Lansdowne Road to get 'dynamic' facelift

The future Lansdowne Road will feature a 10-metre wide linear park that leads to the Richmond Olympic Oval.

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Richmond City Hall is spending up to $135,000 to hire a consultant to transform Lansdowne Road into a "dynamic civic corridor and urban promenade."

Dubbed the Lansdowne Road West Transformation Project, the city is accepting proposals for the design work until Aug. 17.

With redevelopment happening at a rapid pace in City Centre, planners want to move fast on designing the future of Lansdowne, west of No. 3 Road.

The city is already fielding a proposal to redevelop the former Grimm's Fine Foods warehouse at Lansdowne Road and Alderbridge Way, and other light industrial and commercial buildings are soon likely to fall in favour of residential high-rises, which are now permitted under the revamped area plan.

"The transformation of the street will occur incrementally, with land acquisition and construction taking place in concert with adjacent development sites and city-initiated transportation and infrastructure improvement projects," according to the request for proposal document.

The project involves 800 metres of road, between No. 3 and River roads—connecting the Richmond Olympic Oval with the middle of City Centre. Planners envision a street accommodating pedestrians, cyclists, public transit and vehicles.

Public art and places for social gatherings are key to the redesign—as is park space. A 10-metre wide linear park is envisioned along the road's north side, leading to a four-hectare (10-acre) urban park near the oval.

The project focuses on Lansdowne Road west of No. 3 Road, but the long-term vision is for the design to extend along the road's entire 1.7-kilometre length, linking the Middle Arm to the Garden City lands.

The Richmond Olympic Oval, Lansdowne Station and Kwantlen Polytechnic University would all be nodes along the route—along with a possible new location for Richmond Public Library's main branch, according to the proposal document.