UBC Associate Professor, Dr. Henry Yu has submitted a statement to the City of Vancouver’s Development Permit Board in opposition to Beedie’s most recent application to develop 105 Keefer.

Dr. Yu makes a salient point about the opportunity cost of allowing Beedie’s 105 Keefer to go ahead:

“The building will become an obstacle for the strategic needs for Chinatown for decades and generations to come.”

In addition, Dr. Yu points out the unreasonable massing and FSR of Beedie’s design, which “neither fits the physical context in terms of design nor in program,” and highlights the negative impacts of the development on the Chinatown Memorial Square and Chinatown Memorial Monument at its centre, the important heritage buildings immediately to the North on Pender Street, and the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden.

In his letter, Dr. Yu cites the 2017 letter submitted to the city by Colonel Howe Lee, who has since passed away. Col. Lee’s letter is included below.