towers and townhomes to the curving sweep of Marinaside Crescent road, until you reach the waterfront promenade: a feature attraction of this unique urban neighbourhood.

The Marina Crescent waterfront promenade will lift your spirits with its welcoming, colourful "port-of-call" feeling. * At its upper level, along Marinaside Crescent road, you'll find restaurants offering outdoor seating where you can savour ever-changing views of the marina and False Creek waterway. There will be more seating across the street on the "middle promenade," with its beautiful planters and brick paving... and on the seawall walkway level. At many of these sites you can enjoy an order from one of the restaurants as you soak up the waterfront scene. * One side of the broad curving "lower promenade" is designed for pedestrian use, the other for cyclists and rollerbladers. You'll find it a special place for a scenic stroll... for a session of power walking, jogging or cycling... and for truly enjoying the relaxed waterfront lifestyle. In warm weather, there'll be kiosks offering cappucino bars, ice cream and other refreshments... plus a major public area where buskers, jugglers and other street entertainers will provide occasional daytime entertainment. * The seawall will be enriched by nautical design touches to complement the sight of boats bobbing at anchor... and along the way will be convenient stepped bench seating, where you can relax and enjoy the whole colourful show. * A short walk to the west will bring you to the open green spaces of David Lam Park. Or you can head east to delightful, new Coopers' Park, located on the former site of the historic Sweeney Cooperage. Its features will include a children's playground and basketball court, grassy fields running down to the water's edge... plus a charming waterfront gazebo, where you can pause before returning home. * Wherever you turn, you'll be refreshed by the sight and scent of the sea... a sea that will enrich every aspect of life in this special waterfront neighbourhood.

The Architectural Vision A distinctive waterfront community that's also the vital shopping and service centre of Concord Pacific Place: that's the promise of Marina Crescent neighbourhood
No matter where you live in Marina Crescent neighbourhood, you're never likely to forget the sea. "The entire plan follows a seaside crescent, with building placements and heights designed to allow water views from almost every part of this site," says architect James Cheng, whose firm is handling rezoning work for this neighbourhood, situated between Davie Street and the Cambie Street Bridge. "In some cases the buildings will form gateways to the water, encouraging people to enjoy the sights and activities along False Creek." The activities will be centered along the promenade which will extend in a broad decorative ribbon along the seaward side of Marina Crescent. "It will be a unique social and recreational walkway," Cheng observes. "For boaters accessing the marina... for people enjoying the restaurants and holiday ambience... for residents and for anyone who loves the sea."	James Cheng, international architectural competition winner, whose work includes some of the city's most spectacular downtown residences, the Bob Prittie Metrotown branch of the Burnaby Public Library, and the redevelopment of Vancouver's former downtown library.
The marine theme will be evident throughout the neighbourhood, with water features adjacent to all residential towers. Extensive tree plantings will add to the sense of natural beauty in the midst of downtown. Practical as well as beautiful, Marina Crescent will be the retail and commercial centre of Concord Pacific Place. "The retail and commercial component will serve an important unifying purpose within Marina Crescent," notes James Cheng. "These conveniences will include everything from a major supermarket to a bank and restaurants. They will link closely with other community resources -- the Roundhouse in particular -- and will serve the overall community." A central architectural feature of Marina Crescent's first phase, called Aquarius, will be a raised, landscaped inner courtyard, accessible from the residential towers. The street level, on three sides, will feature shops and storefronts. The fourth side will be Cambie Mews... providing scenic, easy access to the waterfront for residents and visitors alike. Offering fine waterfront views and opportunities for relaxed strolling, the tree-lined mews will be one of a number of pedestrian-oriented pathways linking Pacific Boulevard with Marinaside Crescent road and False Creek. "The landscaped upper level will be a richly scenic social area, featuring a lagoon surrounded by lawns and gardens," explains James Cheng. "The residential towers will literally rise out of the lagoon, in a way that's highly appropriate to this maritime setting."

Next Article... Creative Spaces...