Asia Standard Americas is seeking approval for a 19-storey tower on the former Robsonstrasse Hotel site, extending its investment along downtown Vancouver’s Robson Street corridor.

The proposal for 1394 Robson St., at Broughton Street, would contain 72 homes: 57 strata condominiums and 15 social housing units. A two-storey podium would provide about 10,400 square feet of commercial space.

The Robsonstrasse closed and came down in 2018, leaving behind a community garden and an increasingly valuable development site. Asia Standard now wants to trade the former hotel’s modest footprint for a 19-storey tower dominated by housing.

That choice cuts against Vancouver’s current push to rebuild its depleted hotel inventory. The city has lost rooms on a net basis since 2002 and wants 10,000 more by 2050. But the Robsonstrasse disappeared years before the latest policy arrived, allowing Asia Standard to pursue housing without displacing an operating hotel or seeking a rezoning.

Asia Standard acquired the approximately 8,652-square-foot property for a reported $24.78M in 2018. An earlier five-storey retail and office proposal did not proceed.

The new application would increase density from 2.86 to 8.75 floor space ratio. Arcadis designed the brick-clad tower, which would include 25 vehicle stalls and 158 bicycle spaces.

The project would stand beside Asia Standard’s Landmark on Robson, which replaced the Empire Landmark Hotel with two residential towers containing 236 strata homes and 83 social housing units.