Curbed Cup continues with False Creek and Yaletown going head to head to determine which neighbourhood had the better year. Voting ends exactly 24 hours after it begins. Let the eliminations commence.
First up: False Creek, more specifically southeast False Creek, is one of the newest neighbourhoods created that continues its development domination, long after the Olympic Village nightmare has ended. Though the Olympic Village, or what it is now being referred to as The Village on False Creek, is still not without its problems, we hear Village life is pretty sweet these days. What's not to love about a waterfront community nestled away from the buzzing traffic in a cute little community filled with all the amenities anyone could ever need? Trendy bars, gourmet grocery and liquor shops, a pet store, numerous coffee shops, a community centre with daycare, all within steps of Mario's Gelati, mmm. What was once a dead zone of vacant apartments and commercial units plastered with 'for lease' signs has now transformed into a thriving community worthy of a reintroduction, even if the public art is a little wacky.
Developers aren't done with the area yet - Concert Properties hopes to build five residential towers ranging in height totalling nearly 700,000 square feet in new product. The city's growth strategy of the SE False Creek area will soon be met with over 15,000 residents setting up home base. Across the water, Concord released plans to build eight new towers which would ultimately create a new neighbourhood appropriately named "False Creek Central."
Ahh, Yaletown. It's true that the downtown neighbourhood is really not everyone's cup of tea. It is a neighbourhood that has a two block stretch of cool warehouse conversion buildings that rent for ridiculous amounts of money juxtaposed with a cluster of new high rise residential towers that often feel like they were constructed using cardboard paper and a hot glue gun. (Let's not forget Yaletown's worst decorated apartment.) Still, for some reason, the area is very popular for the single and ready to mingle crowd, in addition to a few families who can afford a hard to come by townhouse located beside Emery Barnes or David Lam Park.
With a few noteworthy restaurants that opened this year, like the Homer Street Cafe and artisan pizza joint The Parlour, Yaletown isn't all bad, in fact there are pockets of Yaletown that are really quite great. Raw Canvas, a venue that mixes live art, food and cocktails, can still shock even the most cynical Yaletowner into thinking there really is life beyond the Donnelly's and Cactus' that plague the neighbourhood streets. Yaletown is also known for its boutique shopping experience with quirky one-of-a-kind finds and high-end designer clothing.
Loading comments...