Captivating, mesmerizing, innovative … those words were whispered often during Wednesday, Oct. 27th special keynote presentation regarding the unfolding future of Oakridge Park.
Hundreds crowded into the Fairmont Pacific Rim’s ballroom to listen to Westbank Corp.’s founder Ian Gillespie update involving his most ambitious project yet - the future of Oakridge Park. The $5 billion luxury redevelopment is set to be the largest private real estate development in North America.
Oakridge Park
Touted as a “micro-city” Gillespie spoke about how the visionary design of Oakridge Park is meant to engage, exhilarate, and inspire - possessing qualities that embody design ingenuity, connection to place, and, above all, imagination.
Gillespie defines the project, scheduled for completion in 2027, as the zenith of everything he has “ever attempted or imagined.” His vision of what Oakridge could be has never wavered since he began more than a decade ago. His passion is “to create a seamless living experience that will go beyond anything that this city has ever seen.”
Oakridge Park - Gillespie
“In Oakridge, we are bringing the best of all our work together – the defining designs of our history,” says Gillespie. “Oakridge Park truly is Westbank’s Greatest Hits Album …. Have a look and a listen. I hope you are inspired.”
If the resounding applause Thursday night was any indication, Oakridge Park will be all of that and more.
The theme repeated during Gillespie’s speech was one of “Collaboration.” At Oakridge Park, Gillespie has partnered with some of the world’s best architects, designers and artists. Thursday night, via satellite, he introduced his newest collaborator – Tokyo’s esteemed Azuma Makoto, whose haute couture plant and flower exhibitions will adorn the lobby of one of the towers.
Oakridge Park - Makoto
Through a translator, Makoto says: “Taking inspiration from traditional Japanese gardenscape “Karesansui”, I imagined a three-dimensional space, a garden which extends outwards in undulating ripples.”
A joint venture with real estate investment firm QuadReal Property Group, Oakridge Park will create a futuristic mini-metropolis consisting of 13 glass condo towers nestled amongst the reimagined Oakridge Mall, a 10-acre park and a forest of newly planted trees, restoring the old-growth grove that once stood at the site. Amenities will include the city’s largest daycare, community centres, 20 new restaurants in a two-acre food hall dubbed The Kitchen, and the city’s second-largest library.
Oakridge Park
Gillespie went on to speak about how the project will be one of the most sustainable projects of its kind in the world. The condos alone will be powered by geothermal wells and waste-heat recovery systems. It also will include 580 rental and subsidized housing units out of about 2,500 total, exceeding the city’s 20 per cent affordable housing mandate in new neighbourhoods.
Westbank has sold $1 billion worth of units at Oakridge in less than a year — more than the combined presales of all downtown Vancouver developments during the same period. Phase 1 has only 200 units left. For more information, visit www.oakridgepark.com.
Photos are courtesy of Westbank Corp.
